Cricket Wireless has announced a new wireless plan that bundles unlimited music downloads with the usual calling, messaging and data access. Cricket Muve Music, set to makes its sales debut at CES 2011, is priced at $55 per month and comes with content from Universal, Warner, Sony and EMI. There’s also a new phone to access the Muve Music service on, the $199 Samsung Suede SCH-r710.

The Suede will use a DRM-encrypted SanDisk 4GB memory card to make sure you don’t abscond with the four labels’ entire back-catalogs; tracks are apparently distributed DRM-free, but the card itself prevents unofficial copying. The handset supports 3G and has a 3-inch touchscreen; there’s also a dedicated music button to access the download service.

As with other unlimited music services, like Zune Pass, you’ll need to keep paying for Muve Music if you want to keep accessing your songs; let your subscription slip and the DRM will lock them down. Still, as offerings go this is something many users have been asking for, and if Cricket has coverage where you live it might be a solid deal.

Press Release:

Cricket Introduces First Wireless Rate Plan with Unlimited Music Included

~ Innovative, New Digital Music Service Muve Music™ will Debut at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

SAN DIEGO – December 20, 2010 – Cricket Communications Inc., a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless services and a wholly owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEAP), today announced it is the first U.S. wireless carrier to offer consumers unlimited music as part of a new wireless rate plan. This product offering features an innovative new digital music service called Muve Music. It is the first music experience designed specifically for the mobile phone.

“Cricket was the first to introduce an unlimited wireless rate plan and now we are the first to introduce a new unlimited wireless rate plan that includes unlimited music. With Muve Music, Cricket is bringing together the best of wireless and music in a way no one has ever done before,” said Doug Hutcheson, president and chief executive officer of Cricket Communications. “Our recent experience with smartphones has shown us that the right products offered at the right price will be successful with value-oriented customers. We are excited and confident that Muve Music will provide a superior mobile experience for customers who want to create a personal music experience without being tethered to a computer. The result of our collaboration with the music industry during the past two years allows unlimited music downloads, ringtones and ringback tones to be included in a wireless service for a flat monthly rate. We believe the high quality Muve Music experience is the right product at the right time for value oriented customers.”

“Muve Music from Cricket is a game changer for everyone,” said Ben Bajarin, director of Consumer Technology Practice at Creative Strategies. “By tightly integrating the music service into the handset and the billing plan everyone in the value chain benefits and consumers have a complete music service where the phone is the hub not the PC.”

The Muve Music Rate Plan

For just $55 per month, Muve Music customers will get the following features on Cricket’s nationwide 3G network:

· Unlimited nationwide calling

· Unlimited nationwide text, picture & video messaging

· Unlimited global text messaging

· Unlimited 3G mobile Web

· Unlimited email

· Unlimited data back up

· Unlimited video

And for the first time anywhere in the U.S.

· Unlimited full track downloads
· Unlimited ringtones
· Unlimited ringback tones

With Cricket’s Muve Music rate plan, there are no download fees and no monthly music subscriptions. Customers’ data plans will not be impacted by streaming music over the wireless network and customers won’t be required to use a credit card to purchase music. Unlimited Muve Music is included in the flat rate monthly wireless service plan.

Introducing the Muve Music Service Experience

Two years ago Cricket, in collaboration with key music industry and technology partners, began to create new IP and design a new music experience to meet the needs of customers for whom the phone, not their computer, is the center of their digital life. Muve Music brings the functionality that resides on many online digital music services to the palm of the customer’s hand. The service also delivers innovative new features and functionality that only a wireless network and true mobile offering can provide. With Cricket’s new service there are no cables, no drivers, no synching and no complexity. Everything happens over Cricket’s nationwide 3G network to deliver a robust music experience to music lovers on the go.

Muve Music will have a robust catalog of music content which includes the four major record labels: Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music. This ground-breaking new music service and business model was brought about through a unique collaboration, led by Cricket, between the music industry labels, as well as technology partners Samsung Mobile and SanDisk.

“When we first began working with Cricket to model this new service, we quickly realized what a great opportunity it was to develop the first-ever US unlimited music service that comes bundled with a mobile voice, text, and web plan and is fully integrated into the phone itself,” stated David Ring, executive vice president of business development and business affairs for Universal Music Group, eLabs. “There has been nothing like this product or business model ever attempted in this country.”

“Cricket has developed a very compelling experience for their customers which is extremely well integrated into the device and wireless service plan through a new business model that establishes a great approach to partnership in the mobile music space,” said Michael Nash, executive vice president, digital strategy and business development, Warner Music Group. “We’re thrilled to work with their talented team and hope their innovative Muve Music service proves to be influential as we continue to work with the wireless industry to transform the way consumers experience music on mobile phones.”

“Muve Music is a first-of-its-kind solution for US consumers,” said Thomas Hesse, president, global digital business, U.S. sales and corporate strategy, Sony Music Entertainment. “The inclusion of a premium digital music service in the wireless plan is an exciting new opportunity to expand the market for commercial digital music.”

“Muve Music is a truly new kind of mobile music experience, and we’re excited about its potential to connect fans to the artists they love in a unique and innovative way,” said Mark Piibe, executive vice president of global business development, EMI Music.

The Samsung Suede Debuts as the First Muve Music Phone

At launch, Muve Music will be available on the Samsung Suede™ (SCH-r710), marking the unique integration of an innovative new music service and a phone from a leading global handset manufacturer. The Suede is a high-end 3G multi-media device with a full 3-inch touchscreen display, HTML web browser, virtual QWERTY keyboard and an easy-to-navigate user interface. Most notably, it features a dedicated music button, prominently displayed on the front of the device, that takes customers to the Muve Music experience with one touch.

The Muve Music service also includes a new technology solution from SanDisk that’s a key part of the service. Muve Music content is downloaded DRM-free over the air to the phone. It is stored and protected on a special flash memory card. This alleviates the need for any cumbersome digital rights management (DRM) scheme and results in a greatly improved user experience, better handset performance and longer battery life.

Muve Music: Meeting the Customers’ Needs
Muve Music is Cricket’s latest innovation. It had its genesis in 2007 when the Company observed interesting customer behavior surrounding its newly launched basic ringback tone service. Within a few quarters of launch, Cricket was generating more revenue for the music industry from ringback tones than most U.S. wireless carriers even though Cricket had a much smaller customer base. Continued analysis led the Company to conclude that Cricket’s customers loved music but they were not having a good music experience thus prompting the development of Muve Music to provide customers with a way to get the music they love on their wireless phones through a flat-rate plan served by a network they can rely upon.

See Muve Music at CES

Muve Music and the Samsung Suede will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 6-10, 2011 and can been seen at South Hall 4, upper level, Room S210 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The service will be available in January 2011, at select Cricket company-owned stores and at www.mycricket.com, as well as through select partner retail outlets. The Cricket Muve Music wireless unlimited plan is $55 per month. The Samsung Suede has an M.S.R.P. of $199.

For more information about Muve Music visit www.muvemusic.com and for Cricket’s dynamic device lineup, please visit www.mycricket.com.

Tablets, iSuppli tells us, are the new epicenter for convergence, part smartphone and part notebook. It’s not a new story; every few months the convergence debate rears its head, suggesting the latest and greatest device category is pulling together the disparate threads of modern digital life and blurring the overall lines between segments in the process. Yet, despite the soothsaying, the “converged” experience still falls well short of the holistic ecosystem we’ve been promised: we have more devices than ever before, and they seldom talk well to each other.

“The definition of convergence has changed over time,” iSuppli analyst William Kidd explains, “with the latest version describing it as voice, video and data services being delivered to the home vis-à-vis broadband networks and the new services that would result from this confluence.” He reckons the tablet form factor is “a tangible representation of that convergence, since it is part smart phone and part notebook.” It’s not just hardware, either; “mobile OSes enable interconnectivity between connected devices,” Kidd promises, “and thus generate even more new use cases.”

Now, I won’t argue that I’m not an early adopter, of sorts. I probably have more devices on the go at any one time than most regular consumers might. But, it’s also not unusual for any one person to have a smartphone, at least one computer – whether PC, Mac or otherwise – and, increasingly, a tablet in-between, and share their usage among them. That – even if you keep resolutely in-ecosystem, such as only buying a MacBook, iPad and iPhone 4 – opens the door to multiple user frustrations.

We’ve grown used to having our Gmail or Exchange Mail synchronized across multiple devices, but email is no longer the extent of our messaging. Twitter, Facebook and other services all ping out the latest missives; it’s up to the user to read them or dismiss them on each device. For example: my Android smartphone buzzes to let me know about a new Twitter reply in Seesmic, so I check the message there. Problem is, the Galaxy Tab has also buzzed with the same reply, also in Seesmic, only there’s no way for it to know I’ve already read it. Meanwhile, push notifications on iOS devices like the iPad also pick up the fresh reply and trigger their own pop-ups.

It’s not just Twitter, of course; that’s just one example. I can’t be alone, though, in glancing at the notification bar on Android or the unread message notifiers on iOS apps and wondering whether they’re actually new updates or in fact just remnants of previous conversations I’ve already dealt with.

The standalone-versus-managed debate brings its own problems. Apple has been criticized for the extent to which the iPad relies on iTunes on your Mac or PC in order for its management, with Android tablets praised as being far more autonomous. Neither, though, addresses the real management shortcoming: that is, a single user identity that pervades all devices and services. Exchange or Google Sync does a little of that, keeping email, contacts and calendar entries harmonized over multiple platforms (though you’ll still get calendar alarms flagged up on each one, even if you’ve dismissed it elsewhere), and there are standalone services for different sync silos, such as files in Dropbox, but no overarching digital identity, no “Exchange for Life”.

Arguably the tablet is a poor center-point for convergence. Oversized in comparison to smartphones, under-functional versus a proper notebook (or, in many cases, even a netbook) it’s less likely to travel with you wherever you go. There’s an argument for a centralized identity device – a Sony Ericsson LiveView that’s the hub of your digital life, rather than one Bluetooth-tethered branch of it – but the perennial issues of battery life and compatibility raise their heads.

Instead, I need a single protocol respected by all devices, all services, all apps. My “Exchange for Life” would bypass duplicated messages, old versions of files, even things like routing incoming calls, texts and voicemails to the device that’s currently active. It would be intelligent enough to tailor that information to the limits of the gadget on which I’m consuming it, without necessarily limiting future usability: if I’m sent a photo gallery, I want it resized down to suit the smartphone or Bluetooth watch screen I first view it on, without losing the full-resolution versions that I might later browse on my tablet or HDTV. That resizing should all happen server-side, too, rather than relying on my device’s CPU and the vagaries of the wireless network – and, potentially, unnecessarily counting toward my data bundle – by being processed locally. I’d prefer it if devices were clever enough to use P2P local transfers if, say, my tablet had a high-res photo I wanted to view in low-res on my phone, rather than having to re-download it from the original server.

Convergence is, I think, easy if you only look at it from a device perspective. Tablets obviously offer a better browsing and video experience than a smartphone does, and the various app stores out there are bulging with compelling titles. As iSuppli predicts, content creation on tablets is also likely to catch up, as manufacturers and OS developers get to grips with the new paradigm. What’s seemingly overlooked is the fact that few people actually pick up a single converged device and abandon all others in its favor. Instead, tablets have to live within an ecosystem already populated with smartphones, notebooks, servers and services. Picking out the latest and greatest in hardware is easy; getting it to work in a fully integrated way with the rest of your digital life is still beyond us.

UK carrier Three has stepped up to shake the mobile industry out of its data complacency, dropping the 1GB cap on its The One Plan tariff and instead offering truly unlimited data. The plan – which is priced at £25 ($39) per month – offers 2,000 any-network minutes, 5,000 Three-to-Three minutes and 5,000 texts, but of most interest to data-hungry smartphone users will be the absence of “fair use” restrictions.

Two versions of The One Plan are offered, a 24-month plan if you want a subsidized phone from the carrier, or 12-months if you’re happy to use your existing handset and just need a Three SIM. It remains to be seen what Three will do when the inevitable data-hogs emerge and start to use masses of mobile bandwidth; we’re guessing there are still terms & conditions covering things like P2P downloads.

You could well argue that the great thing about phones is that they generally prevent the person you’re talking to from lapping at your face during a conversation, but design researcher Fabian Hemmert wants to bring some of that tactile feedback into the modern cellphone. Speaking at TEDxBerlin, Hemmert showed three prototype phones that could variously recreate the feel of breathing on your neck, the squeeze of a hand, and even the wetness of a sloppy kiss.

Video after the cut

The grasping, kissing and whispering prototypes are intended to explore how real-world sensations can make communications more emotional. The grasping phone pulls in a handstrap during conversations, while the whispering phone blows a small amount of air onto your neck or ear. Finally, the kissing phone has a damp sponge inside, which is jabbed at your cheek when the caller kisses their handset.

The project is a follow-up to Hemmert’s previous work on weight-shifting cellphones, and while none of these prototypes is really suitable for a production model, it’s another interesting approach to haptics beyond the insipid buzz of a silent call. Saying that, though, we can’t really imagine wanting a fluid exchange with most of the people in our address book.

Microsoft’s KIN handsets may have scored a reprieve of sorts at Verizon last month, but it seems the carrier is still on course to shut down most of what made the tweens’ smartphones special. According to WPCentral, as of January 31 2011 the KIN Studio will close permanently; that means all of the OTA functionality KIN users have been enjoying – such as posting photos to social networks, using the Feed Reader and all the Loop sharing support – will cease to function.

Instead, the KIN devices will simply support Zune Pass over WiFi and email, finally turning them into glorified feature phones. According to the documents, Verizon will be encouraging users to backup their data and giving them their choice of a free 3G phone before March 31 2011.

• Feed Reader will stop working
• Search Near me will stop working
• Posting Photos to social sites will no longer be possible
• Most pictures currently on Kin will only appear at thumbnail resolution
• Posting to Social Networks will no longer work.
• No comments from the loop
• Social network contacts will disappear.
• Loop will stop to work
• Kin Spot will only send to emails.
• Social networks only accessed from web browser.

All the folks in Wales be speedin along now, just a chuggin with brand new Arqiva and Alcatel Lucent carriers utilizing Long Term Evolution masts through the Preseli Mountians. Soon testing will begin to see if it’ll be economically viable to bring internet to all those homes that otherwise had slow internet or no internet connection at all. A 800MHz spectrum left over from the digital TV switchover in the area will be used for the trial, this then to go on auction to network providers in 2011.

Theoretical speeds for LTE is of course up to 50Mpbs, which is basically hella fast, but also… you know… theoretical. The thing that is especially important in this situation is the 800Mhz band that can both easily penetrate walls and travel further distances than any internet signal before, allowing all those herders in the outer reaches access to SlashGear! How nice!

O2 is taking a stab at a similar service, offering 100Mbps downloads and LTE to Slough, their home borough in Berkshire, England. There Arqiva aims to give sweet speeds to “country-dewlling folk.”

MD of Arqiva’s Government in Mobile & Enterprise business Steve Holebrook spoke thusly on the matter: “Arqiva’s heritage in rolling-out projects of critical national infrastructure is matched by our long-standing commitment to providing solutions that are universal in their delivery. We firmly believe that the combination of LTE technology, the 800MHz spectrum and a neutral-host commercial model is the best way of providing rural communities with broadband quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.”

[Via TechRadar]

Nokia has outed a new, very basic QWERTY phone for message-addicted users. The Nokia X2-01 runs S40 and has a 2.4-inch QVGA display, quadband GSM/EDGE and a VGA resolution camera; there’s also Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a 3.5mm headphone socket.

If that all sounds pretty basic, you’re right. Still, it has a basic price tag, as well: €80 ($110) unsubsidized when it arrives later this quarter. Full details on the spec sheet here [pdf link].

Meanwhile, Nokia’s change in naming methodology was supposed to make figuring out where new devices in their line-up fitted in more straightforward; unfortunately, it’s already at the point where the company’s official blog is having to re-explain why there are two X2-branded devices. Considering the X2-01 is seemingly labelled as the X2 on the handset itself, we’re not surprised that consumers are confused.

As rumored, Microsoft’s ill-fated KIN cellphones have made a second appearance at Verizon, this time branded as the KIN ONEm and KIN TWOm and bearing far more affordable data plans. The KIN ONEm is priced at $19.99, while the KIN TWOm is $49.99; data plans will eventually start from $9.99 for 25MB per month.

So far, though, the cheapest data plan appears to be the $15 for 150MB; it may take Verizon’s web-sales team waking up and ticking the right boxes in order to get the lower-price plan working. Unfortunately, one of the more memorable features from the KIN’s first attempt at the market – Zune Pass streaming music over 3G – has been downgraded to WiFi and sideload-only.

Microsoft KIN demo:

[via Engadget]

Food, family, festivities: the holidays can be stressful, and that’s before you decide what should go inside the wrapping paper. SlashGear can’t help you with the cooking, but we can cut through the sales hyperbole and help you pick the best in consumer electronics so that the only disappointment this December is the brussels sprouts. In our 2010 Holiday Gift Guide we’ve picked our favorite cellphones, computers, accessories and more, so read on for the best in tech this season! (We’ll be updating the Holiday Gift Guide throughout the holiday season)

Mobile Phones – Sprint

HTC EVO 4G

One of the stand-out Android-based handsets on the Now Network, the EVO 4G from HTC was Sprint’s first 4G handset, and is still easily the biggest handset available on the network. The capacitive touchscreen display measures in at 4.3-inches, and features a resolution of 800 x 480. Under the hood you’ll find a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, which makes the Android 2.2 mobile Operating System tick along nicely. To add the icing to the cake, you’ll find HTC’s Sense User Interface. Other features include a kick-stand to help you watch those movies on the big screen, and an 8MP camera with dual LED flash. There’s an 8GB microSD card bundled with the device, and there’s 512MB of RAM, along with 1GB of ROM. For the $199 price tag, the EVO 4G is still one of the best devices available on Sprint. [REVIEW]

Samsung Epic 4G

The second 4G handset to hit the Now Network, the Epic 4G features a plastic manufactured frame from Samsung. The Epic is the Galaxy S variant for the Sprint network, which shares many of the same features that the other Galaxy S devices have on the other networks. However, it’s the differences that make the Epic stand out. First and foremost, it features a landscape slider with a full physical QWERTY keyboard. There’s also a front-facing camera for video calls. Plus, the connectivity to 4G can’t be ignored, as long as you’re in a 4G-supported area. You’ll find a 1GHz Hummingbird processor under the hood, along with Android 2.1 running the show. Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz 3.0 User Interface makes the interface clean and simple to use. Price wise, you’ll be paying $249.99 to get your hands on the 4-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display. [REVIEW]

Motorola i1

If you’re looking for a rugged device, and one that has a physical build that impresses on every level, then the i1 is the device for you. A new addition to the Sprint line-up, just in time for the holiday shopping season, the Motorola i1 is the first push-to-talk Android-based handset, and utilizes the Sprint Nextel network. It’s designed to be drop and dust-proof, so it will stand up to the rigors of your every day life. It has a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen HVGA display, and a 5MP on the back of the device. While it has the look and feel of the previously released MOTOBLUR devices, it’s not actually connected to the BLUR servers, so the status updates won’t be flooding your homescreens. The Motorola i1 features Android 1.5 under the hood. You can grab this device for a low price of $149.99. [REVIEW]

Mobile Phones – Verizon

Motorola Droid X

The largest handset available on the Verizon network, the Motorola Droid X features a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 854 x 480. It’s running a far more advanced version of Motorola’s proprietary MOTOBLUR User Interface, and it’s less intrusive, more intuitive and in-depth. The social networking aspect of the device is top-notch, especially with the Universal Inbox you can take full use of. Under the hood, you’ll find a 1GHz OMAP processor, and a newly updated version of Android 2.2. On the back, you’ll find an 8MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash. There’s an HDMI port as well, allowing you to watch the videos you’ve recorded with the handset on your TV, or other external display. Motorola includes a 16GB microSD memory card in the box, which will add to the 8GB of on board storage already preinstalled. You can pick up the Droid X for $199.99 on a new, two-year contract. [REVIEW]

Samsung Fascinate

The second-largest handset for Verizon, the Samsung Fascinate shares plenty of features with its Galaxy S brethren which have their own place on other networks globally. The Fascinate features primarily a 4-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, along with the 1GHz Hummingbird processor under the hood. You can use the device as a 3G mobile hotspot, and you’ll find integrated WiFi on board as well. Samsung features their proprietary TouchWiz 3.0 User Interface atop Android 2.1. On the back of the device, you’ll find a 5MP camera on the back with LED flash. You can pick up the Fascinate for $199.99. [REVIEW]

HTC Droid Incredible

Featuring a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display, the Droid Incredible is a pillar for Verizon. Manufactured by HTC, the device features an updated version of Android 2.2, along with the company’s Sense User Interface. You’ll find a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, making sure that the device reacts to your touches as quickly as possible. There’s an 8MP camera on the back of the device, with dual LED flash. The device just took a price cut for the holiday season, and can now be purchased for $149.99. [REVIEW]

Mobile Phones – AT&T

iPhone 4

The iPhone has been synonymous with the AT&T network since 2007, and in this holiday shopping season, it’s no different. The latest version of the iPhone brings plenty of alterations and improvements over the previous model. First and foremost, the Retina Display offers up the sharpest resolution for any mobile phone available on the market now, with a resolution of 960 x 640 — with 326 pixels per inch, and a 800:1 contrast ratio. The device features a revolutionized body, compared to previous iPhone models, with an external antenna. You’ll find a 1GHz A4 processor inside the device, and the most updated version of Apple’s iOS 4 mobile Operating System. The device comes in two flavors: a 16GB model for $199, or a 32GB version for $299. You’ll get access to iTunes, as well as the iBooks catalogue of reading material, and the App Store, where you’ll be able to download all of your favorite apps right to your device. [REVIEW]

Samsung Focus

The Samsung Focus is one of the devices featuring Microsoft’s brand new Windows Phone 7 mobile Operating System. AT&T is the premiere network partner for Microsoft in the United States, so it’s no surprise that the carrier is getting the cream of the crop. The Focus, which is set to launch on November 8th for the network, features a 4-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, and is powered by a 1GHz processor. You’ll find Windows Phone 7, in its unaltered glory, along with access to Xbox LIVE, as well as the Zune Marketplace. There’s a 5MP camera on the back of the handset, and the Focus features 8GB of on board storage right out of the box. However, you’ll be able to expand memory with an external microSD card, all the way up to 32GB. You’ll be able to pick up the Focus this holiday season for $199.99. [REVIEW]

Samsung Captivate

The Galaxy S variant for AT&T, the Captivate was the first Galaxy S device to launch in the United States. Featuring a 4-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, along with Android 2.1 under the hood running the show, the Capacitive is easily the best Android-based handset available on AT&T at present. There’s the same 1GHz Hummingbird processor inside, and you’ll still find Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz 3.0 User Interface in full effect. The device is a 3G-enabled handset, as well. There’s a 5MP camera on the back, which offers up HD video recording. There’s WiFi, Bluetooth connectivity, as well as GPS. The Captivate can be yours for $199.99. [REVIEW]

Mobile Phones – T-Mobile

T-Mobile G2

The T-Mobile G2 is as true a successor to the original HTC G1 as anyone could expect, featuring a landscape slider physical QWERTY keyboard, and a vanilla Android experience. You’ll find an 800MHz processor under the hood, and the ability to connect to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ (4G) network. There’s a 5MP camera on the back, and an 8GB microSD card included, preinstalled. If the G2 sounds like the perfect holiday present for a loved one, you can pick one up for $199.99. [REVIEW]

HTC HD7

While AT&T may be the premiere carrier for Windows Phone 7 in the United States, that doesn’t mean that there’s no devices with the new mobile Operating System heading to any other network. T-Mobile is getting their own handset to promote the OS by the time this holiday shopping season kicks off, and they’re doing so in a big way. With the upcoming launch of the HTC HD7, featuring the largest display of any Windows Phone 7 handset at 4.3-inches, WP7 and T-Mobile are looking to make a splash. There’s a 1GHz processor inside, and you’ll also find 576MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. There’s 16GB of flash memory on board thanks to the preinstalled microSD card, but it’s not meant to be replaceable by the user, so there’s no expandable memory. You’ll find a 5MP camera on the back of the device, and like the HTC EVO 4G, there’s a kick-stand on the back of the handset. The HD7 will be available soon for $199.99. [REVIEW]

HTC myTouch 4G

The myTouch brand is still alive and well for T-Mobile USA, and they’ve certainly added a worthy contender to the lineage with the release of the myTouch 4G. Much like the T-Mobile G2 before it, the myTouch 4G is perfectly capable of connecting to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ (4G) network. You’ll also find good use of the front-facing camera for video calls. On the back, there’s a 5MP camera, with an LED flash. There’s an 8GB microSD card included in the package as well, but there’s room for expandable memory as well. Inside, a 1GHz processor makes sure that the whole show keeps clipping along at a nice pace. HTC has included a customized User Interface on the myTouch 4G, which is a bit like Sense, and yet different in some areas. The device also features WiFi calling. The myTouch 4G can be yours for only $199.99. [REVIEW]

Microsoft’s KIN was arguably scuppered by Verizon’s insistence on pairing the starter-smartphone with a mandatory full-price data plan; customers weren’t convinced, and the KIN ONE and KIN TWO were pulled from shelves in July. Now, it seems, Verizon is giving the KIN a second chance; according to a device overview from the carrier leaked to PPCGeeks, both handsets will return sometime this quarter.

Verizon spoilt KIN with data the first time, and if Engadget‘s sources are correct, they’ll be doing the same thing the second time as well. They’ve heard that the two phones will be completely debundled from data services, with Zune Pass access over WiFi.

That means no mobile uploads from the KIN ONE’s 5-megapixel camera or the KIN TWO’s 8-megapixel camera, and the data-heavy “Loop” sharing feature and other functionality of that sort “are out”. They suggest it’s a way to clear out any remaining inventory before the end of the year; we’re still not impressed.