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Blackberry 9500 -Touch Screen *Roger's iPhone 1st Gen*

BlackBerry Thunder 9500 touchscreen smartphone should be coming soon to Verizon Wireless and Vodafone customers in the U.S. and Europe.

BlackBerry Thunder 9500 seems to become the first touchscreen smartphone in RIM's 9000 series. According to Wall Street Journal, the Canadian manufacturer will be offering the BlackBerry 9500 on Verizon Wireless and Vodafone networks, exclusively. Vodafone has a track record of getting BlackBerry smartphones exclusively in Europe, and an exclusive agreement will obviously also cause extra buzz for Verizon Wireless.

The BlackBerry Thunder 9500 is scheduled to hit store shelves in the third quarter of 2008, most likely in September. According to Wall Street Journal, the BlackBerry Thunder 9500 will ship with 3G support like the recently introduced BlackBerry Bold, but it's not currently known whether HSDPA and EV-DO versions will be released simultaneously. RIM has also worked hard to improve the battery life of its 9000 series of smartphones, which is kind of reassuring.

Just like the BlackBerry Bold, the RIM BlackBerry Thunder should come with a 624 MHz processor, which should be powerful enough to handle multitasking at least. What kind of graphical user interface the BlackBerry 9500 will be using is not yet known, but it will likely be a version of its recently introduced upgrade found in the BlackBerry Bold.

It would at least be quite a feat for RIM if they've been able to come up with two completely different user interfaces in two years, at the same time as for instance Microsoft has been working on its own Windows Mobile 7 interface.

Since the latest incarnation of RIM's platform supports document editing, the BlackBerry 9500 could end up matching heavy-weights like the AT&T Tilt. However, that really depends on how RIM has chosen to design the BlackBerry 9500. It would have been cool to see a BlackBerry 9500 with a slide-out QWERTY thumbboard and a significantly larger screen with landscape mode than the standard 2.5-inch 65K screen we are used to.

On the other hand, if the RIM BlackBerry Thunder 9500 turns out to be an all-touch smartphone coming after the iPhone, we at least hope that the Canadian manufacturer will come up with some multimedia services and a decent memory bundle too, as Verizon Wireless' Get It Now interface and "no accessories included" policy aren't exactly a true multimedia smartphone worthy. Nevertheless, since both the Curve and the Bold have a stronger multimedia focus than other recent full-QWERTY phones by RIM, we assume the BlackBerry Thunder 9500 will walk down the multimedia road some way or another.

Like the BlackBerry Bold, the RIM BlackBerry Thunder 9500 will most likely also get GPS and Wi-Fi connectivity. According to Wall Street Journal, RIM has also been working on improving the browser experience, but we don't know whether that's specific to the BlackBerry 9500 or a comment on the recently released platform in general.

The BlackBerry Thunder 9500 will be available on Verizon Wireless and Vodafone networks in Q3 2008, and will most likely cost around $400 with a two-year contract.

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/9356.html

A few days ago, we told you about a brand new BlackBerry called the Bold, a sleek new device with lots of bells and whistles aimed at the business market but with a chance to spill over to the average consumer.

The idea was to steal some of the iPhone's thunder. But now it appears creator Research In Motion intends to also steal Apple's Thunder.

"Thunder" is the code name for yet another new product from the Waterloo-based giant, and this one will reportedly come with the same kind of touch screen that has made the iPhone an instant icon.

The company has refused to comment on reports that it's planning anything, but RIM CEO Jim Balsillie did go on record in February as saying his firm was willing to consider the technology if customers demanded it.

But with the iPhone coming to Canada this year and a second generation due in the U.S., it may be a fait accompli. There are no details about the device beyond the name and even that may not be what it's eventually called if and when it hits store shelves. Web rumours and leaks suggest it won't have a slide-out keyboard and may sport only four keys.

RIM is looking to hang on to its market share in the face of the big Apple push. But like so much of the new fangled gear, if the Thunder does storm onto the shores of the marketplace battlefront, it will initially only be sold in the U.S.

Still, if it catches on there, you can be sure Canada and the rest of the world won't be far behind.

Photo credit: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_22776.aspx

Can't wait Should be interesting to say the least.

Only problem is that it was announced earlier that it would have Worldwide Lifetime Exclusivity to Verizon & Vodafone.

Ie. Not Coming to Canada.

Second issue actually is that It'll only work on CDMA. It's pretty hard to get an unlocked CDMA phone to work with Bell/Telus, if not impossible for some devices.