Official: RIM Announces BlackBerry 8820 With WiFi

Certain Pocket PC users have oftentimes scoffed at the BlackBerry line from Research in Motion, because no BlackBerry has had integrated WiFi connectivity. That has now changed. Research in Motion has officially revealed the BlackBerry 8820, the first BlackBerry to come with built-in WiFi. Can you imagine if T-Mobile decided to pick this up and include it as part of their new HotSpot@Home service?

In addition to the three flavors of WiFi (802.11a/b/g), the BlackBerry 8820 also boasts integrated GPS, quad-band GSM, and a microSD/microSDHC expansion slot. You can plainly see that they went with QWERTY instead of SureType on this device as well, which will certainly be well received among most of the email power users in the audience. It’s also got that trackball thing in the middle.

The one feature that is sorely missing, however, is a camera. It doesn’t even have an ugly VGA picture-taker. Certain corporate customers may appreciate this omission, though, given that restricted areas typically don’t allow cameras of any kind.