We'll admit, there's a few sects who've already crossed SMS Technology's M500 watch phone off as vaporware in its finest form, but apparently, the firm is finally coming through on its most recent declaration. Yep, those wearable phones the company has been promising all this time are finally shipping soon, at least, we think. According to the company, "the final version of the M500 production model has been given full clearance to be supplied with full metal strap bracelets," and it sounds like deliveries should begin within a month. Furthermore, the final production model sports a longer stylus, a battery upgrade, and a few software tweaks including support for POP3 email and IM. Hang tight, the "global retail launch" is slated for September 10th, with the keyword here being "slated."

[Via PMPToday]

Calling all cars, calling all cars... be on the look out for the SMS M500 GSM Watchfone. That's right, the first shipments of the M300 followup are said to be leaving Hong Kong as of tomorrow, May 30th. Now we can all get a little Dick Tracy with "the world's smallest mobile phone" -- or so says SMS Technology Australia. Unlike Dick's 2-way Wrist Radio which emerged in 1949, this pup goes quad-band GSM while packing a 1.5-inch touchscreen with itty bitty, built-in stylus; Bluetooth 2.0; and all the 120 x 160 pixel MP4 video (or MP3/AAC audio) you can pack into its 128MB of storage. The watch weights just 60-grams and should hold-up to about 200 minutes of talk or 80 hours standby before needing a USB recharge. Now if someone could just hook us up with a jetpack we can get to living in the future promised to us by Uncle Walt (no, the other one) in those free lovin' 70s.

Brought to you by the same folks crafting the m300, the m500 watch phone has just passed through the FCC, giving it an air of legitimacy that its predecessor may have been lacking. Of course, there's still a wide gap between FCC approval and making an appearance on store shelves -- but we're cautiously hopeful. Differences between the m500 and the earlier m300 look to be mostly cosmetic, with all buttons now having been moved to the sides to make room for a larger display up front. Now, we want to know: who'd put this on their wrists day in and day out?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

'Tis the season for giving, which leaves the rabid phone fans among us in a tight spot: how do we get in on a little new mobile tech for ourselves and help those less fortunate at the same time? Our friends over at Phone Scoop are hoping to fill the bill by auctioning off a handful of hot, current handsets graciously provided by carriers and manufacturers with all proceeds going to benefit The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria -- the same fund (RED) benefits. Loot includes a T-Mobile Dash, LRG Sidekick 3, Motorola MOTOKRZR K1, unlocked Samsung i320, M500 for Sprint, and BlackJack, and a Helio Drift (see, we told you the goods were hot). Bidding will take place via Phone Scoops' forums, with all auctions ending this Friday. Bid generously, and bid to win!

phoneArena's been recently blessed with the opportunity to put E-TEN's upgraded M600, the M600+, through its paces -- and they appear to have been left with a pretty lukewarm impression of the company's latest Pocket PC Phone Edition effort. While it's hard to argue with 256MB of internal flash and a 2-megapixel autofocus shooter (by Pocket PC standards, anyway), sound quality was apparently awful via both earphone and speakerphone, a lack of soft keys made one-handed operation tricky, and its GPRS data speeds are so 2002. The device's 400MHz Samsung core, while not necessarily anemic, wasn't breaking any speed records either; add that to the 2.5mm jack and there's not much to love here. Sorry, E-TEN -- we know the M600+ is quad-band, but we're going to have to pass. Better luck with your G500, mkay?

Quick: what's the diff between the two flips on the left? Very good, one's branded T-Mobile and the other wears a Sprint badge. The SPH-M500 for Sprint (pictured left) and SGH-T619 for T-Mob (center) are virtual dead ringers for one another, the only obvious difference being that the T619 sports GSM with EDGE data, while the M500 is a CDMA piece with EV-DO. Other notable specs include dual color displays, 1.3-megapixel shooter ("notable" might be a stretch there), and a microSD slot. Moving to moderately more interesting Sprint equipment, we told ya about the A720 a while back -- and thanks to our pals at the FCC, we no longer need to go cross-eyed looking at shoddy cameraphone pics of this thing. The squarish clamshell is clearly music-oriented thanks to external controls (touch-sensitive, no less) and A2DP -- a viable alternative for folks turned off by the name of LG's Fusic.

Read - SGH-T619 for T-Mobile and SPH-M500 for Sprint
Read - SPH-A720 for Sprint

Hot on the heels of their M600 (and the M500 before it), Taiwanese manufacturer E-TEN has announced its M600+, essentially an M600 with the addition of Bluetooth 2.0, 256MB of flash (up from 130MB), and an extra 0.7 megapixels in the shooter (2.0, up from 1.3). They're throwing in MSFP as well, which likely means all of AKU2 will be coming along for the ride (A2DP included, hopefully; the inclusion of Bluetooth 2.0 is a good sign). Not a shabby upgrade considering the quick turnaround time, but in the unlikely event you have an M600 in the US, you might want to keep your wallet stowed since AKU2 should be just around the bend for ya.