After the completion of the hecticSmartphone 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 of175stories, 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 Expertsis starting strong with alaunch contest. If you would like to earn some chances at winning aNokia E71orNokia N85,make sureto enter the contesteach 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 thenew Android firmware upgrade. The update includes Google Latitude, Voice Search, andmuch, 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 thelikes of Samsung,HTC, and maybe evenDellandAcer. We’re expecting there will be ahugenumber of Android devices hitting in 2009, so stay tuned!

CrackBerry.com

In the BlackBerry world it was a week for theStorm owners. On the operating system front, they got anunofficial updateleaked out amidst a flurry of rumored versions of upcoming ROM improvements.

On the app front, while everyone awaits the launch of theBlackBerry App Store, the effects of app mania are already setting in. A Storm-ified version ofSlacker Personal Radiowas released and over the weekend the firstBlackBerry Lightsaber appemerged. Keep your eyes onCrackBerry.comthis week for a Fart App Roundup. Seriously.

Nokia Experts

Besides the above-mentioned launch contest, we already have some reviews up, including ones forSpb Wallet 2 for S60,Nokia N79 first impressions, and a full review of the new5800 XpressMusictouch screen S60 device.

You will find some great content and discussions going on over on Nokia Experts withthoughts on why Nokia is not a major player in the U.S., whyNokia’s Download! utility drivesme crazy, some ofmy favorite S60 applications, and what motivates me touse Nokia and S60 deviceson a daily basis. Come visit and participate in the active discussion.

The iPhone Blog

This week TiPb brought you moreiPhone 3.0 speculationand also pondered the possibility ofimproved multitasking on the iPhone. We also asked “What doyouwant in MobileMe Take 2?“

The headliner for the week had to be Google, though. So we took a look atGoogle’s new Latitude feature in Google Mapsand theirnew web-based Tasks functionality. Google also brought us an incredible newBooks web interface for the iPhone, which got us thinking: might we see anAmazon Kindle app for the iPhone?

PreCentral.net

Over at PreCentral.net we are still trying to pin down just whenwhenthe darn Palm Pre is going to be released. While realistic expectations andrecent reportssuggest a May release, we’ve received umpteen users reports that Sprint representative arestilltelling users that thePre 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. Westarted 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 aSEC 8K form filed by Palmhas revealed thatElevation’s $100 million equity dealgave 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 theSprint Treo 755p will be “End Of Life’d” around Mayand replaced by the Palm Pre. Of course, ourforums have been on firewith 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 theToshiba TG01andAcer DX900.  We also saw the time table forWindows Mobilebecome better defined, while leaks ofversion 6.5 keep popping up.

Last but certainly not least, we learned more aboutMicrosoft’s Skybox serviceand that we might be calling itMy Phone.

This is a story bythe iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored byThe iPhone Blog Store.

Around SPE for 9 February, 2009