Oh yes, we’re back at it! To show our appreciation for making BGR a part of your daily lives, we’re giving away (5) AT&T BlackBerry Bold 9700s. They will be retail units in AT&T boxes but will also be unlocked. We’ll also keep this short and simple: drop in a comment, win a BlackBerry. Here are the official rules…

• To enter, please leave a comment below telling us why you think you should win a brand new BlackBerry Bold 9700.
• This giveaway will run for one week, until Sunday, November 29th, 2009. We will announce the winners sometime shortly after that.
• Please make sure to leave only one comment as leaving more than one will automatically disqualify your entry.
• This is open to anyone over the age of 18, worldwide. (If you are outside of the U.S. and packages shipped to you are subject to an import tax, you will be responsible for that, but we’ll cover shipping.)
• Also be sure to use the email address you’d like to be contacted at if you win. Email no worky, no prize.

That’s it! Good luck.

What’s that sound we hear in the distance? It’s probably cash registers at AT&T going wild as today, the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 is publicly available for sale. The device was offered up to Premiere customers starting at the top of the week, but since general availability is this morning, we have to ask… are you going to hit an AT&T store and grab RIM’s finest? Or maybe you’re on T-Mobile and snagged one already? Let us know in the comments!

It might not be fancy or scream “look at me”, but Verizon’s now-available BlackBerry Curve 8530 is a smartphone that gets the job done. Kitted out with a 2.5″ display, 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and 256MB of flash memory, the Curve 8530 is also the first full-QWERTY BlackBerry from Verizon to feature RIM’s new optical trackpad and OS 5.0. Other than that, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Stereo Bluetooth, support for microSD cards and dedicated multimedia keys round out the rest of the phone’s features. Of course at $99.99 on contract there are a lot of better smartphones that are similarly priced, but for BlackBerry lovers fond of Verizon and always looking to save a bit of coin, you can’t really go wrong. Plus it comes in two colors: Black and Smoky Violet (imagine the color of your grandmother’s ugliest pant suit). Yay?

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So far, all of the Black Friday leaks we’ve seen haven’t been all that friendly to smartphone lovers, but according to our sources, Wirefly will be picking up the slack come Friday with the following deals:

Verizon BlackBerry Storm2: $0.99 for new subs / $29.99 for existing VZW customers (Friday only) followed by $9.99 / $49.99 until Monday

AT&T BlackBerry Bold 9700: $0 / $29.99 (Friday to Monday)

Sprint Samsung Moment: $79.99 / $99.99 (Friday to Monday)

If none of those phones catch your fancy, there are still some savings to be had as Wirefly will be waiving activations for AT&T and Verizon phones until Midnight on December 1st.

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[Via CrackBerry]

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Not too much to say here other than an OS update for the Verizon BlackBerry Tour 9630, 4.7.1.61, has started to trickle out. Although it’s already available to download from Verizon’s website and through BlackBerry Desktop Manager, we’ve been told that a handful of users will receive on-device update notifications throughout the night with general OTA availability tomorrow. No change log has been released. Let’s just hope that it’s not much longer until OS 5.0 drops for your beloved tuh tuh tuh TOUR (yeah, we remember).

Alright, all you BlackBerry-modding freaks, grab your screwdrivers and listen up. Our pals over at Colorware have just informed us that you no longer have to send them your beloved BlackBerry Curve 8900 for inking. Oh no. Now they’ll send you the rainbow colored parts and let you do the dirty work. This service, which is already available for the Bold 9000, comes with a price tag of $175. It might seem like a lot, but hey, you can’t put a price tag on steez. Colorware’s website hasn’t been completely updated for the new service, but you can always hit them up now to see what shade of fuchsia looks best on your 89-hundo. Happy modding.

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For those of you who were completely underwhelmed by the realities of Project Dark and have a fear of post-paid contract rate plans, T-Mobile has something new for you. Say hello to “T-Mobile Complete.” T-Mobile Complete, and the accompanying “Complete Kits”, will come with the phone of your choice and, uh, well…that’s about it. No contracts, commitments, or legalities involved. Now, we know what you are thinking, why is this news? Well, T-Mobile has stated that the BlackBerry 8520 will be included in these plans as well, and for the first time in the States you can get yourself a BlackBerry device and not be locked into a contract. Sounds good to us. Details are still scarce on the exact pricing of the 8520 and the accompanying pre-paid plan, but we’ve heard that the kits will start at $59 with unlimited talk plans starting around $50/month. What do you guys think? Good idea? No details on the T-Mobile website just yet, but you can hit the jump to read about the release.

T-Mobile announces the availability of T-Mobile Complete, a pre-packaged no-annual contract solution that offers the value of a monthly plan and the first pay-in-advance BlackBerry smartphone from a national U.S. carrier.  With T-Mobile Complete, customers can choose from four handsets starting at $59.99, which includes first month free. Customers can also choose from a range of unlimited plans starting at $50 per month. T-Mobile Complete is currently available nationwide at Best Buy and at select Walmart locations.

T-Mobile Complete kits are the easiest way to give phones this holiday season. Just buy the kit, wrap it, give it as a gift, and the recipient can activate service from anywhere, anytime – and they get the first month free! One of the four devices available through T-Mobile Complete is the BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone, the first pay-in-advance BlackBerry smartphone available from a national carrier.  Smartphones will be a hot gift option this holiday season – in fact, T-Mobile expects smartphones to account for 40 percent of its sales in the fourth quarter of 2009.

T-Mobile Complete is just one great holiday gift option from T-Mobile.  With a wide array of devices this holiday season – including the broadest lineup of Android smartphones of any carrier in the U.S. – there’s something for every type of customer.

Please let me know if you have questions about this new offering from T-Mobile. For more information on holiday giving, we’re happy provide our guide on how to give smartphones as holiday gifts.

Just a quick  little heads up for our Canadians brothers and sisters that at this moment may or may not be doing battle with polar bears on glaciers the size of Manhattan — TELUS has released the BlackBerry Storm2. Retailing for $599.99, the Storm2 is also available at the subsidized price of $199.99 provided one is willing to take on a 3-year contract with a minimum of a $50 voice and data plan. So what’s it going to be, Canada? Yay or nay?

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While it is set to go on sale November 22nd, business customers on AT&T have been able to order the 9700 starting yesterday morning. If you got in early enough, there’s a good chance your unit shipped out the same day just as ours did. Here’s a quick unboxing for anyone desperately waiting for their BlackBerry 9700s to arrive, and you can always re-read our BlackBerry 9700 review in case you really want to tear your hair out. Also, if anyone else picked up an AT&T unit, or even a T-Mobile unit for that matter, we salute you, friends. BlackBerry fiends need to stick together…

P.S. We’ve been told most AT&T store locations actually have BlackBerry 9700s in stock as of now, but they’re not supposed to sell them until the 22nd.

Click on over to our AT&T BlackBerry 9700 unboxing gallery!

We’ve been receiving multiple reports that BlackBerry Internet Service, or BIS, is down for many people — possibly worldwide. Initially, we thought the outages were only affecting certain carriers, but users from multiple carriers have reported a service interruption for what seems to be a few hours now. Naturally, we’ll keep you updated as we receive more news, but for now we’re not quite sure what’s causing this outage as it seems to be possibly affecting BlackBerry users on a global scale and we have numbers of around 75-80% in terms of users affected. Is there anyone out there currently experiencing data issues? Let us know in the comments!

Looks like AT&T is adding a few new handsets to its lineup for the holiday buying season as today, Ma’ Bell announced it will be carrying the BlackBerry 8520 and the new LG Shine II, all now added to its “best in the world smartphone lineup.” The Shine II is a 3G slider phone with a 2.2″ screen, stereo Bluetooth, Java 2.0, and a November 22nd release date. The Shine Part Deux will also set you back $119 with a 2-year commitment. Switching gears, the more familiar BlackBerry 8520 will boast the now-standard specs of: WiFi, a 320×240 display, 512 MHz processor, 256 MB of memory, and a 2 megapixel camera capable of video recording. The exact release date of the updated Curve was not specified but rather listed as within “the next few weeks.” Any takers?

Read 8520

Read Shine II

Having been on sale in other countries for almost two weeks, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 has finally made it to American soil. Now available from T-Mobile, the Bold 9700 is the first BlackBerry to have AWS 3G. Other features include a HVGA+ display, 3.2 megapixel camera, optical trackpad, and support for HotSpot @Home and Visual Voicemail, but anyone keeping tabs on Waterloo’s latest surely knows those specs by now. So how much will the Bold 9700 set you back? $199.99 on a 2-year contract (Even More) or $449.99 outright via Even More Plus with the option to finance the device at $22 per month over 20 months. Now then, how many of you are going to be picking this up?

P.S. Nice job with the device pic, T-Mo.

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Many of you have been on the edge of your seats and sofas waiting for anxiously for the BlackBerry 9700 to drop. We already know it’s being released on November 16 on T-Mobile, but now you have a killer incentive to pick one up from Walmart. From November 14th to the 20th, Walmart is offering a $100 Walmart gift card with a new BlackBerry purchase — the only thing is it takes four to six weeks to get that card in the mail. It’s not exactly the same as getting a new BlackBerry 9700 for $99.99, but it’s as close as you’re going to get for now. And just imagine what you can get at good old Wally World with a $100 gift card just before the holidays. The usual bells and whistles apply with the two-year contract business, but that comes with the territory. Is it safe to assume that T-Mobile corporate stores will be hearing crickets on launch day? Who are we kidding… this is probably the most anticipated device for T-Mobile in years.

Thanks, Kara R.!

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Better late than never, right? The BlackBerry Storm2 isn’t exactly rocket science. Usually companies whether it’s a car manufacturer, handset company, computer maker or others follow up on an existing product and label it “new and improved.” Just like clockwork, RIM has spit out another iteration of their BlackBerry Storm series and this time it’s the much-awaited BlackBerry Storm2 9550 for Verizon. Finally the handset packs everything you’d hope for in a BlackBerry as far as hardware specs are concerned: global roaming, Wi-Fi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a decent processor, and 256MB of RAM. Since the screen is pretty much the most important part of the Storm as it’s the only navigation and text entry method, it is great to see RIM improve on their existing implementation and almost knock it out of the park. What’s funny is that the same way the Storm2 works is how it was initially described to us way back in July of last year, and we’ve heard that the original Storm was actually supposed to be more like the Storm2, but we won’t get too far into that as it’s unsubstantiated at this point.

We covered the BlackBerry 9520 a bit as we have been playing with it for a little while, but the screen has got even better with a retail unit and it’s less noisy and even more fun to use. Typing is pretty easy, and the unit in general feels great in your hand to hold and use. As far as market positioning for the Storm2, Verizon hasn’t made things easy for RIM lately. Many people have said that this is what the first Storm should have been, and while we agree, we don’t think it’s too late. If you have to have a BlackBerry and you want a touch-based phone, the Storm2 is an excellent choice. If you’re comparing it to other touchscreen handsets though, the waters get a little murky and you’ll have to make that decision for yourself. Hit up the BlackBerry 9550 gallery for more shots!

Click on over to our BlackBerry 9550 hands on gallery!

We’ve already talked about some of the news from the first day of the 2009 BlackBerry Developers Conference, but another blast of PR from RIM has hit out inboxes, and wow, are we ever excited. The biggest news of the day is that developers will finally be able to unlock the full potential of the latest generation of BlackBerry smartphones — OS 5.0 and hardware permitting, of course — with the latest beta of the Java SDK 5.0 thanks in part to its OpenGL ES support. Still, there’s a lot of things to cover and we don’t want to clutter up our newly redesigned site with a bunch of text, so join us after the jump.

Previewed today but not expected to be available until the middle of 2010, the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse will be updated with a new drag and drop WYSIWYG interface which will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for a developer to put together all of the graphical elements in an app. More importantly, as BG is screaming up and down with excitement, this should allow BlackBerry applications to utilize a more streamlined and consistent user interface instead of, well, utter crap. More information about the new BlackBerry Theme Studio which replaces the Plazmic Content Developer’s Kit has also come out. Comprised of the Theme Builder and Composer, Theme Studio works for all devices running OS 4.2.2 and up and can not only directly import images from Adobe Photoshop but create a new generation of themes that are capable of zooming, sliding, wiping and fading while devices with OS 5.0 and up will have support for ringtones and screen transitions (oooooh, aaaaah). And now on to some slightly drier content (as far as consumers interests go.)

One of the things RIM has focused very hard on since the launch of App World has been helping to create an environment in which developers can generate more revenue and heighten the app-friendliness of the OS. With this in mind, RIM has announced its very own advertising service, BlackBerry Advertising Service, which amongst other things will “include the ability to easily initiate a call from an ad, add a calendar entry or contact entry from an ad, and directly link to an application in BlackBerry App World from an ad” while providing deep analytics. Speaking of monetization, BlackBerry Payment, available in mid-2010, will open the flood gates to activities such as premium content, subscriptions and in-app purchases. GPS has been a strong point of any BlackBerry, but now developers will have the means to do crazy new-fangled things like use cell site geolocation, reverse geocode and figure out how many minutes it will take to arrive at ones destination. Mindblowing? Definitely not. Abso-positively-necessary for RIM to do? Yes.

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With the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference kicking off today in San Francisco, RIM has doled out two press releases to get the ball rolling. As many of you may recall, it was back in August that we first broke the news that RIM was going to implement support for Adobe Flash in its browser for 2010. Two months later, this and more was confirmed by Adobe. Now RIM has come forward and announced a furthering of their partnership. Developers will be able to take advantage of Flash and Creative Suite 5 by directly exporting elements created within into various BlackBerry development tools. The goal of this is to quickly and efficiently create applications and widgets that are more multimedia rich and offer a far greater user experience than is currently possible. The same family of Adobe products will also be able to work in tandem with the new BlackBerry Theme Studio. Another thing announced today was the BlackBerry Academic Program. Having already been piloted by some 500 students over the past year, the Academic Program gives colleges and universities the knowledge, tools and curriculum it needs to offer students BlackBerry-specific courses in development, administration and support, a field which has been and still is experiencing tremendous growth. More details for both Adobe’s further collaboration with RIM and the BlackBerry Academic Program are available in the read links after the jump.

Read – Adobe Collaboration Deepens

Read – BlackBerry Academic Program

Recently, TELUS issued a press release letting Canadians know that their handsets are now being offered through Black’s, the nation-wide digital camera chain. This news in itself didn’t interest us in the least, but for giggles we clicked on through to Black’s website just to see what handsets it was going to be offering considering the odd partnership. What did we see in the line up? None other than a TELUS branded BlackBerry Storm2. Unfortunately what you see above is all we have for now as this sucker has not yet been announced by TELUS, but we have a feeling that will change very, very soon.

Thanks, Tony!

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One of our connects just hit us up with this shot, and it would appear that RIM has a theme going on. Step 1: make successful handset in black, step 2: relaunch said handset in white. Almost a month after the vastly popular vanilla BlackBerry Bold hit the streets, AT&T and RIM are teaming up to bring you the WhiteBerry Curve 8900 sans color, or is it the presence of all the colors? Whatever. Now, the 8900 won’t have the sensual white leather back, but the white bezel looks pretty sexy to us; as a group that enjoys simultaneously eating Cheetos and text messaging we can’t say that we’re too upset about the omission of the white keyboard either. So what do you think? Is this the BlackBerry you’ve been waiting for? Actually, scratch that, this thing is already outdated. This is the BlackBerry you’ve been waiting for.

Thanks, Gabe Jr.!

Shortly after the official announcement for the BlackBerry Curve 8530 coming to Verizon, Sprint customers were asking, “When are we getting ours?” It looks like a Sprint version may be coming around about the same time as Verizon’s 8530. There is no date for sure, but a Sprint spokesperson said that it is definitely coming and will be packing Wi-Fi and EV-DO, too. The price point should be about the same as Verizon’s, we’d imagine, though we’re hoping they give some kind of incentive for grabbing one of these over a Tour, which can currently be had at Best Buy for $99. If nothing else, this could appease all the trackball haters. Let’s just change the hue on that puppy, alright?Read

We’re sure that most of you are sick and tired of all of this Verizon news (how do you think we feel having to write about it?), but they’re on a tear. Today Verizon announced that it will be carrying the BlackBerry Curve 8530 starting November 20th. To go for $99.99 on contract after a $100 mail-in rebate, the new Curve offers the following: full-QWERTY keypad, optical trackpad, 2 megapixel camera, GPS, dedicated multimedia keys, 3.5mm headphone jack, 256MB of app memory, 528MHz processor, EV-DO connectivity and last but not least, Wi-Fi! Yes, indeedy, Verizon is definitely looking like the front runner in the smartphone arms race of the 2009 Holiday Season.Read

Yes, yes y’all. We’re back with Act 2. Following up on the much-loved BlackBerry 9700 Review: Part 1, we’re here to go over the T-Mobile version of the handset. We’ll give you another look at it, and clarify anything that might have changed between our previous not-final unit and what we have now (which is what you’ll be getting in stores). And of course give you some awesome pictures to drool over. After the jump, fine friends, is where the goodies are at!

Hardware changes

While not much has changed hardware-wise from a larger viewpoint, there are a couple things we’ve noticed. First off, if you look at the keyboard and the trackpad specifically, you’ll see a very small piece of plastic that’s connecting the back and menu keys. This actually broke in half on our pre-release BlackBerry 9700, and while it hasn’t affected its use, it got us a little concerned about the build quality. We haven’t confirmed whether the retail Bold 9700s use different parts or not, and we haven’t heard of this happening to anyone else, but it’s just something to look out for.

As far as the processor is concerned, we reported that the Bold 9700 was sporting an 800MHz capable CPU. RIM’s official specs say it’s a 624MHz processor, but we think it might be a newer model than what the original Bold had. It’s also quite possible it’s under-clocked as well. We’ll try and clarify this and report back. Regardless of the actual CPU specifications on the 9700 though, one thing is certain: it’s the fastest damn BlackBerry we’ve ever used. There unfortunately is no internal memory as there was on the previous Bold, and while we believe it’s carrier dependent, the T-Mobile unit ships with a 2GB microSD card.

One last thing about the hardware… honestly not a big deal, but since we’re comparing the retail unit to the other unit we had, Michael and I both noticed that the lock and mute keys are very easy to press on the retail unit. And that’s not for the best as we both accidentally lock / put our Bold 9700s in a mute coma from time to time. Again, not the end of the world, just a change from our other unit.

OS changes

OS 5.0 is finally ready to rock. The much-needed upgrade tries to bandage RIM’s aging yet nicely skinned operating system, and it seems to do a good job of it on the top layer. While dumb things like gradients, sounds for events, and other little UI improvements may look stupid on paper (read: they are), hey, us BlackBerry folk have to take all that we can get. And even though that’s not a lot, it’s still something to slightly freshen up this beast. Something we’ve noticed in the version on the 9700 is that marking messages as read takes a long, long time. This was an issue on a couple beta OS builds for the 9700, so it’s surprising to see it on a production OS. Not a show stopper, but something annoying if you mark message read fairly frequently like I do.

Keyboard changes

Oh those pesky QWERTY keyboards. Some are too small, some are too big, some are spaced too close, some have incorrect layouts — is there a perfect keyboard in existence? Well, if there’s one to be found, we’re pretty sure it is on the BlackBerry Bold 9700. A beautiful blend of the original Bold keyboard with the Tour’s keyboard, it really provides a great typing experience. Keys click but aren’t clackity, there’s enough spacing to allow a definition between keys yet it isn’t boat-sized like its older brother — and it just feels damn good to type on.

Phone changes

Using the phone as an actual phone is still really pleasurable. Calls are very clear, volume is great, and BlackBerry smartphones in general just rock as phones. There’s no fuss, you dial a number and make your call. We’re used to AT&T, but to be honest we couldn’t tell the difference between the two. This T-Mobile unit is solid and we experienced no dropped calls even in fringe areas, and 3G service was great.

Battery changes

This isn’t going to be fair because of T-Mobile’s global meltdown yesterday–the day when we were really pushing the 9700 to the floor– so, well, you know, it didn’t work. We were on SOS for the better part of a day, but Wi-Fi did stay connected to the outside world thankfully. Unfortunately however, Wi-Fi kind of ransacked our battery. The good news is that even with Wi-Fi on and connected for 12 hours straight with constant email usage, BlackBerry Messenger usage, and very light browsing, we still had around 25% of battery left at the end of the day. It’s great, and we’re really happy that RIM has further improved their battery life while making a device faster and smaller. We weren’t kidding when we said average usage is about double compared to the original Bold, and it looks to stay that way in the retail release.

Conclusion

You know, it’s sort of like clockwork. Once every six months we proclaim the latest BlackBerry to be the best BlackBerry ever. Well, we hate to disappoint you, but it doesn’t look like we’re stopping that tradition anytime soon. The BlackBerry Bold 9700, for whatever network it’s powered by, is the finest BlackBerry to date. From the gorgeous screen to the perfect keyboard, to the pocketable size and swift processor, the Bold 9700 seems like it can do almost anything you throw at it. With 256MB of RAM, you’ve got a little more room for applications and data, and the device doesn’t ever seem to get bogged down. We have never even gotten a spinning clock (yet). It’s that solid.

The BlackBerry platform has its advantages and disadvantages (what, we’re not vocal enough about it?), but if you’re an existing BlackBerry user or just don’t require a media-focused device, the Bold 9700 might be right up your alley.

Rogers, Bell, and TELUS in Canada have pretty much all started to release BlackBerry 9700 units into the wild, T-Mobile’s offering business customers a little head start, and AT&T’s looks to be near as well.

We don’t think we need to go over what an insanely huge day today is for Canada, but in case anyone is feeling particularly thick, we’re going to spell it out plan and simple — Rogers is no longer the only HSPA game in Canada. Bell’s 21Mbps HSPA network has at long last gone live. As with any network launch, a few awesome handsets, data cards and a few Canadian-style rip-off plans have come along for the ride. So hit the jump and check out what’s new.

Smartphones

• Apple iPhone 3G – $99.95 / 599.95 (3-year contract / no strings attached)
• Apple iPhone 3GS (16GB) – $199.95 / $699.95
• Apple iPhone 3GS (32GB) – $299.95 / $799.95
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 – $229.95 / $599.95
• BlackBerry Bold 9000 – $249.95 / $599.95
• Samsung Omnia II – $199.95 / $549.95

Non-Smartphones

• LG Xenon – $89.95 / $289.95
• Nokia 2730 – $27.95 / $119.95
• Nokia 6350 – $49.95 / $249.95
• Samsung Impact – $79.95 / $279.95

Data Sticks

• Novatel Wireless U950 – $24.95 / $174.95
• Novatel Wireless U998 – $74.95 / $174.95
• Novatel Wireless X950 – $24.95 / $174.95

SIM Cards

• $0 / $5

As for price plans, not all that much has changed (the $6.95 SAF is staying for now), but Bell did introduce some iPhone specific plans which are as follows:

Combo 45 for iPhone

• 100 anytime local minutes plus 50 bonus local minutes
• Local Fab Five: Unlimited calling & text to and from five local numbers of your choice
• 500 MB of data for personal email, Internet browsing
• Unlimited local nights & weekends (9 p.m. – 7 a.m.)

Combo 55 for iPhone

• 300 anytime local minutes
• Local Fab Five
• 1 GB of data for personal email, Internet browsing
• Unlimited local nights & weekends (9 p.m. – 7 a.m.)

Combo 75 for iPhone

• 400 anytime local minutes
• Nationwide Fab Five: Unlimited calling & text to and from five local numbers of your choice nationwide
• 2 GB of data for personal email, Internet browsing
• Unlimited local nights & weekends (9 p.m. – 7 a.m.)

Combo 95 for iPhone

• 500 anytime local minutes
• Nationwide Fab Five
• 2 GB of data for personal email, Internet browsing
• Unlimited local nights & weekends (9 p.m. – 7 a.m.)

Now to sit and wait for TELUS’ day in the sun to see what, if any, surprises it has in store beyond what we already know.

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Canadians with a ravenous appetite for all things BlackBerry should take note that Rogers Wireless has begun selling the BlackBerry Bold 9700 on its website. Available for $299.99 on a 3-year with voice and data, the Bold 9700 is also being offered for $599.99 with no strings attached. As for when HSPA newcomers Bell and TELUS will be offering up the 9700, the latest word is that both carriers will offer the device the day they launch their new networks. For Bell, that’s the 4th of November with TELUS following the very next day.

Thanks, ILLIONAIRE!

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One of our really solid connects just had some information for us and we think you’re going to love it. With the Motorola DROID being Verizon’s hot handset at the moment, you’d figure that the Moto would be it for a while, right? Well, if our guy is right, we could soon be bombarded with a lot more handsets. Apparently if the DROID launch/sales go really well, (it probably will) Verizon will push up handset releases and practically aim for the smartphone crown. Were talking HTC Passion, Motorola Calgary, Curve2, etc.

Apparently the Curve2 or HTC Passion / Dragon will launch on Black Friday, “whatever is ready first.” The second device would be used in a holiday push around mid-December. I asked why Verizon wouldn’t space this out more and he/she said “best network, best smartphones campaign.” Fair enough.

There are also some handsets coming soon that we “don’t know about,” apparently. Could all four Android devices really launch on Verizon before the end of the year, or really close to it? Plus a couple BlackBerrys, and some other stuff that hasn’t surfaced yet? It seems a little crazy, but hey, more power to them.

UPDATE: We’ve also been told that Verizon will release 15 new phones, mostly smartphones, starting with the BlackBerry Storm2 and continuing into the end of December.

That’s right, y’all! We’re back. Sorry to keep you waiting but we wanted to make sure this was rock solid, and we really wanted to add in some more features that people have been requesting. TweetGenius v1.1 is now available for purchase and supports practically every BlackBerry. That includes the Storm and Storm2! Here’s some of the new features we added:

• Send tweets
• Automatically fetch new tweets in the background
• Save tweets as favorites
• Delete tweets
• Send your GPS location
• Send photos to numerous online photo services
• Shorten URLs with bit.ly
• View trends in real time
• Search
• Mark messages as read when you’re done reading them
• Customize themes and fonts
• View photos
• View user profiles and timelines
• View users by both username and real name

That’s some of the improvements we’ve made and we’re sure you’re going to love them. So… what are you waiting for? Couple more shots after the jump!

Note: SureType handsets aren’t compatible at this time.

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Yesterday, Sprint executive David Owens dropped a ton of great news for Sprint customers in a live chat. Some of the news isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s still good to know and get confirmation from Sprint directly. Read on for the list of items that were mentioned.

• Google Android OS updates are coming for the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment. While he didn’t specify a version – 1.6 or 2.0 – HTC has previously confirmed that they’re working on an Android 2.0 update for the Hero.
• Combination CDMA/GSM Android phones are also “a possibility but nothing this year.”
• They’re considering an Android phone with a built-in MiFi-type router.
• Android phones will get less expensive “as we see volume across the industry.”
• Lots of HTC and BlackBerry phones coming next year. HTC phones “will be on the Android platform.”
• Sprint will “add Wi-Fi to [the BlackBerry] Tour” and have other Wi-Fi BlackBerry smartphones going forward.
• They’re testing Windows Mobile 6.5 updates for the HTC Touch Pro2 and other Windows phones; “plan for early 2010.”
• They want Windows Mobile 7.0 “as soon as possible, but dependent on Microsoft.”
• Expect WiMAX phones next year.
• No tethering for phones that require Everything plans (such as all smartphones) from here on out.

We already know about the updates coming to the Hero and Wi-Fi for the Tour, but it’s pretty cool to see that WiMAX phones are on the horizon. Hopefully that means a faster rollout of the 4G service. Owens also mentions more BlackBerry phones coming next year — could that mean that Sprint is also getting a 85xx series Curve just like Verizon? It could be the Wi-Fi BlackBerry he’s talking about when “going forward.” Lastly, for travelers, having more CDMA/GSM world phones with Android is pretty good news, even if we have to wait until next year.

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Who’s ready for some statistics? This September ChangeWave Research conducted a poll of smartphone users in an attempt to gauge the market share impact (if any) of new and announced devices from Apple, Palm, and RIM. We’ve combed over the article and picked out some juicy tidbits for your reading pleasure. According to ChangeWave, 39% of people polled currently own a smartphone. Of that sample, 77% own either an Apple, Palm, or RIM branded device (I know, we’re curious about the other 23% as well). RIM polled the largest portion of U.S. market share with 40% followed by Apple at 30% and Palm with a measly 7%. Apple did top the customer satisfaction poll as 74% of iPhone users described themselves as “very satisfied” with their purchase; compare that with RIM at 48% and Palm at 33%. The iPhone also ranked first in future purchases plans of those polled who did not currently own a smartphone, but plan to purchase one in the next 90 days. Also 36% indicated a preference towards the iPhone, 27% towards the BlackBerry, and 8% towards Palm. Any BGR peeps out there with plans to upgrade to a smartphone in the near future? What are you leaning towards? D-D-D-DROID?

[Via The iPhone Blog]

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For Verizon fans, the biggest and most anticipated device coming from Big Red is the Droid, and many of you have come to rely on your pals at BGR as your one-stop-shop for Droid news, info and pics. Now we’re bringing a little more to the plate with Verizon’s holiday lineup. Most of this stuff is old news, so we won’t bore you with what you already know, but it is interesting to see how Verizon is gearing up its employees to handle the busiest time of year. In one slide, Verizon says, “No matter what customers want. They can find it here.” Unless they want the iPhone, we guess, right?

Of course, perhaps the juiciest tidbits on all these slides is the one featured above with the new 85xx series Curve with Wi-Fi, which is called the Curve2 for Verizon, and the time line below with the private sale. What could that possibly be? Unfortunately there is no release date for the Curve2, but at least Verizon customers can rest assured that it is indeed coming. You guys didn’t think that was going to stay at T-Mobile for long, did you? Hit the jump for the additional slides and images of the Curve2!