T-Mobile is replacing the antiquated trackballs on BlackBerry’s Pearl 8100 and 8120, and the Curve 8320 smartphones for free from the 15th of February, to any customers who are having problems with them. It’s one of the reasons RIM moved from trackballs to optical trackpads, so if you aren’t having problems yet, mark my words: you will. [ TMO News via Electronista ]

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser. The leaked-to-all-hell BlackBerry Onyx may have undergone one last change before heading to manufacture: judging by this shot nabbed by BlackBerry Underground , it’ll have a Curve 8520-esque optical trackpad —not a trackball. This feature has been a persistent rumor since the original Onyx shots hit the web , though the fact that it contradicted the actual photos of the device didn’t bode well for its credibility. In the context of early reactions to the Onyx leak, this apparent late change makes a lot of sense: the handset was characterized as a best-of-all-worlds device, keeping all the best features of non-touch BlackBerrys without sacrificing compactness. Grabbing the optical trackpad from the 8520, then, is an obvious move. [ BlackBerry Underground via BGR ]