Acer F1, HTC Leo coming Q4; more Snapdragon phones from ASUS & Inventec

The latest DigiTimes rumors are in, and this time they don't seem all that unlikely.  According to industry sources in Taiwan, Acer's F1 and HTC's Leo – both using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz chipset – will each drop in Q4 this year, complete with Windows Mobile 6.5.  They also finger ASUS and Inventec as developing Snapdragon-based smartphones, though those are unlikely to hit full-scale production until the first half of 2010.

In fact the F1 is expected to arrive on October 6th, and act as one of Microsoft's flagship launch handsets for the new mobile OS.  It'll have a 3.8-inch touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera and the usual bevy of wireless connectivity; however it's also tipped to have a lower-than-expected price, coming in at the equivalent of around $555.

The Leo, meanwhile, has neither a firm date nor price attached, though it is tipped to include "multi-sensors for speeds, light and distance".  Leaks and hands-on shots of the Leo have proliferated over the past week or so, and we've also had confirmation that the smartphone uses a capacitive touchscreen that supports multitouch gestures.

Over at mail.ru they've been testing the Acer F1, and while impressed by the 1GHz smartphone's benchmark performance they weren't so pleased with battery life.  You can check out their video overview below.