Remember back on the 27th I pointed to an article that suggested Slingbox would not have BlackBerry support anytime soon? This was based on comments made at CES.

I just came across a post on Pinstack that might suggest that Slingbox is interested in BlackBerry support.

N8DBB was checking out what jobs Slingbox had open on their website. Sadly there was no posting for RIM developer, but something to make BlackBerry owners who have a Slingbox get interested.

Boy Genius came up with this. It's on his site (link below) as well as our fellow site Engadget Mobile.

Caveat,though. Got a magnifying glass handy?

I say this because this is a grab apparently from a scanned document. The print is tiny, but can be read with some artful squinting, a magnifying glass or perhaps some of both.

In between convention attendance and vacation (which I am supposed to be on now), I've been Photoshopping in a major way to get this image right for you. But you should be able to make some of this stuff out.

The grab is after the jump.

Did you happen to see The Wall Street Journal's piece today entitled "Apple iPhone Is No ReasonTo Hang Up on RIM Shares?"

I'd link to it except the article is subscriber-firewalled.

Anyhow the gist of the piece is that BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's Pearl and forthcoming devices are priced far below the iPhone (think $199 and $299 vs. couple hundred dollars more), so that the Pearl has a leg up.

The piece also points out that BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is "cozy" with more than 225 carriers worldwide.

The iPhone? They are cozy with one- Cingular, now being rebranded as AT&T.

Sorry to be a little late on this but I have been on planes most of the day.

Seems like Boy Genius' server logs revealed a couple of accesses to his site from a BlackBerry 8820.

Rather than within RIM- where tracks-covering would surely be implemented- I guess this one's coming from a third-party testing site, a carrier, or both.

What's your bet on?

Surfing the web tonight I came across another site that talks about an upcoming announcement of the BlackBerry 8800 soon.

It was the National Post from Canada. And what did they have to say?


Now I wondered at the mention of RIM launching the White Pearl in February as it is already available from T-Mobile. Maybe it will become available from other providers in February.

However this seems to confirm what we have already seen today, and doesn't need a translation. Those of us who are hooked on the full size BlackBerry may not have much longer to wait.

The website goes on to talk about RIM stock prices and how some people might not want to wait for an iPhone or may prefer the traditional full keypad over the touchscreen.

Google's translation engine ain't exactly perfect, but it seems to get at the edges of facts in a de internet.com article posted today that implies the BlackBerry 8800 will be unveiled February 12 and released sometime in March.

I just love the way Google translates this stuff. It has a rhythmic, almost high-tech pidgin English ring to it.

But you don't want me to talk about the translation. You want me to write about what the translation says.

OK, then, as linked from BlackBerryForums, it reads as such:

As good as official without being official yet.

Not only that, but Boy Genius has posted some shots on his site.

The one up there in the upper right is the most straight-on to me.

But wait. Don't you want to see three others:

With all the fuss about the upcoming, pricey, Cingular exclusive iPhone I need a little RIM love. Can you tell I am not impressed?

Luckily Pinstack Admin Hayden was able to provide. He lists out the features of the upcoming BlackBerry 8800 just when we need a BlackBerry fix.

• Processor –312 MHz Processor
• Radio – Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Embedded Memory – 64 MB Flash
• Advanced Noise & Echo Cancellation
• Bluetooth (Stereo, Car Kits, PC, BB & non-BB Connectivity/transfer)
• Voice Activated Dialing
• GPS
• External Charging Contacts
• higher 1400mAh capacity battery. (8700's are 1100mAh)
• Large 320 x 240 LCD,
• Speakerphone
• Media Player
• Micro SD
• Stereo Headset for great media playback.
• WiFi functionality

I can not wait to get my hands on one.

Our peeps over at TUAW (The Ultimate Apple Weblog) are linking to a Wall Street Journal post that seems to affirm Apple CEO Steve Jobs will announce an Apple branded cell phone today.

This phone is supposed to be marketed by Cingular Wireless.

You know Cingular- the outfit that kept moving the release date for their flavor of BlackBerry Pearl, and unlike T-Mobile, kept almost their entire retail and online distribution channels in the dark.

RIM put up with that because RIM tends to defer lots of marketing and distribution efforts to their carrier partners.

But at Apple, it is difficult to imagine Steve Jobs letting the carriers rule.

So I wonder if he'll be capable of baby-sitting Cingular'd distribution for such a product in a tight-ship way that BlackBerry/RIM was unwilling to because of their "carriers-first" corporate culture?

A post went up earlier on HowardForums, showing what was said to be the BlackBerry 8900c but what prevailing opinion to be shots of the 8800.

My take? Probably the 8800.. but then again why are these testing folks calling this the BlackBerry 8900c?

Update: Some sites have taken these pix down due to leaker's remorse. While I would much rather not do such a thing, I've now taken this opportunity to unleash my "inner artist" and do some rad things to these images in Photoshop.

Decided to let 'er rip. So take a look.

BlackBerry Forums Member ojrana has posted what he assures are two photos of the forthcoming white BlackBerry Pearl's back plate.

I have no reason to doubt him, but if he had 3,000- or even 300 BBForum posts to his credit I'd feel even more confident than I am with respect to the three posts he's made so far.

But enough about ojrana. You want to see the photos, right?

With the AT&T-BellSouth merger having been approved late Friday, it is now an article of faith that the Cingular Wireless name will go away sometime in the next several months.

Why? Cingular is the wireless company originally owned by SBC and BellSouth. But, see, SBC bought AT&T and took the name, and the bulked up AT&T's $82 billion purchase of BellSouth was approved by the FCC late Friday.

The question for Blackberry users is, when are we going to see the AT&T logo burned on formerly Cingular-branded devices?

In other words, what about an AT&T logo on the Pearl, forthcoming 8800, or other future models further back in testing?

On BlackBerryForums.com, contributor muss2k1 writes this morning that his friend works at the Cingular corporate office in Paramus, NJ in the EIS (Enterprise Information Systems) department.

"I told him to get more information about the (BlackBerry) 8800 because they receive the devices way before release so they can learn it before they come out so they can help troubleshoot for customers.," muss2k1 writes.

"Anyway, the manager states that the 8800 (shown via our fellow AOL site Engadget) is still at RIM undergoing more testing," muss2k1 passes along. "He also confirms that it won't be available on Cingular until Feb earliest and April latest. "All RIM told Cingular was first quarter of 2007 but the manager states that the agreement they have with RIM is that they must get the phone atleast one month in advance so they can train their EIS reps."

At RIMarkable, one of Rob's readers reports some insider-y news that this coming fall, SprintNextel will release a new BlackBerry that will bridge Sprint and Nextel's Push-to-Talk Networks.

Keep in mind that despite the merger of these two companies a year and a half ago, their two PTT's are walled off: Nextel is iDEN and Sprint's is CDMA.
Qualcomm's QChat is said to be the solution to solve this.

QChat's main web page (linked below) says the solution enables communication to begin with the press of a Push to Talk button on the handset, as opposed to a standard cellular call. It forms a call by combining separate point-to-point connections between each IP endpoint at a managing entity known as the QChat Applications Server, deployed on the carrier's IP Wide Area Network (WAN.)

"Pressing the Push to Talk button originates a call to the target QChat user and provides the originator with information indicating the availability (presence) of the target user," QChat's website points out. "If the target user is available, the originator receives an immediate indication that the target user is available and the originator can begin speaking. The call originator's voice is then sent through the carrier's network to the target's handset. Initiating a call to a QChat user who is not available will simply result in a negative response tone rather than a busy signal or a voicemail."