The Wait is Over: BlackBerry Curve 8330 Hits Verizon in May

Verizon Wireless customers, rejoice! Our favorite smart phone (no hard feelings, iPhone) is coming your way in just one short month. The BlackBerry Curve ($234.99) 8330 delivers everything we loved about the AT&T version—sleek design, silky smooth trackball, 3.5mm headphone jack, and sharp 2-MP camera—but now you can add lightening fast EV-DO data and GPS capability (courtesy of VZ Navigator) to the mix.

A few other features further add to the 8330’s appeal, including the ability to stream from m.youtube.com and easy access to apps like Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa. The HTML browser is also supposedly improved, and you can add an 8GB microSD card and fill it up with your favorite tunes.

Of course, RIM’s addictive push e-mail goodness comes standard with access to up to 10 POP3 and IMAP personal and corporate e-mail accounts. You can pre-order the Curve 8330 from Verizon for a reasonable $169 (after discounts). Stay tuned for hands-on impressions.

Here are the complete specs.

BlackBerry Curve 8330 Specs (From Press Release):
• Small and lightweight design that is easy to handle and use; measures 4.2” x 2.4” x 0.6”and weighs only 4 oz
• Large, vibrant 320 x 240 display, with light sensing technology that automatically adjusts brightness for optimal viewing in outdoor, indoor, and dark environments
• Responsive, highly-tactile full-QWERTY keyboard and RIM’s intuitive trackball navigation system
• Premium phone features including: noise cancellation technology to offset background noise, Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), dedicated “send,” “end,” and “mute” keys, low-distortion speakerphone, and Bluetooth® 2.0, with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets (Bluetooth stereo audio profile A2DP/AVRCP), car kits and other Bluetooth accessories
• 2.0 megapixel camera with support for video capture*, self-portrait mirror, enhanced flash and 5X zoom
• Easy access to the popular Facebook® for BlackBerry® Smartphones application, in addition to photo sharing applications like Picasa® and Flickr®
• 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack and dedicated volume controls
• Advanced media player and enhanced desktop media manager software that makes it easy to move media files between a PC and the BlackBerry Curve 8330 – USB Data Cable comes In-Box
• MicroSD/SDHC memory card slot, providing plenty of additional storage (up to 8 GB)
• HTML Web browser delivering a fast, rich browser experience and support for streaming video from sites like m.youtube.com (3GPP RTSP streaming protocol over EV-DO)
• A removable, rechargeable battery, rated for up to 260 minutes of talk time and up to 11 days of standby time
• In-box accessories include: a stereo headset, travel charger and premium tote sleeve