BlackBerry Round-Up: Storm 2 Snags Wi-Fi, 9700 Deets LeakBlackBerry Round-Up: Storm 2 Snags Wi-Fi, 9700 Deets Leak

The unannounced BlackBerry Storm 2 has been caught in the wild again, and this time it spills some juicy secrets. Also, more details emerge about the 3G-packing BlackBerry 9700, headed to T-Mobile later this year.Storm 2

We've been catching glimpses of the BlackBerry Storm 2 for months now. It even managed to get snagged on video recently. Now, new images have surfaced, revealing some goodies.

It appears that the Storm 2 will run BlackBerry OS 5. The current Storm runs OS 4.7. This is a nice improvement on the OS side of the equation. Perhaps more important, the Storm 2 has Wi-Fi on board. That's a biggie. The current Storm (and the BlackBerry Tour) sold by Verizon Wireless lacks Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi integration is a must-have for smartphones. Verizon has admitted to as much, and noted that future BlackBerry models that it sells will have Wi-Fi. Hopefully the Storm 2 is the first handset on that roadmap. Look for it in October.

9700

The BlackBerry 9700 recently posed for pictures and even had some of its specs leaked. Of note, the 9700 -- headed to T-Mobile -- uses the same optical mouse that the recently-released BlackBerry 8520 uses. Thankfully, the 9700 beefs up its other specs.

The 9700 should be the first BlackBerry for T-Mobile to have 3G on board. Now that T-Mobile's network has been up and running (in select markets) for nearly a year now, I say it's about time. In addition to 3G, it should also carry Wi-Fi and GPS, and will have a 480 x 360 pixel display. According to the images, it runs system software 5.0.

Look for it later this year.