Oh hi, HiPhone. Not much of a surprise to see you here, again. The latest masterpiece, the HiPhone F06-Slim, is a Frankenstein amalgamation of KIRF favorite iPhone and RIM's first foray into the world of touchscreen phones, albeit with a slightly smaller, 3.2-inch display. We're also looking at a 1.3 megapixel camera, FM radio, microSD support, GPRS, Bluetooth, dual SIM card slots, and "TV phone" capabilities, which we're taking to mean a mobile receiver of some sort. Looks like it forgot the refresh button on the bottom of the device, but with any luck, it left out SurePress as well. If you hang out with the kind of friends who respect a good knockoff, the price of raising your street cred is just a penny under $190 before shipping.

[Via PMP Today]

Think you'll have to wait until June 6th for all the Pre surprises to emerge? Think again. A breaking Reuters report has just dropped one of the biggest cellular bombshells of the year: Verizon Wireless, America's largest mobile operator, will soon be carrying Palm's Pre. Oh, that's not enough? No worries -- it'll also be selling a "new version of the touchscreen BlackBerry Storm," which is obviously the Storm 2 that we've been toying around with. The report makes clear that both phones would be cleared for shipment in around six months, which certainly jibes with whispers we've heard about Sprint's mighty short exclusivity period. The news came from the company's Lowell McAdam, the top executive for the venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone. To quote: "Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm." First Sprint, then AT&T, and now Verizon? T-Mobile, where you at?

[Thanks, E]

Update: Seems Mr. McAdam continued on by noting that VZW would get the Palm Pre "and a cousin." Hmm, Eos, anyone?

In a scandalous, but not entirely shocking turn of events, RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis has declared from the stage of D7 in no uncertain terms that "SurePress is here to stay." The trouble is, there's no clarification of what he means by that, since the Storm 2 we've been toying with quite obviously lacks a click-screen mechanism. Our best shot-in-the-dark guess is that RIM has developed some alternative to a physical click that may or may not duplicate the functionality adequately, while hopefully removing some of the frustration experienced by the physical click of the Storm. What is clear is that apparently whatever face-saving technology that turns out to be, Mike and co. plan on calling it SurePress.

Well, no need to wait around for the Storm 2 to right all of the BlackBerry Storm's wrongs, the Cool9500 is here to make it all better. Namely, the Cool9500 brings the all-important gold trim, something we always felt was a major shortcoming of RIM's first stab at this form factor. There's also an all-important TV tuner -- another wild misstep in the original. Sure, we'll miss SurePress and the usable software, but we'd say Cool9500 really hit RIM where it hurts with this impressive followup.

When we brought you those exclusive Storm 2 pics and details just a short while ago, we touched upon the "new approach to text entry," but unfortunately didn't have any details. However, lightning has struck again, and our source has gotten back to let us know that the Storm 2 does indeed have a stationary screen "just like the iPhone's," which lines up with what Boy Genius Report is hearing. That's right, it looks like RIM is axing its SurePress technology in favor of a more conventional touchscreen, though our tipster says the model he has may allow for some type of haptic feedback to be enabled. This should be great news for all you folks having dust-under-screen issues on your first-gen Storms, but obviously, we'll have to wait and see until this thing gets, you know, legit.

[Thanks, BBninja1389]

What's this we have here? A trusted source just hit us with a slew of beauty shots of the Storm 2 that leaked a little bit ago. Not much else to say at this point until we can get one in our hands -- the photos really speak for themselves. But seriously, what are you still doing here? Get over to the gallery and see all the tasty (and frankly, familiar) shots!

[Thanks, BBninja1389]

Gallery: Exclusive BlackBerry Storm 2 shots!

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We knew it was coming, and just like its relatives the Onyx and the Gemini, yet another unreleased model has managed to escape the confines of RIM's Waterloo headquarters. This time, however, it's the Storm 2, which we've heard has been internally codenamed "Oden." We've also caught wind that this model pictured is of the GSM flavor, and yes, it's indeed packing WiFi in addition to GPS according to one of our sources. As far as that rumored "new approach to text entry," it sounds like the keyboard has been tweaked but isn't a radical departure from the first generation. From the photos, it seems that RIM has advanced in the war on buttons and axed the bottom four in favor of some touch-sensitive controls. The real improvements, however, appear to be under the hood, as the whole device reportedly runs much faster and smoother than the current model. We can't confirm these specs, but with the Tour coming this summer, and the Storm 2 hopefully making an appearance before the holiday shopping season, looks like you Verizon BlackBerry fans might not have to be that jealous of your GSM brethren after all.

It's not like we're surprised to hear this, but RIM CEO Jim Balsillie just told Reuters that the company is hard at work on a successor to the BlackBerry Storm. According to Jim, the consumer market is "large and untapped," and the current Storm is a "huge success in terms of sales and adoption." Sure, sure -- it's hard to scoff at a million units sold, after all -- but with rumors of an entirely new approach to text entry flying around, we'd say there's a good chance the Storm 2 doesn't so much build on the Storm formula as start over entirely. Thoughts?

[Via PhoneScoop]

If there's one two things we love, it's hearing RIM's own Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis open their gaping traps. While the former was sufficiently panned back in January for exclaiming that buggy smartphone software was simply the "new reality," his partner in crime may have just done him one better. In a recent sit-down with Laptop Mag, Mike was specifically asked to address that aforementioned quote. His response? "That's our first touch product, and you know nobody gets it perfect out the door. You know other companies were having problems with their first releases." If you're struggling to translate that into layman speak, allow us: "Tough luck, early adopters!"

As the interview progressed, the co-CEO took the opportunity to snub Apple on its inability to get Push Email out early on, noting that BlackBerry OS has "constantly been underestimated" and was "designed to multitask from day one." He also stumbled all over himself when it came to speaking about the BlackBerry's web browser, stating that "by writing our browser in Java, that provides our CIOs and wireless managers the assurances they need, to allow the browser to access internal information at the same time it accesses external information." We've literally meditated on that for a solid half-hour, and we still have absolutely zero idea what it means in English. Nevertheless, the whole thing is a pretty great -- if not comical -- read, so give it a look and share your colorful opinions in comments below.

Looks like you might be able to cross at least one bullet point off of your Storm 2 wishlist. According to unnamed source who SlashGear swears is the bee's knees, the successor to BlackBerry's touchscreen smartphone will add WiFi support for faster home / coffee shop web browsing. The informant hinted there's other surprises on the horizon but wouldn't give specifics, so for now you'll just have to keep dreaming about that SurePress touchscreen that doesn't slow down your texting. As for when we should expect the sequel, the report pointed to a release sometime in September on Verizon's network.

Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

We had a feeling that cast-wide Verizon contract on Gossip Girl would eventually lead to at least one BlackBerry Storm showing up, and sure enough, it's Nelly Yuki proving our assumptions correct. Ms. Yuki made good use of her touchscreen 'Berry too, showing off her Yale acceptance email to her closest pals and one fuming Blair Waldorf. Meanwhile, all the other rich girls get stuck with Verizon's free-on-contract lineup -- what's up with that?

This, shall we say, confrontational BlackBerry Storm ad by NY ad agency Guava has been making the rounds today, depicting a blackberry "bullet" taking a violent path through a familiar-seeming piece of fruit. An anonymous source told us that RIM considered it but eventually got cold feet -- and we can understand why. Nonetheless, it's an awesome bit of smack, so hit up the break and check it out for yourself.

[Thanks, Michael]

Apple's iPhone probably has too many remote apps for its own good, but Unify4Life is looking to provide RIM's BlackBerry Storm with just one -- the best one, in fact. The company's admittedly impressive AV Shadow software, which we happened to experience ourselves at CES, is reportedly coming soon to RIM's first ever touchscreen 'Berry. How soon? Try "later this week." If you're interested to know precisely what you're waiting for, give that play button above a push.