Last week the trackball on my BlackBerry Curve decided to quit on me. The thing couldn’t roll down a hill if it tried and, well, the phone’s dated version of the operating system was starting to make me look like a mobile T-Rex. (I always thought if I were to be a dinosaur, I’d be a T-Rex.)
Verizon’s holiday line-up has leaked, and it includes not only a full page spread of the Android-based Motorola Droid but confirms the incoming Curve2, aka the WiFi enabled 85xx series BlackBerry Curve. Already announced over at T-Mobile, there’s no specific launch date attached to the CDMA Curve2, but we’re hoping that its presence in a holiday guide indicates a release before the end of the year.
We weren’t expecting it until tomorrow, but the BlackBerry Curve 8900 has been listed on AT&T’s website as available to buy. Priced at $199.99 following a $100 mail-in rebate, the phone has a full QWERTY keyboard, EDGE data connection and WiFi.
AT&T have announced that the BlackBerry Curve 8900 will go on sale in the US on Friday May 22nd. Priced at $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, the Curve 8900 is the slimmest full-QWERTY BlackBerry to date, and packs quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE data, WiFi b/g and GPS, together with a 3.2-megapixel camera, 480 x 360 display and microSD/SDHC card slot (happy with cards up to 32GB).
A pre-production BlackBerry Curve 8520 has fallen into the esteemed hands of CrackBerry, and they’ve done the honorable thing and thoroughly reviewed it. Intended as an entry-level handset, the EDGE-only Curve 8520 – aka the BlackBerry Gemini – isn’t going to impress in the smartphone playground when it comes to features, but that doesn’t stop it from being quietly competent when it comes to build and hand-feel.
Well, it looks like AT&T is the next carrier in line to get their hands on the BlackBerry Curve 8900. This latest offering will be a serious update from the 8300 model with improved specs and performance expected.
T-Mobile and Rogers already have the latest Curve, which features a 3.2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and a 480 x 360 display. It also has the newest BlackBerry operating system. The AT&T version of the BlackBerry 8900 will be a tad different, however.
Specifically, it won’t feature Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) support for VoIP. However, it will have AT&T Navigator, XM Radio Mobile and Yellow Pages. We don’t know how much the phone will cost on AT&T, but they are likely to keep it competitive with T-Mobile, which is currently priced at $149.99 with a two-year contract. The release date is also unknown, though expected to fall within the early summer months.
The iPhone 3G’s seemingly unstoppable dominance at the top of the US smartphone sales chart has come to an end, with the BlackBerry Curve 83xx-series snatching the number one position in Q1 2009. Smartphones make up 23-percent of handset sales; Apple and Palm both saw their smartphone share decline by 10-percent each over the course of the quarter, while RIM’s share increased to almost 50-percent.
If you’ve been clutching your penny jar, waiting anxiously to buy the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and cursing your lack of a business account with T-Mobile, it’s time to breath out. The Curve 8900 is now available to all customers, not just enterprise ones, with a ticket price of $199.99 after a $200 instant-rebate (hurrah!) and a $100 mail-in one (boo hiss).
Details of RIM’s replacement to the BlackBerry Curve have leaked, with the handset believed to be called the BlackBerry Gemini 9300. The biggest difference between the Curve and the BlackBerry 9300 will be the inclusion of triband UMTS/HSDPA, but the handset will also include a more powerful CPU, slightly redesigned keyboard and silver casing.
We opened the week with our first-impressions of the T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900, a surprisingly adept smartphone that’s managed to impress despite the absence of 3G. We’ve also been playing with Vuzix’s iWear AV230XL OLED video headset, and the VIA Artigo A2000 Barebone Storage Server. Finally, if you prefer your gadgets with a bit of (artificial) flesh on their bones, take a look at our Orbita Mouse unboxing; we’ll have the full review this coming week.
SlashGear Japan
