RIM announces the BlackBerry Pearl 3G and Bold 9650

RIM is known for the most popular smartphone aimed at business consumers to date, the BlackBerry. It has become a symbol of business, which also popularized the modern QWERTY keypad. RIM is destined to keep the BlackBerry going, and today RIM did so. 

BlackBerry Bold 9650

The Bold 9650 is the successor to the BlackBerry Tour that is currently on Verizon and Sprint. It adds Wi-Fi and RIM's new optical track pad, which has been seen on newer BlackBerrys, like the Bold2 and Curve 8520. It still has the same size and camera seen on the original Tour. As for specifications, the only difference is that there is 256MB more of internal storage, for a total of 512MB. For now Sprint has announced that they will carry it starting May 23 for $200 on a 2 year contract. As for international carriers, none have been announced yet.

BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100

Quite possibly the biggest announcement today, RIM has announced a successor to the much popular BlackBerry Pearl, which has been overdue for an update. Coming from the name it now includes support for 3G cellular networks, and Wi-Fi with 802.11n connectivity. The Pearl 3G also comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash on the back. WhatSave & Close is the most interesting part of this handset is that it has keyboard layouts: the 20 key SureType keyboard seen on the original Pearl, and a new T9 layout (Which seems very weird for RIM). The Pearl 3G should be coming to AT&T and T-Mobile soon, but wouldn't be surprising if we see it on all 4 carriers here in the US like the first Pearl. No prices or international carriers have been announced yet.

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Comments

[Troy Allen]

Really good article! I understand what you say about the T9 keyboard. I think this decision is aimed at younger people or even people who want a BlackBerry device,but don't want to learn how to reuse the keyboard they know and love, and for people who don't want a full QWERTY keyboard.