According to unnamed sources who have unloaded new information to Bloomberg, RIM's first tablet will actually be "introduced in November," though there's no clear indication as to when it'll ship. Said sources have also stated that the device will sport a 9.7-inch display, inbuilt WiFi and Bluetooth, and a downright comical Blackpad label

The device will have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch diagonal screen, said the two people who wouldn’t be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. The device will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology that will allow people to connect to the Internet through their BlackBerry smartphones, the two people said.

RIM is racing to come out with a product to rival the iPad in the fast-growing market for devices that bridge the gap between smartphones and notebook computers. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, last month said it sold 3 million iPad tablet computers in 80 days after they debuted in the U.S.

“They can’t wait for a second generation of devices from Apple or they’ll fall too far behind,” said Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw Inc. in New York.

RIM rose $1.45, or 2.6 percent, to $57.15 at 12:18 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, reversing an earlier decline of as much as 2.5 percent. The stock had dropped 18 percent this year before today, as Apple had climbed 22 percent.

Marisa Conway, a spokeswoman for RIM, declined to comment, citing company policy not to comment on rumor or speculation.

Blackpad Pricing

RIM plans to call the tablet Blackpad, according to one of the people familiar with the company’s plans. RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, acquired the Internet rights to blackpad.com this month, according to the Whois database of domain names.

Pricing for the device will be in line with the iPad, which starts at $499, the person said. RIM is focused on reaping additional profits from the tablet effort, rather than competing on price to sell a large number of devices, the person said.

RIM is stepping up its competition with Apple on multiple fronts. The company is hosting an event in New York Aug. 3 at which it will debut its BlackBerry 9800 slider phone, according to one person familiar with its plans. The device will feature a full touchscreen like Apple’s iPhone and a slideout Qwerty keyboard to allow for easy e-mail typing, the person said.

RIM plans to use the phone to regain the market share it has lost recently to its U.S. rival. RIM’s share of the smartphone market fell to 19.4 percent of global shipments in the first quarter from 20.9 percent a year earlier, according to researcher IDC, based in Framingham, Massachusetts. Apple claimed 16.1 percent of the smartphone market, up from 10.9 percent a year earlier.

Uphill Battle?

In the tablet market, RIM will have to demonstrate how its device can stand out against products including the iPad, which has attracted buyers because of its integration with Apple’s iTunes service and many software applications, or apps. More than 225,000 apps are available for Apple devices, the company said in June. RIM said in April it had more than 6,000 apps.

“With the success of the iPad, RIM faces an uphill battle,” said William Power, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co., who has a “neutral” rating on the stock. “RIM really has yet to demonstrate that it can roll out touchscreen technology to match the leaders in the space, most noticeably Apple.”

RIM’s tablet will capitalize on the BlackBerry’s e-mail capabilities and the phone’s popularity with corporate users, one person said. The tablet will be closely integrated with the smartphone’s e-mail system and will have similar security for messaging, the person said.

Cameras for Video

Wi-Fi would allow the device to connect to the Internet anywhere the wireless technology is available, including a home, office or coffee shop. When not near such Wi-Fi “hotspots,” people could connect wirelessly to their mobile phone with Bluetooth and then to the Internet. The device will not be able to connect directly to the cellular network the way some iPads can, the two people said.

The RIM tablet will also have front- and back-facing cameras for videoconferencing, Rodman & Renshaw’s Kumar said, citing sources at suppliers in Asia.

We first heard of Cetus (albeit with a different model number) from a purported leaked UK mobile phones roadmap. Now new details have surfaced about Cetus, courtesy Bluetooth SIG which obviously holds more legitimacy than the leak before.

Although we’re not sure if it will be the first one, Cetus or SGH-i917 will run on Windows Phone 7 OS. Amongst other features, the phone will be more or less at par with Galaxy S and feature a 4-inch WVGA AMOLED screen (we presume Super AMOLED), GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11n, FM Radio, microUSB port, 5MP rear camera with front-facing VGA camera. The only difference we’ve found is the Bluetooth version, which is Bluetooth v2.1 in Cetus.

No details on the availability but we'd guess it should be around the time Microsoft releases WP7.

While the Motorola DROID 2 is not expected to be released to the public until mid to late August, the User Guide for the phone has been leaked. So what have we learned from looking through it? Well, we can now raise our confidence level to Fire Truck Red that the sequel to Time Magazine's 2009 Gadget of the Year will be shipped out with Android 2.2 in the box as the Froyo version of Google search is written up in the guide.The booklet also delves into the Motoblur UI that appears on the unit-it's the same "lite" version that is on the DROID X. The virtual QWERTY keyboard will be multi-touch as the one on the DROID X is and the DROID 2 will offer the swipe to type Swype keyboard.

With the DROID X shoving its massive screen right into your face, the DROID 2 could be a hard sell for Verizon-especially if it is priced at the same gold standard of $199.99 after a 2 year contract that most high-end models have been priced at lately. For the same price, you could have the 4.3 inch display of the "X" staring right back at you. Sure, it will appeal to those who want a DROID and need a physical QWERTY (upgraded from the first-gen model, by the way), but there still is the Samsung Fascinate to consider. Big Red's variant of the Galaxy S will probably be the carrier's next big launch after the DROID 2. We obviously are looking too far ahead. After all, Verizon has not even introduced the DROID 2 yet.

See Full Droid 2 Specifications

Download Full User-Guide Copy

The BlackBerry and ATT plan on introducing the BlackBerry 9800 Slider. This device features a touchscreen like a Storm and a QWERTY keyboard like the Bold. The latter slides out in portrait orientation. Featuring the new multimedia-centric BlackBerry 6 OS and a new WebKit browser, this phone has turned into one of the most anticipated handsets this year. What if you could pre-order the phone now, before it is even introduced? A store based in New York City, MobileCity Online is accepting pre-orders right now.

For a non-contract price of $599.99, MobileCity will reserve you a BlackBerry 9800. According to the web site, this is $100 off the actual retail price of 699.99. There is no precise shipping date because, after all, until Tuesday's announcement there is no such phone to sell. The last word we had on the name is that the device will be called the BlackBerry Torch 9800 although we won't know for sure until everything becomes official. For those BlackBerry fans, this phone seemingly will give you all of the usual BlackBerry features but also presents a first rate web surfing experience similar to what you might have on an  Apple iPhone, Motorola DROID X or a Palm Pre. Learning from the problems that they had with the Storm, BlackBerry has also beefed up the multimedia capabilities of the device. If you want to be the first on your block to pre-order the phone, here is your chance. Or, you can wait until Tuesday like everyone else and see what AT&T and BlackBerry have to say.

The day before yesterday, we reported on the availability of a new test firmware for theSamsung I9000 Galaxy S that brings Froyo aboard. We flashed our unit and played around with it but it's not ready for prime time yet. Now, there are two newer versions available, which fix some of the bugs but not all.

We also shot a video of the thing this time around, so you can see the new stuff first hand in case you're curious but don't want to risk flashing your phone…

The official Froyo firmware for the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S is expected this September, but you don't have to wait that long – you can give the latest I9000XXJP3 firmware a spin. It still has its issues though CellID location has been fixed, but the Flash player hasn't budged and still doesn't work.

Also, while in most benchmarks Froyo runs circles around Eclair, in other tests it's just as fast and in some places there are even noticeable lags. This is to be expected from test software though.

The JP3 firmware looks just like JP1 on the surface. Check out our video demo to see what you have to look forward to in September (or today if you decide to risk it and flash your Galaxy S).

Let's just point out some of the UI differences we found, in case you missed them.

There is an active widget now indicating how many apps are running in background and consuming your RAM and battery. Clicking it brings you to the new task manager, which allows you to quickly kill or even uninstall apps. The task switcher also got revamped and now brings shortcuts to 8 of your recently used applications, rather than only 6.

The notification area has been improved too and now features a rotation lock key in case you want that accelerometer-enabled rotation disabled. The Google Quick search box now gives you the chance to search in a specific part of your phone interface (music tracks, for example) or initiate a web search. Other areas that got minor updates are the Gmail client (which now allows quicker switching between accounts) and the lock screen.