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It seems everyone wants a piece of the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 as the popular smartphone is making the rounds with the carriers. First, with Verizon Wireless and Sprint at CTIA 2008, and now, Alltel. Available for preorder today online (ships May 1), the Alltel BlackBerry Curve features integrated GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, a 2-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It will also support several of the carrier's add-on services, including Alltel Navigation, Alltel Axcess Voice2TXT service, and its "My Circle" plan. Pricing for the BlackBerry Curve 8330 starts at $229.99 … Read more

Sometimes the most popular gadgets on Crave are the simplest of all. (Who could forget those drive-in speakers or the singing theremin doll?)

Perhaps the best example we've seen lately is the "Phonofone II," a ceramic device that requires no external power source and relies on "passive amplification" instead of any digital wizardry to work with the earphones of an iPod or other MP3 player. And now it's being offered in black, a special edition of 200 available for a limited time.

Simple doesn't necessarily mean cheap, however, and this version of the … Read more

Got a few minutes to kill? Sure, you could flip through your tunes, but when the same songs get old, and when you tire of your headphones winding from your ears like some extraterrestrial umbilical cord, check out the worlds of communication, learning, and game-playing applications to discover beyond the beats. Or, dare we say, while listening to them. Check out your burgeoning options for cell phone entertainment in the slide show.

You won't be able to turn people into zombies with Facebook for BlackBerry (quick link), but you will be able to perform the essential Facebook maneuvers to keep up with your friends. Since launching in late October 2007, the wildly popular app has topped 1,000,000 downloads. With intuitive actions and a familiar look and feel that mimics the online site, it's easily a must-have BlackBerry app.

Be forewarned that the application doesn't scrimp on profile photos, so data transfers can sometimes limp along. Have patience. Also, since Facebook for BlackBerry's functionality is currently limited … Read more

Note: Article updated on 4/15/08 to correctly note where posts default.

CellSpin is the easiest multimedia blogging platform for smartphones I've seen to date. Similar to Utterz and Trutap, CellSpin lets people post photos, videos, text, and audio clips to various online profiles--in CellSpin's case, Picasa Web photos, Flickr, LiveJournal, Blogger, eBay, YouTube, and Windows Live Spaces. Of course, you can't post text to YouTube or video to Facebook, but CellSpin keeps it clear in a convenient chart.

Posting is fairly simple from the downloadable app. You click one of four large icons corresponding to … Read more

When it comes to LG Mobile and design, the Prada phones come to mind immediately for most people. But let's not forget the Black Label series which started with the Chocolate phone and was followed by the LG Shine. Pictures of the third handset in that series have now been revealed and, like the other two, it's a slider.

Though no official name has been given, this slider looks slimmer than the previous models. Pictures seem to suggest a mix of carbon fiber and leather in its finish, with a 5-megapixel camera on its back. According to Aving , … Read more

It's a wrap! CTIA 2008 has come and gone and the show produced quite a number of smartphone announcements. Research in Motion unleashed a fleet of new BlackBerrys; Microsoft unveiled its latest mobile operating system; and we even saw a new entrant into the field. There was plenty more action, so take a look at all the new smartphones in this photo gallery.

There's no real killer app yet for retrieving listings information on your mobile phone, but there could be soon.

On Aptil 11, FreeMobile411 launches the consumer version of its carrier-offered services. Visting FreeMobile411.com from your mobile browser gets you a decent-looking ad-supported WAP site that simplifies directory search and helps you avoid long waits while listening to ads from dial-in services like 1-800-FREE-411.

Enter the search term--it can be a business name ("Blockbuster"), business type ("video store"), or person ("Bill Blockbuster"). Then select the search type, and fill in either the city … Read more

Research in Motion's BlackBerry business is chugging along, and the company has the money to prove it.

RIM reported fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday after the close of the stock market, and the numbers were good. The company took in $1.9 billion in revenue, more than double last year's fourth-quarter haul of $930.4 million. And it had $412.5 million left over in profits, equal to 72 cents a share in earnings and two cents better than what Wall Street analysts were expecting.

The company shipped 4.4 million smartphones during the quarter, and 14 million for the … Read more