Some photos of Sony Ericsson’s upcoming “Paris” smartphone (that’s its codename, at least) have been floating around lately. The device looks pretty nice, I guess, with a comfortable-looking keyboard and big screen. Is it too big, though? I guess we’ll see.

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I just got back from checking out the zzzPhone and I can say without a doubt that it’s real. It’s definitely not a scam, but the first generation ran into some problems with the manufacturer and they don’t work stateside. I’m told the newest generation is on its way very soon. Maybe within a month. The OS is still uncertain and could be Symbian or Windows CE. Android is also in the works as well as Skype for the upcoming model. An interesting tid bit on the zzzPhone is that there are eight different motherboards to accommodate the customization that’s making the zzzPhone so enticing. Another really cool feature, at least, on the old model is the inclusion of a 20-minute internal backup battery. That’s right, it works without the removable battery for up to 20-minutes. We should be getting a demo unit in the coming weeks of the US-compatible version. Stay tuned.

From what I understand, Nokia cellphones are among the best out there and Windows Mobile is among the worst mobile OS’s out there. So it totally makes sense for Microsoft to put pressure on the Finnish corp to release Windows Mobile phones. Microsoft wants Nokia to move in order to extend “synergies.”

And for no reason, here’s the earliest use of the word “synergy” I could find: “They speak only of such a Synergie, or cooperation, as makes men differ from a sensless stock, or liveless statua, in reference to the great work of his own conversion.” (HEYLIN Hist. Quinquart. I. 9)

Basically, Microsoft wants its Windows Mobile base to grow beyond the 6 percent market share it has now. Nokia’s Symbian already has a 70 percent share. Could be an interesting development, to see how these two play off each other. The thought of running WM on a Nokia is a little off-putting, I must say.

Microsoft urges Nokia to offer Windows Mobile devices [iTWire]

For those who like their phones black and sexy and powerful, there’s the Nokia N82. It’s been rumored for awhile, but the latest addition to the N-series is real, it’s shipping soon, and is badass.

The Wi-Fi, GPS, and 3G GSM phone is running S60 over Symbian, has a 5-Megapixel camera with Xenon flash, and looks amazing. $630, but good to go if you plug in your info at the link below.

Order here, nerd! [via Into Mobile]

Leaks, leaks and more leaks. The Czechs sure are busy. Co chystá Motorola do Barcelony? První fotografie modelu Z12 se Symbianem UIQThis time around it’s Motorola’s Z12 multimedia device. It appears the device has a touch sensitive controls and is said to be running the Symbian UIQ OS. The Z12 is also purported to have GPS, Wi-Fi, 2.8-inch screen and a super high-res camera sensor in the neighborhood of 5-megapixels. We’ll find out next week.

Co chystá Motorola do Barcelony? První fotografie modelu Z12 se Symbianem UIQ [iDNES]

Ask the average American about Symbian and they’ll look at you blankly. In the grand pantheon of mobile OSes, it is the dashing, shadowy figure with the charming accent to sneaks into your life through Nokia and some Sony Ericsson phones.

At its core, Symbian is fairly basic. It works as equally well on a basic candybar phone as it does on one of S-E’s high end personal communicators. Interestingly enough, Symbian — not Sybian (do a Google search) — is also showing up on some Samsung models, mostly in Asia, and partners shipped 20.4 million Symbian smartphones in Q3 adding to the 165 million Symbian phones in circulation. Trust me. You’ve seen a Symbian phone.

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It’s that time of year again… Smartphones Now time! Smartphones Now is our annual discussion of all things smartphones and will detail the ins and outs of a turbulent and exciting year, a year eclipsed by an 800-pound gorilla and witness to some spectacular flame outs. This is a year of transition, a time when Apple redefined the market and Microsoft played catch-up. New interfaces and gesture-based systems were taken out of labs and universities and smashed into smartphones that are better — or worse — for the effort. Things are changing, and this is just the beginning.

We’ll talk about Palm, Symbian, Palm OS, and WinMo. We’ll talk about the iPhone — is it really a smartphone? We’ll talk about the gadgets and gear we played with all year and predict, pontificate, and do penance for our lack of foresight. Welcome to Smartphones Now.

Have any smartphone horror stories? What is your favorite phone? The worst phone you used this year? Drop us a line at tips@crunchgear.com.

One of the handy things about phones like the iPhone and Ocean is the ability to switch between landscape and portrait depending on what app, game, or media you’re using. Well, a nice guy named Samir has written up a little Symbian app that lets you rotate your screen using a hotkey or, if you have an N95, by turning the screen. Handy, that. And it doesn’t appear to break anything, even! Check out a video of the program in action here, and get the app at the link below.

RotateMe by Samir

How did I miss LOLBOTS?

Nokia and Symbian were behind school yesterday and Nokia was smoking cloves and Symbian was reading some book and then Nokia as all like “Did you see what Google did?” and Symbian was like “Uh huh Whatdafuk?” and Nokia was all like “Garr garrr I’m Androad” and Symbian was all like “I’m Anchoad” and then Symbian was like:

“About every three months this year there has been a mobile Linux initiative of some sort launched.

“It’s a bit like the common cold. It keeps coming round and then we go back to business. We don’t participate in these full stop. We make our own platform and we are focused on driving that into the mobile phone market at large ever more aggressively.”

And the Nokia was like “Stuppppod!” and then both of them got busted coming back to class late and Nokia got suspended for smelling like smoke and they found his cloves.

Symbian dismisses Google Android [BBC]

Yes, I like Sony-Ericsson phones. A lot. Just look at this sexy, watermarked-all-to-hell beast. If you don’t want this phone, make sure you’ve got a pulse.

The GSM touch-VGA-screen beauty is running Symbian, features HSUPA 3G super-fast Internet access, a 5-Megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, microSD and Memorystick M2, and a drool-proof covering. Ok, I made that last part up, but let’s hope it’s true.

We’re not sure you’ll see this monster hit subsidized in the USA, you’ll have to go through the shady importers and get an unlocked version to drop your SIM into, but we think anyone who wants this high-end handset enough won’t have a problem with that. Look for it early summer next year.

Sony-Ericsson P51 specs and looks [Unwired Review]

Durrr… Hi. I’m a phone manufacturer/mobile OS programmer. Durrr… urm…. durr. Hold on. I just had to make pasgetti. So I sawed a man in the Apel stor who had a cool fone called the apelphone. it had a big screen… ICE CREAM!… and it was touch swansitive. You could move your finger on the screen like you were pushing boogers off of the screen and he had a boogie in his nose!

So I made this operating sys called Touch and it is from the future! It has booger movies and takes pictures and its better cause you can use your fanger or your pencil or your peeper! HA!

You are so stupid, apelfone! You don’t have pencil controls! The sad thing is we’ll prolly sell a MILIONGAZILION of these and I’ll be so happy :):):):(:). I can go see Air Bud!

S60 Touch Interface Launched [AllAboutSymbian]

Remember when I said I had my eye on the i450? Yeah, well, my mind hasn’t changed one bit. See the red scroll-wheel dealie on the left side? It doesn’t move, rather, it’s a touch sensitive ridge. When you get where you want to go (if you wanted to see all the artists or albums), you simply press down in the center of the arc and it jumps to that particular screen. The OS being S60 is phenomenal. The 2-megapixel camera is an added bonus as well as the FM radio, 3.5mm jack, and 2.4-inch screen as well as stereo Bluetooth. Great phone, just wish it were making it stateside.

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By pure coincidence Sling has announced that the SlingPlayer Mobile software is now working with Nokia Nseries and Eseries hand sets running the Symbian S60 3rd edition software. The coincidence stems from Nokia’s US launch of the HSDPA N95. That sounds fantastic. I’d love to watch my shows while on the road on my phone. To sweeten the deal Sling is offering current and future N95 purchasers a discount on the Slingbox AV (only $10) and all US N95 customers will be given SlingPlayer Mobile gratis, which retails for $29.99.

Promo [via Press Release]