Welcome to the next installment of the TMoNews forum weekly wrap up!  Yeah, I know, I know….there wasn’t one last week so it’s not really ‘weekly’, but sometimes things get in the way and we just aren’t able to get things done like we would like to.  With that said, there is quite a bit to go through tonight so without further ado, here we go!

It’s really going to be very difficult to get through this installation of the round up without without making mention of that new device that so many people have been waiting for – the Android based T-Mobile G1.  I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one that was glued to their computer monitor that morning watching the press release unfold.  So you can imagine that the forums were seeing quite a build up in anticipation, and with that comes an immensity in posting, as well as the site being overwhelmed!  Are you excited about Android or the G1?  Well, fortunately we now have a new Android sub section that includes a place to ask or chat about general Android topics as well as a place for those budding developers to chat as well!  So, don’t be shy and come on in!

Speaking of you budding developers, forum contributor jmannyjr found an early edition of a book for those of you wishing to learn Android development.  It is a little raw right now, but does have some really good information packed in its pages.  As well, it also has some good information on using Eclipse to develop your Android masterpiece!  So get to coding, and let us know what you’re up to!

One thing that is noticeably absent from the Android platform and the G1 as well is the lack of Microsoft Exchange support.  Now, this is actually kind of expected I believe, as Google is trying to push their own services as well.  While this following find isn’t exactly an easy one to implement it does make it possible to sync your G1 with an Exchange server.  Forum member mapartipi was I believe the first to tip us off to the guys at Funambol releasing a mobile sync application for Android.

As you may have already noticed, there was a scare earlier in that it was thought that T-Mobile was out of presale units. While I don’t know if that is in fact true or not, it was also reported by user walabe25 over in the forum.  However, there have been numerous confirmations that the G1 is still available through the my.t-mobile phone upgrade portal, so maybe that is just a false alarm!  Let us hope so!

All right, enough of the Android talk already!  How about some Sony Ericsson goodness for you!  How about we start off with the bad news first…..  Are you the proud owner of the SE TM506?  Do you have a case for it?  Does that case have a magnet on it?  We have one instance from user microhaxo where the case they were using was evidently interfering with the usage of the phone.  Read all about it here.  Now, we do know that the official SE case for this phone does have a magnet in it, but we have users that have reported no problems at all with that case.  So hopefully it looks like it’s just a case of a case having too strong a magnet in it (does that make sense….)!  Of course, that’s not all the bad news this go round.  Some of you have probably heard that apparently yes, the Sony Ericsson X1 will work with T-Mobile’s 3G.  We have also heard the same thing around these parts, thanks to Technology1.  But that’s good news you say!  Well, I’m not done….we here at TMoNews have had no confirmation that this device will be coming to T-Mobile USA.  So it looks like if you want to pick one of these up you’re going to have to get it as an unlocked device, and the price tag that goes along with that!

Now for the good news on the SE side of things.  This first item is actually a little older, and should have been in an earlier installment but for some reason it was overlooked.  Options are always a good thing, and when it comes to free GPS routing options are kind of limited.  Especially on phones that aren’t PDAs!  So it’s good to hear from jet1000 that mgmaps works great on the SE TM506!  He gives some great instructions on getting it to work as well, so thanks jet!  It’s also the second item seeing as how I don’t have any other good news for the SE camp!  However, we do have the newcomer billzkustomz who has a nice shot and a short test drive of the upcoming Samsung T919!  Come on billz, we’re still waiting for those better shots you’ve promised us!

Finally tonight, we’ve had word that the Blackberry Pearl 8220 has finally been priced!  While it is nowhere near the rumored $50 price point that everybody was hoping for, it’s not all that terrible for a two or one year activation price.  Once again we have microhaxo gives us the full retail price of the phone, while user BREATHE gives us the scoop on the new and partial activations. Thanks guys!

Well, that’s it for this weeks version of the round up.  Everything comes from the forum, so you can always head over there and read about it first!  But if that’s not your thing, then I’ll always be here to give you the highlights!