Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the BlackBerry 8820 smartphone. Featuring RIM's thinnest smartphone design with a full and highly tactile QWERTY keyboard, large and bright display (320 x 240), user-friendly trackball navigation system and data functionality, the BlackBerry 8820 also includes built-in GPS (Global Positioning System), RIM's latest media player enhancements, and a microSD / microSDHC (microSD High Capacity) expandable memory slot that can support current and future generations of microSD memory cards up to 32GB.

The BlackBerry 8820 is the first dual-mode BlackBerry handset, combining EDGE/GPRS/GSM cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity for data access and voice support through UMA (unlicensed mobile access) for fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) service offerings from various wireless carriers around the world.

The BlackBerry 8820 smartphone supports the 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi standards to enable data access over Wi-Fi connections in the enterprise, as well as through public hotspots and wireless home networks. The BlackBerry 8820 also supports UMA, enabling wireless carriers to offer a fixed-mobile convergence service for both business and home use. With a UMA solution in place, the BlackBerry 8820 can also seamlessly switch voice calls between a wireless carrier's cellular network and a Wi-Fi network.

The BlackBerry 8820 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled smartphone with the features include:

• Built-in GPS - Through its built-in GPS, the BlackBerry 8820 can pinpoint its location and provide "out-of-the-box" support for a wide variety of location-based applications and services, including BlackBerry Maps.
• microSD / microSDHC Expansion Memory - The BlackBerry 8820 includes a microSD expansion memory slot that can support both microSD (up to 2GB) and microSDHC (4GB to 32GB) memory cards. 4GB memory cards are available today, and 8GB cards are expected to be available later this year.
• BlackBerry Services - The BlackBerry 8820 can operate with BlackBerry Internet Service, giving users the ability to manage up to 10 supported personal and corporate email accounts.
• Multimedia – The BlackBerry 8820 supports the Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and comes with the most recent BlackBerry media player refinements, allowing users to play music and search by simply typing the title, genre, artist or album name. Videos can also be played in full screen mode.
• Removable Battery

The BlackBerry 8820 will be available from select wireless carriers around the world in the coming weeks. AT&T is scheduled to launch the BlackBerry 8820 in the U.S. later this summer.