Even though the much-awaited BlackBerry 9000 isn’t expected to hit the market until July or August this year, Kevin Michaluk from CrackBerry.com managed to buy one of these units off of eBay for $828 and posted an early hands-on review.

Granted, the reviewer is a self-confessed “crazy BlackBerry addict” so the constant praise on the phone is to be expected, but it still makes an interesting read for anyone who has an interest in RIM's smartphones. According to the report, the keyboard is better than the 8800 series, the OS4.6 is smooth, fast and pretty, the 480 x 320 LCD display is bright and crisp, and 3G is certainly welcome. A couple of major caveats, though, include the size and weight of the phone as well as the fact that the 9000 still takes a long time to start up. Check out Kevin’s hands-on review here.