Sharp eyes have spotted the upcoming BlackBerry 8703e in the wild and the latest rumors point to a next week release date, August 28. There's also rumblings of the device supporting GSM/EDGE for roaming purposes and support for CDMA-friednly Verizon's high speed labor of love, EV-DO. The rumored inclusion of support for both CDMA and GSM is fairly important, since it gives people the flexibility to move to and fro without worrying if their smartphone will function properly, if at all, on the local network.

The fact that the 8703e hasn't publicly received the FCC's go-ahead is somewhat odd, but that could be chalked up to Verizon Wireless and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, wanting to create an even bigger "ta-da!" when it's actually released. Time will tell whether this is just careless conjecture or something more substantive. – Nicholas Deleon

UPDATE: What's that saying, something like, if something seems too good to be true it probably is? Late word now indicates that the 8703e will not support GSM after all. So all that pretty text up there speaking highly of that capability? Ignore it, she's CMDA-only. Rumors, fun to pass around until someone gets their head smashed into a locker. The follies of youth.

Verizon releasing 8703e with GSM support [RIM Blackberry Forums]

More Screens [RIM Blackberry Forums]

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