The BlackBerry smartphone collection just got a few new additions
Research in Motion announced in a press release that it is releasing 5 new smartphones -- two models of the BlackBerry Bold with physical keyboard, and three models of the touchscreen-only BlackBerry Torch -- on over 225 worldwide carriers.
Notably, the Torch 9810 will be the first 4G BlackBerry--though as Engadget points out, "that asterisk upside the "4G" logo couldn't possibly be more telling." In other words, some restrictions apply and most wireless providers' 4G networks are still being built out.
All of the new phones will run on the new BlackBerry OS 7, which RIM is fairly excited about: It "incorporates HTML 5 capabilities", and RIM says that BlackBerry 7 is up to 40 percent faster at page loads than BlackBerry 6, and up to 100 percent faster than BlackBerry 5. The new smartphones will also come standard with BlackBerry's previously-premium Documents To Go doc editing suite and PDF viewer, as well as the popular BBM real-time messaging service.
Both the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Bold 9930 were announced by RIM in May 2011 at its BlackBerry World Event in Orlando. The Bold is the thinnest of the BlackBerry smartphones at 10.5mm (the iPhone 4 is 9.5mm, for comparison) and comes loaded with NFC (Near Field Communication) capability, which allows the owner to transfer information wirelessly from his or her phone. It has a physical keyboard and touchscreen and looks most like the businessman's BlackBerry most people probably associate with the company.
The difference between the two models is in the network: The 9900 is connective to HSPA+, while the 9930 is more friendly for world travelers, with both dual-band CDMA and quad-band GSM.
There are two new BlackBerry Torch models to look at here. First is the 9810, an update to the 9800, with a slide-out keyboard and touchscreen combo. It has a 3.2-inch display and RIM claims it is faster than its predecessor and "more fluid with high performance hardware features."
The BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860 is all touchscreen. The 3.7-inch display screen is the "largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone" and it will also operate on AT&T's 4G network.
RIM says its new BlackBerry smartphones will be released to the public in late August, following a summer of delays for this line of phones. For now, feast your eyes on the new phones from BlackBerry:
