By Last week has been a full week for Blackberry’s press department. They’ve released information and full specs for 3 of their newest models. Also we got hold of some leaked data and photos.
RIM is very good at making messaging phones, there’s no question about that. But it seems that, the “little chat” between the bosses of Blackberry and Apple, has turned into a full-on war. Blackberry released a month ago the RIM Playbook, a tablet meant to compete with the Apple Ipad. And now they’re trying to make a statement with 3 new smartphones.
BlackBerry Torch 2
The first model announced is the next Blackberry Torch, the Torch 2. Changes will be made only on the inside, because from the pictures we can tell the shape remains the same along with the 3.2” VGA display.
On the inside, though, there’s a completely different story. The processor is twice as faster, now offering 1.2GHz of computing power. It will also have 8GB of internal storage, 521MB RAM, Wi-Fi, GPS, digital compass, a 5 megapixel camera and a NFC chip.
The NFC chip comes as a surprise, a short time after Google has launched its version on the NEXUS S. We think they took the right decision, by choosing to implement NFC (NearFieldComunication), after all this is a very handy piece of technology.
There is no word yet about when the phone will be released. We only know its going to happen sometime in the 3rd semester of 2011.
BlackBerry Curve Apollo
Next up we have the Blackberry Curve Apollo. This is Blackberry’s idea of a budget phone. It will be a Curve series smartphone and one of the company’s cheapest phones on sale.
If you want a classic Blackberry this is the phone to buy. It preserves the traditional looks that we are so familiar with. The specs have been bumped up and now even the “smallest” member of the Blackberry has plenty to offer. It has a HVGA display (480 x 320 pixels), an 800 MHz CPU, 512MB RAM, Wireless N standard, GPS and of course the new NFC chip. We also know that it will have a 5MP camera with flash support and will be only 11mm thick.
That’s quite the upgrade from the previous Curve generation.
BlackBerry Storm 3
Another member of the family will be the Blackberry Storm 3. And it looks like Blackberry is working very hard to maintain they’re prestige. This new phones sound really good on paper, so let’s hope that Blackberry will also deliver.
It uses the same 1.2GHz processor that can be found in the Torch 2. It packs 512MB of RAM, a 5MP camera (able to record 720p videos), 8GB of storage space, Wireless N, GPS, magnetometer, accelerometer and Bluetooth 2.1. The screen measures 3.7” and it will have the biggest resolution they’ve ever used in a phone, 800 x 480 pixels. There’s also a microSD card slot and a proximity sensor.
This should give the phone plenty of power, because we found out there will be support for the OpenGL ES 2.0. In addition to this, Storm 3 will also support the 3G hotspot feature.
Launch date is still unknown. It should be on sale sometime around September.
All 3 phones will run the latest Blackberry 6.1 OS.
It remains to be seen how much of an impact will these new models have on the market and if Blackberry can compete with all the new dual-core phones that are going to be launched this year.