Hey, you! Owner of a BlackBerry Bold 9650 or Curve 3G on Verizon! Are you ready to join an exclusive group of energetic and intelligent individuals looking to explore the furthest reaches of the Galaxy?

That’s cool, but you’re going to have to settle for an operating system update. Verizon has just announced their plans to give the two aforementioned handsets the BlackBerry OS 6.0 upgrade treatment later tonight. You’ll have a brand new UI to explore, a shiny new web browser to surf with, and things like a much improved camera app and aggregated social feeds to keep you entertained.

Expect the over-the-air updates to start trickling out at 8 PM Eastern. Want to make sure you get yours the second it goes live? Try the BlackBerry Desktop Manager application; that tends to do the trick.

[Via Phonescoop]

It’s available in August, no pricing, 256 MB built-in memory and it has a 2MP camera. Welcome to 2004.

It seems like only yesterday that T-Mobile BlackBerry users were being treated to the Curve 8900 when they were feeling Bold 9000 envy. But alas, the glory would be short lived as it has reached the end of its life cycle. We’re sad to see it go, but we won’t miss it too much. After all, the trackpad equipped Curve 8520 and Bold 9700 are so attractively priced right now that the 8900 was relegated to being the small fish in a big pond. So farewell! Thou art too dear for our possessing.

[Via T-Mobile]

BlackBerry via CrackBerry

This Handheld software includes:

1. Video recording capability.
2. HTML email for internet email accounts.
3. Music and Video Streaming video capabilities.
4. New browser home page design.
5. Improved downloading experience.
6. Improved UMA and data performance.
7. Attachment downloading and document editing.
8. Free/Busy calendar look-up and remote email search for BES users (Requires BES SW 4.1.5 or higher).

It’s an 88MB file and be sure to back up your crackberry. Stupid PocketMac won’t let me update software, so I’ll have to wait until I’m at a Windows machine. Figure it out, RIM!

Research in Motion has a couple of more handsets that aren’t out just yet. CrackBerry got their hands on the upcoming Curve 2 – formally known as the Javelin. Think of the phone as a toned down Bold, notibly lacking 3G wireless and featuring a smaller bezel.

Today RIM announced the Slacker application available for BlackBerry. It was demoed at CTIA and I got a chance to play around with it a little bit.

The relationship brings Slacker Personal Radio to BlackBerry devices. The biggest benefit is the ability to cache thousands of songs. Every time you hit a hotspot the device will sync and update the station. Plenty of music is available from Fergie to Bad Company. If you don’t like something, you can ban the song or artist. Conversely, if you do like something you hear, you can rate the artist or get more info. I didn’t see a “buy now” link, but I’ll bet donuts to dollars somebody is working on that.

Read the rest and see some pics over at MobileCrunch.

Today RIM announced the Slacker application available for BlackBerry. It was demoed at CTIA and I got a chance to play around with it a little bit.

The relationship brings Slacker Personal Radio to BlackBerry devices. The biggest benefit is the ability to cache thousands of songs. Every time you hit a hotspot the device will sync and update the station. Plenty of music is available from Fergie to Bad Company. If you don’t like something, you can ban the song or artist. Conversely, if you do like something you hear, you can rate the artist or get more info. I didn’t see a “buy now” link, but I’ll bet donuts to dollars somebody is working on that.

For now, there doesn’t seem to be a way to access playlists beyond what’s next and what was recently heard. While this might make sense for streaming radio stations, it should probably be an integrated feature if a station is living in the cache.

Overall, the service worked fine when not trying to do too much. Music was played, music was listened too. Switching between stations seemed to me a little slow, but the ability to edit playlists within a station means you might not be flipping around the dial so much. Control was pretty easy and intuitive, with basic menu commands available in a pop up menu.

The app looked best to me on the new Pearl Flip 8220, due to its vertical screen. The differences between the Bold and Curve were minimal. That’s the Bold up there on top. The Curve is below, and the new Pearl Flip below that.

Especially as of late, pink is just about obligatory as a color choice for handsets. Even if it’s offered in 23 other colors, there remains a surprisingly huge group of people who just won’t buy it if it isn’t pink.

Well, anyone who has been holding out for a pink Curve is in luck: According to Engadget, Verizon will be offering the pinked out BlackBerry for $99 bucks after rebate on a 2 year contract, starting sometime in the next few days (possibly as early as tomorrow).

No fanfare for the new color, Vz? If this were launching on T-Mobile, the pink curve would be known as the BlackBerry Curve Baby-Girls-Bedroom or something.

To you and me, this is red. To T-Mobile this is “sunset.” Regardless, everyone’s favorite BlackBerry and the one I recommend the most when folks ask me which BB to get is now in bright, shiny red. Standard goodies: HotSpot@Home, Wi-Fi, 2 megapixel camera, redness. $149 with two year contract.

The BlackBerry Curve 8320 in Sunset is enabled for Unlimited HotSpot Calling from T-Mobile (previously called T-Mobile HotSpot @Home) offering great mobile coverage and unlimited calling over any accessible Wi-Fi network and at all T-Mobile HotSpot locations across the country. When leaving home or a T-Mobile HotSpot, calls are seamlessly transferred onto T-Mobile’s wireless network, and the same is true for transferring calls from T-Mobile’s network onto Wi-Fi.
The BlackBerry Curve 8320 in Sunset includes a 2 megapixel camera, music and video multimedia player, a microSD expandable memory slot that supports up to 4GB of memory and stereo Bluetooth® as well as HTML Web browsing at Wi-Fi speeds, personal and corporate email and built-in spell check.
It will be available at select T-Mobile retail stores and online at www.t-mobile.com for $149.99 with a two-year service agreement.
The BlackBerry Curve 8320 in Sunset also includes the following features:
• Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry for data and voice; supports T-Mobile Unlimited HotSpot Calling
• Full-QWERTY BlackBerry with a four-way trackball for easy and efficient navigation
• 2 megapixel camera
• Music and video multimedia player
• microSD slot supporting up to 4 GB of optional removable memory
• Instant-messaging clients: AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger
• Built-in spell check in e-mail and memos
• HTML Web browsing
• T-Mobile myFaves-enabled
• Stereo Bluetooth® capability
• Voice-activated dialing
• 3.5 mm headset jack
• Hands-free speaker
• Dimensions: 4.2 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches; 3.9 ounces
• 2.5” display, 320×240 pixels, QVGA display with more than 65,000 colors
• Quad-band world phone 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• GSM, GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi

It’s unclear whether or not Sprint is still looking to rid itself of failing acquisition Nextel, but RIM is set to unleash an iDEN BlackBerry Curve newly dubbed the 8350. Other than Wi-Fi, the 8350 is no different than its counterparts except for that ugly antenna it will surely don.

By now we’ve beaten the Curve into the ground but that doesn’t mean Verizon can’t try their hand at selling it. The 8330 on Da Big V has VZ Navigator, BroadbandAccess, and a 2 megapixel camera with flash. Thrill to Mobility Today’s rousing video review.

Sprint this friday is finally getting the Blackberry 8330, aka the Curve, as reported. It’s been a long wait, and Sprint users are as expected excited.

The Curve is RIM’s flagship Blackberry, people who own one on other carriers tend to agree it’s badass, and if you’re a Sprint person, you can get one tomorrow for $180 with a two-year contract.

This isn’t the first time a Sprint-flavored version of the flagship phone has shown up in ads before it’s even been announced, but it gives the idea of a near release date much momentum.

Just a quick note for Verizon Wireless subscribers itching to get their hands on the BlackBerry Curve. The 8330 that was announced at CTIA will be available on May 9 on the Internet and in Verizon Wireless business channels; May 12 in all Verizon Wireless Communications stores. It will retail for $269.99 after a $50 rebate.

The BlackBerry Curve 8330 has shown up in Best Buy’s May Mobile Buyer’s Guide for $199 with a two-year contract and service plan under $60 per month or $179 with a two-year contract and service plan over $60 per month. Existing Sprint customers looking to upgrade can get the Curve for $229.99 if they’ve fulfilled an existing two-year contract. Otherwise the regular price is a ball-busting $749.99.

via Gear Diary

Well, Mad Catz has gone a step in what I believe to be the right direction by offering up an iPhone-friendly headphone/mic combo (also compatible with BlackBerry Curve and Pearl). Any cell phone headset that can let outside noise back in would be nice and safe in the car. Let’s hope Mad Catz releases a universal 2.5mm version too.

Cheap? No sir, they’re $99. However, they’re made to be worn all day because they don’t actually go inside your ears.

AirDrives(TM) Interactive Earphones for iPhone Now Available [Press Release]

The Curve has been a strong smartphone so far, and with its nice keypad and integrated Wi-Fi. The new AT&T flavor, though, adds the coveted GPS service, which is very handy. It’s not just mapping, but full-on turn-by-turn directions.

What’s better is the top-of-the-line Blackberry will only set you back $200, with a 2-year contract, of course, and will come in titanium and red.

The Curve [Product Page]

Cast your memory back to the dark ages before smartphones. The StarTAC was still in common rotation. Cellphones were bricks. Windows Mobile was just a glimmer in Bill Gates’ eye. Enter the BlackBerry 850, a small QWERTY device that made getting email on the go dead simple. But this was 1998! Why did we need email on our hips? Well, now we know that learning about V1AG7A and P3nni st0cks are absolutely important to our work day and that an email at midnight that basically says “WHR IS THE FILKINS FILE YR FIRED YR BOSS — Sent with my BlackBerry” is now the lingua franca of business. It’s a BlackBerry world. The iPhone and everyone else are just living in it.

And so we come to the BlackBerry 8320 aka The Curve. Designed along the same lines as the Pearl, the 8320 is already available from AT&T and, as a result, is already covered quite handily by other outlets. However, as a sometime RIM user and all-time Sidekick user, I’d like to talk about it from the perspective of a potential WinMo/Symbian to RIM switcher. Here we go.

RIM is noted for having a fairly rudimentary but rock-solid application stack. All of the tools I tested — Wi-Fi, web browsing, camera — worked fine in real life conditions. Battery life was astounding, allowing me to run without recharging for about four days even under heavy email load. I get a lot of mail, and when I saw that this thing excelled where the Sidekick and WinMo phones failed, namely dying after 8 hours of heavy network usage, I was almost hooked. Even the iPhone has a good 10 hours in it before it croaks, if that.

The size and shape is quite nice. It’s a light phone with a full QWERTY keypad and the standard set of BlackBerry buttons including back and the little menu button. The keyboard is easy to use, even for big handed folk like me.

This model has T-Mobile’s MyFaves, which is a nice addition that makes it good for the casual user. It also includes AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, and MSN chat as well as BlackBerry chat. All your standard stuff.

The Curve is a great email machine. RIM has accreted a number of features over it’s core mission — to deliver email — and the result, thankfully, is a stable platform for getting and sending email as soon as it hits your inbox. It is not a good IM device — the IM app, which T-Mobile uses for most of its smartphones including WinMo devices — doesn’t hold connections well and often drops out. Like the iPhone’s IM apps, this app works for outgoing messages but don’t depend on it for incoming messages. The Sidekick is still the one and only best messaging phone, bar none. If that’s important to you, you’re probably looking at the wrong phone.

If you are upgrading from a previous QWERTY BlackBerry, you’ll be very happy with this ultra-slim and light phone. Pearl users might want to stay put — you get a little more bang and except for the QWERTY you’re looking at pretty much the same device. At $249 after rebate you’re looking at a $100 premium over a similarly outfitted Pearl or Dash. The best thing is that the Curve has Hotspot@Home capabilities for making calls while on a Wi-Fi network, an amazing boon for travelers.

Overally, the Curve is a good, solid phone for a fair price. If you’re a BlackBerry fan, you can’t go wrong. If you’re a potential convert, you might just find CrackBerry religion.

Product Page [Warning, Happy House]