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I almost hate to say this is an accurate date, but so far the rumored October 2 launching of AT&T’s BlackBerry Bold seems to be holding true. Of course with so many other carriers managing to get it to market it seems AT&T is just at the point of saving face here, and really cannot stand any more delays or criticism with this release.

Anyway, the latest addition to this rumor adds yet another date of September 24, however that is supposed to be when dealers can begin placing their orders. That way they are ready for consumers on October 2. This was further confirmed by a reported leaked email that cam from a “few AT&T dealers” via the “head office.”

“AT&T is pleased to announce the launch of the new Blackberry Bold. It will be available to order on September 24, 2008. ”

Unfortunately its still a few weeks away, at this point we can only hope it stands true. The one good point is that maybe we can see the Bold a bit earlier than October 2, because the dealer ordering should not take but a day or two.

Via [CrackBerry]

Just when we all thought the the new BlackBerry Thunder is not yet ready for primetime due to some issues in its key features, here comes some new live photos of the mobile phone courtesy of CrackBerry.com. Based on what we can see from the photos, it looks like the Thunder is already to roll any day now, as it is said to be a working unit.

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Still looking at some possible delays for the US AT&T release, the BlackBerry Bold has just gotten its FCC seal of approval. Not much new information coming from the FCC listing, but it does confirm that it will be the GSM with UMTS 850/1900 version, which is what would be needed for an AT&T release.

Hopefully now that the FCC approval is out of the way, RIM and AT&T can get all the issues causing the delay sorted out, as of the last report it looks like it was delayed until August. Of course, Rogers is ready to set it wild on July 25.

Read [FCC] Via [phoneArena]

The eagerly anticipated BlackBerry Thunder seems to need a little more time, according to a tipster from within RIM, the Thunder is not even close to hitting the market.

“Thunder is in no way shape or form market-ready. If Bold was any indication, Thunder won’t be ready for at least another 4-5 months.”

It looks like there are a bunch of issues with some important and key features. Just to begin with it looks like the keyboard is horrible to actually use and the accelerometer works, but has a tendency to go “bonkers” when the device is moved in certain ways. In addition the UI is apparently slow and lags with the haptic feedback also showing some problems.

Just to give you an idea of just how bad the Thunder is in its current state, the tipster went on to mention that “most of the people who have handled it thinks it’s a joke.”

Well, at least in its current state the Thunder is not going to steal any thunder from Apple, AT&T and the iPhone 3G. Lets just hope they get the issues worked out and in the hands of those waiting Verizon customers soon.

Via [BGR]

That’s right folks, some new exclusive shots of the upcoming Blackberry Thunder, which is officially called the BlackBerry 9500 have been leaked. The new BlackBerry 9500 will feature a large 360 x 480 touchscreen display and we also found that it will allow users to buy songs from their device via a mobile music store similar to iTunes. It is also expected to be running OS 4.7.

In addition, this new BlackBerry will also boast of a portrait media player that would be perfect for watching movies and videos while you are on the move. We’ll keep an eye for more developments, but in the meantime keep reading to check out a few more images.

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The Blackberry Thunder which we reported before as RIM’s newest Blackberry device now has an official name, the Blackberry 9500. And like we told you, it shall be officially carried with Verizon as a lifetime exclusive offering which will support high-speed HSPA and EV-DO networks. In addition to Verizon, reports had it that it will also hit the Vodafone network.

Now for some exciting new information, we also found out that the Blackberry 9500 will have a touchscreen LCD display at 360x480 resolution. What makes this LCD special? It is surprisingly bigger than the LCD display of iPhone. So, you can safely say that it is also being geared up to compete with the iPhone 3G. In addition, the Blackberry 9500 is said to come with OS 4.7.0.

We’ll definitely keep an eye for more updates on the new Blackberry 9500.

Via [Blackberry News]

Just yesterday we learned that we could expect the BlackBerry Bold to be available with AT&T in July and Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile following in September, now it looks like RIM will not be satisfied with just one hot new handset hitting the market.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the upcoming and still un-pictured full touchscreen BlackBerry Thunder will be hitting the market in Q3 2008, which would mean that it would be September at the latest. Assuming this time frame is accurate it would seem as if RIM really wanted to make a big statement and lasting impression on the mobile community. Now if we could just get some more details and a real image of the Thunder, because while the Photoshop mock-up from BGR is nice, its just that, a mockup.

Read [Wall Street Journal] Via [Gizmodo]

All due respect to RIM for coming up with a sleek and full-featured smartphone such as the BlackBerry Bold, but we couldn’t help feel shortchanged just a little as it doesn’t match up with the iPhone’s look and feel. So, it is but only natural to get excited over the latest rumor circulating around the BlackBerry name, the Thunder.

Yes dear readers, the group over at BGR are claiming that the latest smartphone from RIM has been codenamed the BlackBerry Thunder. And yes, this time, we just might be staring at the real iPhone killer. With its full touchscreen display and only four keys visible upfront - send/end keys, the BlackBerry menu key and the back key, the Thunder may well the next generation of what we can expect from RIM. Rumor has it that the BlackBerry Thunder will also be a worldwide lifetime exclusive on Verizon and Vodafone, so current AT&T subscribers still have plenty of time to think about shifting carriers before the Thunder arrives.

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I’m going to first start out by saying how sweet the design for this phone is.  The phone looks like a classic Nokia phone until you open it.  It then looks like a laptop/two-way pager with a 640- by 200-pixel color screen.  Pretty sweet idea.

The phone comes with quite a bit bundled software including Microsoft Office (word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications), an Adobe Acrobat viewer, RealPlayer, the Opera browser, an MP3 player, a voice recorder, and PIM applications.  It’s also pretty well equiped with wireless networks with Bluetooth, EDGE, and Wi-Fi on board.

While the phone sounds pretty sweet, PCMag.com was not impressed at all.  They rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars and had the following to say: “The most apt analogy for the Nokia 9500 Communicator is a luxury SUV with a four-cylinder engine—big, comfortable, slow, and expensive… To justify the 9500’s size and $799 price tag, it should really be a powerhouse of a phone, and it simply isn’t.”

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