[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

The most anticipated BlackBerry of the year (sorry, Bold) is just a day away from release on Verizon -- and naturally, we've got your full rundown ready to go. Head on over to Engadget to see our review of the Storm!

If you've got to choose between endurance and beauty, we can think of plenty of good folks who'd gladly take the endurance card without a moment's hesitation, and for those people Seidio offers this... thing. Discreet, it's not, but what the Seidio Innocell lacks in fashion it should make up for in sheet capability, stuffing 3500mAh of lithium ion juice into a soft-touch shell that extends 5 to 6mm beyond the Bold's standard back -- some 2000mAh beyond what the standard pack is going to give you. Seidio claims it'll ship the week of November 28, and pricing is currently set at $65; we're still waiting for our promised fuel cell revolution, but we guess this'll have to do in the meanwhile.

[Via BlackBerryNews]

We've had a hard time nailing down a date for RIM's latest (last?) iDEN-powered BlackBerry, the 8350i, outside a general belief that we'd see it before the year was out. For push-to-talkers sick and tired of staring at the truly prehistoric 7100i in Sprint's current lineup, we're sure that the new release couldn't come soon enough -- and while December 1 might not qualify as "soon enough" for some of y'all, it could be worse. The latest intel we're getting suggests that the Curve-alike will be ready to order as we enter the final month of 2008, so get your plastic ready (or, more realistically, let your company's purchasing department know what's up).

[Thanks, Brian]

FCC labs must just love testing iDEN devices, since you're basically guaranteeing yourself several days of super-annoying "beep beeps" emanating from phones placed in proximity to bizarre, gelatinous objects designed to simulate human flesh. Of course, RIM owns its own testing facility (no conflict of interest there or anything), so they've no one to blame but themselves for producing the 8350i -- a Curve-alike designed to keep the push-to-talkers of the world calm and happy. We still don't have an exact release date, but we've previously heard that it's on track for the current quarter; if FCC certification was the only thing they were holding on, we imagine could see it pretty shortly.

Just how badly do you want a Storm? Badly enough to pull up your long-established roots, fly for half a day, and take residence in a foreign land thousands of miles from home? For Americans who absolutely cannot wait another week for RIM's first touchscreen device to launch on domestic soil, that's the only option; for Brits on Vodafone, though, heaven is but a single shop trip away. The BlackBerry Storm has now officially launched in the Old Country and can be had for as little as zilch on a Voda plan, so do let us know how your experiences go, yeah? Your yankee friends thank you in advance.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

It may not be the iPhone-beating pricing we'd been hoping for, but $199.99 on a new two-year contract after $50 mail-in rebate will probably still be enough to sell a Storm or two (or billion), especially considering that it becomes both RIM's first touchscreen set and Verizon's first phone with global 3G when it finally floods the market (a bundled 8GB microSD card doesn't hurt, either). Speaking of flooding the market, it'll be available both online and in-store starting November 21 -- just a week from this Friday -- so get ready to finally say goodnight to that grungy BlackBerry 950 you've been using since 1978.

With the 8900 having just launched on T-Mobile Germany, it only stands to reason that T-Mobile's US subsidiary would be a logical next step; after all, it's already brought in the WiFi-equipped 8320, and the 8900 is the next progression in that bloodline. It also makes a ripe competitor for the Bold, which just saw the light of day on T-Mobile's much-larger rival -- and seeing how RIM has now mentioned that the 8900 will be coming stateside in the first quarter of 2009, we're feeling like a T-Mob launch is about as close to a sure thing as you can find these days. The only question is, why wait so long? When you consider that the darned thing just passed the FCC, we're not seeing a compelling reason to hold it until after the crucial holiday season unless they're looking to give the 8220 some breathing room -- and hey, sorry, 8220, but in a battle against the 8900, you're going to go down every time.

Read - Coming to the US
Read - FCC filing

Beep beep, outta the way, incoming RIM product blitz! Seriously, this is like a high-powered corporate executive's dream -- not one, not two, not three, not four, but five major product launches out of Waterloo in the span of a few months' time. Latest out of the gate is the 8900 Curve, successor to the 8300 series featuring a heavily-upgraded 480 x 360 display, microSD support to 16GB, WiFi, 3.2-megapixel cam with autofocus, and integrated GPS. Sadly, network data tops out at EDGE speeds -- but if you really need more, we s'pose that's where the Bold comes into play. No word on any launches outside of Bavaria just yet, but on T-Mobile Germany, the 8900 is available "mid November" (which is basically now) for €4.95 (yes, that's not a typo, 4.95 euros) on a 24-month contract.

[Via IntoMobile]

Murphy's Law dictated from the very beginning that Verizon's claim of a November launch for the Storm meant late November (at best), and indeed, it now looks like that's where we're headed. Boy Genius Report has picked up some juicy documentation that seems to suggest that November 24 is the zero day with a $199.99 retail price after rebate; what's more, stores will be opening an hour early to accomodate the throngs of rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth businessmen and businesswomen in Zegna suits looking for their latest BlackBerry fix. It looks like there'll also be a "pre-launch" on the 20th, meaning customers Verizon really cares about -- not us, by any stretch of the imagination -- will have a chance stroll into one of 123 extra-special corporate stores to tool around with a demo unit and place their order in person. Either way, stores are expected to have tons of units available for sale on the 24th, so don't show up at 8pm the night before. Unless you're into that sort of thing.

Ah, now this is a bit more solid pricing information. Verizon's testman pre-launch site now lists the BlackBerry 9530 Storm for $219.99 under a 2 year contract. Not quite below the $199 threshold set by the iPhone 3G as predicted by some analysts. Then again, the fat lady isn't singing yet so maybe we'll see some kind of mail-in rebate before this gets officially official. Without contract, we're looking at $520 according to the staging server. Pretty close the prices we saw hinted at early last week. See that screen grab and another for the $290 one-year contract after the break.

Update: It's worth stressing that these prices could just be leftover placeholders. In fact, much of the describing text refers to the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition Smartphone which currently sells for pre-rebated price of $219.99.

[Via Howard Forums, Thanks Paul]

RIM's just launched an online "User Guide" for the BlackBerry 9530, AKA Storm. Covering everything from basic, operational how-tos to more advanced processes such as syncing, the site is a so-called "interactive" instruction manual. We've already spied a PDF of the manual, played around with the phone in our hands-on, and seen numerous pictures from all ends of the Earth. At this point we're getting a bit impatient for the thing to actually appear and are less than impressed with this newest teaser. Let's just cut to the chase already, can we?

There are three primary rules to tattoos that we're aware of:

• 1. "I love my mom" tattoos are really cool.
  
• 2. "I love my short-term-girlfriend" tattoos are questionable at best.
• 3. "I love this gadget" tattoos have greater built-in obsolescence than sliced apples and pretty much clench the fact that nobody will ever go out with you. Also, they're really awesome.

CrackBerry.com reader T.J. fell hard for rule number three and got a life-size tattoo of the BlackBerry Storm on his large, hairy calf to prove his undying devotion and win a free Storm. He even got some video of the happening (peep it below the fold), most likely to be shown in middle schools in the coming years as a huffing deterrence. We're looking forward to a Bumfight-like battle between T.J. and Zune Tattoo Guy before long, or perhaps a support group to get through this awkward, humiliating stage of life together. We'd prefer the Bumfight.

We've been playing with AT&T's just-launched BlackBerry Bold for a few days now, and once we got past the absolutely gorgeous display (seriously, it's mesmerizing), we wanted to find out what else there was to RIM's latest QWERTY device. Is the Bold more than a pretty face? Well, it's a BlackBerry, so you can count on it. Read on.