I've got the N95 US edition, and I love it. My previous phone was a Blackberry Pearl, and I gotta say that one thing I'd love on my N95 is a SureType keyboard. I wouldn't mess with the form factor on the phone, because it functions so well as is, but typing anything substantive on the phone keypad is an exercise in frustration. The SureType keyboard, however, let me type nearly as quickly on my Pearl as I could on my laptop.

One other addition: a better email client. The current Messaging client is a mess for email, especially HTML email. It doesn't do an even decent job of dealing with CSS in a message, leaving style declarations littered in the text, and formatting that's just all over the place. Thankfully, the Gmail app is miles better and runs beautifully.

Besides that, this uber-phone is a dream, lest this thread throw people. It's fast, the media player, still/video camera, Podcasting app, games, GPS, WiFi, third-party apps, etc. are all fantastic. I highly recommend the N95 US edition to anyone who has $650 burning a whole in their pocket.

But MobileCity is selling it for LESS THAN WAL-MART (I've never seen that happen for any product):

http://www.mobilecityonline.com/wireless/store/productdetail.asp?productid=22786

They are selling the US Version now:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5933990

Just in time! My new Nokia n95 US edition arrives Tuesday, and I was really hoping this would work. Thanks GOOG!

Yes, please! Sign me up!

IIIIIIIIIIII just want a Wing!

The Blackberry Pearl is definitely a smartphone. I've got over a dozen third-party apps installed, including Java-based and native apps from Google, Opera, Infospace, Microsoft, and many more. It does everything my friend's Treo 700w does, but more efficiently, more reliably, and in a smaller package. They've got my vote.

There are also several very good multi-protocol IM clients available, my favorite being JiveTalk (now in beta at http://www.beejive.com). If you don't want to install multiple programs for multiple systems, check out JiveTalk, it's free (for the time being?).

What in the world is the point of this if existing handsets can't be upgraded? It's like AOL offering "high-speed dial-up" ... that doesn't work with current dial-up modems. Who in their right mind is going to upgrade to EDGE Evolution if, by the time it rolls out, every major carrier has 3G networks?

Is there any chance that RIM will update the 8100 with the features seen here? I'm a new BlackBerry user, so I don't know how they usually handle OS upgrades, but I would love to see the new media player on my Pearl!