In a move that has surprised many, Nokia has slashed prices on its cell phones up to 10% on certain models. The phones that faced the most price cuts were the music and media phones, which will put Nokia in a good position to challenge Sony Ericsson’s Walkman lineup. With the 40% market share of the global cell phone market that Nokia already has, this move will apply quite a bit of pressure to competitors such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola, who must be wondering whether to cut prices on their phones too.

So you’ve checked out all the spy shots, sized it up against the competition, and think you know all there is to know about BlackBerry’s touchscreen iPhone-slayer? You’re wrong. Here are five things we’d put money on being new to your noggin.

Fact 1: What’s in a name?
BlackBerry Thunder is in fact going to be called BlackBerry Storm. We preferred the working title, but it’s RIM’s call and Storm is how the company will be formally introducing it later this year.

Flat 2: Haptic fantastic
BlackBerry Storm will showcase the latest haptic technology – that’s where you feel some physical response to jabbing the touchscreen. With the storm, you’ll be able to feel localised feedback from the actual spot on screen you prodded, not simply the whole phone. This should make typing texts and e-mails feel a lot more natural, as well as making them a lot more accurate.

Fact 3: Screen genie!
Storm’s touch screen will boast the highest resolution display of any BlackBerry. With 360×480 pixels making up the pin-sharp picture, it should be a visual treat. And yes, it’s a higher resolution than the iPhone 3G.

Fact 4: You called?
BlackBerry Storm will be one of the first non-Apple handsets to feature visual voicemail. This is where your recorded messages appear on the touch screen as a list, letting you quickly tap into the one you want. The iPhone had it from day one, but since Apple’s lost the rights to use it exclusively, it’s fair game for other phones now too. It’s bound to be ultra-popular on BlackBerry, as let’s face it, voicemail’s mostly used by busy business types that rely on their handsets as personal secretaries.

Fact 5: Works with iTunes
The Storm will feature BlackBerry Media Sync, which means you can actually sync with and swap music with iTunes. Cheekily, RIM has copied one of Apple’s most unique features, which will make it almost as easy for BlackBerry users to load non-DRM laced tracks from their iTunes library right onto their Storms. Brilliant!

BlackBerry Answers is an intuitive web based tool that allows you to ask a question about your BlackBerry smartphone and receive personalized answers in virtual real time, direct from Research In Motion’s premium knowledgebase. From your mobile browser, simply visit the help section of mobile.blackberry.com and type a question about your device. You’ll receive a solution within seconds. Ask a question about:

• Email Set Up
• Address Book
• Attachments
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• Instant Messaging and more…

BlackBerry Answers lets you express yourself on your own terms, all while offering simple, guided help tailored to your specific BlackBerry smartphone model and software version. Visit the help section of mobile.blackberry.com to try BlackBerry Answers for yourself!

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Skyfire, a server-based web browser designed for mobile devices, is now in beta testing for the Symbian platform.

Skyfire, like the popular Java-based browser Opera Mini, uses a remote server to render pages with the Gecko browser engine, then delivers the end result to the mobile client. Unlike ordinary mobile browsers, Skyfire supports Flash, Ajax, and Windows Media.

The beta test is limited to select users in the United States.

A few weeks ago we released Google Maps for mobile with Transit directions for BlackBerry and Java-based handsets. Now, with the release of version 2.2 of the application for Symbian S60 (3rd edition or later) and Windows Mobile (2005 or later), we’re happy to say that Transit directions will be available to a bunch more smartphone users around the world.

Transit directions on these platforms work just like they do on the BlackBerry version of the app (watch the demo video). Simply bring up Directions from the main menu and you’ll see a second tab labeled Transit (or Public Transport), where you can request a route using only public transportation. You’ll receive a number of alternatives that take you (car-free) to your destination. Transit directions are available on Google Maps in more than 50 cities. So whether you live in or are passing through Zurich, Ottawa, Bordeaux or Chicago — and plenty of places in between — you can have Transit schedules in your pocket at all times. Stay tuned as we continue working with transit agencies to support more and more cities across the globe!

You’ll find a number of other features in this new version of Google Maps for mobile for WinMo and S60: star-ratings for businesses will help you get a feel for what other people think, your search results show up faster than ever, and user-generated content will now surface in your search results — opening up a whole new world of geo content on your phone. Look for the blue result markers when you search for “ruins in london,” for example.

To get this latest version of Google Maps for mobile with Transit, simply point your mobile browser to google.com/gmm. Happy trails.

Palm said it has sold its two-millionth Centro smartphone, which is now available in more than 25 countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

According to the Admob’s Mobile Metrics report, Palm Centro leapt onto the list of mobile phones worldwide in May as the No. 8 device, and moved up in June to No. 7. AdMob cites the growth of inexpensive phones, such as Palm Centro, as a primary driver in mobile Internet usage.

“Consumers are ready to do more on their mobile phone, and Centro has struck a chord around the world,” said Brodie Keast, senior vice president of marketing for Palm, Inc. “Centro has everything a person needs to stay connected with everyone who is important to them — and at a price point and size that make smartphones more attractive to a much wider audience.”

Palm has also added a Palm Centro in electric blue color for AT&T US early this month.