It may have some 48,000 or so to go before it catches the runaway leader in app choice, but doubling up its catalog after launching just 3.5 months ago ain't nothing to scoff at. As RIM suffers through the traditional growing pains with its fledgling BlackBerry App World, it has managed to amass around 2,000 programs for users to love, hate or feel completely indifferent about. According to Jeff McDowell, vice president of global alliances, that number is apt to rise when it goes live in Italy, France, Germany and Spain this month. Also of note, Mr. McDowell declined to say just how many downloads had taken place, but he did note that RIM was "very happy" with the response. Unfortunately, we're not so certain that the company is eager to raise that 2,000 figure to something much higher, with ole Jeff spouting off that "[it doesn't matter] whether it's 40,000 or 2,000 [apps], you've still got a broad range of choice." We're willing to bet the public sees that a bit differently -- right, public?

[Via Electronista]

It's no secret that using Gmail on a BlackBerry is a painful experience -- since the built-in mail client has shamefully broken IMAP support, your only real choice is a variant of the same Java-based Gmail app that runs on ancient featurephones, and that rules out direct integration with either contacts or attachments. Yeah, it's sad, but hope is in the air, as RIM's apparently beta testing something called the "Enhanced Gmail Plug-in for BlackBerry," which promises to bring things up to speed. Features are said to include Conversation View, support for labels, stars, and archiving, and full mailbox search -- you know, Gmail. Of course, it would be even nicer if RIM would just sack up and bring proper IMAP support to the most famous messaging platform in the world, but we'll take what we can get.

[Via BerryReview]

It's your holiday weekend America -- how are you going to spend it? We'll tell you how: by listening to Engadget Podcast 153 over, and over, and over. What better way to utilize your extra day off and barbecue-packed good times than by putting Josh, Paul, and Nilay on repeat for you (and your friends') enjoyment? Check out the 'cast this week as the boys explore the ups and downs of the Olympus E-P1, Dell's MID plans, and field a handful of questions from our handsome, intelligent, and just basically awesome listeners. You won't be disappointed.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Virt - Katamari on the Rock

Hear the podcast

00:02:10 - Olympus E-P1 hands-on, test shots, and mini-review
00:10:26 - Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 gets officially detailed, priced for US market
00:14:22 - Wii MotionPlus impressions: it works, but so far the games aren't worth the fuss
00:24:45 - Dell working on iPod touch-esque Android MID, says WSJ
00:32:08 - Android 1.5 gets official SDK for native development
00:38:10 - Video: Mobinnova élan sporting a custom Tegra UI
00:47:30 - Video: NVIDIA Tegra's GPU gets busy with HD video and full-screen Flash -- Intel 945GSE shrugs, kicks dirt
00:47:30 - Verizon BlackBerry Tour unboxing
00:50:17 - BlackBerry Tour hands-on, wild sibling confrontation with Curve and Bold
00:53:00 - RIM CEO: "SurePress is here to stay"
00:57:00 - 13-year-old trades iPod for Walkman, reports on mysterious ancient artifact
01:04:55 - iPhone 3GS review
01:07:15 - Palm Pre review

Subscribe to the podcast

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace

Download the podcast

LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)
LISTEN (OGG)

Contact the podcast

1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.

Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget

So much for exclusivity, eh? Sprint is staying toe-to-toe with Verizon in the race to get the BlackBerry Tour to market, launching the consensus hottest RIM device to date on July 12 for $199.99 on contract after rebates. It's awfully refreshing to see an ominous statement like "later this summer" morph into "early summer" instead of slipping into the "dead of winter" as is all too often the case with hotly-anticipated phones, and we have a sneaking suspicion the Tour's gonna sell like a remastered Bonnie Tyler live album (that's a good thing, by the way). Who's in?

You might say that Verizon's brand new BlackBerry Tour 9630... ahem, took a "tour" through our offices this morning, gracing us with its QWERTY-having, global-roaming, 8830-killing presence. There's absolutely no question it's the best-looking CDMA BlackBerry to date and we also think you'll be able to stop Bold owners in their tracks as you flash this thing around town; we'd argue that the Curve 8900 is still a cuter handset when you take the company's lineup as a whole, but then again, the 8900 lacks 3G, and the Tour's keyboard might just be the best RIM's ever crafted for a phone. Bottom line, owners of any BlackBerry on Verizon or Sprint should be salivating at the sight of this thing -- and if they're not, honestly, they need their salivary glands checked. Stay tuned for our full review, but in the meantime, enjoy an unboxing and a few quick shots of the Tour taking its first breaths!

Whether or not it's coming to T-Mobile (spoiler: all signs point to yes), BlackBerry's Curve 8520 has now been ordained with FCC approval, clearing the hurdle for its sale stateside. Optical trackpad and EDGE connection your cup of tea? You know where to look, and for everyone else, there's always the Tour.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Not that we haven't heard a few miraculous gadgets-saving-lives stories before, but this one is in a league of its own. According to the always-embellishing Sun, one David Fitzherbert is thanking his smartphone after coming entirely too close to falling 700 feet to his death. As the story goes, he got wedged between a pair of rocks after losing control of his skis in the Matterhorn, and while we aren't quite sure why he chose RIM's BlackBerry over -- say, chap-stick, car keys, his wallet or a fattening breakfast -- he credited it with adding just enough width to his person to keep him wedged. Two hours after finding himself between a rock and a hard place, rescue crews arrived and flew him to a hospital where he used the "0.5-inch wide" phone to tell his wife that he had survived a nasty spill. We still say David owes a round of thanks to genetics, luck and Zeus, but hey, what do we know?

Looks like Verizon's got a winner here. That leaked promotional graphic was right on the money, as the carrier's just replaced its BlackBerry Tour teaser with a pre-order page and, lo and behold, it's indeed coming July 12th for a penny under $200. We're still waiting to see if Sprint's whispered July 20th date pans out, but regardless, if you want a Tour before anyone else, looks like VZW's the way to go.

[Thanks, Jeff]

Update: She's official. The press release says so.

When the teaser went up, we knew the hotly anticipated BlackBerry Tour for Sprint was right around the corner, but the only hint of a release date was "later this summer." Lucky for us, the, um, insiders at Inside Sprint Now have clarified the vague window for all of us mere mortals. They confidently state that the Tour will be available on July 20th, just over a week after the purported release date on Big Red. This hasn't yet been confirmed by Sprint, but we're sure they want this baby out sooner rather than later, so quasi-mark your calendars, quasi-set your alarms, and get your $199.99 ready.

You know what'd sell like a cold glass of water in hell? A $199.99 BlackBerry Tour on Verizon, that's what -- and it looks like that might be what the carrier's planning to unleash. Boy Genius Report has what seems to be a promotional graphic advertising the release of the Tour on July 12 -- just over two weeks from today -- which has the potential to make it the first Tour release anywhere, beating Telus' July 15 date and Sprint's nebulous "later this summer" window. Who's camping out in line with us?

While some interesting things may or may not be happening under the hood, the freshly announced BlackBerry Tour for Verizon and Sprint (pictured in Verizon garb on the left) is hardly a departure on the surface. It mostly appears to be a minor modification to the Curve (right), though it does seem inexplicably thicker. The Bold seems positively overwrought in comparison. We didn't get much time to play with the OS, but the screen and the keyboard are pure new-generation BlackBerry charm.

Oh hi, HiPhone. Not much of a surprise to see you here, again. The latest masterpiece, the HiPhone F06-Slim, is a Frankenstein amalgamation of KIRF favorite iPhone and RIM's first foray into the world of touchscreen phones, albeit with a slightly smaller, 3.2-inch display. We're also looking at a 1.3 megapixel camera, FM radio, microSD support, GPRS, Bluetooth, dual SIM card slots, and "TV phone" capabilities, which we're taking to mean a mobile receiver of some sort. Looks like it forgot the refresh button on the bottom of the device, but with any luck, it left out SurePress as well. If you hang out with the kind of friends who respect a good knockoff, the price of raising your street cred is just a penny under $190 before shipping.

[Via PMP Today]

New BlackBerry models are few and far between -- particularly of the CDMA variety -- so when one is announced, the usual carrier suspects typically fall in line within a few weeks of each other and announce their branded versions in rapid succession. This one was particularly tight, though: Sprint has announced its plans for carrying the Tour 9630 just minutes after Verizon. It'll launch "later this summer" for $199.99 after $150 worth of rebates and a two-year contract, which makes the Pre comparison virtually inevitable. Keep the comments civil, though, alright?

[Thanks, Martin]