14 DAY TRIAL // BlackBerry 9000, RIM's next-generation smartphone that was not yet officially announced, appeared on eBay these days, on sale (at this address), for the hefty price of 399.99 GBP (meaning about $790 or 510 Euro). The seller says he/she has two 9000 handsets, both unlocked and both being pre-release models, hence they don't come in RIM original packages and they don't have any warranty. Even so, being the first commercially available 9000 BlackBerries, they surely raise(d) the interest of both BlackBerry fans and mobile users in general.
There are also several new photos with BlackBerry 9000 and although they're of poor quality, it's easy to see the new 9000 is clearly among the best looking BlackBerries, as we've already seen in the first-ever leaked pics with it, appeared exactly a month ago.
The features of BlackBerry 9000, as presented on the eBay page, include 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MP3 player, video streaming, USB and a 2 Megapixel camera (a bit disappointing, considering the fact that most of us expected at least a 3 Megapixel one). The handset's display size is not mentioned but, as rumored, most probably the 9000 has a 480 x 320 pixel screen, which is not bad at all.
The seller of the two smartphones says the 9000 will not be officially released until August this year and since he/she is located in the UK, we assumes we're talking about a UK release, hence the US and other markets might get the BlackBerry 9000 earlier. Anyway, an August official release is somehow logical, as the first rumors about the 9000 said the handset should hit the market in the second half of the year.
When officially launched, BlackBerry 9000 will (hopefully) have a retail price under 500 Euro, otherwise I'm not sure how many users will want to buy it, even if it has a really nice design and advanced features.
