unlocked

While some of us around here might have called shenanigans on the recent renders of the HTC Leo, it's looking more real as we get another glimpse of the rear of the phone, thanks to a leaked ROM that Pocketnow's been playing with. [via]

That said, our overly suspicious selves will point out that it should be pretty easy to change something like this in a pre-production ROM, but it's still a pretty good indication that we're on the right track.

And speaking of unreleased HTC phones, Digitimes reports that the lower-end HTC Mega should run about $300 unlocked.

Peep the video of the HTC Leo ROM after the break.

While window shopping online last night, we stumbled upon a new phone over at BestBuy.com. The HTC Touch Cruise is now being offered in the "unlocked" variety on the store's for $549.99. We liked this phone at the 2009 Mobile World Congress and it's nice to see it start to trickle into the U.S. Market. Best Buy is listing the Touch Cruise as back-ordered with expected shipping in 1 to 2 weeks.  Could this be the start of the HTC summer invasion? Is the Touch Diamond 2 next?

If you just got your tax return back, here's a quick way to blow it — and by blow it we mean buy one of the three phones we officially know will be running Windows Mobile 6.5 later this year.

An unlocked HTC Touch Pro 2 is up for auction on eBay. WMPowerUser spied it when it had a "But it now" price of $899, but it looks like it's been relisted and will now see how high the price will go by 11 p.m. EST March 27.

At the time of this writing, the top bid was $475. But before you throw your bid in the ring, do note that while this is an unlocked GSM phone, it only has the 3G radio bands used outside the U.S. So, no AT&T love for this guy. Otherwise, if everything is as advertised, it should work just fine.

So, how much would you pay to be the first on your block with a Touch Pro 2?

Update: And ... the auction's been called off. Can't say that's too surprising.

That ever-elusive Sony Xperia X1 appears to finally be getting closer to a U.S. release.

The Boy Genius Report has snagged an inventory sheet that has the X1(a) — that's the North American version — hitting Best Buy on Dec. 7. That's an "in-stock" date, which may or may not mean you can swing by and pick one up that day.

Still no official word on when AT&T may release the X1(a) along with the expected subsidy and rebates.

But the price you'll pay for the unlocked goodness? Try $800. Ouch. We're pretty sure we know what's going to be first on your holiday wish list.