You are reading that correct. Kevin from CrackBerry was at the airport yesterday and it seems he wasn’t the only one with a unreleased BlackBerry Javelin (soon to be Curve) 8900. Kevin says he saw not one but THREE of this hot new toy. So either RIM has some serious stolen phones on eBay or a bunch of employees are now testing them…
Kevin from CrackBerry has confirmed that the BlackBerry Javelin will become part of the Curve family (not a surprise). Not only that but the “Javelin 8900″ as we are calling it for now will feature a new style trackball called “Atomic trackball”. This will help prevent dust, dirt and other stuff from getting into the trackball and causing it to stop responding. Read More
Rogers is getting ready to launch the Wi-Fi packing BlackBerry Curve 8320 in Dark Blue. This new Curve will launch later this month for $149.99 with three year contract. Also Rogers will be releasing new data plans starting soon. Prices for the new data plans start at $15 for unlimited email and IM and go all the way up to $60 for 3GB of data.
Telus has added a red colored BlackBerry Curve 8330 to their BlackBerry lineup. All the same features and price tag – Currently $149.99 with three year contract. This brings a total of six colored BlackBerry smartphones for consumers. Who’s all going to pick up the new red Curve? I almost want one myself…
Also Telus if you wouldn’t mind could you hurry up with some BlackBerry 9530 teasers?!
Well CTIA Fall 2008 was huge for RIM this fall. We saw tons of press releases, two new BlackBerry models and new services. Unfortunately no sign of the long awaited BlackBerry Javelin or Storm/Thunder but they should come before the years finished.
Here is a run down of what happend at CTIA Fall 2008 starting off with:
- A Look at RIM’s CTIA Fall 2008 booth
- Introducing the iDEN BlackBerry Curve 8350i for Sprint-Nextel
- Introducing the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220
- Meet the Red colored Pearl Flip 8220
- RIM and TiVo partner up to bring TiVo control on BlackBerry
- RIM and Windows Live Search come to BlackBerry
- MySpace and Ticketmaster also join BlackBerry apps
- Slacker Personal Radio coming to BlackBerry
So overall it was a great success and I’m sure there is more to come before 2008 is done.
This week at CTIA Fall 2008 has been interesting so far for RIM. Early this morning start with the launch of the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 and now RIM is proud to announce the much needed iDEN BlackBerry Curve 8350i. Finally his brings a upgrade to iDEN users on Sprint-Nextel’s aging iDEN network. This new Curve will sport both Wi-Fi and GPS along with a 2.0 megapixel camera, MicroSD memory card slot and stereo Bluetooth. This new Curve will also be the first Curve to operate on RIM’s new OS 4.6 as seen in the Pearl Flip and Bold.
Pricing has been announced yet, but you can expect to find out more within the next few months…
Press Release:
Operating on the fastest national push-to-talk network, the BlackBerry Curve 8350i will be the first from Sprint to offer built-in Wi-Fi capabilities and Group Connect, allowing instant group conversations with up to 21 people nationwide
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. and Waterloo, ON – Sprint customers seeking the benefits of industry-leading push-to-talk services and the power of BlackBerry® smartphones will have a new version of the coveted combo available later this year. Sprint (NYSE: S) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced plans to deliver the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8350i – the newest Nextel Direct Connect-capable BlackBerry smartphone – by the end of 2008.
The BlackBerry Curve 8350i will be the latest BlackBerry smartphone to utilize iDEN technology and feature Nextel Direct Connect, the only national push-to-talk service in the industry to offer sub-second call setup and connection to the world’s largest push-to-talk community with millions of users and integrated business solutions, including one of the largest selections of GPS-enabled solutions. With Nationwide and International Direct Connect, Sprint customers will be able to instantly connect within the US and to users in other eligible countries including Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. The BlackBerry Curve 8350i will also be the first BlackBerry smartphone from Sprint to offer Group Connect, allowing customers to instantly set up group conversations with up to 20 other participants.
“Smart phones in general, and BlackBerry products in particular, have become more important to both business people and consumers lately,” said David Chamberlain, Principal Analyst with analyst firm In-Stat. “The BlackBerry Curve 8350i with PTT capability rounds out Sprint’s options to fill communications needs of many industries particularly those in the blue-collar segment of construction, field services, transportation and manufacturing.”
“Sprint is the undisputed leader in push-to-talk services, and with the launch of the new BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone, we are keeping our promise of expanding the Nextel Direct Connect capabilities and options for our customers,” said Danny Bowman, president of Nextel Direct Connect. “The BlackBerry Curve 8350i will be very attractive for business customers who need instant, convenient push-to-talk services to communicate now with employees, customers and suppliers but also want the capabilities of a high-end smartphone.”
In addition to delivering the unmatched push email and messaging capabilities of the BlackBerry solution, the BlackBerry Curve 8350i will provide rich multimedia, organizer and Internet browsing capabilities, as well as access to thousands of other mobile applications. The smartphone will also include built-in Wi-Fi® capabilities, allowing customers to browse the Internet and download email attachments quickly and easily. When connected to a Wi-Fi network, customers will also be able to send and receive emails or surf the Internet while talking on the phone.
Other key features include:
“The BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone will offer customers an exceptional communications and multimedia experience together with the power and convenience of the popular Nextel Direct Connect service,” said Mark Guibert, vice president of corporate marketing at RIM. “We are pleased to build on our successful relationship with Sprint to bring this powerful new smartphone to Sprint’s customers.”
Customers can find more information on the BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone and sign up to be notified of commercial availability from Sprint at www.sprint.com/instantconnectbb. Pricing, service plan details and an exact availability date will be announced at a later date.
Nationally, the Nextel National Network continues to operate at best-ever performance levels based on internal metrics. Internal performance metrics show double-digit percent improvement year-over-year (i.e., March 2007 to March 2008) for drops (i.e., where a customer’s voice connection fails or drops during a call) and blocks (i.e., where a customer is unable to make a voice connection) for the Nextel National Network. Customer issues related to dropped and blocked calls, and voice quality combined, have decreased more than 60 percent year-over-year (i.e., March 2007 to March 2008). This level of improvement translates to a more reliable calling experience for our customers. Customer calls on the Nextel National Network are successfully connected and maintained better than 99 out of 100 times.
For more information about Nextel Direct connect, please visit www.sprint.com/nextel.
BBNews is confirming that a new iDEN BlackBerry Curve is getting ready to launch before Christmas! Apparently this BlackBerry Curve 8350i will feature WI-Fi, an optional 2.0 megapixel camera and OS 4.6 (same as the Bold). Apparently this hot new Curve will launch on Sprint-Nextel for December 1st, but I’m thinking we will have to wait and see…
US Cellular is the first carrier in the United States to launch OS 4.5 for the CDMA Curve 8330 and Pearl 8130. They have launched OS 4.5.0.66 for both units and its now available for download on USC’s BlackBerry download page. Keep in mind you don’t have to have a USC BlackBerry you can find details on how to install it here.
So most of you are still rocking RIM’s OS 4.5 and lower (unless you got your hands on a Bold, then you have 4.6). BBCool is reporting that RIM’s next up BlackBerry Javelin, which is the Curve replacement will be running OS 4.7. This new version of RIM’s OS will look a lot like the BlackBerry Bold’s OS, however its expected to give support for 16GB Micro SD cards and an updated version of the full HTML browser. The new browser should fix all errors users are currently having when browsing sites loaded with Javascripts.
OS 4.7 should make its debut on RIM’s first touchscreen smartphone, the BlackBerry Thunder/Storm later this year as well.
Tired of waiting for a BlackBerry Bold? Well AT&T will be launching the Wi-Fi enabled BlackBerry Curve 8320 sometime later this month. The Curve 8320 will join the Pearl 8120 and BlackBerry 8820, which both include Wi-Fi. AT&T’s Curve 8320 will feature OS 4.5 to go along with AT&T’s OS 4.5 launch for all of their BlackBerry smartphones later this month. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but currently the Pearl 8120 sits at $199 and 8820 at $299 with contract (so maybe except it somewhere in between). Stay tuned for more details…
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