So, it didn't quite land before midnight as some had hoped, but we're sure you were partying too hard to notice. The Dev-Team just launched its long-awaited iPhone 3G unlock, dubbed "yellowsn0w," and while they're still working out a few kinks (terming this release a 0.9 beta release), reports are already pouring in of successful unlocks. It's also been confirmed that this release will work with the iPhone's latest v2.2 firmware, and in fact requires that the phone be updated to v2.2 to run at all -- much to the chagrin of folks who've held off on that update at the Dev-Team's behest, we're sure, but hopefully all will soon be forgotten in the new year... already freer than the last! Hit up the read link for download instructions and caveats.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Unfortunately, it seems yellowsn0w might be living up to its beta status, with plenty of commenters and others across the interwebs reporting problems getting "unlocked" iPhone 3Gs to pick up their preferred carrier. As always, proceed with caution, and prepare some loose papers that need weighting just in case.

It was deliciously inevitable that a watch phone would eventually show up that could actually "pack it all in," and it looks like LG has actually accomplished that feat in its LG-GD910 model. Of note, the phone packs a touchscreen LCD, 3G data, and a built-in camera for videoconferencing and being a general badass. Sure, browsing to your favorite gadget blog might be a tad bit difficult on that 1.43-inch screen, and there's always the question of fashion, but those are minor quibbles -- the real question is where can we get one, and for how much. LG should be showing this off at CES next month (it showed off a predecessor this January), and plans to release it in Japan and Europe, but we've got a couple of cereal box-delivered 2-way wrist radios crossed behind our backs in hopes for a US berth.

[Via Electronista]

If Walmart's $197 iPhone 3G had you salivating, wait until you get ahold of this deal: AT&T has refurbished iPhone 3Gs in stock for a mere $150, effectively doubling your rice and ramen budget for the month should you take the plunge. AT&T claims the refurbs were returned within the 30 day trial period, are quality tested, and might be just a little scuffed up. If you're really feeling wild, there's also a 16GB refurb available for $250. Apple and AT&T are being a little shady on the warranty, stating "90 days or more," as opposed to the standard one year, but that's a risk you and your growling stomach are just going to have to take.

[Via Cnet]

It feels like a good couple millennia since we first spotted these phones sporting US-friendly 3G, and now Nokia has done the unthinkable and actually released them in the States. As has become custom for Nokia around these parts, the phones aren't carrier branded or subsidized in the least, so you're looking at $550-ish for the N85 and $400-ish for the N79, depending upon the retailer. For some reason the N79 is listed as in-stock at Nokia's own store, while the N85 says "backordered," but over on Amazon.com you can nab the N85 -- with the N79 "temporarily out of stock" for whatever reason. It's a crazy, mixed-up world we live in.

[Via Daily Mobile; thanks Daniel]

Read - Nokia PR
Read - N85 at Amazon
Read - N79 at Nokia

There's something just a little skeezy about basing predictions for Important New Apple Products upon nasty renders of protective case mockups from China. Still, they've panned out astonishingly nicely before, so we'll just have to suck it up. iDealsChina is reporting that XSKN is not-so-secretly working on a silicone skin for the upcoming "Nano iPhone" (or, more likely, iPhone nano) a shorter, chubbier version of the iPhone 3G. According to iDealsChina sources, the phone will apparently sport EDGE data, but otherwise seems unsurprisingly identical in specs to its forebears, other than the obviously smaller screen. They're also saying Apple plans to sell these at high volumes for low prices at hip spots like Walmart, that the company will (naturally) be unveiling the new handset in January at Macworld, and even go so far as to say that leaked photos of the device should be surfacing in the next couple of days -- we'll be keeping our eyes peeled. Check out another couple of tantalizing case renders after the break.

[Via PMP Today]

Sure, we try to front as world-weary cynics, but when we pinged our folks at Nokia for a statement on that suspiciously-awesome slide about a previously unseen touchscreen interface and device concept, we were totally hoping for a "oh, our bad, that's a real phone and it's awesome and it's being released in the States tomorrow." Naturally, that was not the case. Here's what Nokia had to say on the matter:

"The story you sent over was from a non-public presentation that discussed some UI enhancements - NOT a new product. The form factor shown was a generic form factor and not meant to showcase a new device / product."

So, yeah. They're not really going to fess up to a lot here, but if we were to read between the lines we'd say these "UI enhancements" are much more likely to get real and official someday than whatever vaguely-hinted-at device was shown off beneath them. Maybe. Reading in further, we'd say it's a little odd that Nokia's demonstrating to investors its "best in class touch" capabilities by using a mockup interface on top of a mockup device, but perhaps that's why we were never so good with "the monies."

The Open Handset Alliance just made a major score with 14 more members: AKM Semiconductor Inc., ARM, ASUSTek Computer Inc. (previously rumored), Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International Inc., Huawei Technologies, Omron Software Co. Ltd, Softbank Mobile Corporation, Sony Ericsson, Teleca AB, Toshiba Corporation and Vodafone. That's not quite everyone that matters, but pretty darn close. Were we to climb not-very-far onto the limb of conjecture, we might posit that Garmin might be looking at Andoid for its much-delayed nuviföne, or some sort of followup, while the emergence of an ASUS "Eee Phone" or a XPERIA X1 running Android (Sony Ericsson may very well be the biggest win here, consumer-wise) would be welcome moves from those manufacturers. We'd say at this point the holdouts are starting to stick out more than the actually OHA members, which spells good things for the industry no matter what specific hardware is the fruit of this relationship... but seriously guys, build us some more Android phones.

In a presentation given at Nokia's Capital Markets Day 2008 last week the company quietly displayed a previously unseen handset, complete with an edge-to-edge touchscreen and subtle, attractive stylings. Perhaps even more interesting is that the screen is sporting an all-new heretofore unseen S60 touchscreen interface, giving hope to folks let down by S60 5th Edition's minor changes to the formula. Unfortunately, Nokia hasn't made any other reference to this phone or the revised OS, and could have very well trotted them out as a proof of concept of the company's direction -- particularly likely due to the fact that they were trying hard to butter up investors at the meeting. Still, the "Tube" started off as little more than a presentation (complete with hints at interface improvements that have yet to emerge), and look how that ended up.

[Warning: PDF link; via Boy Genius Report]

While the N97 was free to fondle, the slightly less exciting E63 was decidedly bolted to a table, so we had to take what angles we could get. The phone is basically a cheap-o version of the E71: Nokia figured it had a good thing going on in that QWERTY candybar, and decided to spread the love at a lower price point, with a slightly thicker, plastic handset. The good news is that no matter what you do to cheapen the phone, the E63 comes from good stock, and is really a compelling form factor. The slight bump in thickness is negligible, and while the cheaper materials are easily distinguished from the luxury feel of the E71, the phone by no means feels cheap. Except for the keyboard. For some reason Nokia opted to remove the hardened, clickier E71 keys and replace them with a softer, rubberier keyboard with a considerable amount of distributed give to it -- that still leaves it as one of Nokia's best QWERTYs to date, but we greatly prefer the E71. The other compelling difference between the phone and its inspiration is the inclusion of a full 3.5mm headphone jack, instead of the mini jack found on the E71. Not bad at all, but we'd guess Nokia saved a lot more money in materials and manufacturing process than with the sorry removal of GPS and HSDPA.

We promise to stop slobbering all over this handset in a month or eight, but the N97 is certainly the new hotness, so we hope you'll excuse us for returning for another go and getting some more in-depth hands-on-ness. Unfortunately, while the phone is certainly stunning in many facets, and probably the greatest S60 device to date, we're not sure it's the Storm / G1 / iPhone / anything killer we all might've been hoping for. If you'd rather just concentrate on the sexy, peep our video hands-on and wait six months or so for Nokia to work the kinks out, otherwise join us after the break for some hard-to-swallow, totally subjective, prototype-based opinion.

Look, we know you've been holding out for the iPhone to hit Walmart before you pick it up, sandwiched between the fishing gear and row upon row of exercise videos -- and we don't blame you. You'll ride your shopping cart down the wide aisles like a chariot, and when you get home with the phone you'll dial up all your friends and let them know how much cheaper your iPhone was than theirs. What was that? Yeah, the new word on the street is that Walmart is getting a 4GB iPhone 3G for a mere $99, according to Boy Genius Report, and while BGR was previously reporting a November 15th launch date at Walmart, and can't vouch for the accuracy of this new report, Walmart training materials (pictured above) have been seen in the wild, so there's a grain of truth to this madness somewhere. Plus, a $99 iPhone just sounds so Walmart-ey, doesn't it?

[Via Mac Rumors]

No matter how accustomed we should be by now, it's always jarring to see one of the Nokia N-series phones drop at some outlandish unsubsidized price -- if you think the $556 tag on this N85 is hefty, keep in mind that Amazon is claiming that's already been steeply discounted from an atmospheric $1,200 "list price." While the phone is available to "buy" right this second at Amazon.com, there's a 3 to 5 week ship time quoted, so there's no telling if this'll be the first spot to nab the hotly-anticipated, N96-besting AMOLED handset in the States -- though it might be the first to take your hard earned cash for such a purpose.

[Via OLED-Info]

If there was ever a phone worth cutting down to size with a completely shoddy but not actually completely unattractive fake edition, it's the Motorola Aura. What we have here is the Wingtech D20, which shares the swivel form factor of the Aura, mocks the round LCD with a perfectly boring square one in a round hole, and boasts a surprisingly weak complement of features, even for a "fake" phone. Oh how you suffer for fashion, Motorola.

[Thanks, Chris]

There are three primary rules to tattoos that we're aware of:

• 1. "I love my mom" tattoos are really cool.
  
• 2. "I love my short-term-girlfriend" tattoos are questionable at best.
• 3. "I love this gadget" tattoos have greater built-in obsolescence than sliced apples and pretty much clench the fact that nobody will ever go out with you. Also, they're really awesome.

CrackBerry.com reader T.J. fell hard for rule number three and got a life-size tattoo of the BlackBerry Storm on his large, hairy calf to prove his undying devotion and win a free Storm. He even got some video of the happening (peep it below the fold), most likely to be shown in middle schools in the coming years as a huffing deterrence. We're looking forward to a Bumfight-like battle between T.J. and Zune Tattoo Guy before long, or perhaps a support group to get through this awkward, humiliating stage of life together. We'd prefer the Bumfight.

After teasing us with a touchscreen phone way back at CES this January, iriver has been decidedly mum on the subject ever since, calling what we saw more of a "proof of concept" than a ready-for-market product. Well, that veil has been lifted and we're finally staring at the iriver wave, a touchphone that iriver plans to start shipping in Korea on March 9th of next year with KT, and with other major carriers to follow. Other than a touchscreen, the phone packs WiFi and the traditional kitchen sink approach of Korean PMPs, with multimedia playback, FM radio, e-books and an electronic dictionary. There's miniSD expansion, access to the Bugs Music Service for online music and we're sure a few other perks hidden under layers of Korean spec sheets. Overall the physical design hasn't really changed much from what we saw at the start of the year (looks like that 3-inch, 480 x 272 touchscreen is quite intact), but the software has certainly been refined, and is devoid of many of its original, erm, iPhone-inspired touches.

[Via Hallyu Tech]