RIM Announces Five New BlackBerry 7 Phones
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion announced plans for the launch of five new BlackBerry smartphones. The company unveiled two new Bolds and three new Torch models, each running the company's new BlackBerry 7 OS.
The two new Bold handsets are recognizable as the previously announced Blackberry Bold 9900, which boasts both a 2.8-inch touchscreen display and a full hardware keyboard, as well as the Bold 9930. Both of the devices will pack NFC support 1.2GHz CPUs, HD video recording and 24-bit high resolution graphics.
Also making their debut today are the new additions to RIM's Torch line, the Torch 9850/9860 and Torch 9810. The 9810 boasts a 3.2-inch touchscreen and, in true Torch style, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Specswise you're looking at a 1.2GHz CPU, 24-bit graphics, HD video recording and a 5-megapixel camera. The 9860 and 9850 offer the largest screen ever on a BlackBerry at 3.7-inches and also pack the same 1.2GHz of processing power as the rest of today's new arrivals. These Torch handsets are interesting in that they're touch only, so keyboard fanatics will want to stay away.
Of course, all of these phones are running on BlackBerry OS 7, which RIM claims is 40 percent faster for browsing than BlackBerry 6-based phones and up to 100 percent faster than browsing on BlackBerry 5 devices. The browser also boasts optimized zooming and panning for smoother web navigation and optimized HTML5 performance for gaming and video experiences. Browsing aside, BB 7 includes the newest edition of BBM, enhanced social features as well more refined phone, email, messaging tools.
RIM says its new line of BlackBerry 7 phones will be available on a range of carriers from the end of the month. Who's interested?
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Would these new phones have skype on them ? or should i stick to the iphone ?
I believe 2 phones would have been enough, one with full keyboard and one touch-only. Instead of 5 different (not so different ) phones they could have crammed these 2 phones with the latest hardware, bring them up to current trend's specs (3.7" screen is small by modern standards) and put the latest OS in them and let them loose. All BB users would have been all over them, because they would have combined the advantages of latest H/W with an OS they're familiar with.
That's my 2 cents. I think putting that kind of money in 5 "almost there" phones instead of 2 or 3 "we're the best" phones was a mistake.
No storm with push button screen with up to date specs.... guess im not so mad i had to get an android after all
though i really miss my storm 2
I think all are a huge improvement over the 9800, especially the UI navigation, browsing, and some of their app integration. Im interested, but im also interested in waiting for the first QNX devices, which im sure will be on par with iOS and Android, but will BlackBerry already be under too much fire at that point by the media to get a good reception? Who knows.
Pfff. Blackberry claimed OS 5 was so much faster. It wasn't. They claimed OS 6 was even faster. It was actually much slower on my less than a year old phone. Jumped off my 6yr old Blackberry ship and onto Android.
The only thing RIM has going for them is security and the BES.
when products like mobile iron become affordable or a larger OEM like Apple or MS develop a cross platform/handset enterprise mgmt solution it will be the nail in the coffin to ol' RIM....
When I saw the title, my first thought was : wow, RIM is now making Windows Phone 7 phones? That's a bold move (no pun intended)! I didn't realize their OS was already 7. I hope they'll have more success than previous phones. The Touch seems particularly interesting.
It's a bit fishy that their only speed comparison is when browsing. What about the UI responsiveness? The apps speed? That's what people are interested in.
RIM's BES is actually set to support iOS and Android in the future believe it or not.
I still have the venerable Storm 2 and am actually pretty happy with it so a new Touch Screen BB is actually appealing. I mostly use my phone for email and messaging so my requirements aren't all that strict.
Until BB can get its app store act together better though I don't see them gaining any market share (and really only losing). They need to redo the store front and find new ways to attract developers to the platform.
Booooorrrrriiinnnggg
No 4G?
6+0.1=7?
until such time as they have full keyboard such as Droid 2, I will not change. They will also need to update their operating system
I want a 5" Strawberry!
"The only thing RIM has going for them is security and the BES."
Actually neither is true anymore. RIM gives out encryption algorithms to any country who asks or be banned from sales, and gmail/exchange servers are just as reliable for push email as BES is, plus you get full HTML emails instead of RIM's crappy unformatted txt.
There is literally nothing beneficial about a blackberry over any phone these days.
I believe 2 phones would have been enough, one with full keyboard and one touch-only. Instead of 5 different (not so different ) phones they could have crammed these 2 phones with the latest hardware
Consider some of those phones will go to specific carriers. Look at Samsung in which the same Galaxy phone has a slightly different body, but same exact guts for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint... so they can claim "Only at&T has the ABC Phone!". Normal business. This is/was same with TVs and VCRs... Best Buy can sell a SONY SLV-541, clame you won't find it lower... because the 541 is only sold by BestBuy, while other stores sold the SLV-540. The difference, maybe a slight color change.
"The only thing RIM has going for them is security and the BES."Actually neither is true anymore. RIM gives out encryption algorithms to any country who asks or be banned from sales, and gmail/exchange servers are just as reliable for push email as BES is, plus you get full HTML emails instead of RIM's crappy unformatted txt. There is literally nothing beneficial about a blackberry over any phone these days.
Just about everything you just said is actually false
Finally some decent effort from RIM. Specs are decent.
These phones as a whole are decent. If they turned a chunky Java OS6 into this, imagine what they can do with QNX. Anyone who knows anything about this industry expects to see RIM fight back and hard. We'll see.
"Just about everything you just said is actually false
. Take it from a guy who administers all of the mentioned platforms effectively. "
Actually I also administer them. We have all 3. I push emails via BES server, Exchange, and of course many of our users use Gmail which we are beginning to integrate and will officially convert to entirely in the next year. The BES server was cool back in 2004 when we got it, but I quickly recognized where the industry was headed once the iphone debuted and have been trying to ditch blackberries completely ever since. It's just an outdated antiquated platform that will ultimately pass. My job is to keep us moving forward, not playing catch up when it's obvious something will die.