RIM, the Canadian manufacturer, together with Sprint, North America's third largest mobile operator, has announced the future availability of a new iDEN-enabled smartphone: BlackBerry Curve 8350i. 

BlackBerry Curve 8350i combines the features and benefits a RIM-built smartphone brings with Push to Talk capabilities. The handset is especially made to work on Sprint's Nextel Direct Connect network, allowing users to easily and quickly connect with other iDEN subscribers from across the US as well as with those from countries like Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina. Also, the Group Connect capability lets you create group conversations of up to 20 users.

The other features of the new BlackBerry include: "unmatched push email and messaging capabilities," Wi-Fi, Web browser, integrated GPS, organizer, DataViz Documents to Go, Advanced Media Player, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, speakerphone, a 2 Megapixel camera with flash, digital zoom and video recording, expandable memory and a1400 mAh battery said to offer "exceptional" talk and stand-by times.

Talking about the upcoming handset, Danny Bowman, president at Nextel Direct Connect, stated, "Sprint is the undisputed leader in push-to-talk services, and with the launch of the new BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone, we are keeping our promise of expanding the Nextel Direct Connect capabilities and options for our customers. The BlackBerry Curve 8350i will be very attractive for business customers who need instant, convenient push-to-talk services to communicate now with employees, customers and suppliers but also want the capabilities of a high-end smartphone."

RIM's Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Mr. Mark Guibert, added, "The BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone will offer customers an exceptional communications and multimedia experience together with the power and convenience of the popular Nextel Direct Connect service. We are pleased to build on our successful relationship with Sprint to bring this powerful new smartphone to Sprint’s customers."

The exact release date and the price of BlackBerry Curve 8350i were not announced, but the new iDEN smartphone will surely be available before the year's end (only via Sprint, obviously).