Yup, even though the specs page lists support for UMTS/HSPA 800/850/900/1700/1900/2100, Sony Ericsson is going to be localizing the radios. From the source:

UMTS HSPA 800/850/1900 only available for phones sold in Americas (except Brazil) and Australia. UMTS HSPA 900/1700 not available for phones sold in Americas. UMTS HSPA 1900/2100 available worldwide.

So that means you'll still be able to find an X10 that works on T-Mobile, just not in this country. You'll still be able to import if you want to use your expensive handset with T-Mo's cheap Even More Plus plans.

This also doesn't mean that the X10 is definitely coming to AT&T. Sony Ericsson wants to have a carrier relationship, but it depends on if one works out. As it stands, if anyone will be subsidizing that huge $880 cost, it'll be AT&T. [Phandroid via Engadget]

It'd have essentials like wireless broadband connectivity and a battery, but I'm hoping that we'll have cooler stuff than a laser projected keyboard by 2020. Their time has come and gone already, no? Less of that, more interactive holographic display technology, please. More wacky 2020 shenanigans at: [Ericsson via MobileandNotebook]

The Windows Mobile 6.5 skin is a bit choppy (but that's to be expected in this preview build), though you should start watching around 2:30 for some of the more impressive animations in the clip, including a bit o interesting tiling eye candy. But I'm not getting too excited. I mean, we're talking an update to a phone that didn't really impress us in the first place. And the monikers X2 and X3 remind me of the X-Men movie trilogy, which honestly can't be helping. [via Engadget]

Labeled with the understated moniker "Mobile Terminal," the phone is really a piece of morphing apparel. On your arm, you can use your phone like a watch. Pull it off, and the display twists, allowing you to hold the phone like a steering wheel. Through this simple transformation, you're never pigeonholed as a Dick Tracy wannabe. You can imitate the finest of NASCAR drivers, too.

It's the type of design that, while mechanically cute, feels dated in an era of lean, minimal devices that slip in your pocket and provide far more screen real estate (or even just recent concepts). But paint the thing pink, add some sort of Hello Kitty Tamagotchi and the kids will love it. [Patent via unwired view]

CORRECTION: Sprint lost 182,000 customers during the first quarter of this year, not 1.3 million. It lost 1.3 million customers the previous quarter. Apologies for the error.

The talks with Ericsson could still fall through, but the $2 billion outsourcing agreement—which would have Ericsson maintain its cell sites—could save it a bunch of money it spends on "cost of services." The thought is that it could use the extra money on things like products and people, and outsourcing this kind of work is common in Europe and Asia.

The 1.3 million 182,000 customers it bled are still unique to Sprint—every other carrier is still adding customers every quarter while Sprint loses 'em. As tough as it was for everybody last quarter—with Microsoft's profits shrinking over 30 percent, Mac sales flattening—Verizon and AT&T managed to add 1.3 million and 1.2 million customers, respectively.

Can the Pre really save a carrier this badly wounded? Saving one nearly dead company, Palm, will be a feat. Two would be a miracle. [WSJ, WSJ]

Check it out in portrait mode.

With an OS based on Symbian, the Idou continues the cameraphone megapixel pissing match with an impressive 12 megapixel camera/Xenon flash combo.

Once you snap those gorgeous cellpone photos, they'll be presented to you on a sizable 3.5-inch 16:9 touchscreen that Sony Ericsson claims is capable of "full media consumption" (so it eats all media? Interesting...).

Idou is just a codename for now, Sony claims, but the release window is certain: Second half of 2009. Did I say certain? I mean hazy and ambiguous, like all long-term tech release dates.

[BGR, Sony Ericsson]

Sony Ericsson is bringing great music to the masses with the slick slider W395 Walkman phone, complete with large powerful built-in stereo speakers. Experience high sound quality and thumping bass that lets you share the concert experience with friends.

Uhh, really? How loud can it be? The cell phone also comes equipped with a 2MP camera, 3D games, motion gaming support, FM radio, USB connectivity and a 12.5-hour battery life. Though it will be available within the next few months, pricing is still unknown. [Press Release via Wired]

The two companies are working on a remote kill switch for laptops. Loaded with both HSPA and GPS, the laptop can be SMS disabled and globally located in the case it is stolen. A disabled laptop cannot be booted while third party software can handle aspects of extra data encryption as well.

Sure, a tech-savvy thief may be able to get around some if not all of these measures. But if enough computers could integrate the technology, the cards could at least serve as a deterrent to theft. Now we just need Ericsson/Intel to develop an obnoxious alarm and a big blinky light. [Marketwire]

While a megapixel pissing contest may be an effective marketing strategy, it's doubtful that it'll be most conducive to higher quality photos — the biggest weaknesses of current phone cameras have nothing to do with pixel count, but crappy CMOS sensors and dumpy little lenses.

This declaration was buried in between a few other predictably optimistic projections: LTE connectivity at 100Mbps, 1GHz CPU speeds and 1024x768 screen resolution. Interesting numbers for sure, but they don't really much vision for what such a device might actually look like. [TechOn]

To get a better sense of scale, the systems's diameter is just shy of eight inches. It packs a 2.1 speaker system (2x10W and 20W subwoofer) that can play audio from FM or 3.5mm jack when your phone isn't around. It also doubles as a speaker phone that auto-mutes as calls come in.

There's no price yet, but you can look to import the MBS-900 early next year. And if you're interested in more UK-only gear, hit up Sony Ericsson to read about the new W705 Walkman phone. [Sony Ericsson via engadget]

The Price: Still not official, but T-Mobile says it will be less than $100 with contract when it drops in early September.

The Verdict: Solid, everyman 3G for the masses.

If you didn't know it going in, you might not even realize the TM506 was 3G-capable. There's no big "3G" connection icon like on the iPhone, and nary a mention in the phone's settings. And most surprisingly, the phone ships only with T-Mo and Sony Eric's shitty t-zones browser—which is only a few steps past WAP.

So the first thing anyone with this phone should do is grab Opera Mini—and after doing so, all of the Google apps for Maps and Gmail (the built-in email client is equally miserable). It's smart in many ways to downplay the phone's HSDPA capabilities, since T-Mobile's rollout is still in progress. But the lack of a solid browser built-in is puzzling.

And here's the kicker—at the moment, this thing is lightning fast. I tested it in several locations in NYC, one of T-Mobile's first 3G cities, and we're talking near Wi-Fi speeds on T-Mobile's 1700/2100 MHz HSDPA network. I got a crazy average of 5037kbps using DSL Reports' smartphone speed test, where the iPhone 3G, in the same location at the same time, managed an average of 545kbps. Now before you get too excited, keep in mind that T-Mobile's 3G network is practically empty at the moment—when more 3G subscribers start piling on, speeds will certainly come down to the 600-1000kbps range that T-Mobile says will be the norm. But for now, 3G T-Mobilers will be living the sweet life. Pages load almost instantly with Opera Mini—it's awesome. And when you tether to your laptop (which T-Mobile is fine with)—it's still blazing, which is a great bonus.

Rounding out the rest of the package is everything you'd expect on a mid-range Sony Ericsson piece—A-GPS, 2MP camera with video recording, Bluetooth 2.0, Memory Stick Micro slot, a barebones media player, and all the rest in a light but solid feeling flip form factor (but I could do without the green). In the end, it's not for smartphone people, or worth leaving another network for, but if you're already on T-Mobile and it's time for an upgrade, you could do a lot worse for your money.

And until the network starts to fill up, you'll be putting your iPhone-toting friends to shame.

UPDATE: To clarify some confusion in the comments, all previous phones with 3G support sold by T-Mobile (Nokia 6263, Samsung t639, Samsung t819, Nokia 3555) are UMTS only, which means they'll only get speeds of around 200-300kbps says the T-Mo folks. The TM506 is the first high-speed HSDPA phone for the new network, which should get between 600-1000kbps.