The first official press photo of the BlackBerry Onyx came out today, and it looks very, very nice. This messaging powerhouse will be similar to the BlackBerry Bold, but it will add enough new features and design changes to keep BlackBerry fanatics happy. This photo came courtesy of Al Sacco at CIO.com who received this photo from a T-Mobile press representative. Sacco was also sent this little tidbit regarding the follow-up to the Bold:

On the surface, it doesn't look too much different than the existing lineup, but the biggest difference is that RIM's ditching the trackball for an optical trackpad. They first put the pad on the Curve 8520, and I found it to be an incredibly elegant way to navigate a BlackBerry. The trackballs always seem to break down after a while and lose sensitivity, and I'm pretty sure RIM will be phasing these out over the next few years.

The Onyx is the T-Mobile version and it will come with the nifty UMA connection to make in-home calls with T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home, and word on the street said it will land in November. AT&T will also get a very similar device as a follow-up to the BlackBerry Bold.