BlackBerry Dakota Gets Photographed, Spec'd

Meet the BB Dakota: It's kind of like a BlackBerry Bold, but it's got little touchscreen action thrown into the mix, too.

With all this Tegra 2 and CDMA iPhone talk, there hasn’t been a lot of news for BlackBerry fans as of late. However, things aren’t completely silent on the RIM front. In fact, Boy Genius Report has gotten its hands on details and a clear photo of the touchscreen BlackBerry Dakota.

The Dakota is not quite as touchy-feely as RIM’s previous touchscreen efforts, the BlackBerry Storm and the BlackBerry Torch. Rather than a full touchscreen, the Dakota features a physical keyboard, which takes up about half of the phone's input real estate. However, unlike the BlackBerry Torch, the phone boasts a candybar form factor -- as opposed to a slider form factor -- and looks quite like the BlackBerry Bold.

Specs include 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen; a 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording, flash, and image stabilization; 4GB of built in storage and 768MB of RAM; 2.8-inch VGA 640x480 capacitive screen; WiFi b,g,n on 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies; 3G mobile hotspot; MicroUSB; Bluetooth; NFC; Magnetometer; Accelerometer; Proximity sensor; a 10.5mm thick body; BlackBerry OS 6.1.

No word on pricing, release, or carrier, but we’re excited.

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joytech22 , January 15, 2011 11:50 AM

Imo I think they would do better if they had a slide out keyboard, now it has a tiny screen the same size and resolution as my camera's.
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jerreece , January 15, 2011 11:53 AM

It's basically a BlackBerry Tour/Bold with a touch screen and slightly upgraded camera.
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milktea , January 15, 2011 2:13 PM

BlackBerry needs to do better to stay in competition.
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theshonen8899 , January 15, 2011 2:21 PM

All of these Blackberries just cater to the small group of people who live behind the facade of professional businessmen. If you were really sending off that many emails to the point you need a keyboard, you need an actual flip keyboard or slide keyboard, because this does not do the trick.
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wawa sxm , January 15, 2011 8:56 PM

bb bold is still the best bb....if i wanted a touch screen i woulda gotten an iphone. imo this is the phone bb users have been waiting for. and yes i do send a lot of emails as our clients are all over the world and the torch although is better than the storm is still not that good
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anonymous@guest , January 15, 2011 9:25 PM

Pretty sweet that it supports the 5GHz band
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Startingline13 , January 15, 2011 10:21 PM

t is still the best device out there for it, hands down.

Milk, you're absolutely correct, Blackberry is really starting to fall behind. Granted they aren't really catering to the same market as the android, or iOS user, but when business individuals such as myself see such attractive options in other phones, that's when BB starts to get in trouble.
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shadowryche , January 16, 2011 1:12 AM

Been itching to throw my Blackberry in the trash since I got it. Its limits plus Sprint's nerfs are making me wish I went Android like I wanted.
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xantek24 , January 16, 2011 7:06 AM

if its south dakota, i ain't buying it....
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otacon72 , January 16, 2011 8:19 AM

theshonen8899All of these Blackberries just cater to the small group of people who live behind the facade of professional businessmen. If you were really sending off that many emails to the point you need a keyboard, you need an actual flip keyboard or slide keyboard, because this does not do the trick.

What a rediculous statement. I've had my Bold since it came out and I send company emails all day long on it. Slide out keyboads are garbage.
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one-shot , January 16, 2011 1:40 PM

Dakota is a Sioux word meaning friend or ally.
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MotorMouth , January 16, 2011 4:33 PM

The slide out keyboards are a week spot for someone who uses them a lot. Just like the flip phones I used to go through 2 or 3 a year because they wear out. I have an older 8330 the only problem is the trackball just like the old mouse had. I will be upgrading this year an looking for a BB without the trackball.
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MotorMouth , January 16, 2011 4:34 PM

I wish I had an edit button. *weak
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damiano13mg , January 16, 2011 9:11 PM

they need a larger slider like a t-mobile side-kick. then blackberry will be saved.
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poseidon2112 , January 17, 2011 2:46 AM

This seems kind of pointless imo. If you want a phone like this from Blackberry, then the torch seems like a much better option. At least the touchscreen is big enough to be practical. Then, if you need the keyboard, you just slide the phone up.
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danwat1234 , January 17, 2011 4:31 AM

shadowrycheBeen itching to throw my Blackberry in the trash since I got it. Its limits plus Sprint's nerfs are making me wish I went Android like I wanted.

Recycle it @ an E-waste center..
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tayb , January 17, 2011 9:09 AM

I got rid of my BlackBerry several months ago after I hit some ridiculous artificial limitation on email sizes that left me with a "Message truncated due to size" instead of the attachment I needed. This was pretty much the last straw and now I'm an Droid X owner.
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mayankleoboy1 , January 18, 2011 10:25 AM

if bb wants to compete in this next generation of tegra2, it needs to beef up the specs and make better designs
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AndrewMD , January 18, 2011 9:12 PM

I like Blackberry devices, all except the Bold line which use that style keyboard. I would wish RIM would make a high end version of the Curve, since that is the keyboard style I like. I also played with the Torch and did like the layout.

The device does need to grow in size, they should think about making a 4" LCD based model with a slide out (side) keyboard
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anonymous@guest , January 19, 2011 3:16 PM

I am very interested in this new Blackberry. I currently have an HTC Touch Pro 2, but this spends most of its time getting fixed as slide out keyboard keeps giving problems.

BlackBerry Dakota Gets Photographed, Spec'd

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