Whoever thinks the Canadians from Research In Motion are a bit boring when it comes to designing smartphones is wrong, as the latest unveiled BlackBerry device comes to surprise us with a clamshell form factor, being the first-ever handset to adopt this design.

Variation is (almost) always welcomed and we have to admit the new BlackBerry looks quite good and it's really a "fresh" handset coming from RIM, known for producing only candybar-like devices in its entire 10-year old history.

There are no official details about this new clamshell, but apparently it will be named BlackBerry Kickstart, coming with a range of features that include: quad-band GSM connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz), GPRS and EDGE, Wi-Fi, a 2.2 inch internal display with 240 x 320 pixels, an external 160 x 128 pixel screen, BlackBerry OS 4.6, a 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth and USB, Media player and a 2 Megapixel camera with flash and video recording. The phone's keypad resembles the one used in RIM's Pearl series (8100, 8110 and 8120), which is a good thing, as it looks really nice inside a clamshell.

The external screen of the new BlackBerry seems to be a monochromatic "hidden" one, although in one of the leaked images we can see a "quite colored" girl smiling from it (from the external display, I mean). We'll find out more about this as well as about the rest of the phone's features at the end of 2008 when the Kickstart is rumored to hit the market.

The new and unusual BlackBerry was spotted with T-Mobile's logo on it, which means the fourth largest carrier in the US will probably be the first to release it. I guess a BlackBerry clamshell would make a nice Christmas gift for any of T-Mo's subscribers.