Among many carriers to bring the new BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, Vodafone is one of them. And now it has been confirmed as Vodafone posted a quick sneak peek video of the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930. Nothing special though, and even the video is only less than one minute. But that’s more than enough to confirm that Vodafone will be offering the BlackBerry Bold 9900 overseas. Enjoy the video below!

According to some sources, Verizon will be joining Sprint to offer the CDMA version of the phone, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 for US customers. We’ve built a roundup list of Carriers to Offer BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, so check it out!

Just to remind you the quick specs of the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, it will come with 1.2GHz processor, 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen, full QWERTY, 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording, 8GB of on board storage, and more.

Now all we can do is sit and wait until the official release date which is supposed to be this summer.

BlackBerry Bold 9930/9900

BlackBerry 9930/9900 is a CDMA/GSM hybrid with a 2.8-inch capacitive touch screen and a 1.2 Ghz processor. The device also equipped with a 5 MP camera, 768MB of RAM and 8GB built-in memory. This is the first BlackBerry device to launch with the newly released BlackBerry OS 7 and to support NFC technology. The BlackBerry 9930/9900 was announced on May 2, 2011 and expected to be available on Q3 2011.

Motorola XPRT

Announced on May 5, 2011, Motorola XPRT is a dual-mode smartphone capable for roaming internationally on GSM networks. It’s powered by Android 2.2 Froyo with MOTOBLUR, 3.1-inches touchscreen display, 5MP camera, 1Ghz processor and Adobe Flash 10 support.

Motorola Titanium

Announced at the same day with the Motorola XPRT, Motorola Titanium is the Sprint’s successor to the i1 running Android 2.1 Eclair with 3.1-inches touchscreen display, 5MP camera, Push-to-talk support and dust, shock, vibration, low pressure, solar radiation, high temperature and low temperature resistance.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini announced on May 6, 2011 and expected to be available on Q3 2011. It runs on Android 2.3 and powered by a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, 3-inches touchscreen, 5MP camera with HD video capture capability. According to Sony Ericsson, the Xperia Mini is the smallest device in the world that can record HD video.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro

Announced at the same day with the Xperia Mini, it runs on Android 2.3 euipped with a slide out landscape QWERTY keyboard and a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. It has a 3-inches touchscreen and a 5MP camera capable for HD video capture. The Xperia Mini Pro is expected to be availble on Q3 2011.

Sharp Aquos SH-12C

Sharp Aquos SH-12C is specifically released for Japanese market. Announced at May 11, 2011, Sharp Aquos SH-12C comes with a tremendous hardware specs including dual 8 megapixel camera capable to capture 3D photos and 3D videos. It’s also powered by 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 4.2-inches qHD (540×960) 3D display. The Sharp Aquos SH-12C available from NTT Docomo Japan started from May 20, 2011.

Well, that’s all new smartphone releases in May 2011 we can reported. If you notice there’s something we’ve missed on this list, please do not hesitate to inform us. And last but not least, please share here which one is your favorite.

Official video from BlackBerry Blog

Youtube Link

CrackBerryDotCom Video

YouTube Link

Engadget Video

IntoMobile Video

YouTube Link

These videos basically show more or less similar things including hardware and software. However, as the reviewer in each video are not the same, i’m sure you will find something interesting on each video.

The newly announced BlackBerry 9900/9930 is absolutely a recommended smartphone for this year. And i have no doubt that this will be a perfect upgrade for BlackBerry users. The question is, who’s going to get this great smartphone and who’ll not. In this post we’ll list the summary of carriers who have confirmed to add the BlackBerry 9900/9930 to their line-up.

T-Mobile – T-Mobile through their Twitter account announced that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 will be their first 4G capable BlackBerry Smartphone later this year. No pricing or exact availability date so far. Check @TMobile Twitter account to get more updates.

Virgin Mobile Canada – through their twitter, Virgin Mobile Canada confirmed that they will be adding the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 to their line-up. However it’s not clear about the time-frame yet the pricing. Check the @virginmobilecan to get more updates.

Vodafone UK – Vodafone has become the first UK carrier to bring the BlackBerry Bold 9900. Although there’s no official words from them yet but they have confirmed that they will be offering the BlackBerry 7 OS smartphone later this year. Still no exact date yet the pricing.

Three UK – Three UK will also be joining the other carriers selling the BlackBerry Bold 9900 although there’s still no info about the exact date yet the pricing.

Verizon – Verizon will be offering CDMA version of the phone, the BlackBerry 9930 for US markets

Sprint – Sprint will be joining Verizon to offer the CDMA version of the phone, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 for US customers.

We’ll update this list including pricing and exact availability date as soon as we get more info regarding the carriers to offer the new BlackBerry Bold 9900.

YouTube video link for mobile viewing

One of the most interesting steps that RIM has made recently is to let Android Apps running on BlackBerry PlayBook. And today at the BlackBerry World 2011 event, this process was demoed and from what we’ve seen on the demo, it looks great. This is an absolutely great opportunity for Android developers as well as great news for BlackBerry PlayBook users.

The interesting thing is, RIM will not let their users to get the Android apps from the Android Market. Instead, Android App Develppers have to sign up with BlackBerry App World and bring over their apps. PlayBook users then have to download the Android-gone-BlackBerry apps from App World.

Those Android apps will be displayed the same as any other apps on the PlayBook homescreen including the icons. However, to launch an Android app, Android App Player is required to be opened and running on the PlayBook. Watch the video demo to see more clearly about the process. And the most important thing is, the performance with the apps also looks pretty good.

Well, it’s a great Joy for PlayBoook users. So, the BlackBerry App World is probably not the biggest mobile app store in terms of number of apps. But with this big jump, that’s completely not a problem anymore.

Looks like Microsoft is now working their best efforts to compete with Android. After joined forces with Nokia few months ago, now Microsoft together with RIM announced a strategic mobile partnership. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today at BlackBerry World 2011 announced that future BlackBerry devices will use Bing and Bing Maps as default mobile search and mapping solutions.

Well, Bing is not a bad search engine at all and surely some people even prefer it over Google. However, this probably not a good news for some BlackBerry users who prefer Google especially if RIM don’t give an option to switch between them if they really want.

The newly announced BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930 or previously rumored as BlackBerry Bold Touch are surely a big jump from RIM. Compared to the latest handsets in the Bold family, these two new smartphones come with a lot of improvements both in hardware physically and also software and features. You probably have read the full press release of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9300, but i would like to highlights new things that have been improved from previous series and other nice things about these smartphones.

Touchscreen Display – this probably the main aspect that has been changed in the Bold series. The Bold 9900 / 9300 come with slightly bigger screen compared to previous handsets with 2.8-inch Liquid Graphics capacitive touch screen with 640×480, 287 dpi resolution.

BlackBerry 7 OS – the latest version in BlackBerry OS which provides an easier and faster user experience including browser improvements, voice -activated searches, HTML5 support and more.

1.2 GHz Processor – although this is not something new in this smartphone era, but it’s absolutely a big jump for BlackBerry Bold series compared to the 624MHz processor installed on BlackBerry 9780.

4G/HSPA+ Wide Area Wireless Networks Support – with more carriers now offering the 4G networks, this surely will be a great addition to the Bold family.

Thinnest BlackBerry Smartphones – The BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9300 is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones ever made with only 10.5mm.

8GB On-board Memory – now you don’t need to worry about space anymore when playing with your BlackBerry as the new Bold Touch gives you 8GB on-board memory plus microSD slot up to 32GB cards.

720p HD Video Recording – The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 now support up to 720p HD video recording and playback.

Near Field Communication – this is a new technology that is also rumored to come to the iPhone 5. With this technology for example, you can pair the BlackBerry Bold to an accessory wirelessly.

Built-in compass (magnetometer) – The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones feature a built-in compass (magnetometer) to support location-based services and augmented reality.

Well, there’s still no info about the price for this great BlackBerry Bold smartphones. But these are obviously recommended gear for BlackBerry fans to upggrade when it’s available this summer.

Along with the BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930, RIM also brings great news to PlayBook users by announcing two new applications: new Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook and Video Chat Application for PlayBook Tablet. These applications will be showcased this week at BlackBerry World 2011.

Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook offers users a highly engaging experience by integrating popular features and functionality of Facebook including;

New Facebook App for BlackBerry PlayBoook

From the Facebook App for BlackBerry PlayBook press release, this app will come with the following features and functionality:

• View and add Friends – Users can interact with friends quickly and easily: find friends by scanning the new grid view of their profile pictures; search for and add new friends and manage new friend requests; browse their profiles, photos and videos; view and interact with wall posts; view key information on profiles and pages; and view, comment and ‘like’ photos on profiles and pages.
• Enjoy seamless photo and video viewing – Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook makes it easy to upload photos from the BlackBerry PlayBook Picture Library, tag friends in photos, view comments, tags and likes.  The BlackBerry PlayBook can also be connected to an HD TV to display photos and videos at a whole new level in full 1080p HD.
• Connect with friends using Facebook Chat – On the BlackBerry PlayBook screen, users can enjoy side-by-side viewing of online contacts and active conversations. Notifications of new Chat messages are displayed on the Notifications Bar, so users can quickly and easily read and respond to new Chat messages while browsing friends’ profiles, viewing their pictures or reading their status updates.
• View and interact with the News Feed – Users will be able to browse highlights such as photo uploads and status updates and seamlessly view links in the BlackBerry PlayBook browser.  They will also be able to “Comment” and “Like” to discuss and show appreciation for friends’ content, as well as publish a status update or upload a photo from the status publisher accessible from their Profile or from within the News Feed.

This app is expected to be available on BlackBerry App World in May.

New Video Chat Application for BlackBerry PlayBook

From the Video Chat Application for BlackBerry PlayBook press release, this app will come with the following features and functionality:

One-Click Video and Voice over Wi-Fi Calls – with just one click users can make a call from their Video Chat contact list, log of recent calls or simply by entering the BBID email address of the person they want to call.
• Incoming Call Notifications – users will receive a notification pop-up when a new video call comes in, allowing them to accept the call as either a video or voice call, or decline the call. For those quiet moments – such as when while watching a movie or playing a game -users will also have the ability to simply set the “Do Not Disturb” option and the BlackBerry PlayBook will automatically ignore all incoming calls.
• Powerful In-Call Functions – by using the picture-in-picture function users can easily preview their own video image prior to placing the call in order to see what will be displayed on the other end. They can also easily switch cameras from front to rear so their friends can see what they are seeing, and for private moments users can mute/unmute audio or make or take calls using voice only.
• Friends List – BlackBerry PlayBook Video Chat comes complete with a Friends List for maintaining your favorite contacts. A picture can easily be added to a contact to personalize the entry and a Call Log makes it simple to keep track of received and missed calls.

This app is expected to be available on May 3 and will be distributed to existing BlackBerry PlayBook customers through an over-the-air software update and also BlackBerry App World.

Along with the press release of the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930, RIM also officially announced the latest version of it’s OS BlackBerry 7 which previously known as BlackBerry 6.1. This BlackBerry 7 OS brings significant performance improvements to the web browser including a new JIT (just in time) JavaScript engine and support for HTML5 elements. Moreover, the new BlackBerry 7 OS also integrates BlackBerry Balance, voice-activated searches.

The BlackBerry Balance will separate personal content from corporate content on the smartphone and giving users the freedom and flexibility to use the handsets for personal purpose.

Unfortunately, the latest info said that upgrade to BlackBerry 7 OS will not be available for devices currently in-market.

After been rumored in the last few weeks, RIM finally unveils the latest handsets in it’s BlackBerry Bold family. In the press release which is not yet available on RIM’s website (thanks to BGR), RIM introduced two new BlackBerry Bold smartphones namely BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930. Both handsets comes with 1.2GHz processor, 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording, 8GB of onboard storage, and more. The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930 will be available worldwide starting this summer.

Read the full press release of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930 below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RIM Introduces New BlackBerry Bold Smartphones

New BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Smartphones are the Thinnest and Most Powerful BlackBerry Smartphones yet, Featuring the Renowned BlackBerry Keyboard Together with a Brilliant Touch Screen and the New BlackBerry 7 OS

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today unveiled two new BlackBerry® BoldTM smartphones. The high-performance BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones feature a stunning and iconic design that integrates an incredibly easy-to-use BlackBerry keyboard with a brilliant, high resolution, capacitive touch screen. These exceptional smartphones are built on a new, performance-driven platform powered by the BlackBerry® 7 operating system and designed to deliver the ultimate in communications, multimedia and productivity for users around the world.

“The new BlackBerry Bold smartphones and BlackBerry 7 OS are inspired by millions of customers around the world who want the ultimate combination of performance, functionality and style,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion. “These fully-loaded and beautifully crafted smartphones offer a highly refined user experience with blazingly fast performance, a brilliant touch screen and an outstanding typing experience.”

Thin, Sleek, Iconic Design

Distinguished by an iconic design and the industry’s best keyboard, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones feature the premium materials and finishes that characterize the BlackBerry Bold line. Both models have a lustrous exterior with a brushed stainless steel frame and a high-gloss glass-weave backplate. They are also the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones yet, at only 10.5mm. The quality materials and optimized design of the new BlackBerry Bold smartphones are instantly evident when held in the hand.

Performance-Driven

These BlackBerry Bold smartphones are built on a new performance-driven platform featuring a 1.2 GHz processor, Liquid GraphicsTM touch screen, and support for high speed 4G/HSPA+ wide area wireless networks.

The Liquid Graphics touch screen, a key new feature powered by BlackBerry 7, delivers fast, smooth performance for highly responsive touch-based navigation, web browsing, pictures, video and graphics intensive games*. Offering up to 60 frames-per-second performance with instant UI action/response, Liquid Graphics gives customers a visually rich and immersive experience that’s responsive to the touch. In addition, the smartphones feature brilliant displays with an eye- popping 287 dpi to deliver crisp, stunning visuals.

May 2, 2011The new platform also provides support for 4G networks; the 9900 supports HSPA+ connectivity, and the 9930 supports CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and HSPA+ global roaming on GSM/UMTS networks.

NFC

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones include built-in support for NFC (Near Field Communications), a new technology that will enable many rich and exciting experiences. Through NFC, users will be able to, for example, pair the BlackBerry Bold to an accessory or read information such as a web link from smart tags by simply tapping their BlackBerry Bold to an NFC tag (eg. Smart Poster).

Augmented Reality

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones feature a built-in compass (magnetometer) to support location-based services and augmented reality. APIs will allow third party developers to take advantage of the new functionality within their applications. The new smartphones will also include Wikitude, the leader in mobile augmented reality, which overlays contextual information on what the user sees through the smartphone’s camera viewfinder.

HD Video

The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones support up to 720p HD video recording and playback. Users can easily share their videos directly from the smartphone or sync videos, as well as music and photos, to their computer using Media Sync in the BlackBerry® Desktop Software.

BlackBerry 7

The BlackBerry 7 OS is designed to power the new performance-driven BlackBerry Bold platform. It provides an easier and faster user experience with improved browsing, voice- activated searches, the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, as well as additional personal and productivity apps out of the box.

The BlackBerry Browser has been significantly enhanced in BlackBerry 7. In addition to the general performance gains of Liquid Graphics, which helps deliver faster rendering and seamless panning and zooming, the BlackBerry 7 browser includes a new JIT (just in time) JavaScript compiler to improve the load time speed of web pages. The new browser also includes support for additional HTML5 elements, such as HTML5 Video.

Building upon the Universal Search feature introduced in BlackBerry 6, BlackBerry 7 expands the capability to include voice-activated search. This new capability makes it even easier and more convenient to search for content on the smartphone or web.

BlackBerry 7 also integrates BlackBerry® BalanceTM, which separates personal content from corporate content on the smartphone, giving users the freedom and flexibility to use the handset for personal email, Facebook®, Twitter®, multimedia, games and other apps while satisfying the very real need for corporate data to be highly secure and manageable. BlackBerry Balance works in conjunction with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0.3, which provides a number of unique IT policy controls such as wiping only corporate data from the handset or blocking work related content and apps from being copied or forwarded to personal contacts.

With BlackBerry 7 on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones, users will also get the full version of Docs To Go® with all “premium” features enabled out-of-the-box so that users can easily work with Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the smartphone. Docs To Go also includes a native PDF viewer.

Availability

The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are expected to be available from carriers around the world beginning this summer.

For additional information please visit www.blackberry.com/touchbold

APPENDIX

BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Specifications

• 115 x 66 x 10.5 mm, approximately 130 g • 2.8″ capacitive touch screen display – VGA (640×480), 287 dpi resolution • Ultra-easy QWERTY keyboard, optical trackpad • 1.2 GHz Processor, 768 MB RAM • 8 GB on-board memory, plus microSD slot supporting up to 32 GB cards • NFC technology • 5.0 MP camera, supports 720p HD video recording • Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), Digital Compass (Magnetometer), Proximity Sensor • Built-in GPS / aGPS • Dual-Band Wi-Fi® – 802.11 b/g/n at 2.4 GHz and 802.11 a/n at 5 GHz • Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support • Wireless Network support:

o 9900:Tri-BandHSPA+,Quad-BandGSM/EDGE o 9930:Dual-BandCDMA/EV-DORev.A,Dual-BandHSPA+,Quad-Band

GSM/EDGE • 1230 mAh removable, rechargeable battery

• BlackBerry 7 OS * Features OpenGL 2.0 support for developers.

About Research In Motion

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Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

[via: BGR]