Is this the BlackBerry 9xxx?

Just in case you'd been getting tired of iPhone rumors, Zune 2 leaks, and more Centro "in the wild" shots than you can really stomach, we've got something to alleviate the pressure. Enter the Photoshopped yet appropriately-blurry, rumored next phase of the Research In Motion takeover... the BlackBerry 9xxx. Okay, adjust your eyeballs and listen up -- according to the Boy Genius Report, the new device is slated to launch sometime in early 2008, and will be delivering mouth-watering goods like HSDPA-ified 3G, a 600Mhz processor, and an integrated backup / restore function which should help keep the suits from sweating themselves out of their expensive leather office chairs. Of course, this is all deeply, deeply unconfirmed at the moment, though the Boy Genius says he has a source. We suggest taking it with a grain of salt -- but feel free to dream.

[fischju @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:53PM]

Damn, that is a horrible excuse for a photoshop.....

[john @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:56PM]

How do you like them apples?!

[John @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:57PM]

with, apparently, a grain of salt.

[Tony C @ Oct 4th 2007 8:28AM]

Grain of salt? How about a boulder?

This thing looks like such a bad photochop, it's not funny. And the specs -- 600MHz proc, simultaneous voice & data, in one of their mobile phones? In *anyone's* phone would be big enough news. Is RIM truly, madly, deeply trying to get full fledged PDA functionality into one of their devices?

And Blackberries are known for their hard key thumb boards, why would they all of a sudden take the full frontal touchscreen route when they've never ventured into it before? When they've never even had a touch interface at all, everything has been physical, tactile, thumbwheels, buttons and teeny-tiny trackballs?

[enzo @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:00PM]

A Blackberry without tactile buttons makes as much sense as Steve Ballmer choosing an 80gb iPod classic over the Zune 80.... maybe it's a slider?

[imacmatt09 @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:06PM]

The Zune 2 tag is linked to Engadget Mobile. I didn't know it was a phone too.....

[webon @ Oct 4th 2007 12:06AM]

mobile means to move, meaning not just phones, me thinks

[Paul @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:12PM]

A blackberry with no real buttons? That's impossible

[Tony C @ Oct 4th 2007 8:31AM]

More like... INCONCEIVABLE!!! =D

[darkstar @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:17PM]

time to buy some more RIMM!!!!

[jg @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:18PM]

If they want to make a touchscreen blackberry they can take some tips from LG's Voyager. Touchscreen and qwerty make for awesomeness.

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:22PM]

I have a Cingular Blackberry that I get with my technology teacher job ( I don't pay a dime for nights, weekends, or minutes).

I perfer the Blackberry to be hard and have buttons so that typing feels like typing.

The Iphone is nowhere near the text-messaging, emailing capabilities of the Blackberry.

[Constable Odo @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:23PM]

The only true contender for the iPhone crown. It's feature list will be as long as an NBA player's arm length. (WiFi, 3G, WiMAX, GPS, A2DP Bluetooth, VoIP, playback of WMV, H.264, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, Flash videos, 16 GB memory slot, voice control, touch control, mind control) It will run 100 third-party applications at once. It will function on every network in the world. Not only will it sync wirelessly, it will also charge wirelessly. It will have everything that everybody wants in a handset. All for the outright price of about $350 but free with a two-year contract.

It will only lack the two most important features in a revolutionary handset. The Apple logo and Steve's blessing.

[Alex Padilla @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:29PM]

what?

[TKWarrior @ Oct 4th 2007 12:50AM]

Wow man, pass the pipe! That must be some good stuff.

[Jon @ Oct 4th 2007 4:23AM]

I didn't even know the Iphone had a crown. What did they did to deserve such a thing?

[riggs @ Oct 4th 2007 8:30AM]

hypnotize millions it seems.

[yoyodude64 @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:30PM]

no one has mentioned it yet but...if you look closely at the photo displayed on the regular engadget page,where white meets black on the screen, the t-mobile branding can just be made out. look for it...guess no real high speed on this baby

[yoyodude64 @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:33PM]

nvm it disapeared? lol

[Dan Parmelee @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:45PM]

BlackBerry with a touchscreen? Whaaaaaaaa?

I hope they can maintain the amazing battery life the Curve has. My fear is that with all these new features, the battery will not last long...that would seriously deter me from buying one.

[ryan @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:51PM]

I've never seen THAT iPhone before! :-0

/sarcasm

[Argot @ Oct 4th 2007 8:38AM]

No, an iPhone looks more like a brick, and also it's less useful.

[tande @ Oct 4th 2007 12:01AM]

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2007/10/03/blackberry-9000-whispers-in-our-ear/

"On Oct 3, 2007 @ 11:53 am, The Boy Genius Said:

No, this is not a real picture of the BlackBerry 9xxx series…Although, we have heard RIM might be working on a touch-screen device…"

[J @ Oct 4th 2007 7:35AM]

I was about to post this. Everyone -- take a look at above comment. This picture is NOT EVEN CLOSE to the 9xxx.

[webon @ Oct 4th 2007 12:13AM]

PALM where the heck are you?????

[jimimac @ Oct 4th 2007 12:50AM]

So far the only company that has come out with anything that can really be an iPhone-killer is Craftsman with their new ten pound sledgehammer.

[TKWarrior @ Oct 4th 2007 12:57AM]

U might want to check out Nokia's and HTC's websites sometime for starters…

But you're right, with no clear native 3rd party app support in the foreseeable future, a sledgehammer is just as useful as an iPone AS A SMARTPHONE.

[linkman2004 @ Oct 4th 2007 1:21AM]

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/6742/blackberrylb7.jpg

I like my photoshop better. ;)

[riggs @ Oct 4th 2007 8:33AM]

even michael j fox has a better handle on the paint brush than you do.

[Elliot @ Oct 4th 2007 7:45AM]

an iPhone and a productivity device? (i cummed)

[Andrew Koyfman @ Oct 4th 2007 10:28AM]

Hard to beleive the news - it would be a complete about face for blackberry. Not half a year ago, their CEO was saying how much the iPhone sucks because of poor battery life, and how blackberry gave up on the idea of a touch keyboard as impractical...