Vodafone and RIM have made the BlackBerry Storm2 official!

The second generation of RIM’s innovative and award-winning touch-screen smartphone, the BlackBerry Storm2 significantly improves the BlackBerry® touch-screen platform with new technology and new features to let customers stay easily connected to the people, places and things that matter most.

In the busy holiday gift buying period, customers in the UK and Ireland will be able to get the new smartphone first through Vodafone, and it will be offered exclusively by Vodafone in Germany, Netherlands and Spain. It will also be made available in France, Italy and South Africa in time for Christmas.

The BlackBerry Storm2 with BlackBerry OS 5 evolves the BlackBerry touch-screen platform with hundreds of hardware and software enhancements.

Pricing will be announced by the individual in-country operating companies and so far Vodafone UK will be offering the Storm2 free from £35 per month on a 24-month contract. Since Vodafone has officially announced the Storm2, according to earlier rumors, Verizon should be announcing it within the next week or so.

For more info (including hardware and software features) check out the press release after the jump or head to blackberry.com/storm!

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Ronen got tipped off about the upcoming BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) 2.8 and its new features, right now rumored to be rolling out this September 10th with the two main upgrades and an auto-login feature coming soon after.

An exciting tidbit about this BIS upgrade is that BlackBerry OS 5.0 will be required in order to use the main feature, which means the release of OS 5.0 is definitely around the corner (hopefully).

What’s new in 2.8:

• Two-way wireless synchronization with Google Mail Contacts* and the Address Book on the BlackBerry smart phone:
  • Synchronize Google Mail contacts quickly and easily to the BlackBerry smart phone
  • Add or edit Contacts and the Contacts are automatically updated, whether they are updated on the computer or BlackBerry smart phone
  • The documentation says this is scheduled to sync every 4 hours and will not work on BlackBerry Connect devices. It also will obviously not work on BES contacts or even Google Mail Contact Groups whatever those are.
• Enhancements to email setup and settings:
  • Automatic Login now supports most billing identifiers, which allows new subscribers with wireless service providers that use PIN, IMEI, or ESN as a billing identifier to create BlackBerry Internet Service accounts from the BlackBerry smart phone, without having to create a login user name and password
  • Note: This feature will be available approximately one week after the BlackBerry Internet Service upgrade.
• Windows Live Hotmail revalidation:
  • With BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8, new Windows Live Hotmail mail integrations will be defaulted to a protocol that is designed so as not to require 90 day reauthorization.
  • Note: Existing BlackBerry smart phone users accessing Windows Live Hotmail using Microsoft MSP will still be required to revalidate their Windows Live Hotmail account every 90 days.

*Note: Two-way wireless Contact synchronization with Google Mail Contacts requires BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and configuration through email settings on the BlackBerry smart phone.  Additional requirements and constraints may be found within the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8 Documentation Kit. This feature is not supported on BlackBerry smart phones with BlackBerry® Connect™ software.

Feel free to share your thoughts and any additional info in the comments!

According to BGR, RIM is planning to add support for Adobe Flash (full, not lite) and Microsoft Silverlight in the BlackBerry Browser by next summer!

So far no BlackBerry is able to view Flash or Silverlight content from within the BlackBerry Browser, which has been a big disappointment for many new and existing BlackBerry owners (myself included). Of course, that didn’t make me turn to another device because I knew it would happen sooner or later.

BG says that RIM has to “beef up” their devices before going through with Flash and Silverlight support. This includes getting over some software limitation hurdles and the need for higher, faster data networks.

On a different topic, the BlackBerry 9700 is rumored to be available for AT&T customers right in time for Black Friday. Still no word on when the 9700 will be going to T-Mobile.

via BGR

Today RIM announced their new and enhanced tools for developing web apps for BlackBerry smartphones.

The BlackBerry Web Development Plug-in for Eclipse, available today at www.blackberry.com/developers/webeclipse, is a new plug-in that allows developers to create web applications and content for BlackBerry smartphones within the familiar Eclipse 3.4 environment. Using this plug-in, developers can debug and profile Internet/intranet web pages displaying HTML and CSS content in addition to more complex rich internet applications using AJAX, Silverlight, PHP, ASP, Ruby on Rails, JSP, and Python.

BlackBerry Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio version 1.2, available today at www.blackberry.com/developers/webvisualstudio, provides an all-in-one tool for developers to create web applications and content for BlackBerry^® smartphones within the Visual Studio 2008 environment. Using this plug-in, developers can create simple Internet/intranet web pages or more complex, rich Internet applications using AJAX and ASP.Net.

Both tools feature BlackBerry smartphone simulators for testing and debugging projects, and web application profiling for visibility into data traffic, load time and use of web based content, including elements such as images, CSS, JavaScript, HTML and objects.

For more info visit blackberry.com/developer or check out the full press release after the jump.

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* UPDATE All license keys sold! Sorry if you missed this deal. To keep up next time you can subscribe to the feed or follow me on Twitter @BlackBerryRocks. *

Last night I was browsing some forums and came across a great deal posted on BlackBerry Boards where forum member corymccoy is selling some left over DataViz Documents To Go Premium Edition license keys for BlackBerry.

Documents To Go features:

• View, edit and create native Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and attachments
  • Supports Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
  • Includes support for Microsoft Office Word 2007, Excel 2007 & PowerPoint 2007
• BONUS! View native PDF file and attachments through separate PDF To Go® application (included with purchase of Premium Edition)
• Full featured solution with viewing AND editing functionality
• Supports file and attachments received via e-mail, Bluetooth® or media card
• Unique InTact Technology retains original document formatting of edited files
• Integrated with BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service for reliable and instant access to e-mail attachments

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I was going to get a 16GB media card for my new BlackBerry Curve 8900 (when I get it)…but I think I’ll wait for the SDXCs to come out.

Some highlights from the press release:

• The next-generation SDXC (eXtended Capacity) memory card specification, announced today at the 2009 International CES, dramatically improves consumers’ digital lifestyles by providing the portable storage and speed needed to store weeks of high-definition video, years of photo collections and months of music to mobile phones, cameras and camcorders, and other consumer electronic devices.
• The SDXC specification, developed by the SD Association, leapfrogs memory card interface speeds while retaining the world-leading SD interface.
• A 2TB SDXC memory card can store 100 HD movies, 60 hours of HD recording or 17,000 fine-grade photos.
• SDXC is also the first memory card specification to provide 2TB storage without hindering the high-speed performance necessary for high-end photography.

Check out the full press release after the jump.

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Microsoft and Research In Motion are expected to announce on Thursday a partnership that will make it easier for BlackBerry users to reach Microsoft’s search engine, according to a source familiar with the companies’ plans.

As part of the deal, BlackBerry users will have the option to use Microsoft Live Search as their search engine of choice within the device’s browser. Also, Microsoft’s Live Search will be an option from within RIM’s mobile portal.

Although Microsoft competes with RIM for business phone customers, it has also worked to get some of its products onto its rival’s devices. In one case, Microsoft even debuted a service first for BlackBerry–that being Tellme’s voice-to-screen search feature on the BlackBerry.

Microsoft announced a deal with RIM back in May to get its Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Hotmail onto the BlackBerry.

(via CnetNews)

Microsoft’s Tellme has been updated and now supports even more BlackBerry devices than when it was first released. If you have not yet updated or downloaded the new version, here is what is included in this update:

• GPS Directions
• Traffic Information
• Maps
• Businesses
• Movies
• Weather and more

I use Tellme regularly for weather, movie times, and to find numbers of local businesses. If you’re big on conserving your precious BlackBerry memory, with Tellme you don’t have to save every business’ number. A quick voice search and you have the address, phone number, and directions to the business of your choice.

Best of all, it’s free! Just be sure you have an unlimited data plan with your service provider.

To download the newest version (if your model is currently supported) visit m.tellme.com from your BlackBerry.

Go to Tellme’s website for more info.