As of today, 14th April, smartphone users looking to get some of that unlimited data goodness will have another option, courtesy of Verizon Wireless' new Email & Web for Smartphone plan [pdf link].  Priced at $29.99 as a monthly add-on, it gives unlimited data for personal email and on-device web browsing.  At first, Verizon appear to be supporting three main smartphones: ... continued »

Multiple sources are reporting on the new SMS Alert system the FCC is looking to implement, which would trigger warning text messages to US users in high-risk, dangerous or serious situations.  The original idea for the scheme came from a 2006 Congress plan which challenged the FCC, among other agencies, to better utilise communication technology for emergency situations. Carriers taking part ... continued »

Voice-recognition and transcription specialists Jott have just announced their latest beta for BlackBerry smartphones, allowing users to dictate replies to emails rather than use the thumb keyboard.  Compatible with the BlackBerry 8800, 8300 and 8100 series handsets, the app adds a "reply with Jott" option to all new emails which lets you speak your message either directly to the smartphone itself, ... continued »

Canadian carrier TELUS will be the first North American carrier to offer Anam's SMART SMS messaging system, which can enable instant global money transfers to anybody in a user's address book.  The system also presents new opportunities for targeted advertising, embedding user-specific adverts within messages with special deals and/or offers, although TELUS is yet to indicate in which ways it ... continued »

Anything Sprint can do, TELUS can do, well, if not better then at least the same.  The Canadian carrier has begun promoting the imminent arrival of BlackBerry's Curve 8330 to the network, with the same GPS and EV-DO but a "liquid silver" finish with chrome highlights.  The Curve 8330 is the smallest BlackBerry with a full QWERTY keyboard, measuring 107.1 x ... continued »

Sprint have confirmed that they will be carrying the BlackBerry Curve 8330, the existence of which has been well speculated, with the QWERTY-equipped smartphone compatible with both the Sprint Music Store and the Sprint TV entertainment service.  The 8330 has both GPS, to take advantage of Sprint Navigation, and a 2-megapixel camera, with a microSD card slot and stereo Bluetooth.  ... continued »

Nuance today announced the launch of their Voicemail to Text message transcribing service, which converts audio voicemail messages into SMS or email messages and sent on to the user.  Offered through carriers rather than direct to an end user, the system uses Nuance's Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition technology as well as a human transcription backup; it improves upon standard ... continued »

T-Mobile have officially announced that anyone who has not yet picked up one of the seemingly thousands of BlackBerry Pearl variants available will be able to do so from their stores from April 14th.  Having confirmed the leaked roadmap from last month, we now also know that the Pearl 8120 will have WiFi, EDGE, a 2-megapixel camera, A2DP stereo Bluetooth and microSDHC ... continued »

Lucky old Engadget have some brand new images of the upcoming BlackBerry 9000-series smartphone, showing RIM's latest efforts in updating the OS design. The hardware matches up to the leaked image we first saw a while ago, managing to be restrained as well as purposefully attractive, while the all-important guts of the handset have been brought bang up to ... continued »

Has RIM's R&D department been using Motorola as a role model?  According to The Boy Genius' sources, the upcoming BlackBerry 9xxx-series smartphone is going to miss its original predicted May/June release date, and instead will hit the streets in July/August (but more like the latter), probably with an AT&T six month exclusive in the US.  If true, it would make it ... continued »