Yes, in 19 of the 26 cities surveyed, AT&T was ranked dead last in every category. Verizon was ranked the best, followed by T-Mobile, then Sprint and then, of course, bringing up the rear is our friend AT&T. You can compare their results to the results of our own nationwide 3G test here.

You've got to wonder if Apple can afford to stick this exclusivity contract out another year, what with decent competitors such as the Droid and the Pre now available. AT&T is as big a black mark on Apple's customer service reputation as they've ever had. And hell, for AT&T's sake it'd be nice to see some other carriers share the burden of iPhone data hogs. [9 to 5 Mac]

If you hate the gallery format, click here.

All pricing shown is with a new 2-year contract, and some deals may be temporary.

AT&T

iPhone 3GS
The iPhone 3GS is the best overall smartphone you can buy. It's really that simple. Best user interface, best internet, best apps, best media support—the list goes on. Okay, not the best network, but nothing's perfect. $199

BlackBerry Bold 9700
I miss the original BlackBerry Bold's king-sized keyboard, but the Bold 9700 squeezes the best of the BlackBerry for CEOs into an impressively tight form factor—faux leather back included—making it very possibly the best BlackBerry you can buy. $10

Bonus: Nokia e71x
It's free, and an actually good smartphone—my favorite Nokia phone on the planet. Free

Verizon

Droid
It's a terminator. A huge, disgustingly high-res screen, Batman-worthy industrial design, and the full power of Android 2.0 make it the best phone on Verizon—and the fact that it's running on arguably the best network in the US make it the second best smartphone you can buy, period. $150

BlackBerry Tour
Sure, it's notorious for trackball problems and it's missing Wi-Fi, but this is the BlackBerry of choice for email warriors if they're not on AT&T or T-Mobile—and it sure as hell beats anything running Windows Mobile. $50

Bonus: Droid Eris
If you're desperate to save $100 over the Droid, the Droid Eris will run Android 2.0 soon enough, and is smoother, smaller, and friendlier, if a little blander. $100

Sprint

Palm Pre
The Pre offers one of the best user experiences of any smartphone with Palm's webOS, and it's probably the best phone on Sprint, hardware build issues and comparatively dinky App Catalog aside. $80

HTC Hero
The best Android phone not running Android 2.0, HTC's Sense UI makes the sometimes confusing Android interface more digestible and has a few nifty tricks of its own, like integrated social networking. $100

Bonus: There is none. The Pixi's close ($25), but the fact that you can get the Pre for nearly as cheap undercuts a lot of the value, as much as we like the design and form factor.

T-Mobile

Motorola Cliq
Motorola's other Android phone is gussied up with Blur, a custom interface that's bright and friendly, with widgets for keeping track of everything happening on your social network. It's our favorite Android phone on T-Mobile. $100

Unlocked iPhone
No, I'm not kidding. A jailbroken and unlocked iPhone, even without 3G powers, is the second best smartphone you can use on T-Mobile.

Bonus: BlackBerry Bold 9700
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is the first BlackBerry with 3G on T-Mobile, which is reason enough, really, but it's good the reasons listed above, too. $130

There are two main problems: We like bills to be consistent, and we're risk-averse consumers.

To the first point, Sprint tried to offer a plan in 2004 where 300 minutes cost $35, and $2.50 for each additional 50 minutes. Seems great to me, no outrageous overage charges. But customers didn't like it because their bills would vary so much from month-to-month, so Sprint switched back to age-old tiered minutes plans.

Because we like consistent billing, the carriers institute ridiculous overage charges to convince us to spend up. That way we don't have to worry about any unforeseen costs, even if the fixed price plan ends up costing more than a variable pricing structure would.

The article also goes into how stupid expensive text message rates are subsidizing falling voice revenues, how wireless carriers would love to stop subsidizing phones, and more.

I know the average Gizmodo reader would like nothing more than to pay as little per minute as possible, but the average consumer thinks differently.

What's interesting is that this wholesale mentality does work, at least in terms of raw pricing. One minute of talk time costs 5 cents, and the average text message costs 1 cent. According to the article, that's the lowest average pricing in the developed world. The minutes do come at a bulk discount, it's just a matter of whether or not you use all of them.

I'll leave it to you commenters to discuss, but it's a good read into how wireless pricing in America got so complicated. [New York Times]

Succinctly, it's the new BlackBerry to buy if you're on T-Mobile or AT&T. Doubly so on T-Mo, since it's their first 3G BlackBerry.

It's not very much like the original Bold at all, which was the Escalade of BlackBerrys: big, obnoxious, but seriously comfortable to drive because it gave you tons of room to spread your legs (err, thumbs). If you're used to that, at first the 9700—which is even smaller and lighter than the Tour on Sprint and Verizon—feels like you've been shoved inside of a clown car because the keyboard and screen, while retaining the same shape and resolution, respectively, have been shrink-rayed. (Update: Actually, the resolution's been bumped up 40 pixels, to 480x360, from 480x320.)

But, then you realize you're not typing any slower, or less precisely. The 9700's keyboard isn't as flat out comfortable as the original Bold—purely a matter of physics—but it's a minor marvel of ergonomics that RIM has recession-sized the keyboard this effectively. They're simply brilliant at building keyboards. The screen has the same resolution as the Bold's, but in a smaller size, meaning it has a higher pixel density. Despite that extra clarity, I felt a bit constrained by it, especially browsing the web.

It's the second BlackBerry to ditch all-too-easily-slain-by-lint trackball for an optical trackpad, and the first that's not built for Walmart. You'll miss the trackball for about 15 seconds. Like I said before, the trackpad's 90 percent as good as the ball. You might miss the physical feedback, and it sometimes doesn't totally accurately interpret a diagonal swipe that you know wouldn't be a problem with the ball but it's good enough, and by far the most accurate and responsive trackpad I've used on a phone.

It's running BlackBerry OS 5.0 which isn't tons different than the OS that shipped on the original Bold or Curve 8900, but it's definitely springier and it has a few brushstrokes of added polish here and there. One place you notice is the browser—while not as fast as the iPhone 3GS or Android, it has some extra zip to it, and it even sped past the Storm 2 loading pages, despite racing on T-Mobile's 3G network vs. Verizon's.

Note: In the gallery, the T-Mobile one is the Bold 9700, the AT&T phone is the original Bold.

Basically, barring any major bugs that pop up over the next couple of days, this is the BlackBerry you probably wanna bug your corporate overlords to handcuff to your pants if you're on AT&T or T-Mobile, since it'll slide into them easier than any BlackBerry yet. I just hope you enjoy the feel of faux leather. [BlackBerry]

Android and Me is suggesting that T-Mobile customers try checking their data speed using Xtreme Labs Speedtest or Mobile Speed Test. I encourage you to do so and post the results after a few tries along with your region. In the meantime, we're waiting on official word from T-Mobile to confirm this potentially great news. [Android and Me—Thanks, Slacker!]

On Tuesday, some T-Mobile customers may have experienced service disruptions impacting voice and messaging services. We restored full service to all affected customers later in the day. After investigating the cause, we have determined that a backend system software error had generated abnormal congestion on the network. T-Mobile has since implemented additional measures to help prevent this from happening in the future. We again apologize to those customers who were affected and may have been inconvenienced.

Basically, everything should be back to normal, but if you're still experiencing service issues outside of the ordinary, please let us know in the comments.

As Twitter and forums are filled with annoyance over the issue, T-Mobile is assuring us that they are aware of the problem and working on it:

T-Mobile customers may be experiencing service disruptions impacting voice and data. Our rapid response teams have been mobilized to restore service as quickly as possible. We will provide updates as more information is available.

We're waiting on further information from T-Mobile and will update as we learn more.

Update 1: Several commenters are reporting that both incoming and outgoing calls are working if routed through Google Voice.

Update 2: Many reports that T-Mobile @Home is out as well.

Update 3: We got a note from a T-Mobile spokesperson:

We're making good progress restoring voice and messaging service to affected customers. At this time, approximately 5 percent of T-Mobile customers are experiencing service disruptions. Issues began at approximately 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. Our rapid response team is working continuously to fully resolve this disruption. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused our customers

Update 4: The latest word from T-Mobile:

We continue to work on restoring full services for the small percentage of affected Customers. Please stay tuned for the latest updates. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused our customers.

Update 5: T-Mobile says the fix is in, but the cause is still a mystery:

T-Mobile confirms it has fully restored voice and text/picture messaging services for customers affected by intermittent service disruptions on Tuesday. About five percent of our customers across various geographies were affected for much of Tuesday evening, and by late Tuesday PST their service was restored. Our sole focus has been restoring full services for all customers; we are now investigating the root cause of the incident. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused our customers.

Apparently all that it took to terrify many Dutch iPhone users was a "trivial" port scanning technique and "a modicum of networking know-how." After the hacker gained access to the jailbroken phones with unchanged root passwords and SSH enabled, he sent the pictured message which led to a demand for a €5 PayPal payment and words of caution:

If you don't pay, it's fine by me, but remember, the way I got access to your iPhone can be used by thousands of others-they can send text messages from your number (like I did), use it to call or record your calls, and actually whatever they want, even use it for their hacking activities! I can assure you, I have no intention of harming you or whatever, but, some hackers do! It's just my advice to secure your phone.

This particular gentleman was almost kind. He didn't inflict any serious harm, only demanded a small optional payment, and limited his activity to the Netherlands. Whoever learns from his approach might not be as nice. The lesson, my darlings? Change your root passwords or disable SSH if you've got a jailbroken iPhone. I finally did. [Ars Technica]

As you can see on the invite, the HD2 will be getting all official like on Wednesday. No doubt we'll hear something about U.S availability and pricing then. Stay tuned. [T-Mobile UK and PocketNow]

Size: 93 x 50 x 14.1 mm (approx.)
Weight: 95 grams (approx.)
Available colors: Carbon
(Custom light features come in Amber, Sapphire, Beryl, Diamond, and Amethyst.)
Main screen: 2.2"(5) QVGA 262K TFT
Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
Networks: GSM/ EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 + HSDPA 2100/1700

The new T-Mobile Unlimited plans match Sprint's all-you-can eat $99 deal with its unlimited $99 voice/text/voice plan (as seen in the image, with discounted handsets). Update: The $79 price point comes into play with regular priced handsets, two-year agreements, as seen in T-Mobile's marketing materials:

As a fellow iPhone owner I'm with Jesus on this one. Apple, please drop this exclusivity BS in the US. I completely understand that all cell phone companies are guilty of bending over their customers with overpriced text messages and fees and the like. I really do. I accept that. It's just that I'd love to be bent over for less.

Editor's Note: Pardon the pun, but hold the phone. Fresh from the comments, Gizmodo's own Brian Lam weighs in on whether the "deal" here carries with it some not-so-hidden baggage:

No one is mentioning that you can't compare TMO's 3g network to ATT's. TMO's isn't rolled out very thoroughly and it would get crushed if more people used it.

A fair point. It's also been mentioned that deals like this one exist specifically because T-Mobile doesn't have the iPhone (again, from the comments). T-Mobile users, care to weigh in, one way or another? [Fone Frenzy]

If these leaked documents are real, here's what T-Mobile will offer:

Even More plan
• $100 for voice/SMS/data, everything unlimited.
• $70 for unlimited talk and SMS.
• $60 for unlimited voice only.
• Requires two year contract.

Even More Plus plan
• $80 for voice/SMS/data, everything unlimited.
• $60 for unlimited talk and SMS.
• $50 for unlimited voice only.
• Pre-paid.

The weird thing is that the Even More Plus plan is pre-paid and gives you the FlexPay option, which allows to buy a phone in four payments. The Even More will probably give you a "free" cellphone, but it's not specified at this point.

Apple, please, let's drop this whole exclusivity thing with the iPhone in the US. I don't want to keep paying $160 to those AT&T thieves every single month. I would rather pay $100 to the T-Mobile thieves. [TmoNews via Engadget]

The Danger / Microsoft team is continuing to work around the clock on the data restoration process. We apologize that this is taking so long, but we want to make sure we are doing everything possible to maintain the integrity of your data.

We continue to make steady progress, and we hope to be able to begin restoring personal contacts for affected users this week, with the remainder of the content (photographs, notes, to-do-lists, marketplace data, and high scores) shortly thereafter.

This data restoration effort is only necessary for customers who lost data from their Sidekick devices. We appreciate your ongoing patience.

So, in a nutshell, if your data has not been recovered soooooo sooooorry. Please don't sue. [Microsoft]

Obviously T-mobile is attempting to expand their customer base through Project Dark, and part of the approach is to entice customers who would normally be forced to prepay monthly dues as well as full retail for a device:

"Even More Plus" will give those who would otherwise qualify for FlexPay the option to finance a phone. [...] Our sources tell us that the phones will not be subsidized and so there won't be contracts for the devices, which means you pay the full retail price over the course of a set amount of time (up to 20 months is what we're told). Not bad - for a $500 device over that time is just $25/month, as an example.

The next step is offering the "Most Affordable Unlimited Rate Plans" in three flavors:

[U]nlimited voice, unlimited voice and text, and unlimited voice/text/data all priced at $40, $50 and $60, respectively.

All unconfirmed rumors, of course, but moves like this could definitely help T-mobile leap up from fourth place in the Great Battle of the Carriers.

Update: The folks at Boy Genius now have some screenshots showing the tiered unlimited plan and the FlexPay options.

[Boy Genius Report and Boy Genius Report]

The statement goes on to say they will "work around the clock to restore data to all affected users, including calendar, notes, tasks, photographs and high scores, as quickly as possible."

The data loss was apparently caused by a system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up. I'm not sure if that means sabotage or not.

Meanwhile, we now hear that a number of pissed off users have filed lawsuits. Maybe this isn't the end to this after all. [T-Mobile]

Dear T-Mobile Sidekick customers,
On behalf of Microsoft, I want to apologize for the recent problems with the Sidekick service and give you an update on the steps we have taken to resolve these problems.

We are pleased to report that we have recovered most, if not all, customer data for those Sidekick customers whose data was affected by the recent outage. We plan to begin restoring users' personal data as soon as possible, starting with personal contacts, after we have validated the data and our restoration plan. We will then continue to work around the clock to restore data to all affected users, including calendar, notes, tasks, photographs and high scores, as quickly as possible.

We now believe that data loss affected a minority of Sidekick users. If your Sidekick account was among those affected, please continue to log into these forums for the latest updates about when data restoration will begin, and any steps you may need to take. We will work with T-Mobile to post the next update on data restoration timing no later than Saturday.

We have determined that the outage was caused by a system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up. We rebuilt the system component by component, recovering data along the way. This careful process has taken a significant amount of time, but was necessary to preserve the integrity of the data.

We will continue working closely with T-Mobile to restore user data as quickly as possible. We are eager to deliver the level of reliable service that our incredibly loyal customers have become accustomed to, and we are taking immediate steps to help ensure this does not happen again. Specifically, we have made changes to improve the overall stability of the Sidekick Service and initiated a more resilient backup process to ensure that the integrity of our database backups is maintained.

Once again, we apologize for this situation and the inconvenience that it has created. Please know that we are working all-out to resolve this situation and restore the reliability of the service.

Sincerely,
Roz Ho
Corporate Vice President
Premium Mobile Experiences, Microsoft Corporation

All the employees who received the information were required to sign confidentiality agreements. Each sector has received it at different times, the bulk of them actually received it the 13th, after most of the information was already leaked (Although it's not entirely accurate…)

That said, the Project Dark is not any ONE thing..its a term for a company TURNAROUND; Last to First is what some like to say. It's an all inclusive "package" that includes blazing speeds, 3 times faster than anyone will have on the market for years. Phones people actually WANT, using top of the line models from the top 2 cellphone manufacturers in the world (Nokia #1, and Samsung #2). Hot software like Android. And European priced packages.

And all of this will make Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint's head spin when its released faster than anyone can have time to finishing reading any official press releases.

330 Million in new networks Verizon? Try nearly 10 billion.

First of all, assuming this email is real, I don't want—and I am guessing you don't want—any Nokia or Samsung handset. Second of all, I doubt that TMO of all companies, mr late to the game, can deliver speeds that fast, either. But suppose it's true. Then what's that "10 billion" number at the end for? Femtocells everywhere? Who knows! It's a rumor! You're not supposed to know yet!

But if anyone has any more information on TMO's project black, please drop me a line. We'd love to help you tell the world. [Nexus404]

As you can see, the image doesn't mention the HD2 by name, but the image and specs sure match up: massive capacitive touchscreen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth.

E-Reader content? TV/Movies at your fingertips? Sounding pretty sweet. Of course, this one stays in the rumor basket until we hear more. We'll let you know when we do. [TmoNews via SlashGear]

An anonymous tipster with seemingly extensive knowledge about the Danger/Pink team has this to say to Apple Insider as to what caused the massive data outage:

...someone with access to the servers at the datacenter must have inserted a time bomb to wipe out not just all of the data, but also all of the backup tapes, and finally, I suspect, reformatting the server hard drives so that the service itself could not be restarted with a simple reboot (and to erase any traces of the time bomb itself)... If this was an ordinary sort of failure, the service would have come back within a day, so once again, all signs point to sabotage.

After all the reports we've been hearing about the troubled state of the Danger/Pink team, it's certainly plausible that there are more than a few disgruntled employees who could cause such a catastrophic failure. Whether or not anyone would is another question, but this whole thing is so waaaay out of the ordinary, I'm willing to believe it. [Apple Insider via Fast Company]

What's interesting is that the three posters all have one thing in common: they switched-off their phones. That goes against T-Mobile's official warning: "During this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power."

Unfortunately, some users still tried what the Sidekick users below did, and now their phones won't even turn on.

Tommyd2107 says:

I turned off my phone a couple times over the course of the outage. Last night I began manually importing all my numbers back into my phone, then today when I went out on my phone and after I hung up… all 396 of my contacts returned.

Generalblue says:

Got my contacts back too! My phone froze up on me and since I have already lost everything anyways, I just took the battery out and put it back in. Once my phone was on about 5 minutes later I checked my address book for some reason and they were all there. I saved all my contacts to my SIM card.

Dariahna says:

The same thing happened to me...I shut my phone off several times without removing the battery...voile'! My contacts returned!

At that point, a T-Mobile rep jumped into the conversation: "We would like to collect some examples of this." I bet they would. Meanwhile, the Sidekick LX is marked "temporarily out of stock" over at T-Mobile. [T-Mobile Forums and InfoWorld]

T-Mo seems really sorry about this, you guys. Of course, they did lose a ton of customer data that's unlikely to be found, but at least they're properly apologetic. They're doing their best to get the data back, and both they and Microsoft/Danger seem sort of optimistic about it, so it may not be a lost cause quite yet. The full statement:

T-MOBILE STATUS UPDATE ON SIDEKICK DATA DISRUPTION, MON., OCT. 12

Dear valued T-Mobile Sidekick customers:

We are thankful for your continued patience as Microsoft/Danger continues to work on preserving platform stability and restoring all services for our Sidekick customers. We have made significant progress this past weekend, restoring services to virtually every customer. Microsoft/Danger has teams of experts in place who are working around-the-clock to ensure this stability is maintained.

Regarding those of you who have lost personal content, T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger continue to do all we can to recover and return any lost information. Recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible. We will continue to keep you updated on this front; we know how important this is to you.

In the event certain customers have experienced a significant and permanent loss of personal content, T-Mobile will be sending these customers a $100 customer appreciation card. This will be in addition to the free month of data service that already went to Sidekick data customers. This card can be used towards T-Mobile products and services, or a customer's T-Mobile bill. For those who fall into this category, details will be sent out in the next 14 days – there is no action needed on the part of these customers. We however remain hopeful that for the majority of our customers, personal content can be recovered.

Sidekick customers can continue to visit T-Mobile Sidekick Forums (http://www.t-mobile.com/sidekick) on a regular basis to access the latest updates, as well as FAQs regarding this service disruption. The Forums also offers tips and suggestions for rebuilding content on your device.

According to Channelweb, the Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) team has caused, either by layoffs or by pissing them off, a large chunk of the Danger team to leave Microsoft. Danger is the team that actually built the Sidekick, and Roz Ho was siphoning off their resources into the Pink camp in order to make sure the latter could survive. By doing so, it seems like she's killed off both groups, which might be why Microsoft keeps denying that they're going to make phone hardware.

Channelweb's tipster sounds similar to the tipster last week that talked to MobileCrunch about management ineptitude and lousy business choices. To summarize, Roz Ho, Microsoft's "head of mobile experiences", seems to be making so many bad choices that naming the project after Pink, the angry singer, seems like one of her best choices.

If Microsoft somehow manages to push Pink out the door, CRN says that it won't even include a calendar app or an alarm clock app. That's a feature that if you saw was missing on a dumb phone, you'd politely hand it back to the salesman while asking him to show you something in a less shitty variety. Not only that, it won't ship with a mobile app marketplace—which makes sense, since it's also rumored that they're not really smartphones anyway.

The bottom line is that massive data outages might be just the kind of early warning users need to abandon the Sidekick and get on another device before the decision gets knocked out of your hands like the punchline to a standup's retort. [CRN]

An exasperated tipster who just spent some quality time on the phone with an equally exasperated T-Mobile rep told us what he was offered:

• I'm released from the contract if I want (Yeesh, of course I better be. I can't believe I had to ask).
• I can get a G1 for $129 (not sure if that's the normal contract renewal pricing or not; doesn't sound like a great deal to me).
• They also suggested Blackberries etc, but I didn't get the pricing (since those are design disasters compared to SK or iPhone).

So to break it down, your options are to accept about $20 off of a G1, which you, an avid Sidekick user, probably didn't want anyway, move onto a BlackBerry (?), or to leave. Sidekick users are a dedicated bunch—there's a good chance they came to T-Mobile just to use a particular Danger handset—so I wouldn't be surprised if people take that last offer pretty seriously.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of official announcement from T-Mobile regarding how they plan on dealing with their angry mass of Sidekick subscribers, but it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out: Remember, even though these people all bought their phones and service From T-Mo, and therefore expect to be helped by their carrier, the actual data loss was Danger's (read: Microsoft's) fault. It's already clear that T-Mobile' is going to bear the brunt of the angry mob, but aside from getting very sternly talked to by their carrier partners, is Microsoft going to get out of this scot-free? —Thanks, guy!

It's been more than two weeks without data for Sidekick users, and T-Mobile finally bit the bullet and announced that it probably isn't coming back. The quote:

Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device - such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos - that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low.

This is pretty crappy of T-Mobile and Danger, and while it's probably unfair to make this connection, doesn't give us any new confidence in Project Pink, developed by the remnants of Danger after Microsoft acquired it. (After all, Microsoft bought Danger specifically because of their software services. And now, it just goes kablooey?) Renowned Sidekick user and a-hole Perez Hilton, while normally hysteric about just about everything, has the right tone here:

To add insult to injury, the ONLY thing T-Mobile is offering their customers, whom they obviously don't value or respect, is one month of free data service.

That's shit!

One month of free data service (which is not the same thing as one month of free phone use) for SEVEN DAYS of heartache and no access to contacts????

That's fucked!!!!

Really, that's kind of putting it lightly. [T-Mobile via Boy Genius Report]

There's actually more to it, possibly: A new "Everything Unlimited" plan that'll be $50 for all-you-can-eat voice, SMS, MMS and data. Watch out, Sprint. Plus, T-Mobile employees will be getting a snazzy new uniform consisting of a black shirt and grey pants. We'll see. [BGR]

T-Mo News claims it's not a phone or a promotion, which suggests it might be some kind of coverage rollout—T-Mo certainly could use a more widespread network, since they've already got some sweet phones to take advantage of one. Apparently T-Mobile staff are being trained for an imminent release or rollout of Project Black starting this week, but again, we have no idea what this actually is (or if it even exists, really). Rumors have been bubbling from a couple different sources (Phone Arena and T-Mo News, mostly), so the rumor may have something real behind it, but we don't know much for sure yet. We'll keep you updated as soon as we figure out what this secret project actually is. [Electronista and T-Mo News]

The phone itself was, alas, not on display at CTIA in San Diego, a phone convention increasingly known for its lack of actual new phones. But in these studio shots, it looks really good. If it didn't have the Fender logo, I'd be like, "Hey, look at my sweet phone. Doesn't it kind of remind you of a guitar?" But emblazoned as it is, the bearer is forced to apologize for it, like, "Yeah, I really liked how it looked, even though I know how corny it is to have a phone with my guitar's logo on it. Will you forgive me?"

And the ghost of Les Paul played on... [T-Mobile]

That means when a new cell tower site is proposed, there's just a short period for a community to protest it—the idea being more towers going up even faster will help speed up the rollout of crazyfast 4G wireless. The FCC's also working to free up more spectrum for carriers to use for 4G, though that's not exactly easy, since wireless spectrum, while invisible, is a pretty limited resource. (It's why Verizon paid a kabillion dollars for a chunk of it.)

Even if you're not happy about the shot clock timing for towers, on the upside, the FCC's committed to having net neutrality apply to mobile internets as well as the stuff your cable company provides, the wireless carriers won't be able to terribly restrict what you do with all of that mobile broadband, beyond very basic network management to keep it all running. [Cnet]

Those multimedia features include music, photos, videos, the Web, YouTube, and Amazon MP3 for music downloads. The phone's other key specs include 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, microSD card expandable memory (up to 16GB), and support for Google services and Exchange ActiveSync.

With a completely new OS compared to the original Behold (and even the upgraded Memoir), it's kind of strange that Samsung kept the Behold name. Especially when it resembles the Android powered Samsung Galaxy. Still, there you have it. T-Mobile hasn't gone into pricing, but did say the Behold II would arrive "before the start of the holidays."

How do we know this outage is serious business? Because it's a trending topic on Twitter right now, that's how.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, a Sidekick aficionado, is also on the warpath over this today, but in T-Mobile's defense we've learned from his frantic blogging that the carrier issued he (and others) bill credits ranging from $35 to three full months of data access.

The most recent update is an official response from T-Mobile, posted on Saturday, which reads like your standard customer service boilerplate:

"T-Mobile and Danger/Microsoft are urgently working to restore impacted services to Sidekick, and deliver them to you as quickly as possible. Following is a status update for our valued customers:

* We expect data services to begin gradually returning in the next couple of hours (Saturday evening)

* Web browsing capabilities should be first accessible first; additional functions such as IM, social networking applications and email will then follow.

While we anticipate a significant portion of data services to be restored by Monday, some richer data services may lag. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your patience as we work hard with Danger/Microsoft to resolve this issue. We will continue to keep you updated as we have news to share. Thank you."

If you happen to have a Sidekick (I don't, sorry tweens!), why don't you let us know how awful your day has been thus far? [Phone News]

And that's pretty much it for now. Last we reported on this phone the release date was unconfirmed but realistic (November 11), the touch-based track pad was interesting, and it was T-Mobile's first 3G BlackBerry.

Also, the rumored specs are below, should you choose not to Google them:

• New Trackpad
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• UMTS/HSDPA
• 480×360 resolution screen
• OS 5.0
• QWERTY keyboard
• 3.2 megapixel AF camera
• Bluetooth

And there's also the ever-important wifi to consider as well. [DailyMobile - Thanks, Daniel]

Nokia Booklet netbook - October 25th launch (AT&T activation)
Sprint HTC Hero - October 11th
Sprint Palm Pixi - launch date TBD
Verizon Storm II - launch date TBD
Verizon Android device - launch date TBD
T-Mobile CLIQ - launch date TBD

Also of note are two cryptic quotes regarding BlackBerry and Android devices. "New BlackBerry devices across multiple carriers" are set to launch this holiday season, and a "host of devices launch in late October and November for all carriers."

Then there's the launch of "new technology which doesn't exist today" line to top things off. I'm crossing my fingers that means "flying car." [BGR]

• Universal-ish search with an updated "Quick Search" box

• Much fast camera performance, with a refreshed interface, and easier switching between video/still modes

• Support for VPNs, corporate or otherwise

• A battery monitoring center that lets you see what apps are sucking inordinate amounts of power, and also lets you kill them.

• Multiple resolution support, for all the wild'n'crazy Android devices coming down the pike

• A new Market UI, with app screenshots

• Text-to-speech for any app that wants it, built into the main search widget by default

• A gesture framework for developers

• CDMA support, because, you know, Hero.

Let us know when your updates hit in the comments; reports are thin for now, but I have a feeling the floodgates are about to open. [CNET]

Though as John said, this HSPA+ is a stopgap and may leave T-Mobile in the dust when the other carriers migrate to LTE, it's definitely the fastest speed around at the moment. On a personal note, it's good to see my hometown in the news for something other than Michael Vick, but having moved out west I can't test how accurate those numbers really are. Any Philadelphians want to bust out their T-Mobile handsets and see what HSPA+ can do? [Boy Genius Report]

The good

• Motoblur: Motorola's combination of user interface and social service seems to be the winner. They say the widgets that allow you to customize the home screen are useful and quick, always updating live. For example, there is a messaging widget show the latest mails or texts right on the home screen, as they come in. The news widget collects information from several RSS at the same time.

• "Happenings": It is the most interesting widget-connects to social networking sites and puts all status updates together in one single feed. It's not without problems, though, as it shows the updates from all your Facebook friends. You know, all the 457 you really don't know at all.

• Contact book: Apparently, the address books collects information—addresses, emails, phones, photos, status, birthdays, dates, events—from all your contacts, adding the latest info from the social sites you are connected to. This sounds rather cool, as it seems you won't have to update your contact book ever again.

The bad

• The hardware quality: It doesn't seem very good, according to them. Apart from the boring design, the touchscreen is "occasionally hit-and-miss," and the phone feels cheap. The 320x480 screen quality is good, however.

• QWERTY Keyboard: The physical keyboard isn't good. Bad layout, and not enough spring keep them going back to the virtual one, which is accurate and feels good.

Conclusion

Despite the bad points, Katherine seems happy with the Motorola Cliq, saying it's a "rock-solid" performer, extremely customizable, fast, and great for social networkers. Go read her full review at T3. [T3]

BGR has a good track record with carrier leaks, and after seeing the Cliq in person I can confirm that it seemed like a finished product—Moto reps were using it to communicate with each other and the phone wasn't buggy at all. So it's definitely possible that Moto and T-Mobile are busting ass to get the Cliq out the door before November. We'll keep you updated if we hear anything else, since the story seems to be evolving. [Boy Genius Report]

AT&T and others are kicking 3G to the curb after it hits the 7.2Mbps barrier, and moving over to zany 4G technologies. T-Mobile, though, says they're sticking with 3G HSPA for the foreseeable future, and that the network will carry near-4G speeds in 2010.

This is good news for T-Mo subscribers in the short term, and I can see why the company would want to incrementally push past all their competitors while they all toil with next-gen hardware and infrastructure. But what happens when everyone else is finished rolling out their LTE networks? Where does that leave T-Mobile, besides three years behind? [MocoNews via Electronista]

All you have to do is type KICKOFF24 in the promotion box when you order and bada bing—50% discount. Seriously, Oprah is worth watching if only for the stuff she gives away. [T-Mobile via Engadget]