U.S. mobile operator T-Mobile has officially announced it will be offering the BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone this February. Billed as RIM’s lightest and thinnest QWERTY keyboard-equipped smartphone, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 features a 3.2 megapixel camera (plus an additional front-facing 400 by 352-pixel video camera for video calls), SDHC/microSD card support for up to 16 GB of storage, integrated Wi-Fi 80211b/g wireless networking, and GPS support. The Curve 8900 also packs a 2.44-inch 480 by 360-pixel color LCD display, and includes a handsfree speakerphone as well as Bluetooth wireless device support. According to RIM, the unit offers up to 5.5 hours of talk time and as much as 15 days of standby time.
T-Mobile has not revealed an official release date or pricing information for the BlackBerry Curve 8900, although the unit will work with T-Mobile’s unlimited HotSpot Wi-Fi based calling service. However, the 8900 will not offer 3G connectivity: users will have to paddle along on GSM/GPRS and EDGE connectivity. Of course, the phone will include BlackBerry software, including full HTML Web browsing, BlackBerry Maps, an enhanced media player, as well as access to corporate communications systems…and we hear the device will even make phone calls.