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T-Mobile USA offers free BlackBerry Pearl trackball replacement
If you're Pearl's pearl has lost some of its luster -- and indeed some of its control -- we've heard that T-Mobile USA is stepping in to help sort that out. As of the 15th February, BlackBerry Pearl 8100, 8120, and 8320 owners can apparently pop into a T-Mo shop and have it replaced for $free. The only catch is your device has to have been purchased from T-Mobile -- and, we assume, have troubles. Sadly other BB owners with problems can't get this in-store service -- as they require more than a simple pin for the same service -- but we'd imagine enough noise to customer support could help your cause if you're having trouble. We're liking the trend we've seen of late with carriers offering up these random acts of kindness and do hope we'll continue to see more.
Curve 8900 Replica theme now available for impatient, theme-obsessed CrackBerry addicts
While you may be in love with the 480 x 360-pixel screen on the latest and greatest 'Berry straight out of Waterloo, we know that the really tantalizing draw of the 8900 is that gorgeous theme. Luckily for all you wannabe addicts out there, CrackBerry Forums member Tom1|21 has worked some magic with Plazmic's Theme Builder and has made the theme available for all 83xx and 88xx devices -- albeit for a price. Of course, the truly classifiable BB elite would've known that this very same theme -- or something remarkably similar -- was available for the incredibly low price of free just days ago. Interestingly, the original forum post has been updated and points to purchase links rather than the free-OTA download links that it was pointing to prior. A little bit of searching might lead you to the free version, and you can start saving up that coinage for the finally-available Sling client -- once it loses the beta label and gets priced, that is. Or, you can just bypass the whole theme situation and hopefully get the real deal sometime around February 18th.Read - CrackBerry Forums threadRead - CrackBerry Blog theme availability
Viettel, Alcatel-Lucent and RIM bring BlackBerry solution to Vietnam
It's a good week internationally for BlackBerry lovers. First we hear that South Korea finally has unbridled access and its own Bold to toy with, and now we're hearing a similar story for the people of Vietnam. Viettel (a mobile operator in the country), Alcatel-Lucent and RIM have all joined hands to make it happen, with "it" being the launch of BlackBerry wireless service. Speaking of launch, prospective buyers can look forward to wrapping their palms around the Pearl 8100, BlackBerry 8700 or the Curve 8320 initially, though we wouldn't be surprised to see even more flavors roll out soon. There's no talk of price just yet, but feel free to phone up your nearest Viettel shop and see what's up.[Image courtesy of thugian]
AT&T rolls out BlackBerry Curve 8320 at long last
We heard a good while back that the WiFi-loving BlackBerry Curve 8320 would be making its way to AT&T, and here it is. The stunningly conservative Sapphire Blue shade might draw you in if the WiFi enhancement wasn't enough to convince you to upgrade from your 8300. Of course, this is all a bit less enticing now that options like the Bold (and the likely arrival of the 8900) exist, but hey -- better late than never, right? It's going for $149.99 with a two-year contract and a mail-in rebate, or $399.99 if you're just dying to pay full retail and have stacks and stacks of cash lying around.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
AT&T's BlackBerry Curve 8320 (and friends) make an appearance
If you've been jonesing for a few more shots of that trippy Samsung a637 that's starting to trickle into AT&T stores... well, here you are. We also have additional footage of Nokia's carrier-branded 6650 and 2600 classic, and new to this photo batch is the Curve 8320, one-upping AT&T's existing 8300 with WiFi (not to say you'd really know it from a dummy model). A little something for everyone here, really.[Thanks, Andy C.]%Gallery-32374%
WiFi-equipped BlackBerry 8320 on tap for Rogers?
There's an old saying in the wireless industry: "As AT&T goes, so goes Rogers." Actually, that's not a saying, we just made it up -- and it's not terribly accurate, either. But in the case of RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8320, there's at least a little bit of truth to it. New documents floating around indicate that Rogers intends to add the WiFi-packin' version of the Curve to its Talkspot lineup, giving users yet another smartphone option after the 8120 launched earlier this year. It'll apparently be offered in "Sapphire Blue" for $149.99 CAD (about $140) with a launch expected before the month's out.
AT&T to supplement Bold with BlackBerry Curve 8320
Who ever said the WiFi-laden BlackBerry Curve 8320 had to be a T-Mobile exclusive? AT&T certainly ain't hearing that, according to some colorful paperwork outed by Boy Genius Report, which should give BlackBerry upgraders and first-timers alike a less expensive alternative to the Bold when it launches stateside in the next handful of weeks (or so we all hope). Launch on this one is targeted for the last week of September, presumably replacing the 8300 dressed up in a rather conservative "sapphire blue" that should satisfy suits and personal users alike -- and we're willing to bet that a handful of current Curve owners are going to see the addition of WiFi as reason enough to take the plunge. There's no pricing on this one yet, but somewhere between $0 and the Bold's sticker is definitely a safe guess.
BlackBerry Curve Sunset in the wild
Don't get us wrong, the 8320's just great in both titanium and pale gold -- in fact, pretty much anything is made better when cast in pale gold, now that we think about it -- but RIM's lineup can always use a little more color, and T-Mobile's about to add its WiFi-enabled Curve in "Sunset." Looks like the new shade is starting to filter into the wild, and while we don't think its going to steal one ounce of attention from the Bold, that bright-ass shell is definitely a great way of silently screaming "I'm checking my email, dammit" to the world about you. Not bad.
Another look at the BlackBerry 8320 for T-Mobile
In the world of mobile email, it's hard to compete with RIM and the plethora of BlackBerry devices it has to offer. With BlackBerry's latest smartphone for T-Mobile, the Curve 8320, the companies hope to capitalize by taking advantage of RIM's infrastructure, T-Mobile's wireless calling plans, and the undeniable benefit of adding a little WiFi into the mix. Does the device live up to the hype? Did RIM make a mistake when it outfitted the Curve with a small processor and WiFi? Continue reading on to find out.
T-Mobile announces BlackBerry Curve with WiFi, we check it out
RIM decided (and we tend to agree) that it could improve upon the already solid BlackBerry 8300 Curve by adding GPS or WiFi -- carrier's choice -- in the form of the 8310 and 8320, respectively. T-Mobile has announced today the release of the 8320 variant, offering @Home branded UMA service and speedy data to supplement T-Mobile's EDGE network (in hotspot range, anyway) in your choice of "titanium" and carrier-exclusive "pale gold." We've had a few minutes to play around with the champagne hued version, and with WiFi added into the Curve's already solid mix, it pretty much goes without saying that this is the best BlackBerry yet. Setting up our wireless network on the Curve was a breeze, though we had some trouble keeping calls from dropping over an Airport Extreme; fortunately, T-Mobile's offering up optimized Linksys routers for a song, and you can always set it up as a separate network if you can't bear to tear down your 802.11a/n setup. We've heard some intermittent reports of Curves starting to show up in retail locations, but we can expect them to start shipping everywhere in early October. In the meantime, check out our hands-on gallery over on Engadget Mobile!Update: T-Mobile's bumped the release date up to today -- no complaints here -- at an on-contract price of $249.
BlackBerry Curve 8320 leaked on T-Mobile
Sure, we've heard whispers involving the BlackBerry Curve 8320 before, but there's nothing like official documentation from a trusted carrier to really get you jazzed up. As expected, this handset will tout WiFi, HotSpot @Home / UMA support, a two-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, a microSD expansion slot, built-in multimedia player, a 320 x 240 QVGA display, and a 312MHz Intel processor to boot. Hit the read link for the full rundown of the official details.[Thanks, Hayden]
September's bumper crop for T-Mobile to include first 3G handset?
Though we still don't have a great sense of exactly when or where T-Mobile plans to kick off its long-overdue 3G launch, the hardware is thankfully starting to materialize -- so they'll at least be ready when the time comes to flip the switch. Boy Genius Report has apparently scored some additional intel detailing the Samsung SGH-T639, a phone we saw grace the FCC not long ago (which is how we happen to know it rocks T-Mobile's particular flavor of WCDMA, 1700MHz). If this slide pans out, it looks like the T639 is a pretty unremarkable offering considering its rather remarkable place in T-Mobile history, sporting a meager one megapixel camera in an ultra-conservative flip package. It looks like it'll hit on the 10th of September, though there's no indication whether any 3G markets will light up on the same day. In other T-Mobile news, it looks like the carrier will be rereleasing the first-gen BlackBerry Pearl in three new colors on September 4 while the more interesting 8320 variant of the Curve -- WiFi and all -- hits on September 24. Finally, Motorola pulls two out of its sleeve for the month: the low end W490 clamshell and the "RAZR V3 06," which as far as we can tell, is yet another rehash of the tired RAZR V3. At any rate, kudos, T-Mobile!Read - Samsung SGH-T639Read - RIM BlackBerry Curve 8320Read - RIM BlackBerry PearlRead - Motorola RAZR V3 06, W490
RIM's new Pearls and Curves: WiFi or GPS, not both
It seems RIM's going full force with the "you can't have your cake and eat it too" rule with its new batch of devices, even though we're pretty sure we could have our cake and eat it too -- if only RIM would let us. If a slide deck over on Pinstack turns out to be legit, the next-gen Pearl and the 8300 Curve's slightly newer cousins will be available in carriers' choices of WiFi or GPS variants, but for whatever reason, never both. We're guessing RIM has some fancy explanation about battery drain or engineering issues, but whatever -- we can think of plenty of devices that do both with aplomb, so we're not too happy about the whole mess. As the Curves go, the 8310 will do GPS while the 8320 will pack the 802.11b/g action, but the devices' internals are otherwise unchanged from the original. The Pearl 2 meanwhile has a more expansive list of updates from its predecessor, stepping up to a 2 megapixel camera, an honest-to-goodness 3.5mm headphone jack, and "new firm keypad technology" (yay!) among other things. In the Pearl's case, network determines the add-on feature: GSM gets WiFI (probably to make up for the agony of EDGE) while CDMA gets GPS. Look for all of these to hit well before the year's out.
