The LG Marquee made a cameo appearance tonight in New York, a night before Sprint and LG are slated to "officially" unveil the device at New York City's Fashion Week finale. The Marquee is the next big device from Sprint (after, of course, this Friday's Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch launch), officially landing on October 6.

While it's not the most powerful phone on the market, we loved it as the Optimus Black -- read our full review -- and it's certainly got some respectable specs: 

• Dimensions: 4.8" (H) x 2.52" (W) x 0.36" (D)
• Weight: 3.95oz
• NOVA Display: 4-inch color TFT (480 x 800) WVGA
• Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• 1GHz processor
• Memory: 512MB RAM, 2GB ROM
• 1500mAh battery
• 5.5 hrs Talk Time
• MicroSD Slot (2GB included card)
• Wifi Enabled-- 802.11 b/g/n (Hotspot capable)
• Sprint ID
• Virtual QWERTY keyboard (with SWYPE)
• 5-megapixel camera (rear)
• 2-megapixel camera (front)

Most important is the display: the Marquee's 4-inch NOVA display is a stunner, and LG seems to think it can compete with the likes of SAMOLED Plus. Well can it? You'll have to see it for yourself,  but in a word: gorgeous. It's super bright, super sharp, and the colors look fantastic. It's noticeably smaller than its 4.3-inch (and now 4.5-inch) brethren, but we won't complain: it feels right.

Another thing to look out for is the "pocketability" of the Marquee. It's super thin and super light. Yeah, light is becoming the norm these days, but it's always refreshing when you can drop a smartphone in your pocket and not know it's there.

No, it doesn't have a dual or tri or quad core processor, but from an initial spin around the UI, everything seems pretty smooth. No stuttering, no stammering, and no hesitations. Sure, that could change once you put it through its paces, but until we do so, don't count the Marquee out.

We've got more photos (and a video!) below.

Here's our first look at Sprint's latest entry-level Android smartphone -- you know it as the Kyocera Milano. It's available now for a mere $49 on contract, and for that you get a 3-inch display, Android 2.3, a 3.2MP camera and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It's got a fairly beefy 1490 mAh battery, with 512MB of RAM and ROM, all powered by Android 2.3

The QWERTY keyboard feels decent enough, albeit a tad small compared to the 4-inch monsters we've been using. But the smaller screen size allows for quicker operation, so while it might not be a dual-core device, it's probably going to be quick enough for anyone on their first Android phone.

We've got a few more pics and video after the break.

Pardon a little gushing folks, but as any long-time Android users know, Robo Defense is one of the real OG games for Android.  And the folks at Lupis Labs haven't forgotten it, as it just got another great update with a new level, a new tower, and new achievements.  There might be newer games on the Market that take advantage of things like Tegra instructions, or need a dual-core powerhouse to run well, but I wanted to take a second and remind everyone about an old favorite. 

Robo Defense runs on any device with Donut or higher, and if you have bought the game you'll have an update waiting for ya in the Android Market.  If you haven't tried it, the link to the free trial is after the break -- check it out and remember how we used to game on our phones.  You'll probably still enjoy the hell out of it.

Revisit and discuss some strategy in the forums!

With many folks awaiting the inevitable release of Gingerbread for the Samsung Infuse 4G, AT&T decided to go ahead and mess with our emotions a little by releasing a 14.5MB maintenance update. Our inboxes became rather busy, that is -- until everyone who had installed the update realized it wasn't Gingerbread at all. The update, doesn't appear to of have had any major changes in it. In fact, most are wondering what exactly it did. Look on the bright side though, maybe it was a primer for better things to come.

Thanks, Adrian!

There's some poetic justice in that the HTC Merge -- US Cellular's version, anyway -- is getting its Android 2.3 update when you consider that the phone nearly died on the Verizon vine. But Gingerbread it now has, at least for you folks on the beloved regional carrier.

You're getting Android 2.3.4 (build 3.05.573.1), and with it all the updates and improvements that some of the most high-profile phones of the past nine months or so don't even have. Well done, USCC!

Update: There have been some issues with the download link for the Merge update, and US Cellular says they are working closely with HTC to rectify the situation on their Facebook page.  If you have experienced and issues, know that they are being worked on and USCC will let everyone know when things are back on track. 

Download: Gingerbread for USCC HTC Merge; via US Cellular

Verizon has announced that they will be turning on the LTE switch in 26 new areas come Sep 15 (that's tomorrow!), as well as expanding the footprint in three metro areas.  The new markets are:

• Fort Smith and Jonesboro, Ark.
• San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, Calif.
• Daytona, Fla.
• Bloomington, Champaign/Urbana, Rockford and Springfield, Ill.
• Quad Cities, Ill./Iowa
• Iowa City, Iowa
• Shreveport, La.
• Kalamazoo and Saginaw, Mich.
• Reno, Nev.
• Las Cruces, N.M.
• Fargo, N.D.
• Canton, Lima and Mansfield, Ohio
• Dyersburg, Tenn.
• Tri-Cities, Tenn./Va.
• Austin, Beaumont/Port Arthur, Wichita Falls and El Paso, Texas.

The existing LTE footprint in San Francisco, Calif., Indianapolis Ind., and Cleveland/Akron Ohio is also slated to see a "major expansion".  As you can see in our Droid Bionic review, LTE is fast data re-defined.  The footprint keeps expanding, and each new LTE device brings a little better performance than the last, and everyone is loving it.  Keep it up Big Red!  We've got the (very long) full press release after the break.

British retailer Phones4U has announced that it'll be the first to carry HTC's new flagship smartphone, the Sensation XE, with a release slated for October 1. Phones4U says it'll have a "lead to market" on the device, which will become the fastest HTC smartphone available when it launches. In related news, Clove, which sells SIM-free smartphones, says it'll stock the Sensation XE from October 7, priced at £492 (~$780).

In addition to everything that made the original Sensation such a great phone, the Sensation XE boasts a slightly faster 1.5GHz CPU, along with Beats Audio support and bundled Beats earphones. Hit up our announcement post from earlier today for all the details.

Phones4U adds that it'll also be carrying an exclusive white version of the original Sensation, which it'll launch alongside the Sensation XE on October 1. The white Sensation will apparently be offered for free on contracts of £31 or more per month, while if it's the Sensation XE you're after, you'll need to spend £36 per month to get the phone for free.

Join us after the jump for more details in the official presser.

Source: Phones4U, Clove; via: Eurodroid

And there you have it.  The T-Mobile version of the Samsung Galaxy S II will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 1.5GHz dual-core CPU instead of the Exynos processor the rest of the series has.  People who go gaga over the benchmark numbers will be disappointed, as will people wanting that 42Mbps HSPA+ speed that was rumored for a while, as the product brief for the MSM8X60/APQ8060 lists its max speed at 14Mbps.

Who won't be disappointed?  A whole bunch of folks who will be picking this one up when it launches that have no idea what's under the hood (and don't really care), and those that want the most out of their battery life.  Android geeks will just have to second guess why the decision was made -- if it turns out to be true.  We've seen Twitter fail us much too often to put all our faith into 140 characters.

Source: @GalaxySsupport.  Thanks, Wilson!

MSM8X60/APQ8060 product brief

Remember the end of last month when we saw the source code for the LG Optimus S Gingerbread update appear, but no word of the update? Well the update has finally been detailed for us, and it will begin rolling out today. The update, which is slated to roll out to all users within 10 days will bring a whole bunch of improvements, such as

• Volume adjustment from handset when backlight is off and in a Bluetooth call
• Initiation of a 3-way call in certain markets
• Updated color scheme (includes darker notification bar and black-based menus)
• New on-screen keyboard (supports multi-touch input and a smart auto-correction function)
• Improved cut-paste functionality
• New integrated download application for ease in accessing downloaded files
• Updated camera application
• Power management and task killer applications

So if you own an LG Optimus S on Sprint be sure to check for the update, and if you happen to receive it let us know your thoughts in our forums!

Source: Sprint ; Thanks, Jim!