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BlackBerry fans itching to get your touch on: don't reach for your wallets just yet.  BGR  is reporting that RIM's upcoming Bold 9900 has been delayed until September, which is a bit later than the expected "Summer" release quoted back at BlackBerry World. We know you're heartbroken, but it looks like you'll have to live vicariously through our video hands-on until you can pocket one of your own. BGR

We're still waiting for some  completely  official word on the matter, but it looks like a Sprint exec has let slip the carrier's launch details for the BlackBerry PlayBook. While the post has since been removed, Sprint Marketing Director Gerald Evans revealed on his personal blog earlier today that the WiFi-only, 16GB version of the tablet will be hitting Sprint stores on Sunday, June 5th for the usual $499.99. Unfortunately, there was no mention of the carrier's 4G version which, last we heard, was still on track for a summer release. Update:  And RIM's just made it official, also confirming that Sprint will support BlackBerry Bridge with no additional data charges. As for that 4G PlayBook, RIM is just saying that it and Sprint are still "working together" on it. Mobile Burn The Berry Fix

We've already seen the BlackBerry Torch 2 in photos courtesy of Mr. Blurrycam, but a little birdie from Negri Electronics was kind enough to send over a pre-release device for us to get under our own glass for a little photo shoot. Though it has a virtually identical form factor to the original, the Torch 2 bumps the specs in almost every department from the camera to the RAM. Oh, and it's running the next-gen BB OS 7 -- which is really OS 6.1, and still lacks any QNX DNA. Read on past the break for a full preview of this yet-to-be-announced slider, and some glorious HD video if the beautious shots aren't enough to whet your BBM-hungry appetites. BlackBerry Torch 2 preview! The first thing you'll notice about the Torch 2 is the new gunmetal grey finish that encloses the entire device. It's not quite as shiny as the original, and we prefer the matte finish to the cheap-looking plastic of the original. We're also big fans of the new checkered silver back ...

BlackBerry 7 OS is coming soon but, to take advantage of all those fancy features like NFC and the digital compass (ok, some of them aren't  that  fancy), devs are going to need some new APIs -- enter the BlackBerry 7 Java SDK. Creators of BlackBerry apps can go download the beta of the new software development kit at the source link and start whipping up augmented reality browsers and 3D games, thanks to support for OpenGL ES 2.0. There's nothing mind-blowing about RIM's latest update, but we're glad to see the corporate stalwart start to catch up to other smartphone OSes, and it's only a matter of time before  Layar  and  Quake  hit the BlackBerry Bold 9900. BlackBerry

A 10-inch followup to the BlackBerry PlayBook seemed inevitable and indeed, tidbits about a rumored larger-screen version are starting to flow fast and furious.  N4BB , which recently managed to spy the9900 before it was unveiled, is citing anonymous sources who claim it will have a thinner bezel, a SIM card slot, a white color option, and, like the soon-to-be upgraded 7-inch version, 4G / WiFi connectivity. What's more, these sources assure us this new PlayBook will have native email and calendar apps and be able to connect to BlackBerry Enterprise Server without the help of BlackBerry Bridge -- a confounding quirk on the current model. That's all well and good (and fairly realistic), though we'll just have to wait until that rumored holiday launch -- or a more unequivocal leak -- to see what RIM has up its sleeves. NetbookNews N4BB

Despite our commander-in-chief's seemingly undying allegiance to BlackBerry, it looks like the federal government could be ready to make a break from RIM. According to a  Washington Post  article published yesterday, a number of agencies within the federal government are questioning their attachment to the standard-issue BlackBerry devices, and allowing government employees to bring in their own preferred methods of communication -- among other things,Congress now allows the use of iPads and iPhones on the House floor and use of BlackBerrys at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has dropped from 1,000 to 700 in the past year. What's more, the General Services Administration is currently shifting 17,000 employees to Gmail, a move it says could reduce expenses by 50 percent in the next five years. Likewise, the USDA will also move its email services to the cloud with Microsoft's services, claiming $6 million in annual savings. Now, we doubt Obama's going to...

Well, we've been waiting for a PlayBook packing something more than WiFi to rear its enterprise-friendly head, and there it is -- sort of. Search Google for "Sprint PlayBook" and the number one (non-sponsored) result is a page "introducing the BlackBerry 4G Playbook tablet," which means the companies are right about on schedule for that promised summer release. Clicking on the link just redirects you to the Sprint homepage for now and, sadly, price and exact ship date are still anyone's guess. There's enough detail in the search snippet to tell us that this is legit and and an announcement page is ready to go, though -- so, WiMAX fans, we hope you like QNX.

It's not exactly the most exciting device in RIM's pipeline, but the Curve "Apollo" is shaping a solid workhorse of a BlackBerry. The still-unannounced smartphone popped up on  Tinh te , with the Vietnamese tech showing off some solid hands-on time with the device, putting it through its paces on video, and ending up genuinely impressed with the aesthetics and speed of the hardware. According to the site the new Curve is 11mm thick (a couple millimeters thinner than the 8900 it's juxtaposed with), packs a 800Mhz Marvell Tavor CPU MG-1 processor, and has a touch-insensitive 480 x 360 screen. Swipe that thumb touchpad after the break for a video tour of the phone, then dig the source link for more close up images. Tinh te

We found the BlackBerry PlayBook to be a pretty solid piece of hardware, but it seems there was a problem batch -- an inside source tells us that nearly 1,000 faulty tablets were shipped to Staples, and now they're being recalled. We're hoping that Staples (and any other affected retailers) will reach out to customers and inform them of the problem right away, but just in case that doesn't happen, we've compiled a searchable spreadsheet of all 935 alleged serial numbers for you to check against your own. Find it right after the break. Update:  RIM tells  Crackberry  that the faulty batch of the 16GB tablets was indeed limited to the approximately 1,000 units described here, and that they had a faulty build of the OS "that may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up." Furthermore, the company says that only a few went out to customers and that most are still in distribution, so with any luck you'll never have to d...

The percentage shift in the chart above tells most of the story here. According to Comscore's latest report, Android's share of the US smartphone market grew an impressive six percent in the three-month period ending in March to land at 34.7 percent, and RIM took the biggest hit as a result, slipping 4.5 points to a share of 27.1 percent. That's still enough to keep it ahead of Apple, however, which held its own with a slight gain to 25.5 percent. Both Microsoft and Palm / HP slipped just under a percent each to land in a distant fourth and fifth place, respectively. As for mobile OEMs, things stayed almost identical during the three month period, with Samsung, LG, and Motorola occupying the top three spots, and only Apple seeing any significant gains thanks to the Verizon iPhone launch -- although that still wasn't enough to push it above RIM for the fourth spot. Hit up the source link below for all the numbers. AFP Comscore

Much like their home countries, Apple and RIM share much in common, but contrast in important ways. Both companies are among the few that produce their own software for their cellular handsets. Apple, a personal computing pioneer, sees market expansion in smartphones. RIM, a smartphone pioneer, sees market expansion in mobile computing. Looking at the tablets on offer, Apple has been just as adamant in decrying a 7-inch display as RIM has been defending it, the latter saying that it sought to create an ultramobile device with the PlayBook. Apple designs products for consumers that have relevance for enterprises. RIM designs products for enterprises that have relevance for consumers. This has also been evident with the PlayBook, which has taken heat for its lack of native e-mail and calendaring options. RIM consciously put these on the back burner because it wanted to appease CIOs concerned about data theft, even though it meant a less appealing launch product for consumers....

Smartphones are getting kind of popular nowadays, in case you hadn't noticed. The latest figures from IDC show a 79.7 percent expansion of the global smartphone market between this time last year and today, which has resulted in 99.6 million such devices being shipped in Q1 of 2011. That growth has mostly been driven by Samsung, which has more than quadrupled its output to 10.8 million shipments in the quarter, and HTC, whose growth has been almost as impressive. The other big gainer is Apple, with 10 million more iPhones shipped, but the truth is that all the top five vendors are showing double-digit growth. In spite of Nokia losing a big chunk of market share and RIM being demoted from second to third in the ranking, both of those old guard manufacturers improved on their quarterly totals. IDC puts this strength in demand down to the relatively unsaturated smartphone marketplace, and believes there's "ample room for several suppliers to comfortably co-exist," befor...

Yesterday at BlackBerry World 2011 we were fortunate to sit down and chat with Chris Smith, Senior Director of the BlackBerry Developer Platform, along with Rasmus and Karl from The Astonishing Tribe. One of RIM's recent acquisitions, TAT is known for some rather, well... astonishing user interface designs, and for infusing a bit of magic into some of the PlayBook's apps, such as the bundled picture viewer and calculator. We were shown a number of demos, including the downloadable Scrapbook app, a rather nifty contact list, and a location-aware news reader. Over the years, TAT has built an engine and framework that make it easy for developers to create powerful and attractive UIs, and some of this will be making its way into the PlayBook's native software development kit sometime this summer. Along with support for Open GL ES 2.0, SQLite, cURL, and POSIX (amongst others), this NDK will provide API's to control the audio system, the cameras, and the sensors --...

This week at BlackBerry World 2011, Jaguar is showcasing one of its lovely XJ sedans outfitted with a prototype of its upcoming Connect and View technology which the car manufacturer is developing together with RIM, Denso, and RealVNC. Like Terminal Mode, the system allows a client running on the vehicle's head unit to connect to a server installed on a BlackBerry smartphone. Communication is handled by VNC -- a platform-independent remote framebuffer protocol, which mirrors the handset's display on the car's infotainment screen and maps the device's physical buttons to softkeys. This provides control of the phone directly from the center stack of the XJ sedan but lets the company block potentially distracting apps. Audio is piped via Bluetooth while VNC traffic is routed over USB, thus also keeping the BlackBerry conveniently charged. Jaguar hopes to have Connect and View in its vehicles by late 2012. Until then, check out our hands-on video (above) and the press rel...

Mobile payment systems may be gaining only gradual steam in the US, but over on the other side of the pond, Vodafone UK has launched a broad new campaign to integrate smartphone technology where Londoners may need it most -- in the back of taxis. As of today, many cab passengers will be able to charge their smartphones in transit, thanks to a wide range of chargers that the mobile carrier has installed in more than 500 of London's iconic black vehicles. Vodafone is also rolling out a new payment scheme today, whereby cash-strapped travelers can text their cab's license number to a specific code, allowing any owed fares to be charged directly to their phone bills. The system certainly doesn't sound as elegant as some of the NFC-based operations we've heard about, but it still beats having to navigate your cab driver to the nearest ATM, with the meter tick-tocking away. The Guardian

Steve Ballmer made an appearance today at BlackBerry World 2011 and after briefly pimping Windows Phone live on stage, announced a partnership between Microsoft and RIM to integrate Bing into BlackBerry products. In addition to making Bing the default search and map provider for all BlackBerry devices going forward, the services will be added at the OS level instead of being bundled as a series of apps. This will provide features ranging from voice and location-aware search to panorama stitching. It also suggests that we'll likely see another iteration of the BlackBerry OS beyond version 7 -- based onQNX, perhaps? -- sometime before the holidays. Update : We dropped in a video after the break demonstrating a future (aka, this coming holiday season) where Bing is integrated into the BlackBerry OS. Hope you can handle the hipness.

We knew it was coming, but today at BlackBerry World 2011 we were treated to a demo of Android apps running natively on the PlayBook. The end result isn't too far removed from what we saw with Myriad's Alien Dalvik at Mobile World Congress. Android's menu and home buttons are emulated using the standard PlayBook gestures, and the back button is replaced with an on-screen softkey. Of course, you'll have to visit App World to download Android apps for the PlayBook when the Android Player (as it's called) finally becomes available. And speaking of Android apps, the wildly popular Angry Birds is coming to the PlayBook as a native game - no cross-platform trickery required.

Grow your own gnome Internet radio provider Slacker is bulldozing the thin line dividing itself from subscription-based music services today, with the launch of Radio Plus. The new pricing tier joins the existing gratis Basic Radio and ad-free Premium Radio plans, adding an all-you-can-eat music model akin to services like Rhapsody and Rdio. Subscribers who shell out $9.99 a month receive all of the features of the $4.99 Premium Radio users, plus unlimited access to eight million songs, letting them listen to what they want, when the want, and generally play god with the site's existing radio services. Radio Plus also gives you on- and offline access to music on a number of mobile devices, including the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android, and BlackBerry handsets -- not to mention unlimited bragging rights to all of your broke friends who are still rocking the Basic Radio plan. Don't feel too bad for 'em, though -- at least they didn't get suckered into slotR...

What happened to the HTC Trophy, long overdue on Verizon 3G? How about the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, mysteriously missing a Verizon release date long before Japan's catastrophe? Will Verizon commit to carrying the BlackBerry PlayBook this year? Just how much will LTE data cost for the Xoom and its tablet friends? We may finally have some of the answers, thanks to Verizon's fancy new online catalog. RIM's tablet, the PlayStation Phone and the HTC Trophy are all listed as "coming soon," and that's not all -- both the BlackBerry Bold 9650, Curve 3G 9330 and the Droid 2 Global are all "while supplies last," suggestingsuccessors may be inbound. Meanwhile, tablet LTE data plans look like they're going to cost the same as 3G ones -- $20 for 1GB, $35 for 3GB, $50 for 5GB and $80 for $10GB as usual. LTE netbooks will only be able to take advantage of the two highest-priced plans, but there are a pair of them on the way, including the 11.6-inch...