It's amazing the kinds of neat things that can happen once you manage to turn lemons into even just a drop or two of bittersweet lemonade. Take Motorola, for example: a manufacturer that's fallen on hard times by even the loosest definitions manages to turn a sliver of profit for itself, and boom, suddenly you've got yourself a shiny new CEO and a smiling analyst or two. Jim Suva of Citi Investments seems to be going to bat for Moto at a time when everyone was just about ready to abandon ship, saying that the most recent earnings announcement represented the "early innings a gradual steady improvement", expressing confidence that new CEO Jha's hiring was a good thing, and hooking up the company's stock with a "buy" rating. 'Round here, we judge a company's success mainly by the greatness of its hardware, but you need solid financials to fund the R&D to make said hardware happen -- so we suppose this really could be a solid start to a genuine turnaround.

Okay, Samsung, we get it: you're really good at pounding out the cheap clamshells. Point taken. Oh, what's that, you say? You still feel like you have something to prove? Oh, well then by all means, dump another couple $20 flips on Sprint! Please, we insist. As expected, it looks like we'll all have the fabulous opportunity to pick up our choice of the M220 or M320 for $19.99 come September 2, offering Bluetooth, speakerphone, and in the case of the M320, a VGA camera.

Out of the Moto camp, we get the i365 ruggedized brickphone for iDEN fanboys and fangirls -- you know who you are, so stop looking around -- which will run $90 and include Bluetooth despite its early-90s appeal. Finally, the most exciting of the foursome has to be the V950 Renegade, but excitement comes at a cost: $199.99, to be exact. In this case, your pair of Benjamins is going to net you QChat capability, Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel cam, microSD expansion, and external music controls, which makes it just about the coolest Direct Connect phone going. Line starts over here, folks.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

The follow-on to Motorola's sporty and moderately popular (for a stereo bluetooth headset, anyway) S9 may not have launched yet -- a disappointment, considering the original plan for a Q2 release when it was announced at CES -- but perhaps a little last-minute paint job was the reason for the delay. We've now spotted the S9-HD in a bright white getup with blue accents, a far cry from the black of the model shown at CES (and presumably still slated for launch) or the red of the original, but let's not kid ourselves: this one has a way better chance of finding its way into an ear canal or two. Hopefully we'll see it within a few weeks -- just in time for a successor to be launched at CES 2009, no doubt.

Hmm, Hov, you may want to check the fine print on whatever deal you've got with Moto, because these Jay-Z-branded MOTOROKR S7-HD Bluetooth headset aren't exactly big pimpin' -- and compared to Dre's big ol' cans, they look downright sad. Of course, the FCC's legendarily nasty product photography isnt helping here, but even A2DP stereo support and the integrated mic can't salvage this mess -- was this really worth unretiring for?

[Via Crave]

We're going to confess a dirty little secret here: when we first started playing with the VE20, we didn't realize it was being branded and marketed as a RAZR. As we used it, though, it quickly became evident -- no one had to tell us this was a kindred spirit of the V3. For better or worse, the shape of the phone -- everything from the tapered upper edge of the display to the "chin" beneath the keypad -- looks and feels like an obvious evolution. You might call it a stepping stone in between the V3 and the V9, and considering that the V3 gets closer to its last breath on store shelves with each passing day (or so we hope), Moto and Sprint need something to slot in there beneath the mighty RAZR 2.

Call us insane, but for what the VE20 is, we liked it. It doesn't pretend to be a do-all, end-all superphone, nor does it try to wow you with its premium materials; it's just a decent midrange flip with what seems to be excellent build quality. The screen is exceptionally bright, clear, and rich, and the V9-aping secondary touchscreen is a nice touch (pun intended, of course). One area of concern: it froze up on us once, necessitating a restart, and the music app was completely broken in our tester. Our guess is that this'll be resolved in retail units or via a quick firmware update shortly after launch -- at least, it frigging better be.

The VE20 is available today for $99.99 on contract after rebates.

Mettlesome souls have been swimming in the Windows Mobile 6.1 seas on their Motorola Q9h for a few weeks now, but those waiting (and waiting) on a proper update can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The official ROM update that brings WinMo 6.1 to AT&T's Q9 is all ready for your attention, though we'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that backing up your device beforehand would be an absolutely stellar move. Why spend another minute living in the pre-6.1 era? Get that download a-blazin' and let us know how things turn out.

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

So we don't think Verizon really intended to leak any handset release dates via a slide about Mobile Email launches on various devices -- but alas, they did. At present, the Moto VU30 is scheduled for a September 9 date with destiny, and it seems that its name has changed from "Utopia" to "Rapture" somewhere along the way. Further out, the LG VX8360 (which we're guessing will be an update for the forgettable VX8350) gets real in October -- and unfortunately, that shiny, hot mess of CDMA technology from Nokia, the 7205, appears to be shelved all the way back to December. There's also a u440 "Cleo" from Samsung in there somewhere, too, though no launch window is listed. Anyway, sorry for the interruption, Verizon; please, continue fascinating us with your stories about mobile email.

Some phones just don't have to be cute; not even remotely so. They're too busy getting slung with mud, drenched with water, and baked in the sun to really put a priority on good looks -- and if any class of handsets can really get away with that sort of philosophy, it'd have to be Motorola's iDEN workhorses. The lineup has historically been a favorite of construction crews whose phones have a tendency to take a constant beating, and this should be another hot seller in that vein (for as long as iDEN lasts, anyway): meet the i365, a push-to-talk candybar without a single pretty bone in its entire body. It manages to pack both Bluetooth and GPS, so it's not a total slouch in the feature department -- but rest assured, it dispenses of luxuries like a camera, an intenna, or an expansive display. No word on when it'll launch or where it'll be available, but odds are good you'll never hear about it again unless your boss sets one on your desk.

[Via Phone Scoop]

While legend has it that the Alexander possesses a beauty that only a mother could see, Motorola's Atila looks pretty sharp from here. The codenamed handset is said to be Alexander's non-QWERTY counterpart, boasting quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE, tri-band UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA, a 2.8-inch QVGA (320 x 240) display, 802.11b/g WiFi, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and a Qualcomm 7201A chipset. Mum's the word on a price or release date, but we'll be sure to keep you in the loop.

Uh oh, Moto. Go 'head with your bad self. Just days after posting a meager profit (but a profit nonetheless) and maintaining your position in third in worldwide mobile market share, along comes a report claiming that you're still numero uno in the United States. While handset sales overall shot up 5.3% here in Q2, Motorola maintained a 26% share and managed to stare down at least a few naysayers. In related news, LG held tight to the silver with 22%, while RIM gained a double-digit market share increase thanks to sales of its oh-so-hot BlackBerry handset. Number nerds, feel free to tap the read link for even more fractions and decimals.

[Via RCRWireless]

Dealer documentation seemingly intended for Rogers dealers has, of course, leaked out onto the interwebs, possibly revealing the entirety of the carrier's third quarter offerings. With the exception of the Bold and KickStart / Pearl 8220, there's nothing terribly mind-blowing in the mix, though the lineup does include a pretty healthy range of goodies from the low end to the reasonably high. Highlights include the Sony Ericsson W350a music flip, a phone we've already seen meandering about in AT&T livery, so it comes as little surprise that we'd see it up north as well; the iPAQ 910c Windows Mobile smartphone from HP; and a refreshed RAZR 2 that'll probably mirror the V9x. All of these chewy technological morsels launch (in theory, anyway) by the end of September, which really only serves to makes us wonder: what's on tap up there for the holiday season?