If you live in a technophile city like Taipei, you'll have been enjoying underground 4G for a long time now, but in London the rule is that you have to bid adieu to your mobile connectivity when diving into a tunnel. The city's Mayor has been active in encouraging (forcing?) the major British carriers to install the necessary equipment to provide coverage on the Tube, and now we're hearing that ambition has stretched beyond the nation's borders as well. The Daily Telegraph reports that Vodafone, O2, Everything Everywhere, and Three from the UK along with Orange, SFR and Bouygues from France have agreed to share the cost of putting together a £20 million ($30.8m) project for making cellular coverage possible while traveling through the 31.4-mile Channel Tunnel between the two countries. The goal is to get things up and running by the Olympics in 2012, though we've no indication as to what speeds those wireless data transfers will reach. Still, having some bars is better than none, right?

All signs have been pointing to this release for a few days now, but we'll admit: we expected Skype to wait until CES next week to pull the covers off what could become its crown jewel service over the coming months. Skype's official iOS client has finally sprouted the ability to make video calls, allowing iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch users to share real-time video amongst each other and users of Skype's Windows, Mac, and Linux clients along with the ASUS Videophone (obviously, 3GS users won't have the convenience of a front-facing camera, but they'll still be able to broadcast video from the rear-facing one). Additionally, you'll be able to receive video from others if you're using an iPad or a third-generation iPod touch. The service is free and works over both WiFi and 3G -- and considering Skype's existing PC footprint, we'd argue this stands a very real chance of putting the hurt on FaceTime usage. No word on when Skype will be making video-capable clients available for Android or other mobile platforms, but Skype says that there'll be "plenty more" announcements in Vegas next week, so we wouldn't be surprised.

Update: So we just gave 3.0 a spin, calling iPhone-to-iPhone (both WiFi), iPhone-to-desktop (both WiFi), and again iPhone-to-iPhone (both 3G). The first two worked great, although the desktop camera produced better quality. As for the worst-case scenario, 3G-to-3G video calling, well... we wouldn't recommend it unless absolutely necessary. Video after the break, and be sure to note the battery life -- after about 10 minutes of use, we dropped from 66 percent to 61.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Smartphone user? Regardless of platform you have no shortage of navigation options, and now Ford has added another way to get where you're going -- if you're also an owner of a SYNC TDI-compatible car, anyway. Using the new SYNC Destinations app (available today for iOS and Android, with BlackBerry coming soon) you can more efficiently pre-plan your route. The app lets you pick a destination, view real-time traffic updates, even check out congestion predictions based on weather, time of day, and holidays. It's a feature that would have been pretty handy last week when we were simultaneously dealing with a heck of a blizzard and a whole lot of people trying to flee their in-laws.

The app will even suggest what time you should leave to avoid the most headaches, a potential boon for those desperately seeking any excuse to hit the road a little early. It is, however, just for planning, sending your route to the car and then disabling the phone's display when you cross the magic 5mph threshold. It's safer that way, after all. Full details are in the PR below and if you're on the lucky two supported platforms with a suitably compatible car you can download today for free.

Did the world's tech giants just discover they have lawyers on retainer? That's certainly how it seems, as company after company has decided 'tis the season to target the competition with patent infringement allegations. Sony, the latest, is aiming squarely at LG, claiming that the Korean manufacturer's violating eight patents with its mobile devices -- including the LG Fathom, Xenon, Neon, Remarq, Rumor 2, Lotus Elite and VL600 LTE modem -- claiming that these devices transmit variable-bandwidth audio streams, live-preview camera snapshots, hand off cellular calls and more in ways that infringe Sony's intellectual property. Sony's now filed both an ITC complaint in an attempt to ban new product shipments from the US, and a lawsuit in federal court that will no doubt seek monetary damages. Now, if recent history is any indication, LG will turn around and smack Sony with a patent stack of its own, and we'll all go back to dreaming about LG devices we'd actually care to purchase.

Qualcomm's MDM6600 RF chipset might not ring a bell for you, but the ultra-flexible silicon -- introduced earlier this year -- has launched in a product you may have heard of: Motorola's Droid Pro for Verizon. What makes it so special? Basically, it supports just about every 3G+ standard you could possibly want, up to and including HSPA+ at 14.4Mbps and EV-DO Rev. B (with backwards compatibility to A, naturally) up to 14.7Mbps, and India's Olive Telecom is apparently the first to deploy it in a modem. It's not going to India, though -- instead, they've teamed up with Russian carrier Sky Link, which means you should theoretically be rocking among the best wireless speeds in Moscow regardless of the network technology in your local area. Follow the break for the full press release.

[Thanks, Bhuvaneshwari]

Redmond's contributed two fresh game titles to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace in the last couple weeks, both at $2.99, that should keep you entertained for a few minutes at the very least: Rise of Glory and Revolution. The former is a World War I flight simulator that features both campaigns and single-mission modes; the latter is a little more abstract, featuring "machines" that need to be solved by placing cogs in the correct locations... so yeah, they've definitely covered the gamut here. It's certainly good to see that Microsoft's still putting its money where its mouth is with first-party titles for the platform -- now it's just time for a little Halo, if you ask us.

So you nabbed a webOS device over the holidays? Maybe you got yourself a Pixi or Pre Plus, or if you were really lucky, someone dropped a Pre 2 in your stocking. We know that Palm isn't exactly ruling the roost when it comes to smartphones, but that doesn't mean that your new device isn't plenty powerful given the right apps and proper tweaks. In fact, webOS can stand toe-to-toe with the iOS and Android devices of the world, even if the selection of apps and hardware leaves something to be desired. So how do you turn your holiday cheer into a year-round workhorse? Read on after the break for the must-have apps, accessories, and more!

Motorola had originally promised that its CLIQ XT for T-Mobile would see an upgrade to Android 2.1 -- which is now two major versions old, by the way -- some six months ago. That fell through, of course... and now it's falling through one more time. Motorola's latest update timetable for its Android products has the CLIQ XT marked as "additional testing in process; more details when available" -- in other words, it's not here, and Moto's not ready to tell you when it will be here. The company seems to have gotten a little better about updates with its more recent products like the Droid X and Droid 2, but that's little consolation for those folks that jumped on Motorola's Google bandwagon early. Oh, and the biggest kick in the pants? The version of the CLIQ XT released through Walmart's Straight Talk brand won't be getting an update at all, despite the fact that the phone is all but identical to T-Mobile's (heck, Straight Talk uses wholesale T-Mobile minutes in the first place). Not cool, guys.

Sprint's keyboard-equipped EVO 4G doppelganger -- the EVO 4G Shift -- is certainly looking like a lock for CES next week, and more evidence of that is literally showing up at Best Buy locations as we speak. Seems that Zagg's InvisibleSHIELDs are being delivered now, confirming both the name of the phone and the appearance of the device itself -- though Zagg isn't shy about using a photo of the phone gussied up in what we presume to bone of its own cases. Who's buying?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

It's been more than a year since Nokia, Apple, RIM, Motorola and just about every other major cellphone manufacturer agreed on a micro-USB cellphone charger standard for Europe, but the two key European standards bodies have just now finally followed up on their end of the bargain. CEN-CENELEC and ETSI have today published harmonized standards for a universal cellphone charger based on micro-USB, which has now put the ball back in the manufacturers' court to actually produce phones that rely on the newly standardized chargers. According to the European Commission, the first of those are expect to arrive sometime "in the first months of 2011," and it expects the chargers to be "predominant" within two years. Head on past the break for the official announcement.

[Thanks, Pavel]

Considering the cheap plastics and giant white logos, our first thought when we saw this unflattering shot in the FCC's filing system was that we were looking at some sort of connected navigation unit for delivery trucks -- but alas, as far as we can tell, the so-called HIC is a "tablet" from Huawei that doubles as a phone for Vodafone. Besides a triband 3G radio, this hot mess gets you a 7-inch WVGA display, a front-facing camera for video calls, and an integrated kickstand around back for setting it on a countertop. The style of the power adapter leads us to believe that the HIC might be intended for permanent use in your home, which would explain why it bears so little resemblance with something we'd want to carry around -- but still, couldn't they have made it a little prettier? No word on when (or to which of Vodafone's markets) it'll be coming.

All the pieces, they're a-comin' together. If you'll recall, we spotted a smattering of HP Palm codenames in webOS 2.0 code early last month, and now, those very names are popping up elsewhere. Over at DirectCast, a couple of casting calls have emerged for HP Palm, with both of 'em seeking young, carefree hipsters with lovely hands. They're willing to pay a solid grand if you fit the profile, presumably to hold one of these impending devices on camera for some sort of advertisement. A PreCentral reader actually signed up, and then received some even more interesting information -- he was informed that the shoot will involve the HP Palm Broadway, Manta and Topaz. The Broadway was indeed one of the devices spotted in the aforementioned code, and while Manta wasn't there, "Mantaray" was. Topaz, of course, looks to be Palm's forthcoming tablet. This is all just expanded speculation for now, but if you were holding out hope for new HP Palm products, feel free to let your imagination run wild.

If there's one thing the 90s taught us, it's that these silly 2D interfaces are only a passing fancy, and soon everything will be VRML-based mirror worlds of our physical space. SurfCube is a small, tentative step in that direction, turning the browser into a fake 3D experience of sorts, with favorites on "top," and history and settings on the "sides," while the front face of the cube is, naturally, the browser part. You can get around with swipes and flashy tilt gestures, and for $1.99 on the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace it's hard to go wrong. Just remember our VRML warning, and start investing in MicroVideoGoggles Inc. stock with your carphone once you get home from the record store.

It's hardly a secret anymore that Skype will be making some manner of video-related announcement at CES, but now the company's stepping up the hype offensive with a series of teasing videos and tweets. The common thread between the vids is that they're all shot in remote locations or on the move, eliminating the current PC / Mac dependency for video chat and forcing our minds to consider mobile, perhaps smartphone-shaped, devices instead. What Skype's promising is that we'll be able to share our favorite moments "as they happen," which together with all this video recording stuff seems to point to only one thing: video calling on mobiles. Only mystery left now is which platforms will get it when.

It's hardly a fresh idea -- researchers have claimed that GSM calls could be cracked and listened in on for years. But there's a difference between being able to do something with a $50,000 machine and a warrant, and being able to do the same thing with a few $15 Motorola phones, a laptop, open source software and 180 seconds of spare time. Security Research Labs researcher Karsten Nohl and OsmocomBB project programmer Sylvain Munaut recently spoke about a new GSM hack at the Chaos Communication Conference in Berlin, and they were able to walk the audience through the eavesdropping process in a matter of minutes. According to them, it's not terribly difficult to use a $15 handset to "sniff out" location data used to correctly route calls and texts, and once you've nailed that down, you could use modified firmware to feed raw data into a laptop for decryption. Using a 2TB table of precomputed encryption keys, a cracking program was able to break in within 20 seconds -- after that, you're just moments away from recording a live GSM call between two phones. Of course, speeches like these are made to encourage security officials to beef up the layers between you and ill-willed individuals, but it's hard to say what (if anything) will change. For now, we'd recommend just flying to each and every person you'd like to speak with. Unless you live in the Greater New York area -- you're probably better off risking a hacked conversation than heading out to LGA / JFK / EWR.

HTC's worst kept secret (this side of the Thunderbolt) has popped up online again, this time as part of some RadioShack promo materials, which list its price, launch date, 4G capabilities, and screen size. Earlier indications had this Android slider launching on January 9th at a $150 price point with a two-year contract and now, lo and behold, both data points seem to have been confirmed. $450 is the price for the EVO Shift 4G sans any carrier obligations, though you'll probably want to stick with Sprint to make use of that WiMAX radio contained within. Bring on 2011 already!

Once again, here's proof that China is the place to be for piping-hot gadget leaks. The latest delivery is yet another mysterious Sony Ericsson handset, which is allegedly the Android 2.3 successor to the much loved X10 Mini Pro slider but with an X8 screen size. Despite its modest dimensions, this little gem packs a 1GHz chip with an Adreno 205 GPU, scoring an impressive 1,553 on the Quadrant benchmark app -- coming close to the Nexus S' score -- and 42.5fps on Neocore, as pictured on the 3-inch 320 x 480 multitouch LCD above. It sure sounds juicy, except for one thing: the buttons are in reverse order of the current Xperia layout. Very funny, Sony Ericsson, now just give us a date. One more shot after the break.

What, you didn't forget about the Cliq series, did you? The followup to Motorola and T-Mobile's slider's been long rumored -- we heard a few morsels of information back in September -- and now CellPhoneSignal has a few pics of what it claims is the Begonia, aka Cliq 2 (for T-Mobile, naturally). The keyboard here is, well, interesting, to say the least, and there's also apparently a five megapixel camera on the back. We're not really sure how our thumbs feel about the layout, but if this is legit, we'd reckon they'll get to try it out themselves sooner or later. That's what giant gadget trade shows are for, right? Right. More pictures via the source link.

Oh, and did we mention that's an unsubsidized price? Indian manufacturer Intex says that it'll have a Froyo-based handset on the market this coming February for right around INR 5,500, which works out to something like $122 at the current exchange rate. It's going to come equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera -- not bad, really -- but the cost savings would appear to come in part from the use of a bargain-basement 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen that'll probably make the virtual keyboard a challenge without the use of a stylus. Considering that HTC's "low-end" Wildfire runs about double that, there might be a market for this kind of hardware -- but hey, screen manufacturers, would you please research dirt-cheap capacitive technology?

So, that lovely 4.3-inch LTE smartphone with Android for Verizon we've been calling the Mecha and the Droid Incredible HD? Looks like it might come to market as the Thunderbolt, so says Droid Life -- and we tend to put some weight on the rumor considering that they've just run twelve leaked shots of the thing. As you can see, this is clearly Verizon's head-on answer to the EVO 4G, featuring similar stylings and, in all likelihood, an LTE modem swapped in for the EVO's WiMAX one. Sure looks like that "controlled" leak from a few days back, doesn't it? More on this at Verizon's press conference next week, we presume.