After seeing some very nice quality renders of Nokia’s C7 last week, pegged for release on T-Mobile as the Nokia Astound, it now appears that the phone’s launch is imminent; we spotted T-Mobile preparing its CTIA display to show off the Astound to curious attendees.

While T-Mobile didn’t have a live demo model of the Astound out when we stopped by, it looks like it’s now just a matter of time before visitors will get a chance to try out the Symbian^3-powered smartphone firsthand. As a Nokia, expect it to have outstanding imagery capabilities, thanks to its eight-megapixel camera. The Astound’s 680MHz CPU and 256MB of RAM may sound paltry compared to what we’ve come to expect from Android models, but keep in mind that a Symbian device is another beast altogether, with its own resource demands.

Previously known by the code name “Tiger”, the Astound is rumored to go up for sale on April 6, not giving T-Mobile much time to introduce and promote the handset. While Nokia is beginning to take steps to redirects its smartphone efforts towards Windows Phone 7, there are plenty of Symbian devices still in the pipeline at various stages of completion. In addition to the Astound, T-Mobile may be seeing an addition four Symbians come out for it later on this year.

Look for the Astound to be quite the bargain at only $80 after rebates, once T-Mobile makes the phone available for sale.