Verizon Wireless today launched the Motorola Entice, a low-cost clamshell with one-touch access to a 2.0-megapixel camera, music player and speakerphone.

The Basking Ridge, N.J.-based company said the Entice features a classic flip design with a large and bright display for easy reading.

The Entice also features instant messaging-style texting for a simple view of conversations by contacts, so it feels like chatting.

It also supports Verizon services such as VZ Navigator for turn-by-turn directions, Family Locator for tracking and Backup Assistant to keep a copy of the handset’s address book on a secure Web site.

Luxury brand Swarovski is collaborating with Vodafone to launch a handset embedded with 126 precision-cut crystals.

The Austrian company said the fashion phone, called the Vodafone 533 Crystal, is crafted using a special coating to add brilliance to the Swarovski crystals.

The handset also comes with a crystal-inspired theme and animated start-up display.

Additional features include a 2.0-inch color screen, 1.3-megapixel CMOS camera, MP3 player, FM radio, Bluetooth and external memory slot.

The Crystal is part of Vodafone’s new “Catwalk Collection” — a line-up of trendy devices featuring designs by artists like Berlin-based Tomek Sadurskiown.

Vodafone did not disclose the Crystal’s price but said that it will be released in the U.K. before Christmas.

Luxury brands have teamed up with handset makers in the past.

High-fashion retailers Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Prada, and even Danish audio maker Bang and Olufsen, Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer and Italian sports car maker Ferrari, have all released phones in an attempt to use their name to add new revenue streams.

Earlier this week, Sony Ericsson unveiled a tattoo-inspired phone with vintage clothing brand Ed Hardy.

Verizon plans to launch the Nokia Twist — a unique swivel phone with a “light ring” that glows to alert users of incoming calls and messages — on September 21.

The Basking Ridge, N.J.-based carrier said the Twist has a compact, minimulist design and opens to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. Its large 2.4-inch display shows nature-inspired themes that change throughout the day, while external keys provide a slight vibrating response when a selection is made.

Additional features include a 3.0-megapixel auto-focus camera, access to Verizon’s VCAST Video, Music and Navigator services, stereo Bluetooth and a microSD expansion card slot.

On Wednesday, Nokia unveiled the N97 Mini, X6 and X3, new music phones that integrate Facebook’s social-networking service, and the Mural for AT&T, a clamshell that lights up in blue, red, green, orange, purple and pink colors to alert users of incoming events.

Although Nokia has weathered the global recession better than some handset makers, it is having to work harder to maintain its market lead amid increasing competition from Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry.

Last week, the company announced its own high-end smartphone, the N900, running Linux software.

Verizon said the Nokia Twist will hit store shelves on September 21 for $150 with a two-year contract.

Verizon Wireless, largest U.S. wireless provider, today released the Samsung Rogue and Intensity — two new messaging phones with access to Facebook and Twitter.

The Basking Ridge, N.J.-based carrier said the Rogue has a touch display and slide-out QWERTY keyboard for optimized text messaging.

The handset comes with threaded messaging and access to popular social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Photobucket.

The Intensity features threaded text, picture and voice messaging, instant messaging and mobile email.

Verizon also introduced two new data plans — 25MB for $10 a month and 75MB for $20 a month.

The Samsung Rogue and Intensity costs $100 and $30, respectively, with a new two-year contract.

Sprint is selling the Palm Pre for $100 — a 50 percent price cut — in hopes of luring customers from rival service providers.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based company said new customers who purchase the Pre and sign a two-year contract will receive a special $100 service credit.

The deal, which ends on October 31, only applies to new subscribers coming over from another carrier.

The company said the credit will be added to subscriber invoices over a three-month period.

Sprint, the only U.S. carrier to offer the Pre, started to sell it in June for $200.

UPDATE: Sprint has decided to cancel its service credit promotion. “After further internal review today, the offer of a port-in service credit of $100 to new customers who buy the Palm Pre has been pulled, because it was put into the system in error,” said Sprint in a statement.

The company said it will honor its obligation to anyone who purchased a Pre during the brief window in which this offer was open.

Palm today announced the Pixi, a lighter, lower-priced smartphone in the same family as its popular Palm Pre smartphone.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said it will start selling the Pixi through Sprint, the exclusive carrier of the Pre, during the holiday season.

“The combination of announcing a new device and changing the price on the Pre show we’re aggressively pursuing new customers to get them accessing the WebOS experience,” said Katie Mitic, Palm’s senior vice president of product marketing.

The Pixi, running Palm’s latest WebOS software, is the company’s second attempt to lure consumers away from Apple’s iPhone and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry devices in the fast-growing smartphone market.

The Pixi is longer, slimmer and lighter than the Pre and instead of a center key, comes with a touch-sensitive bar located between the screen and keyboard.

It also features a touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, 2.0-megapixel camera, music player, dual speakers and 8GB of built-in memory — but not Wi-Fi.
Palm said the Pixi will launch in the holiday season and that the price would be revealed later.