As expected, the device has a touchscreen display, an optical trackpad (like all of RIM’s latest handsets), and a vertical sliding QWERTY keyboard.

According to BBleaks, the slider might be the BlackBerry Storm3. Well, it doesn’t really look like a Storm, even when its QWERTY keyboard is not visible. We probably won’t know its final name until RIM officially announces it.

The BlackBerry slider should come with BlackBerry OS 6.0, Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity. Other than that, there aren’t any other details available, but let’s hope more info will be unveiled soon.

Via CrackBerry

• Verizon BlackBerry Storm official pics
• Blackberry Storm 2 to add “new way of typing” and lose carrier exclusivity in Europe in late 2009
• BlackBerry Storm 2 accessories show up at Best Buy
• BlackBerry Tour may have a touchscreen display
• BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) video preview shows up

Leveraging on patent-pending technology, TigerText lets you send messages that “delete off of both the sender’s and receiver’s phone after a set period of time.”

You can set the messages’ lifespan from 1 minute up to 30 days after receipt. After a message is deleted, it can no longer be retrieved, since it’s not stored on any server.

“I can’t think of anyone who would not want this protection. It is not about hiding what you are doing or trying to be deceptive. It is about protecting your privacy. In today’s fast paced world, everyone is guilty of running at the thumb at some point in time. No one would want every text they send to live forever. Business texts are safe from leaks or corporate spying; personal messages are kept private; embarrassing texts simply disappear,” says Jeffrey Evans who worked on TigerText.

iPhone users can download the TigerText application here, or by searching it in the App Store. The application is free for the first 15 days of use, or for the first 100 text messages. After that, it’s $1.49 per month for 250 texts. If you want unlimited texts, you have to pay $2.49 per month.

TigerText apps for Android and BlackBerry will be released soon. No word yet about the availability of versions for Symbian, Windows Mobile or Windows Phone 7.

Via Press release

• Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows Mobile released and available for download
• Court rules all your text messages are belong to you
• Samsung’s phones to come with Nuance T9 and XT9 predictive text input
• Skype 3.0 for Windows Mobile now out of beta
• Virgin Mobile’s “Texts into Space” service will send your texts into space

There aren’t any official details about this at the moment, but BGR says the new BlackBerry slider will feature Wi-Fi 802.11n, and a 360 x 480 pixels display, most probably touch-sensitive. It will run BlackBery 6.0 OS – which seems to be that new touch and Web-friendly OS that we’ve heard about not long ago.

Reportedly, the unannounced RIM smartphone is a GSM/HSDPA device, so AT&T or T-Mobile could launch it in the US.

The image below probably doesn’t show the real BlackBerry slider, but it’s the only one available:

RIM has patented some interesting form factors in the last few years, so the existence of a Palm Pre-like BlackBerry is certainly possible. After all, if the company has a clamshell smartphone, why not a slider, too?

• Palm’s first Nova-based smartphone to have a large touchscreen and slide-down QWERTY keyboard
• RIM’s first BlackBerry slider (Storm3?) apparently leaked
• Pixi-like Palm WebOS smartphone coming to T-Mobile USA?
• Palm Pre and Eos included in Verizon’s inventory database?
• Palm Eos may come in Q4 2009 after all; CDMA version ready in 2010?

This is the first time ever when touchscreen smartphones account for more than half of the total smartphone sales in a quarter.

According to Canalys, more than 75 million touchscreen smartphones were sold throughout 2009, while total smartphones shipments reached 166 million units.

The top touchscreen smartphone vendors in 2009 were:

• Apple – 25.1 million units
• Nokia – 22.3 million units (4070% year-on-year growth)
• HTC – 7.7 million units
• Samsung – 4.8 million units
• Others – 15.8 million units

When it comes to Operating Systems, Symbian is still the leader in smartphone sales (including non-touch devices, of course), with 78.5 million units shipped in 2009. Next are RIM, Apple, Microsoft and Android.

And speaking of Android, 7.7 million smartphones with Google’s OS were shipped in 2009 – representing a 1073% year-on-year growth – more than predicted in May last year by Strategy Analytics.

Android is expected to become the world’s no. 2 smartphone platform by 2013, beating iPhone OS, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, but still trailing Symbian.

• Gartner: cell phone sales declined 6% in Q2 2009, smartphone sales grew 27%
• Nokia reports Q4 2009 results: 126.9 million phones sold, 39% market share
• Worldwide phone sales declined 9.4% in Q1 2009, says Gartner
• Samsung to increase phone sales by 20% in 2010 (to 270 million units)
• Mobile phone market declined by almost 13% in Q4 2008

What you may not now is that the 5700 can run BlackBerry OS, too – more exactly, BlackBerry 4.6.0.305 for the BlackBerry Pearl 8220.

A Chinese user (developer?) has somehow managed to port BlackBerry OS on his Nokia 5700, and has some photos, as well as a video, to prove it.

We don’t know if BlackBerry OS 4.6 is fully functional on the 5700, but it looks like it works fine. Check out the photos and video below:

It looks real to me, so I don’t think this is a hoax or something alike. On the other hand, running BlackBerry OS on a Nokia 5700 is not very useful, either, but it surely is interesting!

Via maxpda, Cloned in China

• Android-based Philips V900 presented by China Mobile
• Nokia’s Aeon concept phone brought to life in China
• BlackBerry Pearl 9100 in leaked photos, video
• BlackBerry Kickstart’s official name actually BlackBerry Pearl 8220?
• BlackBerry Pearl 9100 coming to T-Mobile USA, Wind Canada?

According to The Street, one of the devices might resemble the BlackBerry Bold, but come with a “long-awaited, touch-enabled Web-friendly operating system” (thus a touchscreen), as well as with a full QWERTY keyboard. This might be the rumored BlackBerry Magnum / Dakota – or a newer handset based on it.

Reportedly, RIM officials are really happy with the new touch and Web-friendly operating system – although there aren’t any concrete details about it.

(this is what the new touch-friendly BlackBerry may look like; photo via BGR)

The second upcoming RIM smartphone is a 3G BlackBerry Pearl with an optical trackpad – most likely, this is the Pearl 9100 that we recently saw in some leaked photos.

Well, now let’s wait for RIM to confirm all this.

• RIM BlackBerry slider coming soon?
• Verizon’s new line-up: HTC Touch Diamond, LG 9600 Versa, Nokia 7205 Intrigue and BlackBerry Pearl Flip
• HTC Touch Dual coming to Best Buy stores this weekend
• BlackBerry Pearl 9100 coming to T-Mobile USA, Wind Canada?
• Samsung confirms its Linux-based smartphone OS

As seen in the images below, the Pearl 9100 supports WCDMA bands I, IV and VIII – meaning 2100MHz, 1700MHz (AWS) and 900MHz.

Since T-Mobile and Wind are the only North American carriers that use the 1700MHz spectrum, they’re almost certainly among the ones to offer the 9100.

(photos from cellguru)

Apart from 3G, the BlackBerry Pearl 9100 (also known as BlackBerry Stratus or BlackBerry Striker) features a SureType QWERTY keypad, Wi-Fi, an optical trackpad and a camera with LED flash. We don’t know when RIM will announce the Pearl 9100, but it should happen soon.

Via CrackBerry

• BlackBerry Pearl 9100 in leaked photos, video
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 announced by Verizon; available starting June 19
• BlackBerry Pearl 8220 set to debut this week
• BlackBerry Kickstart’s official name actually BlackBerry Pearl 8220?
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 available in the UK via O2

The second-generation Bold should be available across India as of now, via most Indian mobile carriers: Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone, Tata, Idea Cellular, BSNL, Aircel, MTNL and Loop Mobile.

In case you don’t know yet, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone features a full QWERTY keyboard “with finely sculpted keys and chrome frets”, optical trackpad, a 480 x 360 pixels light-sensing display, BlackBerry OS 5.0, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, Media player, 3.5mm headset jack, 3.2MP camera with LED flash, 624MHz processor, 256MB of flash memory, and MicroSD card support.

Research in Motion didn’t announce the price of BlackBerry Bold 9700 for India, but I’m sure customers won’t have any problems asking for it in retail stores.

Via Press release

• BlackBerry Bold 9700 now official, AT&T, T-Mobile and Rogers will carry it
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 shows up at T-Mobile Germany
• Telstra announces the BlackBerry Bold 9700 for Australia
• BlackBerry Bold goes to Pakistan too
• India gets the BlackBerry Curve 8900 too

The slotRadio+ microSD card includes 1,000 songs, as well as an additional 4GB of flash memory, where users can store their own music, videos and photos.

There will be two versions of the slotRadio+ card for BlackBerry: Billboard Hits (with the latest rock, dance, hip hop, Latin and country hits) and Billboard Decades (featuring songs from the ’80s and the ’90s, plus classic rock and oldies).

There’s also a slotRadio+ application which features playlists and direct access to Verizon’s V CAST Music service.

The slotRadio+ microSD card is compatible with various BlackBerry smartphones, including: BlackBerry 8830 World Edition, BlackBerry Pearl 8130, BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230, BlackBerry Curve 8530, BlackBerry Storm 9530, BlackBerry Storm2 9550 and BlackBerry Tour 9630 (pictured above).

Customers will be able to buy the slotRadio+ microSD card for BlackBerry starting tomorrow (January 29) for $49.99.

Via Press release

• BlackBerry music downloads coming in September from 7Digital
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 announced by Verizon; available starting June 19
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 available in the UK via O2
• BlackBerry Pearl 9100 in leaked photos, video
• RIM launches the BlackBerry Presenter to help you with your PowerPoint presentations

The email and contacts search is made via the same search box through which you search the Web. You can disable the contact and emails search in case you don’t need it – just go to the options screen.

Note that searching contacts works only on smartphones with BlackBerry OS 4.2 or higher, while searching emails works on smartphones with BlackBerry OS 4.5 or higher.

Google Mobile Apps for BlackBerry now also allows you to use your device’s Wi-Fi connection to access the Web. Moreover, the application lets you quickly call, send email or SMS to someone, just by “typing the first few letters of your contact’s first or last name, and then pressing the corresponding button.”

If you don’t have Google Mobile App on your BlackBerry handset, you can get it from m.google.com.

Via the Google Mobile Blog

• Google Mobile App for BlackBerry now available
• Google intros Gesture Search for Android
• Gmail and Google Calendar for iPhone and Android updated
• Google Maps for mobile gets voice search – only on BlackBerry Pearl devices, for now
• Google Mobile App now offered through Best Buy stores

Well, it looks like the 8910 is indeed the successor of 8900, as a leaked photo of it has just appeared over at BerryReview.

As expected, the new and unannounced BlackBerry Curve 8910 has an optical trackpad instead of RIM’s traditional trackball. The smartphone also has a QWERTY keypad similar to the one the 8900 has, and it apparently runs BlackBerry OS 5.0.4. We don’t know much about the other features of the Curve 8910, but they probably include Wi-Fi, GPS and a 3.2MP camera.

No word yet on the price and release date of BlackBerry Curve 8910, but RIM will probably unveil these details soon.

• BlackBerry Curve 8900 Javelin to hit the UK exclusively via Carphone Warehouse
• T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8520 (Gemini) to come on August 5
• BlackBerry 9700 coming to T-Mobile, live picture leaked
• RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 now official
• BlackBerry Gemini 9300 to be the first 3G Curve

This might be the BlackBerry 8910, which has recently received a Bluetooth SIG certification.

Unfortunately, there’s little info about the BlackBerry 8910, and there’s not even a photo of it available. Sure, you’ll find some results if you search the model name on Google, bit it’s nothing relevant – just misspelled older Curve versions (like the 8310).

Seeing how all the latest non-touch BlackBerries have optical trackpads (Bold 9700, Pearl 9100, Curve 8520), the new BlackBerry 8910 will most probably have one, too. Other than that, a 480 x 360 pixels display should be included, plus Wi-Fi, GPS, and maybe 3G (the old Curve 8900 doesn’t have 3G, as you probably already know).

At the moment, the Curve 8900 (pictured above) is available in the US via AT&T and T-Mobile, so the new 8910 might also be released by both carriers. We’ll bring more details as soon as new info is available.

• India gets the BlackBerry Curve 8900 too
• BlackBerry Onyx and Magnum to hit AT&T; BlackBerry Driftwood for T-Mobile?
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 officially released in Canada, via Rogers
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 Javelin to hit the UK exclusively via Carphone Warehouse
• Live BlackBerry Javelin photos taken with BlackBerry Curve

Measuring 3.4 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches (8.6 x 6.1 x 2.3 cm) and weighing 140 grams, the BlackBerry Presenter can be easily plugged into a projector or monitor, allowing users to wirelessly display Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from a BlackBerry smartphone.

The BlackBerry Presenter supports: VGA (640 x 480), SVGA (800 x 600), and XGA (1024 x 768) resolutions, Bluetooth 2.0, NTSC and PAL video formats, most PowerPoint animations / transitions, and five languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian and German). It features speaker notes, loop mode and freeze mode.

RIM will sell the BlackBerry Presenter online later this year, for $199. Until then, the Waterloo-based company will showcase the new accessory at its CES 2010 booth in Las Vegas.

“BlackBerry Presenter equips mobile professionals with a simple, secure and convenient way to deliver presentations directly from their BlackBerry smartphone, giving them the freedom to leave their laptops behind,” said Glenn Laxdal, Vice President and Product Management at RIM.

Note that the BlackBerry Presenter is not compatible with the BlackBerry Curve 8300 Series and BlackBerry Pearl Flip Series, but is compatible with the following models:

• BlackBerry Curve 8520
• BlackBerry Curve 8530
• BlackBerry Curve 8900
• BlackBerry Bold 9000
• BlackBerry Storm 9500
• BlackBerry Storm 9530
• BlackBerry Storm2 9550
• BlackBerry Tour 9630
• BlackBerry Bold 9700

Via Press release

• Which Blackberry Devices are Getting 5.0?
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 Javelin gets real on T-Mobile Germany’s website
• RIM to come with a Bold-like touchscreen BlackBerry plus a US HSDPA Storm
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 shows up at T-Mobile Germany
• India gets the BlackBerry Curve 8900 too

According to Salomondrin, the Essex 9650 might be released by Verizon in a month or so – perhaps at about the same time with the Palm Pre Plus, Motorola Devour and LG VS750.

The Essex is also known as BlackBerry Tour 2, since it should come as a successor of the Tour 9630, launched by both Verizon and Sprint this summer.

Unlike the Tour 9630, the Essex / Tour2 9650 has an optical trackpad. Other than that, its features include Wi-Fi and likely all the other things the original Tour has. The Essex 9650 will probably be launched by Sprint too, but there’s no word yet on when this may happen.

• Verizon’s Motorola Devour (Calgary) shows up in silver
• More Blackberry Tour 2 Pics, Info on Dakota’s Camera Revealed
• BlackBerry Curve 8910 shows up in leaked photo
• BlackBerry Tour 9630 announced by RIM, Verizon and Sprint will launch it soon
• Blackberry Essex, Striker Outed; More on the Way in 2010?

The good news (for Sprint’s customers, anyway) is that the third largest US carrier offers the Curve 8530 for only $49.99 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate).

Just like Verizon’s 8530, the smartphone is pretty much a CDMA version of T-Mobile’s 8520. Its features include: 2.46 inch QVGA display, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, access to BlackBerry App World, Facebook and MySpace integration, 2MP camera, MicroSD card support and – of course – a full QWERTY keypad.

Sprint offers the BlackBerry Curve 8530 only in black for now, but a purple version should also be available sometime soon.

Via Sprint

• Rogers BlackBerry Curve 8520 arrives in stores
• Facebook 1.5 for BlackBerry previewed
• T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8520 (Gemini) to come on August 5
• Verizon BlackBerry Curve 8530, Samsung u640 Convoy and Casio G’Zone Brigade
• Sprint LG Lotus LX600 Lotus Announced

RIM has just posted excellent results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010 (ended November 28), announcing that it sold 10.1 million BlackBerry smartphones (including its 75 millionth unit) and added 4.4 million new BlackBerry subscribers.

RIM’s revenue for Q3 of fiscal year 2010 was $3.92 billion, while its net income was of $628.4 million.

Meanwhile, Palm has also posted the results for its second quarter of fiscal year 2010 (ended November 27) – it’s a different quarter from RIM’s, because RIM is based in Canada.

(BlackBerry Curve 8520 vs. Palm Pixi)

The Sunnyvale company shipped only 783,000 smartphones in the quarter (5% less than in the previous one) and announced a net loss of $85.4 million – well, at least it’s better than the $164.5 million net loss announced in September.

“We are continuing to execute strongly against our long-term strategy with the delivery of Palm Pixi, the new carrier launches completed this quarter, and the upcoming opening of Palm’s full developer program. We’re still in the early stages of a long race, and we’re energized by the opportunity to compete in this exciting market. We remain confident that Palm’s innovative product design capabilities, integrated cloud services and the differentiated and delightful Palm webOS experience will provide the foundation for our sustained success,” says Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s chairman and CEO.

Via RIM and Palm

• RIM reports strong growth, 3.9 million new BlackBerry subscribers
• Palm announces Q1 FY 2010 results, says goodbye to Windows Mobile
• Palm gives away 25 free Pixi smartphones
• Palm Pixi to be launched in Europe and Canada too
• 6.9 Million iPhone 3Gs sold until now, Apple says

The app provides real-time flight information (for North America), as well as weather conditions, helping travelers to plan their flights and stay informed.

The FlightView BlackBerry app has some interesting features, including flight status updates integrated with BlackBerry alerts (you’ll get informed when a plane is more than 15 minutes late), easy-to-read notes, and scheduled flights integrated with BlackBerry’s calendar.

“Travelers can now stay informed, organized and prepared for changing plans without calling, queuing, or trying to reach customer service. The number of BlackBerry users traveling grows each day, and we’re excited to help transform their travel experience,” declared Mike Benjamin, CEO of FlightView.

FlightView for BlackBerry is available for download through BlackBerry App World and costs $4.99.

Via FlightView

• British Airways will allow limited in-flight cell phone use
• EU Wants Mobile Phone Use Allowed on Airplanes
• Air France and KLM now offer boarding passes on mobile phones
• MetroPCS announces its first BlackBerry: the Curve 8330
• PayPal goes mobile

The Bold 9700 will be available to Telstra customers starting tomorrow (November 24), both online and in Telstra’s shops across Australia. The smartphone will retail at 999 AUD ($922), but it will also be sold with a range of Telstra Enterprise & Government Enterprise Fleet Plans and Telstra Business Plans.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 features a new optical trackpad, full QWERTY keyboard, a 480 x 360 pixels display, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3.5mm headset jack, 3.2MP autofocus camera and a 624MHz processor.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 is also available in the US and Canada.

Via Press release

• RIM intros the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in India
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 now official, AT&T, T-Mobile and Rogers will carry it
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 shows up at T-Mobile Germany
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 officially released in Canada, via Rogers
• RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 now official

Like most of RIM’s new smartphones, the Pearl 9100 comes with an optical trackpad instead of a trackball. It has an overall glossy look, and a SureType keypad that looks larger than the one the 81xx models have.

The BlackBerry Pearl 9100 also features 3G and a camera with LED flash, but other specs are not known at the moment.

There’s no word yet on when RIM intends to announce the BlackBerry Pearl 9100, but, in the meantime, here’s a short video preview of it:

Via CrackBerry

• BlackBerry Pearl 9100 coming to T-Mobile USA, Wind Canada?
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 hits India via Airtel
• BlackBerry Pearl 8220 set to debut this week
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 available in the UK via O2
• BlackBerry Tour may have a touchscreen display

T-Mobile Complete doesn’t require an annual contract agreement and allows customers to buy four phone models starting at $59.99, with the first month of data being free.

Two of the phones included by T-Mobile in the new offering are the BlackBerry Curve 8520 (available for $299.99) and the BlackBerry Pearl (available for $149.99). The other two handsets were not unveiled, but they’re probably not made buy RIM.

T-Mobile Complete should be available across the US through Best Buy and select Walmart locations.

Via Engadget

• BlackBerry 8910 – a Curve 8900 successor?
• T-Mobile UK announces Pay Once for BlackBerry
• Pelago Whrrl opens up for BlackBerry Pearl and Curve
• T-Mobile USA’s BlackBerry Curve 8900 already in stores, available starting February 11
• AT&T Blackberry Plans Include 4 New Devices

Next we have a new RIM-Adobe collaboration that should allow app developers and creative professionals to use Adobe Creative Suite content and the Adobe Flash Platform technology for creating BlackBerry applications and content.

Starting with version 5, Adobe Creative Suite will let you import content from Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe After Effects into BlackBerry application development tools. More about the RIM-Adobe collaboration can be found here.

(BlackBerry Storm2)

Other new things announced by RIM:

• BlackBerry Advertising Service – it will provide devs with the ability to integrate ads into their BlackBerry apps. Ads from renown advertising networks (Jumptap, Navteq, Lat49, Millennial Media, 1020 Placecast, Quattro Wireless, Sympatico.ca) will be served. RIM expects to launch BlackBerry Advertising Service and a SDK for it in the first half of 2010.
• BlackBerry Payment Service, which should be launched in mid 2010, enabling “in-application transactions and streamlined payment processes”.
• BlackBerry Push Service – generally available in the first half of 2010, it “allows developers and content providers to deliver time-sensitive alerts and up to 8 KB of data to applications.” More info here.
• New Location Services: Cell Site Geolocation (”an alternative to GPS, providing an estimate of a smartphone’s location based on cell tower triangulation”), Travel Time (“incorporate estimated travel time within their applications for almost any destination in the US and Canada”), and Reverse Geocoding.
• BlackBerry Theme Studio, which replaces the Plazmic Content Developer’s Kit and includes BlackBerry Theme Builder and BlackBerry Composer; it allows developers to easily design themes, illustrations and animations. BlackBerry Theme Studio can be downloaded for free form here.

Via RIM here, here and here

• Flash is Coming to The iPhone. Well, Sort of.
• Blackberry App World to Get Carrier Billing Soon
• HTC Hero will come with full Adobe Flash support
• Palm Pre and the webOS platform will support Flash
• Flash 10.1 for Palm WebOS to come in the first half of 2010

Previously known as BlackBerry Aries, the Curve 8530 is the CDMA version of T-Mobile’s BlackBerry 8520.

The 8530 features EV-DO connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS, full QWERTY keyboard, QVGA display, optical trackpad, 3.5mm headset jack, 2MP camera and MicroSD card support.

BlackBerry Curve 8530 will be available at Verizon starting November 20 for $99.99 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate).

The other device announced by Verizon – Samsung u640 Convoy – is a rugged Push To Talk clamshell.

The Samsung Convoy meets military specifications 810F standards for dust and shock resistance, humidity, vibration, solar radiation, low/high temperature and altitude. It comes with VZ Navigator, external and internal displays, Bluetooth 2.1, 2MP camera and a 1300 mAh battery. The phone will be available from Verizon starting November 15 for $49.99 on contract.

Another rugged phone that’s headed to Verizon is the Casio G’Zone Brigade which, according to Engadget, is waterproof and features Push To Talk and document viewer. The G’Zone Brigade has a small display and an alphanumeric keypad on the outside, as well as a large display and a QWERTY keyboard on the inside.

The launch date and price of Casio G’Zone Brigade were not announced by Verizon.

Via Verizon here and here

• Verizon’s Casio G’zOne Brigade C741 now officially available
• Verizon’s rugged Casio Brigade C741 already available?
• Verizon announces the rugged Casio G’zOne Rock
• Verizon’s Casio Brigade C741 approved by the FCC
• Verizon to launch Nokia Twist 7705, LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 and more

Well, the third largest US carrier prepares even more surprises for 2010.

According to GearLog, Sprint executive David Owens has just unveiled some of the carrier’s plans for next year.

Reportedly, Sprint plans to launch WiMax phones, plus lots of HTC and BlackBerry smartphones in 2010 – with the mention that the HTC ones will run Android and some BlackBerries will feature Wi-Fi.

Speaking of Android, Sprint says that handsets using Google’s OS “will get less expensive” as soon as more such handsets are released. Next year, the carrier might launch hybrid CDMA/GSM Android phones, and even an “Android phone with a built-in MiFi-type router.”

Sprint has also confirmed that Android updates will come to Samsung Moment and HTC Hero, although it’s not clear yet if we’re talking about Android 2.0.

Despite all this Android talk, Sprint hasn’t forgotten about Windows Mobile. WM 6.5 updates should come in early 2010 to the HTC Touch Pro2 and other WM phones. Moreover, Sprint is eagerly waiting for Windows Mobile 7 devices, although their release obviously depends on Microsoft.

• Android Devices Being Brought in Q4
• HTC Hero with Android to be exclusively sold by Orange
• Sprint to launch WM 6.5 Samsung Intrepid (Ace II), Samsung Moment
• Andy Rubin says Google won’t make an Android phone of its own
• First Samsung Android smartphone to come in June; other two handsets promised for the US

So, Verizon customers will be able to buy the Storm2 starting October 28 – the same date when Verizon and Motorola are hosting their Droid event.

With a 2-yr contract agreement and after a $100mail-in rebate, the BlackBerry Storm2 will cost $179.99 (it requires “a voice plan with an Email and Web feature or an Email and Web for BlackBerry plan”).

The specs and features of Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm2 include:

• EV-DO Rev A connectivity
• Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM and UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz) connectivity
• 3.25 inch touchscreen display with 480 x 360 pixels and new SurePress technology
• BlackBerry OS 5.0
• Wi-Fi
• GPS
• BlackBerry Browser (enhanced with faster JavaScript and CSS processing and support for Gears and BlackBerry Widgets)
• BlackBerry App World
• Bluetooth 2.1
• 3.5mm headset jack
• 3.2MP autofocus camera with Image Stabilization, flash and video recording
• 2GB of on-board memory
• 16GB MicroSDHC card included

As of today, BlackBerry OS 5.0 is also available for the first generation BlackBerry Storm.

Via Press release

• BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) video preview shows up
• New BlackBerry Storm 2 videos, Piezo technology included
• BlackBerry Storm 2 accessories show up at Best Buy
• BlackBerry Storm 2 (9520) for Vodafone – pictures leaked
• Vodafone’s BlackBerry Storm2 9520 officially coming on October 26

One of the nicest new features available now for BlackBerry is Layers. With Layers, users can quickly view various types of info directly on their maps. There are different types of layers: the Wikipedia layer, the Google Latitude layer and so on.

To download the latest version of Google Maps on your phone, visit m.google.com/maps.

A video preview of Google Maps with Layers for BlackBerry can be watched below:

Via the Official Google Mobile Blog

• Google Buzz for mobile announced, integrates with Gmail, Google Maps
• Google Maps’ new Latitude feature lets you easily locate your friends
• Google Maps Navigation for Android 1.6 released
• Street View and walking directions now available in Google Maps for Mobile,
• Google Maps for mobile gets voice search – only on BlackBerry Pearl devices, for now

The handset makers are: Samsung, LG, Research in Motion and Sharp. It is the first time when giant phone manufactures announce their global commitment to the JIL widget standard.

Reportedly, the Joint Innovation Lab’s widgets “will be capable of enhancing the mobile internet experience for customers on a variety of smartphones as well as mid- and low-cost handsets across several operating systems and distributed through JIL operators’ applications stores”.

Verizon, Vodafone, China Mobile and Softbank have a combined user base of more than 1 billion around the world (North America, Europe, Asia and Africa).

Via Press release

• #MWC10: Wholesale Applications Community formed by 24 leading mobile carriers
• Vodafone joins the app store race
• Vodafone buys Wayfinder for $29.3 million
• European telecom operators to sell HTC-branded handsets for a change
• Vodafone Music 24/7 service Launched

The 9700 is pretty much an improved and better looking BlackBerry Bold 9000. It runs BlackBerry OS 5.0 and it’s RIM’s second smartphone to have an optical trackpad (after the Curve 8520).

AT&T and T-Moible will both offer the Bold 9700 in the US. T-Mobile didn’t say how much its 9700 will cost, but AT&T plans to sell it for $199.99 on contract (after a $100 mail-in-rebate). You can register your interest either on AT&T’s website, or on T-Mobile’s.

The specs and features of BlackBerry Bold 9700 incude:

• Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM connectivity
• 2100/1900/850/800 MHz or 2100/1700/900 UMTS/HSDPA connectivity
• 2.44 inch light-sensing display with 480 x 360 pixels
• Highly tactile QWERTY keyboard
• Wi-Fi with UMA (where available)
• GPS with Telenav maps
• Bluetooth 2.1
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Access to BlackBerry App World
• 3.2 MP autofocus camera with variable zoom, flash and video recording
• 624MHz processor
• 256 MB of Flash memory
• 2GB memory card in the box
• 4.29 x 2.36 x 0.56 inches (109 x 60 x 14.1 mm)
• 4.3 oz (122 grams)
• 1500 mAh battery

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 will be available starting November.

Update: Rogers announced the Bold 9700 too. It will be launched in Canada for $299 with a 3-yr contract agreement.

Via Press release

• BlackBerry Bold 9700 shows up at T-Mobile Germany
• AT&T finally brings the BlackBerry Bold: $299 starting November 4
• RIM intros the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in India
• Telstra announces the BlackBerry Bold 9700 for Australia
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 officially released in Canada, via Rogers

According to CrackBerry, the watch will come as an accessory “designed specifically for BlackBerry from the ground up.” It has a nice OLED display and it can show notifications or messages that you receive on your BlackBerry smartphone.

The Bluetooth watch might be called BlackBerry inPulse, but this name isn’t confirmed.

No info yet on the release date or the price of BlackBerry inPulse.

• RIM to launch BlackBerry Bluetooth watch, new Bluetooth headset?
• InPulse Blackberry Watch is Official, Taking Pre-Orders Now
• BlackBerry 9000 Named BlackBerry Bold?
• Check out These LG Watch Phone Pictures
• Watch of the Future: Windows Mobile Wrist Watch

Also known as BlackBerry Onyx, the Bold 9700 is obviously the successor of BlackBerry Bold 9000, which is now more than a year old.

The features of BlackBerry Bold 9700 include a 480 x 360 pixels display, optical trackpad, full QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA connectivity, Wi-Fi, 3.2MP camera, 1500 mAh battery, and a 2GB card in the box.

The 9700 is slightly smaller than the original Bold, measuring 109 x 60 x 14 millimeters (as opposed to 116 x 66 x 14 mm).

BlackBerry Bold 9700 should be launched by T-Mobile USA and AT&T too, probably before the year’s end.

Via Engadget

• BlackBerry Bold 9700 now official, AT&T, T-Mobile and Rogers will carry it
• RIM intros the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in India
• Telstra announces the BlackBerry Bold 9700 for Australia
• Verizon to launch the BlackBerry Niagara, netbooks
• AT&T finally brings the BlackBerry Bold: $299 starting November 4

Vodafone’s Storm2 (model name 9520) will be available in the following countries: UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, France, Italy and South Africa.

According to this pre-order page, Vodafone UK will ship the Storm2 starting October 26.

As expected, the new Storm comes with a significantly improved SurePress technology, which should let you easily control the 3.25 inch, 360 x 480 pixels capacitive touchscreen display.

Here are the main features of BlackBerry Storm2 9520:

• BlackBerry OS 5
• Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM
• UMTS/HSPA (2100Mhz)
• Wi-Fi
• GPS
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Vodafone music client pre-installed
• 3.2MP camera with autofocus and flash
• 256MB Flash memory
• MicroSD card support, up to 32GB
• 1400 mAh battery

Vodafone will offer the Storm2 9520 for free to customers who choose a 2-yr contract agreement and a data plan of at least £35 per month.

At the moment, there’s still no word on when exactly Verizon’s Storm2 will be available.

Via Press release

• Verizon announces the BlackBerry Storm2 for October 28
• Verizon’s $199 BlackBerry Storm release scheduled for November 21st
• Blackberry Storm 9500 and 9530 gets official on Verizon and Vodafone. Finally
• Blackberry Tour: Buy One Now!
• BlackBerry Tour 9630 announced by RIM, Verizon and Sprint will launch it soon

According to BlackBerry Rocks (the website is down right now), the unannounced BlackBerry Storm2 will be included in the promotion as well.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing official about this at the moment, and we only have this leaked flyer as proof:

As previously reported, the BlackBerry Storm2 should be announced by Verizon in late November. If the BOGO promotion turns out to be real, there will probably be many, many Storm 2 smartphones sold before the year’s end, regardless of the price of one unit (which cant’ possibly be higher than $300 on contract).

Via CrackBerry

• BlackBerry Storm 2 accessories show up at Best Buy
• Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm now only $50. Storm 2 launch imminent?
• Verizon announces the BlackBerry Storm2 for October 28
• BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) video preview shows up
• BlackBerry Storm 2 to come in September 2009 with Wi-Fi

The accessories in question are silicon cases, but what’s interesting is that the final name of Storm 2 seems to be still unclear. The model number is 9550, but the smartphone’s actual name might be BlackBerry Storm II, or even BlackBerry Odin.

Regardless of its name, the new Storm 2 should be way better than the first-generation Storm, mainly due to a new technology rumored to be used for its touchscreen display, technology called Piezo.

Most probably, the BlackBerry Storm 2 will first be launched by Verizon in late November, and then by Vodafone (in Europe).

Via Engadget

• New BlackBerry Storm 2 videos, Piezo technology included
• BlackBerry Storm 2 (9520) for Vodafone – pictures leaked
• Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm now only $50. Storm 2 launch imminent?
• BlackBerry Storm 2 to come in September 2009 with Wi-Fi
• Verizon announces the BlackBerry Storm2 for October 28

The new RIM smartphone should be available from Rogers’ stores in the next few days. Its features, in case you don’t know them yet, include: 320 x 240 pixels display, full QWERTY keyboard, quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity, Wi-Fi, 3.5mm headset jack, 2MP camera with video recording, and MicroSD card support.

As you can see in the photo below, Rogers’ Curve 8520 will be sold in two color versions: black and some sort of violet.

Rogers will offer the BlackBerry Curve 8520 for $99.99 with a 3-yr contract agreement of at least $45 per month.

Via Howard Forums

• BlackBerry Curve 8900 quietly launched by Rogers?
• Rogers launches Nokia Surge, prepares Nokia N86, LG Eve
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 officially released in Canada, via Rogers
• RIM officially announces the BlackBerry Curve 8900, T-Mobile Germany gets it first
• Sprint’s BlackBerry Curve 8530 available now, only $49.99

Starting this date, Mac users will be able to download BlackBerry Desktop Manager from the BlackBerry official website.

The BlackBerry Desktop Manager software for Mac will obviously enable Mac users to sync data from Mac-specific applications (Address Book, iCal, Microsoft Entourage etc), as well as to install software updates, remove apps or encrypt backup files for their BlackBerry device.

Since it integrates BlackBerry Media Sync, BlackBerry Desktop Manager also provides iTunes syncing.

In related news, BlackBerry smartphone owners now have a dedicated TiVo application which lets them program favorite TV shows and access channel listings.

TiVo for BlackBerry is free and it’s available through BlackBerry App World.

Via Press release

• BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac – officially out in September
• Blackberry Media Sync to let BlackBerry Bold sync with iTunes
• TiVo and RIM team up for BlackBerry mobile entertainment services
• Apple iPod/iPhone as a remote control for Apple Media Centre
• INQ Chat 3G and Mini 3G – Twitter phones with iTunes syncing

The M330 is a simple slider that features 3G (EV-DO) connectivity, Bluetooth, web browser and a VGA photo camera.

Measuring 3.7 x 1.7 x 0.6 inches, the phone comes with a 960 mAh battery that can provide a talk time of up to 6.3 hours.

Samsung M330 is available for free with a 2-yr contract agreement – you can get it online here.

Sprint (which may be acquired by Deutsche Telekom)  has also introduced a camera-free edition of the BlackBerry Tour 9630.

The non-camera version of BlackBerry Tour is offered by Sprint for same price as the original Tour – $199.99 with a 2-yr contract agreement and after a mail-in rebate.

Via PhoneScoop, IntoMobile

• LG LX290, Inferno BlackBerry Curve 8330 launched by Sprint
• Sprint launching the BlackBerry Tour on July 12 too
• BlackBerry Tour 9630 announced by RIM, Verizon and Sprint will launch it soon
• Sprint intros the HTC Snap S511 and Samsung Exclaim
• Deutsche Telekom to buy Sprint and merge it with T-Mobile USA?

The unannounced smartphone will probably be called BlackBerry Bold 9700 when released.

Spotted over at Cio, the official BlackBerry Onyx photo shows exactly what we’ve expected to see: a good looking QWERTY smartphone with an optical trackpad (instead of RIM’s traditional trackball).

The features of BlackBerry Onyx for T-Mobile will include 3G, Wi-Fi, visual voicemail, access to BlackBerry App World, TeleNav GPS Navigator, and an Amazon MP3 application.

T-Mobile intends to launch the BlackBerry Bold 9700 Onyx before the end of 2009, probably at about the same time with AT&T.

• BlackBerry Bold 9700 shows up at T-Mobile Germany
• BlackBerry Onyx and Magnum to hit AT&T; BlackBerry Driftwood for T-Mobile?
• BlackBerry 9700 coming to T-Mobile, live picture leaked
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 now official, AT&T, T-Mobile and Rogers will carry it
• BlackBerry Bold goes to Taiwan with a special QWERTY keyboard for Chinese input

Launched in the fall of 2008 (when it was priced at $200), BlackBerry Storm is the only RIM smartphone to feature a touchscreen display. The price cut is probably a sign that the new Storm 2 is on its way.

Rumored to be launched in October this year, BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 should come with a slightly changed design, as well as new features – including Wi-Fi and a more user-friendly touchscreen display.

The BlackBerry Storm 2 might be offered by Verizon for $200 on contract, but we’ll have to wait for an official confirmation to be sure of this.

Via PhoneArena

• New BlackBerry Storm 2 videos, Piezo technology included
• BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) video preview shows up
• Blackberry Storm 9500 and 9530 gets official on Verizon and Vodafone. Finally
• Verizon announces the BlackBerry Storm2 for October 28
• Verizon Storm 2 Could Launch on Oct 21

According to the Torch Mobile official website, as part of Research In Motion, the company’s developers “will continue to be active participants in the WebKit development community”.

So I guess that we should expect new BlackBerry smartphones to come with a WebKit-based browser pre-installed.

WebKit is the open source software that’s being used for browsers installed on the iPhone, the Palm Pre, Android smartphones, and some new Nokia smartphones.

Via Yahoo Finance

• UIQ platform gets full touch controllable browsing with Digia @Web
• Windows Mobile 7’s Internet Explorer could use open-source WebKit
• Google Chrome for Android in the works?
• Digia @Web launches in Beta for UIQ 3
• Yahoo intros new Yahoo! Mobile app, teams up with Opera

According to these videos, the Storm 2 is much better than the original Storm – first of all because it uses a new technology, called Piezo, which makes its touchscreen display very user-friendly.

It’s said that, thanks to this technology, typing on the Storm 2’s screen is even nicer than typing on the iPhone’s screen.

As you probably already know, there will be two versions of the BlackBerry Storm, both featuring Wi-Fi: 9550 for Verizon Wireless, and 9520 for GSM carriers, AT&T included.

The BlackBerry Storm 2 preview videos are a bit lengthy, but it’s worth watching them:

Unfortunately, there are still no official details about the release of BlackBerry Storm 2.

• BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) video preview shows up
• Blackberry Storm 2 Official Video is Now Out
• Verizon announces the BlackBerry Storm2 for October 28
• BlackBerry Storm 2 accessories show up at Best Buy
• BlackBerry Storm 2 to come in September 2009 with Wi-Fi

According to a post found at BlackBerry OS, Antoine Boucher, RIM’s vice president of Accessories, has “confirmed” that they’re working on a Bluetooth watch, alongside a new Bluetooth headset codenamed Alpha 1.

Reportedly, RIM’s Bluetooth watch can be connected to a BlackBerry smartphone and receive email alerts, BlackBerry Messenger messages, SMS, and even Tweets and Facebook notifications. Moreover, the watch would allow you to transfer music and videos from you BB smartphone. Something similar to LG’s Prada Link watch, we guess.

As for the upcoming RIM Bluetooth headset, this will feature the BlackBerry logo and noise reduction technology. It might be the HS500 (pictured below), approved today by the Bluetooth SIG.

The HS500is not featured on RIM’s website, and only a few retailers are listing in as being on pre-order.

We’ll bring more on RIM’s new Bluetooth watch and Bluetooth headset as soon as new info emerges.

Via IntoMobile

• LG Prada Link appears on FCC web site
• LG Prada II KF900 arrives in Europe with a Bluetooth watch and a microsite
• RIM’s BlackBerry Bluetooth Watch (inPulse) shows up
• Wirelessly ride in style with Motorola H620 and H560 Bluetooth headsets
• BlackBerry 9700 coming to T-Mobile, live picture leaked

Obviously created for the BlackBerry developer community, the new blog is set to be “a key component to the overall BlackBerry Developer Zone experience.”

The BlackBerry Developer’s Blog will concentrate its posts on three distinct areas: Technical Discussion and Insights (including technical info on how to develop apps, development practices and code snippets), Developer Engagement (for communicating events to regional developers) and Market Insight (discussing opportunities and trends in mobile development).

Those who are interested (BlackBerry devs or not) can access the new blog at this address.

Via BlackBerry Cool

• Devs, rejoice! Apple NDA dropped for released iPhone software
• RIM announces BlackBerry OpenGL ES support, new deal with Adobe and more
• Microsoft prepares WinMoDevCamp events for WM developers
• Sony Ericsson launches Panels SDK for the Xperia X2
• Google Letting Android Developers Slip

Appeared over at CrackBerry, the image shows a device similar to what we saw last month as BlackBerry 9020.

Like the Curve 8520 (already available from T-Mobile), the BlackBerry 9700 is one of RIM’s smartphones that have an optical trackpad instead of a trackball. Other features should include 3G (T-Mobile’s first 3G BlackBerry), a 480 x 360 pixels display, Wi-Fi, GPS, and (of course) a QWERTY keyboard.

T-Mobile has not announced a release date for the BlackBerry 9700.

AT&T plans to launch the BlackBerry 9700 Onyx too, but, as in T-Mo’s case, a release date is not known.

• BlackBerry Bold 9700 (Onyx) for T-Mobile appears in press photo
• BlackBerry Onyx 9020 picture leaked, optical trackpad included
• Onyx Promises to be T-Mobile’s First 3G Blackberry
• T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8520 (Gemini) to come on August 5
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 shows up at T-Mobile Germany

Well, Vodafone’s Storm 2, aka 9520 aka Odin, has recently appeared in some live pictures, over at benezblog.de.

The smartphone works on Vodafone’s Germany network, it has 3G and it doesn’t looks too different from the first-gen BlackBerry Storm. However, like Verizon’s Storm 2 (9550), Vodafone’s new handset comes with Wi-Fi – a feature not included in the original model.

(BlackBerry Storm 2 on the left, BlackBerry Storm on the right)

As you can see in the image above, this BlackBerry Storm 2 runs the BlackBerry OS 5.0.0.138.

The release date of RIM’s BlackBerry Storm 2 is not known, although rumors say that the smartphone will be released by both Vodafone and Verizon in October this year.

Via IntoMobile

• BlackBerry Storm 2 to come in September 2009 with Wi-Fi
• Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm now only $50. Storm 2 launch imminent?
• Verizon announces the BlackBerry Storm2 for October 28
• New BlackBerry Storm 2 videos, Piezo technology included
• Vodafone’s BlackBerry Storm2 9520 officially coming on October 26

After all, capacitive touchscreen displays are faster, more responsive, support multi-touch, and are the holy grail of a modern user interface…

In real life it’s not so simple. First there is an issue of price, and, at least for now, capacitive displays are way more expensive then resistive ones. Then there’s the issue of precision/accuracy, where resistive touchscreens are  ahead. This is particularly important in Asia, where stylus based character entry is prevalent, and capacitive touch based devices are not up to the task for this.

And then don’t tell my girl friends about capacitive displays on some latest touch phones. I can still hear the screams and swearing as they try to text on a new LG Arena with those long polished nails…, while Diamond 2 works just fine.

But now RIM might have found a solution to the resistive or capacitive dilemma.  At least for their high end Blackberry devices.

Just merge the damn things, make a touchscreen display with both resistive and capacitive touch sensors/controllers.

And they filed a patent app for that.

By having both -capacitive and resistive – touchscreen controllers in the same device, you get the best of both worlds. Fast responsiveness to finger touch, support for various gestures, high precision and stylus character entry capabilities, in a single device.

Of course, the issue of the price remains. These hybrid capacitive/resistive touchscreen displays will certainly be mighty expensive. But for the high end device like Blackberry Storm 2 or 3, they might be perfect.

And it’s not only RIM that is thinking about combining capacitive and resistive touch. In fact, it is said, that Samsung Jet already comes with something called R-Resistive display tech, that combines the best features of capacitive and resistive touch screens.

• Next Nokia touch smartphone to come with capacitive touchscreen and multi-touch?
• Nokia’s Maemo 6 to support capacitive displays, multi-touch
• Nokia 6208c pops up on Nokia China’s web site
• Samsung to make 100 million touchscreen phones in 2010, 65% of them with capacitive screens
• Samsung announces single chip capacitive touchscreen controller

Indian customers will be able to buy the smartphone starting August 7, at the retail price of 15,990 INR (about $336).

The 8520 is the only (for now) BlackBerry Curve to have an optical trackpad instead of RIM’s traditional trackball.

The smartphone also features

• Full QWERTY keyboard
• Quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity
• 2.46 inch QVGA display
• Wi-Fi
• Full HTML browser
• Advanced email capabilities
• 2MP camera
• 3.5mm headset jack
• 1150 mAh battery (providing up to 4.5 hours of talk time, or up to 17 days of standby time)

“We believe that the BlackBerry Curve 8520 will appeal to young professionals, students and a broad spectrum of retail customers who want the exceptional mobile experience for messaging, social networking, email, music and entertainment that you get from a BlackBerry smartphone,” declared Raghunath Mandava, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Airtel.

Tomorrow, August 5 (two days before being released in India), the BlackBerry Curve 8520 will debut in the US, launched by T-Mobile.

Via Web Newswire

• India gets the BlackBerry Curve 8900 too
• RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 now official
• T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8520 (Gemini) to come on August 5
• T-Mobile USA’s BlackBerry Curve 8900 already in stores, available starting February 11
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 quietly launched by Rogers?

But some bits  of what they are up to might be found in the patent applications that company files. And today it’s time to look at what the researchers from RIM are up to.

Some time in early 2007, while RIM employees were contemplating the impact iPhone will have on their business and devising the strategies to take on consumer markets, RIM R&D labs were having a field day drawing up a new form factors future Blackberries could sport.

Then  they decided to put all of them into a single patent app, that now, two years later, is available for everyone to view. The concepts in the application range from smart and mundane, that can actually make it into your next Blackberry, to pretty exotic and stupid that will not see the light of day.

But enough of the talk, and let’s look some pictures.  Starting from some, more or less,  realistic designs.

Full touch screen device in a closed mode, that can be easily used for typing with a single hand on a narrow full or semi-QWERTY slide-out keyboard. Why not? It could be made to look just like any other Blackberry, the form factor and all the parts are pretty familiar and this one could find it’s own buyer.

Other designs are much more strange, like this dual mode phone with rotating screen:

It has the usual phone mode, rotate the screen 90 degrees and you get qwerty keyboard, rotate it 90 degrees more and you get the game controls.

Or these sliders:

And then we get to things even more exotic, like this cross between Motorola Aura and Nokia 6810:

This one, with a screen swiveling for no good reason:

Or this strange contraption with wings:

• What’s next for your Blackberry
• The new kind of HTC Slider
• Nokia is thinking about it’s own Sidekick
• Slanting Cradles Coming to Samsung Phones and Media Players
• Sony Ericsson’s bracelet phone

As you may already know, BlackBerry Curve 8520 is RIM’s first device to have an optical trackpad instead of a trackball.

The smartphone further features a “highly tactile full-QWERTY keyboard”, Wi-Fi, quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity, a 320 x 240 pixels display, a 2MP camera, and a 1GB MicroSD card in the box.

There’s also “out of the box Mac compatibility”, which sounds promising for Mac lovers.

BlackBerry Curve 8520 will be available from T-Mobile USA starting August 5, in two colors (black and frost). Also in August, the new Curve 8520 will go on sale in the UK. The smartphone’s price was not announced by RIM.

Via Press release

• BlackBerry Curve 8900 Javelin gets real on T-Mobile Germany’s website
• RIM officially announces the BlackBerry Curve 8900, T-Mobile Germany gets it first
• AT&T officially announces the BlackBerry Curve 8900
• Verizon intros music-filled slotRadio+ microSD card for BlackBerry
• T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8520 (Gemini) to come on August 5

Posted by the folks over at CrackBerry, the video shows the BlackBerry Storm 2 in action, and, despite presenting “early” software and hardware, it looks like the new Storm is definitely better than the first one.

The touchscreen display of BlackBerry Storm 9550 uses the SurePress technology, but it’s more user-friendly than the display of the original Storm. Moreover, the hardware seems to be nicer on the new smartphone.

Here’s the video preview:

RIM hasn’t announced a release date for the BlackBerry Storm 9550, but it will probably do it before the end of 2009.

• New BlackBerry Storm 2 videos, Piezo technology included
• Verizon announces the BlackBerry Storm2 for October 28
• BlackBerry Tour may have a touchscreen display
• BlackBerry Storm 2 (9520) for Vodafone – pictures leaked
• Vodafone’s BlackBerry Storm2 9520 officially coming on October 26

According to BlackBerry Rocks, T-Mo will launch the 8520 (also known as BlackBerry Gemini) on this date via retail stores, RPS and Wallmart. The smartphone will also be available to employees and for upgrades.

Replacing the Curve 8320, the new Curve 8520 is the first BlackBerry device to come with optical trackpad navigation instead of the traditional trackball. It also features a full QWERTY keyboard (obviously), Wi-Fi, GSM/EDGE connectivity, a 2MP camera and access to BlackBerry App World.

The price of T-Mobile’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 is not known yet. Let’s hope it won’t be a high one on contract.

Via IntoMobile

• RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 now official
• BlackBerry Curve 8910 shows up in leaked photo
• BlackBerry Gemini 8325 appears in a live image
• BlackBerry Curve 8520 announced by Airtel for India
• Rogers BlackBerry Curve 8520 arrives in stores

The initial release will include features like: iTunes playlists, contacts, calendars, tasks and notes syncing; device updates; backup/restore devices; add/remove applications; multiple devices managing.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager will be compatible with Mac OS 10.5.5 and above.

Some screenshots of BlackBerry Desktop Software running on Mac can be seen below:

Mac users can sign up on the official BlackBerry website in order to be notified when exactly BlackBerry Desktop Manager will be available for them.

Via the Official BlackBerry Blog

• BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac comes on October 2; TiVo for BlackBerry available now
• Nokia Music desktop app tweaked. Major updates promised for later
• Best Buy launches mIQ, its own mobile cloud service for smartphones
• Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0 now out of beta
• Contacts on OVI loses 3 weeks of user data. All your profile, image and friendship updates gone since Jan. 23d