In a move that Sprint clearly hopes will fuel the iPhone vs. Instinct fires, the company today announced that it would be selling its lauded touchscreen phone starting June 20th for a price point of just $129.99. Of course, that takes into account a new two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate, but it still comes in lower than the expected $199.99 price tag we'd been hearing about. Oddly, to activate the phone Sprint stipulates that you have to choose one of their unlimited data plans -- which start at a minimum of $69.99 per month (with 450 minutes of talk-time) -- so monthly costs hover right on level with AT&T's iPhone options... unsurprisingly.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Unfortunately, we've yet to hear if the Digifriends MID we toyed with at CES will be updated before launching in the US of A, but either way, you can bank on it coming. Reportedly, Peter Kim, the project supervisor at Digifriends USA, has informed Pocketables that the unit spotted in January will be arriving Stateside with "contracted sales through Sprint and NextWave." Pricing remains a mystery, but we're told to expect said unit to be available "very soon." The edge of our seat can barely take all of this pressure.

Update: Peter Kim pinged us to say: "We have made contact with Sprint and NextWave, but have not yet made contracts with them."

You already knew Nokia's evolutionary N96 was all set to be shipped in the fall, but it's about time Nokia came clean with the release information on its leaked-out-everywhere E-series. While Anssi Vanjoki, senior executive vice president of Nokia Markets, didn't specify model numbers, it's widely assumed that the E66 and E71 handsets are included when he states that "a group of E-series multimedia computers" will be brought to market in Q3. No mention of a price or expected launch regions, but at least you've a quarter to circle in your date book, yeah?

After seeing that spy shot and the Amazon link with an April release date, it seemed like Canon's Rebel XSi was bound to drop any moment, but now that may not be the case. According to the latest info plastered up at the online-retailer, you won't be able to get your hands on the new DSLR until June 15th, which is basically a lifetime if you've been waiting on this. It could just be a minor mixup, but frankly we're not holding our breath.

Update: According to a number of commenters, this camera is available pretty widely right now. Apparently, Amazon is the only place on Earth where the release is being delayed. Sweet!

[Thanks, Kirill]

If your pants / panties were in a "bunch" upon hearing news that Windows 7 would be headed into your ever-loving arms "next year," you might just want to hold off on those party invites for a little bit. Sure, Bill Gates just happened to mention that we'd see a new version of the OS "Sometime in the next year or so," but it's looking like that "or so" makes a world of difference. Microsoft wants to chill everyone out with the somber news that its got no plans to introduce Windows 7 any earlier than January 2010 (three years from the launch of Vista), and reassure us that crazy old Gates may have just been talkin' developer speak. "As is standard with the release of a new product, we will be releasing early builds of Windows 7 prior to its general availability as a means to gain tester feedback," a spokesman for Microsoft said, downplaying Gates' statement. Of course, this means that XP's cutoff will suddenly move even further down the line, which makes us wonder what the point of setting that June 2010 date was in the first place. Why are you toying with us like this, Microsoft?

[Thanks, Tony]

Good news for those not-so-patiently awaiting the launch of Cowon's totally hopped up Q5W (formerly known as the Q5) -- the US-bound uber-PMP is set to launch next week for slightly more jack than we heard earlier this year. Specs wise, we're looking at a 5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display, 128MB of DDR2 SDRAM, 64MB of Flash memory, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, WinCE 5.0, a voice recorder, photo / text viewer, USB connectivity and support for more file formats than you can shake a flip-out antenna at. 'Course, such a well-spec'd unit won't come sans a premium, so don't be too shocked when you see that the 40GB version will run you $549.99 while the 60GB iteration demands an extra $50.

For those of you whose salivary glands have been working overtime when thinking about Sony's new PlayStation Eye PS3 camera accessory (and we're sure there's at least one or two of you), you better go get a napkin. According to reports, the interactive, VGA cam will be heading out to stores bundled with Hasrbo's RPG / card game The Eye of Judgment on October 23rd, for the shockingly low price of $69.99. No word on whether that bundle will include the EyeCreate editing software, or when / if the Eye will be available on its own. Hey -- you'll probably want the game anyhow.

Heads up, Zune fans -- some new product is heading your way sooner rather than later, and we suspect there's more than a couple of things to get jazzed about. According to reports from a "source" inside Microsoft, a new batch of Zunes (AKA Zune 2, Draco, Scorpio, etc.) are due out on October 16th (just in time for the holidays), in both flash memory- and hard drive-based forms. The new, smaller, flash Zune (the Draco) will be hitting shelves in pink, red, black, or army green colors, will have a 4GB or 8GB capacity, and will feature a "squircle" (the source's term, not ours) for navigation, which won't have a center button but can be pushed, "From any side." The hard drive-based player (the Scorpio) will be available in 80GB, sports the soon-to-be infamous "squircle," and touts a screen which the source claims is "awesome" for video. We can safely say that there is at least one man out there who is going to be very, very excited about this.

[Thanks, Tyler]

C'mon, don't act surprised -- it's not like you didn't know Windows Home Server was on the home stretch. Nevertheless, if a date prominently listed on Microsoft's own Support Lifecycle website is to be believed, WHS will be "generally available" on August 27, 2007, and it also lists the mainstream support retirement date as October 9, 2012. Of course, we wouldn't place our bets on pre-fabricated boxes to start shipping with the software on the 27th, but if you hunt hard enough, you're likely to find it in one channel or another. Circle the date folks, yet another new flavor of Windows is nearly here.

[Via I Started Something]

Take it for what you will, but a forum jockey over at Eeeuser claims to be up on the hubbub regarding the release details of the Eee PC for the US. According to the poster's "high ranking manager" source within ASUS North America, three models of the Eee PC will ship. Of these, two will ship to the US in late September: a $269-$299 model with 7-inch display, 2GB of storage (4GB was the previously stated minimum), 4- or 6-cell battery, 512MB or memory and built-in WiFi; and a $369-399 model which bumps the storage to 4GB. Both models will be available in black or white with those 4- and 6-cell batteries delivering up to 4- and 5-hours of runtime, respectively. Unfortunately, that hotly anticipated $200 model will not be making its way into the North American market. So while it looks like we'll be getting less flash for more money, none of this is official until ASUS says it's so, ok?

[Thanks, Ken]

Granted, nothing was set in stone in regard to the Eee PC's release date, but those hoping to snag one before heading off to college may be out of luck. According to a user who inquired to Asus about the launch status of the diminutive machine here in the US, he was informed that current estimates show the device "hitting the market in mid-September to early-October." Unfortunately, the response also included the wee fact that specifications aren't yet "100-percent firm," and considering that the aforementioned dates are mere months away, that kind of uncertainty isn't exactly comforting.

[Via Eee User, thanks Devon]

Alrighty, we've got ourselves a release window for the Q1 Ultra; Samsung's busting this thing out in May, which means we have about a month to figure out if we're willing to sacrifice the slickness of the onscreen keyboard foisted upon us by 1st generation UMPCs with the actual convenience of being able to type. While that added width might look a tad frumpy, what's clear is that the specs and connectivity here are enough to melt the hardest of hearts -- for instance, that 1024 x 600 LED backlit LCD isn't going to hurt anyone's feelings. As it so happens, May will mark the one year anniversary of the Q1, oh how time flies when you're stuck in unproductive tablet / handheld limbo.

Clever Microsoft's been stringing us along since May with the pricing and release dates for the launch of their new 360 peripheral line, but it looks like we've got the final details, announced today at the Leipzig Game Convention. The Live Vision camera will launch September 19th in the US and October 6th in Europe, either "alone" (for $39, which includes one month of Live Gold service, a headset, and Uno and TotemBal;) or bundled in the Video Chat Gold Kit (for $79, which includes 1 year of Live Gold service, headset, Uno, TotemBall, Robotron, and 200 Microsoft points); the Wireless Racing Wheel will go for $149 and comes bundled with a force-feedback edition of PGR3 when released in November; the Wireless Headset will launch at $59, also in November; the Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows will go for $20 in late December (remember, this is the one that lets you use your wireless 360 devices on your PC). Still no word on the grandaddy of all 360 peripherals, the HD DVD drive, but we think it's pretty clear by now what kind of price it should retail for, and when.

We all kinda thought (and hoped, and wished) that the Pleo would be out for the 2006 buying season, but it looks like the ultimate dino-bot's about to handily overshoot the mark by a few months. According to PleoBot, Ugobe's Khristine Valdez said that pre-orders for the baby beast could be taken December 24th, with expected deliveries and retail presence in early March 2007. Kind of weak to hand over a printout on Christmas morning to your kid that reads IOU1bot, but hey, you can't rush extinction-reversing prefection.