Hold up on that 8800 purchase, ladies and gentlemen; its slimmer, hipper, more feature-packed cousin hits in less than 24 hours. The 8300 Curve packs QWERTY usability and Pearl style into a case that measures only 4.2 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches. Features AT&T's touting include a lovely QVGA display with automatic light sensor, integrated spell checker (a BlackBerry first), noise cancellation, Bluetooth 2.0, push-to-talk support, comprehensive media support including a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 2 megapixel cam. Look for it on AT&T starting tomorrow for $199.99 on a two-year agreement.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

AT&T customers can rest easy when it comes to getting their BlackBerry addiction satisfied as of late. First, it was the Pearl-esque 8800 reaching AT&T customers months before T-Mobile -- and now it's the BlackBerry 8300, allegedly hitting on the 13th of next month. It's still unclear whether or not AT&T axed the WiFi or not because the product sheets are show it will be launched with support, however the testers are saying "no way." Oh, might as well 86 the intergrated GPS, too, becuase it won't make this version either. But don't sweat too much -- there's already another version in the works that adds location based services for you map lovin' folks. Keep a lookout for the pricing deets!

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Rumor has it that the BlackBerry Curve is gonna land at Rogers come early June and while the info we have is pretty sketchy, a refresh of their current stable does make good clean sense. We've hammered out the details on RIM's new offering again and again, so we won't give that a rehash, but suffice it to say, the lighter, prettier and QWERTY-capable Curve will make many a business user grin. Bring it on we say, bring it on, and of course as per usual, if you have more info for us to round out the news on this, drop us a line.

[Via mobileincanada.com]

Craving a BlackBerry 8300 "Curve" review with a little more journalistic juice to it than, say, John Mayer's? Look no further, friends; we've got you covered with a three-pack of previews for the device. Sentiment for Waterloo's latest QWERTY handset is overwhelmingly positive, focusing on a few key points: great keyboard, great media support (a 3.5mm jack sure doesn't hurt there), and surprisingly good battery life. The camera seems to be decent -- all 2 megapixels of it, anyway -- and none of the lucky previewers seemed too bummed about the EDGE-only data speeds. Throw in what might be the most attractive case on a RIM phone to date, and it seems the Curve might do the seemingly impossible by filling both Pearl and 8800 owners with envy when it launches on AT&T in the not-too-distant future.

Read - LAPTOP Magazine (4 / 5 stars, "...this is the best BlackBerry...")
Read - PC Magazine ("...an extremely promising BlackBerry for folks who want a fun device with a full keyboard")
Read - Airtime Manager ("...we're convinced that the new BlackBerry 8300 will have been worth the wait")

Picture an 8800 with its tie loosened and a couple buttons undone, and this here is pretty much what you'd get. Hot on the heels of the aforementioned 8800, RIM has officially taken the wraps off its hotly anticipated (and well scooped) 8300 "Curve," a device that takes the standard QWERTY BlackBerry formula and throws in a handful of consumer-friendly features for good measure. Clearly at the top of the list is a 2 megapixel cam with integrated flash -- but other goodies include comprehensive media support (WMA, WMV, and H.263 all make the cut), stereo Bluetooth, a true 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD expansion for when you exhaust (quickly) your 64MB of internal ROM, and a 15.5mm thick shell that's pretty stylish by RIM standards. Now that the phone's official, we're hoping to see it hit AT&T -- among other carriers -- in the coming weeks.

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

Could it be that all of RIM's future devices (or at least its consumer-oriented ones) will bear short, easy to remember names? Seemingly following in the footsteps of the Pearl, RIM has set up blackberry8300.com to forward to -- you guessed it -- blackberrycurve.com. The move means virtually nothing to business users who have their BlackBerrys doled out to them in a very unemotional, automatic way, but to the end user standing in line at their carrier's store, "Curve" sounds a lot, shall we say, cooler than "8300." Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Rumors are just that -- rumors -- until they start to take shape and more people can confirm them. That being said, this one's pretty juicy: sources tell us AT&T the BlackBerry 8300 has appeared on their internal website with a tentative ("tentative" as in "close our eyes and hope for the best") launch date of May 25th. That date would fall right in line with Boy Genius and his predictions, making for a fabulous month of May (for BlackBerry fans, anyhow!).

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Field report tidbits from mobile insider Boy Genius.

Sit back and relax while we take you on a tour of the new BlackBerry 8300's OS, aptly named 4.2.2. New features -- which were reported here -- include built-in Spell Check, Full Screen Mode while playing videos, creating and managing custom folders, and much more. The camera application has an amazing light sensor that will gage the surrounding light and turn on the flash or not (much improved from the Pearl). The speakers for playing audio and video are extremely loud, yet still manage to sound pretty full. Let's not forget the keyboard of the 8300 which is probably the biggest improvement overall. Click on for the full OS walkthough!

You know there's nothing we adore more than snapshots of our favorite gear that we sadly can't touch just yet, and the BoyGenius himself has snapped up the elusive BlackBerry 8300 just days after codename "Daytona" first hit the 'net as a plainly labeled evaluation unit. Reportedly, the 8300 is a hair slimmer / smaller than the 8800, features an "outstanding" integrated speaker, and touts a much more manageable and responsive keyboard to boot. Interestingly, his unit didn't seem to sport video recording nor WiFi (bummer), and it was constructed primarily of plastic and soft rubber accents, which apparently added up to a fairly stylish device. The built-in OS was AT&T branded, but did feature a spell checker, fullscreen mode for playing back videos, and the ability to "create your own folders on the home screen and move any applications in and out of those folders." Not much nitty gritty beyond that, but be sure to click on through for a few closeups, and hit the read link for the full rundown of snapshots.

Photos of a purportedly unannounced Blackberry codenamed "Daytona" are making the rounds in Spain this morning. This new RIM device clearly marked "evaluation unit" on the back is said to sport a 2 megapixel camera with LED flash, GPS, and that glorious WiFi we're all missing on the 8800. Spanish site Xataka speculates that this media savvy device will carry an 8300 model number when it hits at the start of summer. Perhaps, but we're still wondering when we'll see the notorious 8820.

Update: A video has been posted by the Mentesdigitales site. Check that and more pictures after the break.