At the beginning of the week, FCC and BlackBerry proceeded with the validation of the new GSM-only BlackBerry 9500 Storm. The new version of BlackBerry 9500 (also known as BlackBerry Thunder) will be compatible with GSM and WCDMA networks, but not CDMA. More precisely, the new smartphone will feature quadband GSM (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and HSDPA 2100 compatibility.

Technical specifications of the device strongly resemble those listed for the Storm 9530 smartphone two months ago. Therefore, the new GSM-only BlackBerry Storm will feature 1 GB storage memory, 192MB RAM, 624 MHz CPU, microUSB port and microSD slot card compatible with microSDHC cards up to 8GB.

Other technical features include: a high capacity battery (1400 mAh) with a standby autonomy of nearly 22 days, a 3.2 Megapixel camera with video, 2.5x digital zoom, flash, auto-focus and image stabilization. The video capture function can record movies in normal mode (480×320 pixels) and MMS mode (176×144 pixels). The device also embeds a built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS function, which shortens the time required for localization.

Most certainly the HSDPA 7.2 Mbps connectivity is the main attraction of the smartphone, together with the large 3.25 inch TFT touchscreen, supporting 65K colors (360x480 pixels resolution). There's also support for accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate function just to increase its functionality.

There is no official information regarding the availability of the smartphone or its price, but we can guess that it will be out on the market next year. The GSM-only BlackBerry Storm will probably be launched both in the US and Europe as it features quadband availability.

Anyway, BlackBerry fans have much to experience with the latest BlackBerry Bold recently released through AT&T, but also with BlackBerry Storm offered by various network carriers.