With MWC just round the corner, all eyes are focused on Microsoft for the launch of Windows Phone 7.  The rumors were echoing that Project Pink was in trouble, but Sharp filing with FFC suggests that the Sharp-made device Turtle may slow but steady be winning the race. FCC certification have always been a major barrier to keep a phone secret, forcing companies to announce phones well before they actually become available. The device remarkably looks like the images that Gizmodo acquired of the Turtle, one of the rumored Pink phones. Steve Job was right in saying that Microsoft does not have a good taste in design is clearly depicted here.  Actual pictures, external and internal, of the phone that were filed with are confidential and will remain so until March 29th.

Turtle Phone

This amphibious creature was caught sneaking in the Federal Communication Commissions by ZuneBoards.com. The same was further identified to be strikingly similar to a device, the rumored Project Pink “Turtle” phone. The diagram for the model PB10ZU shows a short, stout device that bears an unmistakable resemblance to the Project Pink Turtle images we saw last Fall. The filing reveals that the PB10ZU packs dual-band CDMA, EVDO, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity. Sharp being the manufacturer for the Turtle is in line with what we have heard from the beginning and makes sense, as they made the original Sidekick for Danger, who was acquired by Microsoft in 2008. A second device with the model number PB20ZU is mentioned, though considerably less detail is offered. One could summarize that this might well be the Pure, the second, more traditionally-shaped slider that we saw in our original leak.

The Engadget has pointed out that the FCC filing’s details are being withheld until March 29, just after the CTIA conference in Vegas. That conference has been rumored as a potential venue for the debut of the Zune phone. Exactly what places the Turtle will have in the Windows Phone 7 line-up remains unclear, though it has been suggested that it is not the star of the collection but rather an "evolution of the Sidekick."

Most probably, some of this will come into focus in the coming days at MWC, but until then you can just speculate and wait.  [FCC via Engadget]