Tuesday was a big big day at Smartphone Experts. Not only did we have comprehensive coverage of the new iPhone 3.0 software announcement (and more keeps coming here) at The iPhone Blog, over at CrackBerry.com we had one of the very first hands-on with the BlackBerry "Niagara" 9630. If you add in late developments like some additional Windows Mobile 6.5 features sneaking out at WMExperts and anticipation that the Nokia E71 will finally hit AT&T at Nokia Experts, you make for a fairly exciting week in the smartphone world.

Read on for the Best of SPE!

Android Central

We're still in all sorts of limbo in the Android world. Firstly, the "cupcake" update is currently looking like it may be unlikely to land on the T-Mobile G1. Secondly, we want more devices! The good news on that front is HTC has plenty lined up for 2009, we may see Motorola produce some Android smartphones, and Samsung also looks to be getting in on the Android act soon too.

There looks to be plenty of great new Android features on the horizon, too. With circular zoom, video recording, and live folders all on tap, the Android platform is definitely not standing pat.

CrackBerry.com

Niagara Niagara NIAGARA! CrackBerry Kevin got his hands on the BlackBerry "Niagara" 9630 this week and despite an early-beta OS which made using the device difficult, gave the hardware a thorough hands-on review. CDMA users will be in for a real treat when this device gets released. Also emerging on the net this week was a spy shot of the BlackBerry "Gemini." On the apps front, Pandora has finally (finally!) come to BlackBerry and the open beta for SmrtGuard is causing quite a stir.

Nokia Experts

There are some amazing devices coming soon running the S60 operating system and Rafe and Steve had a chance to spend time with the compelling Samsung OMNIA HD. 3rd party application support is a strong part of the S60 platform and some of our favorite free and priced apps were highlighted this week. While you have been able to watch YouTube via the web browser, there is now a dedicated YouTube client for S60 devices. We've been anxiously looking for Nokia to come to US wireless carriers and it looks like the fabulous E71 may be coming to AT&T this next week.

PreCentral.net

The release date wait-a-thon for the Palm Pre continues with April looking less likely but "first half os 2009" still solid. Meanwhile we've finally pinned down how much RAM the Palm Pre has and perhaps even the Original Device Manufacturer for the device. We've also confirmed that the Pre will get free updates that will be easily applied. The big news, however, has to be that Palm the company really and truly is hanging on by the thinnest of threads and needs the Pre to be a big success to stay alive -- hopefully the insurance payout for a warehouse robbery will arrive soon, because Palm could use the cash.

The iPhone Blog

Previously on theiPhoneblog.com: This past Tuesday, Apple unveiled iPhone 3.0, which includes system-wide copy/paste (text, formatting, links, and pictures), MMS (picture, contact vCard, audio, location), stereo Bluetooth, system-wide Spotlight search (email, events, contacts, and apps), Push Notification Service, tethering, pervasive landscape keyboard, and a host of other features, gave the App Store subscription pricing and in-App purchases, and developers P2P connectivity and perhaps most transforming -- Dock port and Bluetooth connectivity for accessories. The first beta is already out and general release is promised for "summer 2009". With 100 new features and 1000 new APIs announced in total, check our massive iPhone 3.0 news roundup or listen to our iPhone Live! podcast coverage for more.

Meanwhile, rumors of 3rd and even 4th generation iPhone hardware are running wild with specs including OLED screens, multi-core GPUs that can work as CPUs thanks to OpenCL, faster Internet speeds (802.11n and/or 3.5G HSPDA+ networking), and a higher megapixel camera with video recording and editing built in. Anyone still think we're crazy for predicting an iPhone HD?

TreoCentral

At TreoCentral we learned that the Sprint Treo Pro finally went on sale on Sunday, March 15th, as expected after being delayed. Plus Dieter answered your Treo Pro questions, and Annie reported on what Infoworld and CNET think of the Sprint Treo Pro. In other news, Palm posted their Q3 FY09 results which were grim as expected. Palm seems to be virtually bleeding money and a warehouse robbery of $5 million sure didn't help. But we hope that the Pre will revive Palm when it's released within the next 15 weeks.

WMExperts

We're now a week removed from the launch of the long-awaited Sprint Treo Pro, which finally saw the light of day. Speaking of phones, the Verizon re-released the Motorola Q9C. We've also gotten a pretty good look at what Sprint has planned for the next several months, and more specs on a number of HTC phones we hope to see in the near future.

We saw a decent amount of Windows Mobile 6.5 news as well. Widgets were confirmed, the honeycomb menu is out, and we got an hourlong video rundown of 6.5 at the MIX09 conference in Las Vegas.

The week also saw the release of a native YouTube application, some furor over why there aren't any capactive touchscreens for Windows Mobile and poked a little fun at our friends at The iPhone Blog.

Welcome to Around SPE, where we highlight the big news of the week from around the network in a format that's more than just a list-o-bullets. This week we're putting the spotlight on Android Central, which saw a fairly hefty redesign on Wednesday night. Search, registration, commenting, navigation, the whole shootin' match is all much improved.

We're also proud to announce that Android Central made a donation to Olin College to help students there develop mobile applications (with a special focus on Android, naturally). You can find out more information about the class here, or better yet -- go check out the applications already in development this early in the semester!

In Android news, we caught word that Amazon was selling the Black G1 for a measly $97.99. Then it got even better with Costco offering the G1 for $79.99, a whole $100 off! Why the discounts? Recession? Pressure from the HTC Magic? Finally, the long awaited Cupcake update is supposed to come to Android by April. Paid apps came to the UK Android Market. And we wondered whether the T-Mobile G2 (aka HTC Magic) was going to show up at CTIA.

Now for the roundup of the week's news from our other SPE sites!

CrackBerry.com

As we march through March, the BlackBerry world is yet again in a state of anticipation. On the app side of things, Facebook users are waiting for version 1.5 to be released, which thanks to a leak over the weekend many device owners running OS4.6 are already taking advantage of. RIM also promised that we'd see the rollout of BlackBerry App World this month, which should happen at CTIA in the weeks ahead. On the device front, CDMA users are getting stoked over the BlackBerry "Niagara" 9630, which must be getting closer to an official announcement as even more device photos have hit the net. And in the area of entertainment, Vodafone and McLaren got together with a couple of F1 & BlackBerry Storm fans to put out what has to be one of the sweetest pieces of corporate viral advertising to hit the interwebs in a while.

Nokia Experts

When Matthew Miller isn't busy appearing on the radio to talk about Nokia, he's keeping a close eye on Nokia's doings in the US. The latest: Nokia still doesn't seem to have worked out a solid strategy for a US invasion. Their big Comes With Music announcements and new music-centric phones all seem pointedly not bound for US release. Could US carriers be giving Nokia the brush-off because they're not interested in giving up any potential revenue to the Scandanavian giant? (signs point to yes). Regardless, the future Symbian roadmap should hold our interest even if US Carriers are yawning.

(Also: belated happy birthday and get well soon, Matt!)

PreCentral.net

This past week Palm pulled in enough cash to survive through the Pre launch amidst a PR mini-assault that included both a call in to Howard Stern and a yawner of a webinar. We did manage to glean some info from the presentation, however, including the details on Sprint's Palm Pre service planes and a look at a browser that appears to be 4 times faster than the iPhone's.

Oh, and did you see the Palm Pre appear on Jimmy Fallon?. We did and let us tell you, it was the perfect antidote for having to watch Palm backtrack on Roger McNamee's Palm Pre Hyperbole.. Hey, nobody's Prefect.

The iPhone Blog

Previously on theiphoneblog.com: Apple's iPhone 3.0 Preview Event kicks off this Tuesday, March 17 at 1pm EDT/10am PDT. TiPb will be providing live meta-blog coverage, so be sure to check the front page and join us. Rumors include MMS, Tethering, also new SpringBoard (home screen app launcher), Cut and Paste, Push Notifications, and Compass functionality, and a Premium App Store for +$20 apps. Be sure to hit our iPhone Forums and let us know what you want to see in iPhone OS 3.0!

Meanwhile Apple updated us to iTunes 8.1 with iTunes DJ, and debuted a new iPod suffle. The App Store rejected Tweetie 3.1, a Twitter client, but then changed their minds. And Google shut down Infinite SMS.

TreoCentral

TreoCentral and its sister site PreCentral.net reported that Palm announced they were exercising their right to remarket about 18.5 million common shares underlying 49% of the units of Series C preferred stock and warrants acquired by Elevation Partners in January 2009. Plus, the underwriters will have the right to purchase an additional 2.8 million common shares from Palm to cover over-allotments, if any. TreoCentral also talked about the 8K SEC filing (warning of lots of risks) Palm did to accompany their announcement.  Dieter and Mike talked up lots of interesting Palm stuff in their latest PalmCast, Episode 61, including their eulogy to the PalmOS, chatting about Roger McNamee's hijinks, and the Sprint Treo Pro and Internet Explorer Mobile 6.

WMExperts

We ended the week at WMExperts with a full review of the all new consumer-level smartphone on AT&T, the dual-sliding Matrix Pro.  The Matrix might not be the device for power-users, but it's an interesting form-factor (and solid upgrade) for consumers. Our real excitement, though, was the announcement that GrandCentral has returned as Google Voice.

Slightly bigger news for WinMo fans is that Microsoft has announced developer details surrounding Windows Marketplace and the details are good, but not jump-out-of-your-chair great. Check out our podcast for some analysis.

In a sense, it was a calm after the Mobile World Congress storm this week, but we got together and recorded a massive hour-and-a-half-long Smartphone Experts Roundtable Podcast to discuss all the news from Windows Mobile 6.5 to the Ovi app Store to Apple's "absent presence" at the show.

If you didn't realize, SPE has four podcasts for your listening pleasure: the CrackBerry.com Podcast, the Phone Different Podcast (with the occasional iPhone LIVE! show), the PalmCast on both TreoCentral and PreCentral.net, and finally the WMExperts Podcast. The bold and daring may even want to try the (still in Beta, since it's based on the somewhat unreliable Yahoo Pipes feature) Smartphone Experts Combined Podcast Feed, which puts all four podcasts into a single feed -- also available in iTunes, if that's how you roll.

Now for the roundup of the week's news!

Android Central

On the Android side of things, we have a lively discussion going on about whether or not Android's open source attitude is actually resulting in open results, given that Paid apps aren't showing up on Unlocked G1s, that outlook isn't as rosy as we'd like -- even Symbian is talking trash on the subject! Meanwhile we're watching to see if and when Android will show up on AT&T. We're also eyeing two potential new handsets from Yuhua and General Mobile

CrackBerry.com

CrackBerry's Birthday festivities overshadowed the news this week and if you hurry you might be able to get in on some contests. Most contest draws end tonight (Sunday night) at Midnight PST. You can click here for the full list of CrackBerry contests (including a new BlackBerry Curve 8900 custom painted by ColorWare!). As for actual BlackBerry news, there is excitement over the CDMA version of the Bold thanks to new details emerging and Mac + BlackBerry users have a new media syncing with doubleTwist!

Nokia Experts

The economic situation is impacting just about everyone Nokia is trying out some unique programs to try to reduce costs. OPK also made a single comment this week that has many jumping to the conclusion that Nokia will be entering the laptop business, but I think it is too early to really stated that. Unfortunately, Nokia had a difficult week with the very confusing 5800 XpressMusic launch here in the U.S. and needs to get their act together if they really want to increase sales here. Our Nokia Experts Launch Contest is now over and we'll be picking the winners soon.

PreCentral.net

While we're doing our level best not to be too jealous of the Celebrities getting the Palm Pre, the biggest news of the week has come in terms of webOS development. There were quite a few details to be gleaned from the developer web presentation, leaving us both hot and cold on the widget platform. Yes, we're still trying to pin down a Pre release date, right now the feeling on the web is that later is more likely than sooner.

The iPhone Blog

Previously, on TiPb: Apple gave MobileMe a facelift just in time for the new Safari 4 beta. Meanwhile, the App Store cleaned out non-customer reviews, banished Emoji-enablers, and just said "No!" to Howard Stern and the Sirius/XM radio iPhone app.

Microsoft talked iPhone. AT&T talked iPhone (and slapped a customer with a $28K bill!). And Apple? They didn't say much at their annual shareholders meeting. But they did sing Happy Birthday to Steve Jobs on his 54th!

TreoCentral

At TreoCentral we heard that for the 2nd time in 2009, Deutsche Bank analyst Jonathan Goldberg raised his rating on PALM, this time bumping it us to a Buy.  There was an interesting Smartphone Experts Roundtable Podcast in which the editors discussed Mobile World Congress 2009.  Plus, we heard that the CDMA Treo Pro has been officially released on Bell Canada, while Sprint customers here in the states are still waiting for the smartphone. A post in the forums does give a bit of hope for a 3/15 release though.

WMExperts

So much for a post-Mobile World Congress hangover. WMExperts learned with great relief that the HTC Touch Pro 2 is destined for North America. And speaking of HTC, we saw updates to the orginial Touch Pro as well as the Touch Diamond. Both also are scheduled for release in Europe through T-Mobile.

The Sprint Treo Pro is on pre-sale at Best Buy.The Celio REDFLY finally is playing nice with Opera 9.5. Speaking of browsers, Mozilla's "Fennec" browser will sync tabs from your desktop and will be known simply as "Firefox," and we got in deep with the Iris browser.

And, finally, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer laid out plans for the company at his Strategic Update Meeting, where he talked about Windows Mobile, and again mentioned that WM7 will come out in 2010.

With our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn off in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, the inmates site editors are left running Around SPE this week. So, while he'll be breaking news and giving us some hands-on observations on all the new software and hardware on display, we'll be keeping you covered here at home, starting with a quick recap of where we are right now:

CrackBerry.com

The BIG new this week comes from the CrackBerry Podcast. Kevin was in NYC on for a RIM Business Solutions Press Preview. While there, him and Craig recorded a podcast and for the first time had an employee from Research in Motion on the show. Joined by Mike Kirkup, Manager of Developer Relations, they tackle a bunch of topics from the upcoming App Store to OS 5.0 and whether or not Flash support will appear in a BlackBerry browser and more! Listen Here.

More after the break!

Android Central

We also wondered why Google would comply with Apple's request to leave multi-touch out of the G1. Hint: It has something to do with maintaining a great relationship with Apple. Read: Google still wants to play nice with Apple to get iPhone eyes on Google AdSense.

Nokia Experts

Some topics of interest this week on Nokia Experts includes the amazing Nokia Maps 3.0 beta update, Nokia 5800 firmware update, Nokia E63 availability in the US for just $279, and the announcement of the Nokia 5630 with 600 MHz processor.

PreCentral

We also had more Touchstone details to emerge when Adam Kaufman, a Product Manager at Palm started answering questions on Facebook.  Plus, many people are wondering if the Palm Pre made an appearance on the TV show "Knight Rider".  

The iPhone Blog

Maybe jailbreakers, as the EFF asking the US government to grant it an exemption from the DMCA has Apple declaring jailbreaking illegal. (Oops, we just jailbroke live for xGPS on the last podcast!). Lastly, Google gave us Spreadsheet editing, but did Apple deny the Android multi-touch and... a 3.5mm headphone jack?!

TreoCentral

We also learned this week that the Sprint Treo Pro is now targeted for a March 15th launch, and that some Sprint stores are now getting re-stocked with new Treo Pro's with the new ROM on board. And even though the Sprint Treo Pro is delayed, it was great to hear that Palm's stock has neared double-digits.

WMExperts

After the completion of the hectic Smartphone Round Robin, your faithful bloggers at Smartphone Experts decided to keep things moving along at a heady clip. In the past week we have published somewhere in the neighborhood of 175 stories, from accessory and software reviews to news to the latest rumors. That's a lot to keep track of, so we're bringing back our regular "Around SPE" feature to give you a quick summary of what you may have missed in a format that's more helpful than just a list of links.

In that vein, our biggest recent news is that our newest sister site, Nokia Experts is starting strong with a launch contest. If you would like to earn some chances at winning a Nokia E71 or Nokia N85, make sure to enter the contest each week. There are two weeks left to go, so check back as each week we're changing up how you can enter to win!

There's plenty more smartphone news you may have missed, so read on!

Android Central

The big news over at Android Central is the new Android firmware upgrade. The update includes Google Latitude, Voice Search, and much, much more. If you're interested in trying the new version of Android and don't want to wait for your official update, we tell you how to install it here.

Meanwhile we're tracking some potential new Android devices from the likes of Samsung, HTC, and maybe even Dell and Acer. We're expecting there will be a huge number of Android devices hitting in 2009, so stay tuned!

CrackBerry.com

In the BlackBerry world it was a week for the Storm owners. On the operating system front, they got an unofficial update leaked out amidst a flurry of rumored versions of upcoming ROM improvements.

On the app front, while everyone awaits the launch of the BlackBerry App Store, the effects of app mania are already setting in. A Storm-ified version of Slacker Personal Radio was released and over the weekend the first BlackBerry Lightsaber app emerged. Keep your eyes on CrackBerry.com this week for a Fart App Roundup. Seriously.

Nokia Experts

Besides the above-mentioned launch contest, we already have some reviews up, including ones for Spb Wallet 2 for S60, Nokia N79 first impressions, and a full review of the new 5800 XpressMusic touch screen S60 device.

You will find some great content and discussions going on over on Nokia Experts with thoughts on why Nokia is not a major player in the U.S., why Nokia's Download! utility drives me crazy, some of my favorite S60 applications, and what motivates me to use Nokia and S60 devices on a daily basis. Come visit and participate in the active discussion.

The iPhone Blog

This week TiPb brought you more iPhone 3.0 speculation and also pondered the possibility of improved multitasking on the iPhone. We also asked "What do you want in MobileMe Take 2?"

The headliner for the week had to be Google, though. So we took a look at Google's new Latitude feature in Google Maps and their new web-based Tasks functionality. Google also brought us an incredible new Books web interface for the iPhone, which got us thinking: might we see an Amazon Kindle app for the iPhone?

PreCentral.net

Over at PreCentral.net we are still trying to pin down just when when the darn Palm Pre is going to be released. While realistic expectations and recent reports suggest a May release, we've received umpteen users reports that Sprint representative are still telling users that the Pre will be launched on February 15th. A date that early seems as likely as free money delivered by unicorns, but we'll be watching it nonetheless.

Meanwhile we're starting to help get out users pre-pared for the Pre by discussing how to get your data off your PC and into the cloud. We started with the Mac, but the PC and even Linux are coming soon, so be sure to check back.

TreoCentral.com

Over at TreoCentral we learned that a SEC 8K form filed by Palm has revealed that Elevation's $100 million equity deal gave them the right to appoint an additional director for election on Palm's board. Donna Dubinsky, Palm's former CEO and one of the original founders, offered her resignation without any disagreement. Elevation nominated Rajiv Dutta in Dubinski's place. 

We also learned this week that a Sprint EOL document revealing that the Sprint Treo 755p will be "End Of Life'd" around May and replaced by the Palm Pre. Of course, our forums have been on fire with users reporting that Sprint reps are telling them the Palm Pre will be released on February 15th.

WMExperts

WMExperts began to feel the exitement surrounding this month's Mobile World Congress with previews of new devices such as the Toshiba TG01 and Acer DX900.  We also saw the time table for Windows Mobile become better defined, while leaks of version 6.5 keep popping up.

Last but certainly not least, we learned more about Microsoft's Skybox service and that we might be calling it My Phone.