Good old T-Mobile's on a roll these days with new phone plans, and this one seems perfectly catered to stocking stuffers. The quartet of phones start at $59.99, but so far we know of two: BlackBerry Curve 8520 for $299.99 and the Pearl for $149.99, according to the Best Buy stores we contacted. There's no contract commitment, and according to the press release, the first month is included in the bill from the point the phone's out of the box and activated. We don't know the details of that first month of service (data? texting?), but it's still a pretty penny for an unsubsidized handset. After that second month, of course, T-Mo's probably hoping you'll be enticed to keep with the network. If not already, you should start seeing the phones pop up at local Best Buy and select Walmart locales shortly. Press release after the break.

Looks like BlackBerry Internet Services is having a rough night, with a number of sites reporting it being down not just in North America, but also elsewhere around the world. A handful of tipsters have expressed similar issues, and though we've had some weirdness with our service tonight, it seems to be working well enough. So tell us, how's BIS doing for you tonight?

Read - Crackberry
Read - Boy Genius Report

The lads at jkontherun took that new connection between BlackBerrys and the REDFLY for a spin. Prognosis? Not so good -- bad display rendering and trackpad controls, which are basically the two reasons you'd considering picking this up in the first place. Celio fans, a rather unpleasant read lies ahead should you choose to proceed past the link.

Given the timing of Storm 2's launch and the Motorola DROID's unveiling, you'd think Verizon had all but abandoned its touchscreen BlackBerry. But lo and behold, we do have a new television spot. "Who says lightning never strikes twice" -- who said it ever struck the first time? Video after the break.

[Via Gear Diary]

We can't confirm this Verizon Infomanager screen at this point, but if true, when the BlackBerry Storm 2 launches on the network, one of the big touted features will be its MiFi capabilities for sharing 3G internet over WiFi. It'd be smart branding move, sure, but MiFi is also the name Novatel uses for its hardware, so either we're talking here about an application of some sort or it's just internal communications short-hand. Also mentioned here is an October 21st launch, although it's been noted by Crackberry that the date's apparently been replaced with TBA. Without a doubt, we can confidently say we'll know for sure in the next, oh, 52 hours or so.

[Thanks, Marc-Anthony S.]

Read - Intranet snapshot
Read - Launch date pulled

We're not saying BlackBerry's Storm successor is due for release just around the corner. We're not saying that, but we have been seeing a number of telltale signs that piezoelectrified touchscreen device is soon for this world. Herein we present the two latest pieces of evidence, a Vodafone display found at Carphone Warehouse and a leaked, very blurry Verizon Wireless training video that contains a scraps of details. It'll launch with BBOS 5.0, unsurprisingly, and come packaged with a 16GB microSD card and 2GB internal storage, a Bing search app, and City ID app. See it for yourself after the break -- excited yet?

[Via Berryscoop]

Gemini had its Aries, and now it seems Javeline (a.k.a. the Curve 8900) has found its own CDMA equivalent in the BlackBerry Atlas. (Isn't a shame that RIM's device codenames are so often catchier than their final designation? But we digress.) A new BlackBerry has hit the internet in grainy photograph form, and according to Salomondrin with additional notes from Crackberry, the pictured leak (it's the one on the left) boasts CDMA bands, WiFi, and a 8900 series keyboard. Mum's the word, officially and otherwise, on pretty much any other details, but hopefully RIM won't keep us waiting too long.

[Via Crackberry]

Listen, we feel your pain, we know you've been dying to find another use for your REDFLY Mobile Companion, and while we're not sure this is it, at least you've got another thing you can tell your friends when justifying the purchase. Celio Corp's announced it'll be bringing BlackBerry support to the Companion C8N and C7 as a free update in mid-Q4 of this year. It works via either physical cable or Bluetooth, and at this point supports Bold 9000, Curve 8900, and Tour 9630, with more phones promised as they're released. Crackberry's managed to obtain a video demonstration, which is after the break if you're interested. It's okay if you're not, we understand.

Read - Press release
Read - First look

We've heard about a good number of these phones were bound for Verizon Wireless already, but if this leaked doc via Boy Genius Report is to be believed, we now have a much better idea when they should be within reach of consumer hands. First up is Samsung Rogue for sometime this month (we previously heard today, but that's looking very doubtful at this point) for an estimated $370 subsidized. Next on the calendar is the "female centric" Nokia Twist 7705 in late September for $230, which more likely than not is the swiveling device we've seen on two prior occasions. Also due out next month is the Samsung Intensity for $130 (screenshot after the break). LG Chocolate Touch was rumored by Best Buy for today, but here it's listed for an October debut, along with Storm 2, a "low cost QWERTY" HTC Razzle / Blitz 2 (XV6175, perhaps?), and the Motorola Sholes "Google Phone," red D-pad likely in tow, all with TBD price tags. Rounding out the list in late November is the BlackBerry Curve 2, which we wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be the 8530. The first one expected for public is the Rogue, replacing the Alias 2 that just launched back in May. What gives Verizon, no love for e-ink textpads?

If you've been using your BlackBerry in the last 24 hours or so, you've probably noticed that red star plastered on the App World icon, signaling it's time for an upgrade. Yes, RIM's version of the app store has hit version 1.1, and the bulk of the update concerns better navigation options -- new categories, top downloads for free and premium apps, and the ability to sort search results by name, release date, rating, price, and developer. Outside of that, we've also got the option to now archive apps on SD card or other memory, but unfortunately there's no option to run those programs without reinstalling to internal memory. The update is available for all countries, including the recently-introduced group of ten. Full details after the break.

Research in Motion hit a milestone today, only "achievement" wouldn't necessarily be the best way to describe it. The BlackBerry maker has finally ended a long-running patent dispute with Visto Corp., paying out $267.5 million to settle the matter -- a much larger fee than the $7.7 million Visto got from Seven Networks, but conversely a fraction of the reported $612.5 million RIM paid to settle with NTP years back. With it, however, comes a fully paid license to use Visto's patents, and some of the plaintiff's intellectual property by way of transferred ownership. So now that we can move on from that dispute, who's next to take the mantle and vie for a piece of BlackBerry's pie?

You haven't forgotten about that BlackBerry Storm 2, have you? The Boy Genius Report is claiming it's gotten device specs for RIM's touchscreen-centric maven, also reportedly called the 9550, and while not surprising (and not confirmed), according to his source the CDMA device will be sporting 802.11b/g (which we already sort of knew), a 3.2 megapixel camera, 360 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, and BlackBerry OS 5.0. If that's not enough, the site's also saying a GSM version of the original, with 3G in tow, does exist as the 9520 and is possibly on track for release soon on AT&T and Rogers. All nice fodder for dreams, but we're not getting our hopes up until something more official rears its SurePress-laden head.

By the time Sprint gets around to releasing the 9630 Tour with WiFi, due out sometime early next year, we think most everyone'll have moved on to any one of the numerous BlackBerry devices likely to hit in the interim. What's more important in this FierceWireless report is that Sprint's requiring WiFi "in all its major devices going forward" -- which should mean pretty much every smartphone that lands in its CDMA-loving mitts. Verizon Wireless, who along with Sprint is also launching the WLAN-less Tour this Sunday, said that the company's working with RIM to get WiFi into future BlackBerry, but didn't oblige us with any hopeful descriptors that'd help us understand just how strong of a push was being made. Frankly, smartphones without WiFi at this point is downright criminal, and with CDMA phones trailing behind their GSM counterparts in this category, kudos to Sprint for taking the initiative.

[Via Phone Scoop]