Jeff, I don't have any official word on the launch of the 8300. I assume it will be by the end of this month or June, but that's just a guess.

I also guess that if only one U.S. carrier offers it first, it will be AT&T/Cingular.

I would also guess that the 8300 would be retail and business. The multimedia functionality certainly make the 8300 a consumer-friendly device, but it still falls short as a full-featured multimedia handset (no video recording, for example). Of course BlackBerry users typically are business-oriented, e-mail-holic.

(I'm an independent wireless data consultant; I'm not an employee of any cellular operator, handset vendors, etc.)

As for the Wing, I haven't tested it.

Regarding comment No. 1: I've had a BlackBerry 8300 for about a week. Although that certainly doesn't quality as a long-term test of the cover, I've removed the cover many times and haven't had any problem with it.

I also have the Pearl and haven't had problems with the cover.

If you're interested in another first-hand report about the 8300 (and there are many good ones already on the Web), I posted my initial impressions on my camera phone weblog:

http://www.cameraphonereport.com/2007/05/my_first_blackb.html

I've been using the T-Mobile Curve for about a week.

I've posted comments on my camera phone weblog as well as established a photo album. Photo quality ranges from poor to good enough.

http://www.cameraphonereport.com/2007/05/my_first_blackb.html

By the way, the photo album in TypePad doesn't seem to be able to accept the 8300 photos I've sent via cellular. All the photos displayed full-size are the result of me uploading them via my computer.

According to rumors, the second model of the full QWERTY keyboard BlackBerry Pearl -- supposedly the 8900 -- will have a camera plus WiFi. The 8900 is supposed to be released a few months after the 8800.

These are rumors, but it's logical to assume that if the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 has a camera, a QWERTY keyboard version with a camera also will be offered.

What I'm bummed about is the 8100 doesn't include video recording capability. I've been told that's because of chipset integration issues and the fear by RIM that it would reduce battery life, thereby upsetting users who buy the Pearl in large part because of its e-mail feature.

Not being able to listen to music on a Pearl because of a dead battery could be irritating. But not being able to receive e-mail is a much more important consideration.

Personally, I think users would quickly understand the correlation between battery life and video recording.

Perhaps video recording ability will be added to the 8900.

The ban is not just because of people talking on their phones. Apparently, Tiger Woods and some other golfers at previous tournaments were upset about the noise spectators made while taking camera phone photos.

I wrote about this for Sprint's new camera phone weblog, http://www.sprint.com/photobility, but because Sprint lawyers have to read every article before it's posted (sigh), it's not yet public.

Thanks for the link to my www.cameraphonereport.com article. But the NYC system is "real" in the sense that the city is apparently ** going ** to do this but hasn't yet implemented it. As of when I wrote the article, the city hadn't signed any contract.

One of the more interesting aspects is the city is working on integrating camera phones with its 311 number that enables residents to call about non-emergency city services.

For example, if you see a pothole, graffiti, etc. and want to report it, you could be able to send, presumably, a photo or perhaps a video. The 311 aspect is supposed to be implemented after the 911 camera phone integration.

Data rates of up to 2.4Mbps? Who has been feeding you this line? You're way, way off the mark.

Real world download speeds for today's 1xEV-DO according to Sprint and Verizon are around 400K bps - 700K bps. And, it's definitely not not unusual to get speeds of less than that, say, 250K bps - 350K bps, depending on your location and channel loading.

Upload speeds are dramatically less, perhaps 70K bps, plus or minus 20K bps or so.

You might get a burst of speed that could even reach about 1Mbps down, but that's very rare. To be safe, count on download speeds of about 300K bps - 500K bps and you generally won't be disappointed.

I'd be very interested in how you think the Q keyboard compares to the BlackBerry 8700 and the Treo 700.

Sorry, but I think you and/or "The New York Times" is/are off the mark. I've been analyzing wireless since 1978 and spend a lot of time testing cellular phones, especially the multimedia capabilities.

If you have a CDMA 1xEV-DO phone from Verizon Wireless or Sprint, the streaming videos are typically smooth, not jerky.

With Sprint, for example, I can get ** live ** streaming from Fox News, ABC News Live, C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2. I think Bloomberg is live, too, but I'm not completely sure, although it -- and those other channels -- carried President Bush's State of the Union Address live.

I don't think Verizon offers live TV, yet.

I realize many analysts are skeptical about TV and other similar video transmitted to cellular phones. I am not.

I like live TV on the phone, a lot. When I'm standing in line, waiting at the airport, waiting for my girlfriend to finish shopping at the mall, watching live news is fun and useful.

TV and videos to the phone -- streamed live -- will, I believe, be a popular service. It will take a bit of time. And, certainly there are problems with pricing, data rates, small and poor resolution screens, etc.

But live television to phones will be a winner.

You've really got to be careful about camera phone images, unfortunately. I spent a lot of time looking at camera phones as part of my consulting and have a weblog about camera phones. The problems are numberous.

For example, the quality of the lens is crucial. A 1.3 megapixel camera phone should be able to take a pretty decent photo. Most don't, and lens quality is one reason.

The quality of the sensor is another problem. The best sensors are, typically, CCD. Most cellular phones have CMOS because of cost. (Yes, there are good digital cameras with CMOS.) Without a high quality sensor -- CMOS or CCD -- you don't get a good photo.

Software is another problem. The image has to be "processed" and if the software in the camera phone isn't good, the photo isn't good.

There are other issues, too, including the size of the sensor, the poor flash (if you even have one), shutter speed versus f-stop, etc.

Sprint already offers a two megapixel camera phone and if I had to bet, I'd say Sprint would be the first to offer a three megapixel model.

But you've really got to see the quality of the photos before purchasing.

It's really a shame. A three megapixel camera phone should be a sort of tipping point -- offering photos that good enough to print for just about everyone.

But the cost and size of higher quality products makes most camera phone photos pretty poor.