It looks like our friends at the FCC have given the BlackBerry 8980, the presumed successor to the Curve 8900, a proper outing. Aside from the above picture, the FCC has the user manual for the unreleased and unannounced RIM handset available for viewing as well. The device will have a quad-band GSM antenna, Wi-Fi b/g/n, 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, and — judging by the instructions in the user manual — ship with BlackBerry OS 5. The device looks extremely similar to the BlackBerry 9700, aside from that sensual 8900 keyboard. Thoughts?

[Via Phone Scoop]

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Remember that BlackBerry slider? BBLeaks got a hold of some higher resolution pics, and there’s even a BlackBerry 8900 thrown in next to it for size comparisons. Hit the break for one more picture and to jump on over for the rest of the shots! Have these new pictures changed what you think of what’s said to be pretty early hardware?

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There comes a time in every smartphones life when, after a long and illustrious career in which it has accomplished many things, it just wants to take a step back from the hustle and bustle of daily life and bow out gracefully. According to T-Mobile, the latest to do so is the BlackBerry Curve 8900 as T-Mobile which is now residing in a retirement community in Florida having reached the “end of its life cycle”. It remains to be seen whether its son, the Curve 8520, will take up the family business, but rumor has it that its grandson is just about to come of age and make a splash.

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So, if our tipster is to be believed, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 on T-Mobile might be going on an end-of-life plan. What better device to replace the BlackBerry 8900 than the BlackBerry 8910? RIM sure knows how to slip in those minor refreshes…

We announced two days ago that AT&T was going to do something a little special for the holidays – taking 50% off BlackBerry smartphones. Starting today, you can head into an AT&T retail store or hop online and grab a BlackBerry of your choice, the BlackBerry 9700 included, for half of what you’d normally have to shell out any other time of year. We don’t need to tell you that this requires a two year agreement and there’s still a mail-in-rebate, but we just did. Just in case. We’re not sure how long this offer will last, but you can bet it will only be for a limited time. And before we forget, the Samsung Solstice will be free with a new contract and all that jazz.

Thanks, J!

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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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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.!

While the launch of the BlackBerry Storm2 on Verizon is widely expected to take place on October 28th and the Bold 9700 is so close we can almost taste it, owners of current generation BlackBerry smartphones  — the Pearl Flip 8220/8230, Curve 8330/8350i/8900, Bold 9000, Storm 9500/9530 and Tour 9630 — should be pleased to note that RIM is all set for the launch OS 5.0. Specific dates aren’t easily pinned down as it more or less depends on the device one has and the carrier one is with, but thanks to our connects we know, for example, that Verizon will be dropping for the OS 5.0 for the Storm 9530 tomorrow evening with a fall back date set for Monday. Those that don’t have Desktop Manager set up on either their PC or Mac might want to get everything ready ahead of time as it looks for the most part that OTA software updates will not be made available. Oh well. OS 5.0 is oh so worth the hassle.

Have you been pondering the idea of switching to AT&T lately but you haven’t been able to find the motivation needed to actually take the plunge? Well say hello to your push. Today, for one day only, Amazon.com is offering every single AT&T handset outside of the iPhone for 1¢ — that’s right, 1¢. Whatever it is your little heart desires — be it the BlackBerry Bold or Curve 8900, the Samsung Impression or Eternity, the LG Xenon or Neon, or anything else — is available for a single penny today. The pricing applies to new customers and requires a new 2-year contract of course, but come on… A penny. Amazon is also offering to waive your activation fee (normally $36) as well as provide free 2-day shipping. Any takers?

[Via Mobility Site]

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After Mr. Epstein attended the RIM event on Tuesday for the BlackBerry Curve 8520, I promptly snatched the review unit he received out of his hands when he got back to the office. Let’s not beat around the bush: a BlackBerry is going to either me or Michael and I was closest. It’s not the first time we’ve been fondling the BlackBerry 8520 but hey, we won’t complain. Available as of yesterday, the Curve 8520 throws the Curve lineup forward with a speedier processor, improved keyboard, more memory, new trackpad navigation system and other tweaks and additions like dedicated music keys. One thing we can’t for the life of us understand, though, is T-Mobile’s pricing. At $49.99 with a two-year this would have absolutely killed on T-Mobile’s network, but $130? Isn’t the BlackBerry Curve 8900 $199? Ok, T-Mobile’s lost it as the Curve 8900 is $149.99 on a two-year. Seriously? While this is still one of the most usable and solid low-to-mid-end handsets we’ve ever picked up, it’s no where near Curve 8900 territory (obviously on purpose by RIM). Our guess is within a month you’ll see this at around $99 or even lower on T-Mobile, but that’s just us.

Back to the hardware… if you’ve been holding off on a BlackBerry for a while due to cost reasons or maybe you just always get your phone lost or dinged up, we have no problem recommending the BlackBerry Curve 8520. It’s a real solid piece of hardware — it’s a BlackBerry after all — it’s just as fast as the high-end BlackBerry devices out there, it’s pocketable, and functional. Want to see some photos? Hit the jump!

If there is one thing hardcore BlackBerry users live and die by it’s definitely BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM. We gave you guys a preview of the upcoming version of BBM a little over a month ago and our inbox has been blowing up ever since. Fortunately for everyone now, BBM 5.0 has been leaked and appears to be available on most new BlackBerrys from OS 4.5 through OS 5.1. Don’t let us keep you waiting, hit the read link for direct downloads to BlackBerry Messenger 5.0!

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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You read the headline right, kids — the new and insanely hot BlackBerry Messenger that we exclusively showed off to the World looks to be headed to all BlackBerry devices that will receive the OS 5.0 treatment. How do we know? Because we’ve been playing around with a recent build of OS 5.0 on a Curve 8900, and well, let’s just say that it and some other pretty awesome stuff is in there. But since we’re talking about BlackBerry Messenger, let’s just get right into it. We’ve already told you that the new Messenger has avatar support, GPS integration (including proximity sensing), the ability to set and group conversations by subject and a way to create a homescreen icon for messenger contracts, but it now looks like even more crazy stuff has been crammed in in addition to a little facelift.

So strap yourselves in, hit the jump and prepare to be green with envy as we show you an even newer version of BlackBerry Messenger!

Since we know that most of you are just going to gloss over the text and check out the ensuing screenshots, we’ll keep the list of what’s newer than new really brief:

• SMS support — You wanted threaded SMS? Well you’re finally going to be getting it!
• PIN barcode scanning — Too lazy to add your friend to Messenger by entering in their PIN? Just have them click the Barcode option on their devices and, you guessed it, a barcode will show up letting the other party scan it with their BlackBerry camera and immediately add that contact to your list.
• Backup/Restore Messenger list to microSD card — What else need we say?

So tell us, you BlackBerry freaks; were you able to make it through this entire post without having a heart attack?

Apparently someone at AT&T didn’t get the memo that the BlackBerry Curve 8900 was supposed to go on sale tomorrow because it’s now available for purchase on the AT&T website for $299.99 before a $100 MIR. Who are we kidding; it’s not like we could ever complain that a slick smartphone has gone on sale early. Actually, we sort of can because they are shipping with OS 4.6.1 and not OS 5.0 like some of the 8900′s we played with at WES. But we digress…

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It was only two weeks ago that AT&T announced it would be dropping the Curve 8900 sometime this Summer, and one week ago that we told you it would run for $199.99 on a two-year after a $100 MIR. Well now AT&T has finally come out with an official launch date for both online and in retail stores: this Friday, the 22nd of May. All you have to do now is decide whether or not you want to drop an extra $100 to get the 3G-enabled Bold.

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We just got our hands on the latest AT&T price sheet for the Southwestern region (don’t worry, these prices are national) and what did we find? The BlackBerry 8900 is going to run $99 $199 on a 2-year agreement after $100 MIR. We guess that sort of makes up for the 6 month delay in launching it… We’ll let you know if we find anything else on here, but come on, that’s an awesome price isn’t it?