Yes, I was gone for a while, but now I’m back to business! (hence the name of the giveaway). What better way to get back to the classic giveaways I do on the site than starting them with a very sexy and sleek Blackberry Pearl 9100, right? I’m a little rusty, so I’m going to keep it as simple and easy as possible this time. Please read below carefully and follow instructions perfectly.

NOTE: The 9100 I’m giving away has a “dead pin”, which means, you can’t use data at all on the phone. The main reason for these giveaways is for people to enjoy owning  a pre-released phone and to play with it before anyone else. This is not costing you a cent, so I’m NOT responsible for anything you do with the phone. Only submit your info to enter the contest if you agree with these terms please.

How to enter the giveaway (step by step)?

1) You have to be following the next people on twitter:
@salomondrin
@Stylebybelen

2) After you are following the two of us,  you just have to send me an e-mail to info@salomondrin.net with the following information:

SUBJECT: Back To Business Giveaway
NAME: Alejandro Salomon (Full names please).
TWITTER NICKNAME: @salomondrin
COUNTRY: USA
STATE: CA

* Please copy paste the paragraph above and substitute my information with yours. I can’t tell you how many people have e-mailed me my own information in the past (I’m not even kidding).
* No double submissions. Whoever does will be disqualified.

Submission Deadline: Tuesday, March 30th at noon Los Angeles time.
Winner Announcement: Thursday, April 1st at 6 PM Los Angeles time.

How will the winner be announced? I’m gonna post the name of the lucky winner on this website on a new post called “9100 Contest Winner Announcement”. From the moment I post your name and announce you as a winner you’ll have exactly 24 hours to claim your prize by e-mailing me at info@salomondrin.net If you don’t e-mail me within the time frame given, someone else will take your prize, so please be alert!

I will ship worldwide for free.

Thank you very much guys for all your support and your kind words. You are amazing guys, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support!
Good Luck!

First off let me say that I can’t tell you how sorry I am because I’ve been out of touch for so long. I had to go down to Mexico for 3 weeks to get some things settled with my business and my family (which is a wonderful mess). I’m back in LA, but I gotta go back to Mexico on Monday again

Second…. let’s talk about the 9650 a little bit here, and lets clear the air for a second.

1) YES, there is a delay on the release of the 9650

2) No, I’m not SauceX. (I was just reading a couple of threads on Crackberry.com where people mentioned we are the same person….) Its actually pretty funny that you guys said he and I are the same person because SAUCE comes from SALSA, which is mexican, and so am I. LOL

3) Why did I say Feb 3rd + 7 days for its release and nothing happened?

Simple, the same source that advised me on the release date of the 9550 gave me the info here. He is a pretty reliable source and has always been good to me, so I had no reason to doubt him. I also have to say HE WAS RIGHT…. (”Why Sal? How was he right if the phone isn’t out?”… etc….). Verizon did plan on releasing the phone on the 3rd, and I don’t know if you remember that “SOMEONE” posted a screenshot of Verizon’s inventory with the 9650 and so did a Sprint screenshot appeared around the same time and then they disappeared from them.

4) The reason why the phone was delayed (and pulled from the system) is a very simple reason that I just heard about that makes total sense. Ask yourself this question:

“Why haven’t we seen an official 9630 OS 5.0 version from Verizon?”

Because they don’t have an official one that has been approved!!!!! Without the 9630 update, they can’t release the new phone, simply because of all the shit they would get from it (they are getting crap from it as it is, because they were about to release the second version of the phone too soon after the 1st one was released).

Now…. you may be wondering:

“Well… yeah that makes sense, but the official Sprint OS is ready and the phone isn’t out on Sprint”.

And to that I’m gonna say this and please MARK MY WORDS:

“Verizon will release the 9650 1st or worst case scenario at the same time as Sprint, NOT AFTER SPRINT”.

So that’s all I know as of right now…. I’ve been out of the loop for almost a month, and I got this info like 4 days ago, I just didn’t have a moment to post it sooner

As soon as I get an update I will post it here Take care guys and again, I’m sorry. I’ll be back soon taking care of the blackberry community that I love so much.

Guys! I need your help! My friend “Vicente” is always posting his BB PIN on Facebook and its getting kind of annoying. Everytime he updates his status he does something like this:

“Having a great day at the beach; BBPIN: 4037B6AF”

Since he just is that important, today I said to myself “That’s enough!” and decided to do something about it. I want to make his blackberry useless or at least really annoying for a good 2 or 3 hours. How am I going to accomplish that? By asking all of you guys for a HUGE FAVOR. Please add him on your BBM and send him a ton of messages in a row It won’t take more than 2 minutes of your time and will make him stop

His PIN really is: 4037B6AF

Please add him and do whatever you want His name is Vicente  is the coolest guy on earth. I swear to God he is my friend and nothing bad will happen except him crying about it to me! If this goes well maybe we can start one of these a week or a month!

Thank you very much guys and I really appreciate all your help!

P.S. Stratus Contest will start on Tuesday of this week

I don’t think there is more to say. This time we just got pictures of the new Blackberry Essex with the actual Verizon Wireless Logo on the hardware. On average from the time we see the first of these pictures up (Branded Hardware), to the actual release of the phone is, on average) about a month. So let’s keep our fingers crossed. Can you guys smell it? Because it is getting closer and closer.

Here we go again. This is the first Blackberry Tour 2 (9650) A.K.A. Essex that’s up for grabs on eBay! It looks like the seller has an impressive sales track record, so there is no reason for you to let this opportunity go by, unless of course you don’t want to spend almost $1,400 USD on a pre-released phone. I must say that one great thing about this phone is the OS this phone is running on: OS v5.0.0.402, which has to be the latest OS version that I’ve ever heard off for this Berry. Another cool thing you can notice on the pictures is that the device has the dark bezel that Verizon has on its current Blackberry Tour (9630), and these are the first pictures of this version of the Tour 2 (9650).

Here is a link to the auction: BlackBerry Tour 2 9650 ESSEX FACTORY UNLOCKED Wifi 3G

* NOTE: I’m not responsible for anything that goes on if you attempt or buy this phone since I have nothing to do with the seller and I’m just mentioning his post.

After a lot of speculation we finally got our hands on a new Verizon Blackberry Essex thanks to our good friend The Cellular Guru. This second generation Blackberry Tour is now officially “numbered” and is now the Blackberry 9650. Except for the OS version, nothing else has changed from the one I showed you in my Overview Video of the Blackberry Essex (at least on the outside). This is also very good news, because we are already seeing devices like this one floating around that are already branded, so that means the release date is getting closer and closer.

We will update you, as always, as the story develops, but for now please feel free to ask any questions or comment on the Essex Forum.

Colorware, who has the best technique when it comes to personalizing your phones, is working really fast these days and keeping up to date on the latest Blackberry Devices. Now you can personalize your already sexy Blackberry Bold 2 (9700), and this is something you can’t miss if you are a true Blackberry Addict. As a personal tip I’d recommend for you to buy your new Blackberry Bold 2 at your nearest Carrier Store and then send it to the guys at Colorware to do their thing, that will save you some money and even some time (in case you are as impatient as I am).

For more information please visit the Colorware Website.

Here is a video of my Colorware Blackberry Tour. This is my McDonalds version of the phone, I just wanted to have some fun and make fun of myself while at it. As you know the possibilities are endless, and why not get the most out of your Brand New Blackberry Bold 2 (9700)?

Finally after a long time our site is almost ready! We just opened our brand new Forum to the public and to celebrate it we are giving away a sweet/pre-released Blackberry Essex to a lucky winner! The reason why we opened the forum is mainly to let everyone discuss the upcoming Blackberry Models that we already know about and nobody else wants to acknowledge, but we also open the forum for all of you guys! This is NOT a regular site’s Forum, this is a People’s Forum. So we want to hear what you guys want to see in there, what do you guys want to talk about and we will make it happen.

The Forum is pretty plain right now, and its just because the forum we are using in the site (vBulletin) will release an updated version before the end of the year (At least according to their site), so we don’t want to get everything personalized and then do it again and waste time and money (remember, we are in a recession). The fully customized “Salomondrin Like” Forum will be up early next year, but for now we have a pretty cozy and straight forward forum for all of you.

So remember; Check out our Forum and make sure you submit your entry to win a Blackberry Essex before anyone else!

It’s finally here! I had a chance to play with my new Blackberry Stratus (9100) AKA Striker AKA Pearl 2 and I have to tell you that is fantastic. It might be a little too tiny, but the phone is very (and when I say very I really mean it) pretty, slick, sexy, and it says “Business” all over it.

The overall feel of the phone in your hand is almost the same as holding an iPod Nano. I just can’t imagine of a better Blackberry to put in your pocket for hours, it’s just the perfect size. The trackpad is a great addition to the looks of the phone, making the lines of it that much slicker than any other Blackberry on the market. The back of the phone is extremely similar to the second generation Blackberry Storm, which is a pretty good looking phone itself, but everything in a smaller package. Another addition to the hardware is the “Media Buttons”, which immediately makes me think that this device will be directed to a younger crowd of Blackberry users. The phone is very light but at the same time it feels solid in your hand. Texting is as easy as it gets (as long as you are used to the Pearl Suretype Keyboard or even the Storm’s reduced keyboard, and the new/higher resolution screen is just gorgeous (not as good as the one on the Storm/Tour/Bold, but definitely a nice upgrade from the “already old” Pearl. Another nice addition to this second generation Pearl is the 3.2 MP Camera with flash.

The software I’m running on the phone is at a very early stage (v5.0.0.350), but is running very smoothly already. The only problems I have with it is the camera app, which doesn’t work yet, but the video camera is running perfectly. Because the OS Platform is 6.0 I can’t download any apps yet, but the closer we get to its release the more compatible the apps will be. The phone works great on 3G, even though its running on “AT&T’s Full of Apps Network”, so that is a great sign.

My guess for its release would be around April, 2010. That is just a guess and as soon as I hear something more solid I will let you know immediately. Because of the 3G bands in the phone I can tell for a fact that this phone will be out for AT&T and Rogers, but sadly I haven’t heard of a CDMA version yet or even a GSM version for T-Mobile here in the US.

Overall I love the phone, and to all of you that love their Pearls you are going to absolutely fall in love with this one. If you want to discuss or have any more questions about this beauty don’t forget to visit the Blackberry 9100 Forum.

I told you guys before: “There is a Blackberry Stratus floating around and pictures will surface very soon”, and guess what? We got those pictures here first! Before we give you guys a detailed overview of the phone we have a little “Sneak Peek” for you, so check out some of the pictures and our exclusive “First Look Video”.

As always please leave your comments and requests on what you want to see on the detailed overview of the phone. Enjoy.