Fujitsu IS12T Mango phone ready to launch August 25th, already accepting preorders?

By Brad Molen posted Aug 20th 2011 3:19PM When we first learned of the Fujitsu IS12T, the world's first handset sporting Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango," it was rumored to be showing up in the second half of August. Our hopes were crushed, however, when the company officially stated that it should be available the following month "or beyond." Sure, a September launch would still be on right on time (given Microsoft's intent of releasing the update this fall), but wouldn't it be nice to see something come out ahead of schedule? Chin up, folks -- the Au KDDI store in Nishi-Kasai tweeted that the IS12T will be released this coming Thursday and is already accepting preorders. And there's more to the story: even though Nanopho reports that multiple locations are busy taking reservations, Au's official site is still sticking to its guns about the phone's September release. Given the tug-of-war taking place between the stores and their corporate boss, next week may turn out to be quite interesting.

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Motorola's XT531 hits the FCC, ready for its US crossover

By Joseph Volpe posted Aug 19th 2011 4:17PM

Motorola's XT531 has gone through more name changes than a certain rapper-cum-vodka shilling mogul, and the trend might continue as it makes its way to the US. The budget-friendly handset, known as the Fire XT in Europe and the Spice XT in Latin America, has just surfaced at the FCC toting AT&T-compatible GSM bands, UMTS / HSDPA 850MHz / 1900MHz support, WiFi and Bluetooth. Based on Moto's official PR for the handset's Chinese release, we know this 3.5-incher also sports a front-facing VGA / 5 megapixel rear camera, and is set to launch with Android 2.3 onboard. With Google's newest pal clearly chasing after heat-related naming conventions, we expect to see this one launch with an equally caliente moniker.

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