BlackBerry 9000 in the wild

Today, Engadget answers the singular question on the mind of everyone out there who's sitting at a solid oak desk in a glass office wearing a suit as they read this: what's up with the next BlackBerry? The rumored BlackBerry 8xxx / 9000 series is getting a lot clearer today, and we're happy to report that RIM's cooking up a beauty to keep its legion of devotees loyal -- and maybe even win a few converts along the way. Head on over to Engadget Mobile for pictures and video of the little beast in action!

[Thanks, BaggedLunch]

[schmitty338 @ Mar 28th 2008 9:22AM]

IMO it looks ugly and less professional than it should....

IMO of course...

[Gorillamonk @ Mar 28th 2008 9:26AM]

its not that bad. It's super curvy, almost sexy.

[schmitty338 @ Mar 28th 2008 10:50AM]

Wow...I guess people do not realize that comments are meant for readers to express their opinions, which is all I have done above; I guess now I must refrain from expressing my opinion lest I be, god-forbid, ranked down *GASP*.

[packetsniffer @ Mar 28th 2008 11:10AM]

Your comment was ranked low because people didn't like what you had to say, not because people believe you shouldn't be allowed to voice your opinion. Why should your opinions should be immune from criticism?

[Nabil @ Mar 28th 2008 11:30AM]

Actually it looks really nice...This is the beauty queen of all past blackberry phones.

Plus, looks don't matter when you need to use your BB to destroy Valarie Plame's career.

[Brian @ Mar 28th 2008 11:46AM]

Yeah, it's amazing isn't it? I say I don't like the way it looks too, and BAM I get hit for a low rating. I personally only vote negatively when someone makes an idiotic statement or is argumentative. But hey, this is the internet - everything's fair game, right? I know that right now, someone is clicking that minus sign!

[Matt M @ Mar 28th 2008 1:21PM]

WhoTF cares about ranking? OMG I got ranked down! Oh no! What do I do now?

IMO The one on the far right looks a bit too much like the i(can't)Phone with the whole silver around the edges. There's a couple other phones that copied that style as well. LAME!

RIM was right to change up the style a little bit but very very wrong to take design cues from the i('m locked in a two year contract with crappy coverage)Phone.

[James Cameron @ Mar 28th 2008 2:23PM]

I find it kinda weird seeing one of my coworker carrying one of these type of phone. It's look like he was talking into his calculator.

[craig @ Mar 28th 2008 2:42PM]

The comment system is for readers to express their opinions. The comment ranking feature is for readers to express their opinions of other readers' comments. What's so hard to understand? Why do you think your opinions should be welcome and others should refrain from expressing their opinions of your opinions?

Perhaps if your "opinion" did have the appearance of an agenda being expressed then you might not have gotten such a low ranking. I ranked you low for your comment seeming stupid and arbitrary.

[schmitty338 @ Mar 28th 2008 4:25PM]

"IMO it looks ugly and less professional than it should....

IMO of course...
"

How is that stupid an arbitrary? Furthermore, how does that have even a semblance of an 'agenda'? I don't have any apple products, or RIM products or anything, the look just doesn't appeal to me, no agenda here.

Also, I view the ranking system as a means of ranking the quality and appropriateness of a comment, NOT whether I agree with it or not; i.e. If somebody makes a comment that I don't agree with, but it perfectly apt, then why would I rank them down?

More importantly, I really, REALLY couldn't care less how my comments are ranked, just just thought it interesting how people use the ranking system differently, which, of course, everybody is free to do. ;-)

[h8rain @ Mar 28th 2008 9:27AM]

The one on the right looks familiar........... :D If it had a touchscreen keyboard, then it would look like....ummm... Oh nevermind, I must be mistaken.

[Jon Kit @ Mar 28th 2008 10:16AM]

Yeah definitely mistaken. I remember a little while ago someone asked RIM Jim what he thought of Apple's iPhone as a competitor and he hardly even acknowledged it existed. I think his quote was, "Apples are a good source or fibre." Something like that. So he clearly doesn't know what the iPhone is.

[Pradster @ Mar 28th 2008 10:52AM]

I agree, as much as i hate all the folks who shout out iphone ripoff at the first sight of the touchscreen, this one does resemble the apple product because of the chrome outlines and the black body.
A good way to tell your customers of your competitor, but Bad bad design differentiator.
Other than that, it looks pretty cool....but reminds me too much of the iphone!

[Jeff @ Mar 28th 2008 9:04PM]

word.

that's exactly what i thought.

[Nate @ Mar 28th 2008 9:29AM]

I don't like this. The phone itself looks OK. But, looking at the video of the UI, it seems to me that RIM is half-assing it.

It looks like the same, tired, Blackberry OS, with a new theme.

[Anonymoose @ Mar 28th 2008 9:59AM]

kind of makes you wonder when BB becomes the palm in terms of market outlook/opinion/anger/disgust

[Christian Martin @ Mar 28th 2008 1:43PM]

Have you ever had to tell a bunch of holier-than-thou executives that they need to relearn to use their phone?

[Nate @ Mar 28th 2008 4:16PM]

I get that, but all of the talk was that RIM would have some revolutionary new UI.

This, obviously, is not that.

[PS3guy @ Mar 28th 2008 9:33AM]

I'll take the one in the middle lol.

[Zal @ Mar 28th 2008 9:41AM]

Yay, 3G finally!

[Sebastien @ Mar 28th 2008 5:29PM]

I hope the device will be more usable than their previous 3G model (BB8707)

[alegria690 @ Mar 28th 2008 7:29PM]

is it 3g.. thats al I care about... maybe gps too

[The New Guy @ Mar 28th 2008 9:45AM]

Yeah, not very impressive.
I was expecting a full screen. Half screens are so 2007.
Why would i buy this for $400~$500 when i can get an HTC or iPhone with exchange for same price and bigger screens and the HTC even has a nice comfy slide out keyboard.

Yeah, i was expecting an iphone killer, but this doesn't seem like it's going to compete well in the non-business consumer market.

[trumpton @ Mar 28th 2008 1:45PM]

Half screens are very much 2008 if you get a proper keyboard thrown in rather than a clumsy, awkward and unpleasant to use virtual job.

[The New Guy @ Mar 28th 2008 2:05PM]

Naw man, HTC has those slide out full keyboard. They are even bigger than the Blackberry/Palm keyboards. Good for men with big fingers.

[initialxy @ Mar 28th 2008 9:47AM]

according to my info, the 9000 was pretty much ready. but the rim CEO played with the iPhone and ordered developers to dramatically reweite some parts of the new OS. so the 9000 isn't gonna be released any time soon. just a rumour i heard in waterloo.

[Jacob @ Mar 28th 2008 10:03AM]

wonderfly how they completely copied off the iphone in aesthetics. curves aroudn the ednges with a chrome frame? come on... seriously EVERYONE needs to STOP copying apple and grow some creative balls for once.

[fred @ Mar 28th 2008 11:05AM]

"wonderfly how they completely copied off the iphone in aesthetics. curves aroudn the ednges with a chrome frame? come on... seriously EVERYONE needs to STOP copying apple and grow some creative balls for once."

It is just plain sad about the sorry state of Apple fans these days.

I almost want to think that you were just making an attempt at humor. Something like a parody of what some whack out Apple nut would say. But I remember that they are just this stupid and that you might just be the real deal.

[SeditioN VII @ Mar 28th 2008 2:11PM]

Fred ...You are either blind, or ignorant. And I DOUBT you're using a brail keyboard ...wonder how your math skills are?

[Jacob @ Mar 28th 2008 2:27PM]

Fred, you went to great lengths and used the fullest potential of your wit in an attempt to insult me (in which you have failed) yet you give no reason as to why you think Apple fans are stupid. So for now I will assume this as a copy/paste template in your personal hobby as an online antagonizer.

[fred @ Mar 28th 2008 2:49PM]

"Fred, you went to great lengths and used the fullest potential of your wit in an attempt to insult me (in which you have failed) yet you give no reason as to why you think Apple fans are stupid. So for now I will assume this as a copy/paste template in your personal hobby as an online antagonizer."

Um, ok.

Here is the simple reason.

You, as an Apple fan, did what you do best when you see a product that isnt from that company. You go and try to find something to say that they "copied" from Apple, and thus, in the mind of the average Apple fanatic, committed a crime against humanity and therefore you have "proven" how "terrible" this device, and the company that made it are.

Is it anything profound? No. It is a cartoonish reply that people are used to seeing from you guys these days. It is to the point where people would think that when someone posted it that they were trying an attempt at humor and not actually making a serious point. But as we see you were actually being serious that a black phone with silver trim is a total "ripoff" of the iPhone. Nevermind that that it is 99.99999% different in functionality, and not to mention that big keyboard, that darn silver trim just sealed the deal.

[Jacob @ Mar 28th 2008 2:59PM]

Well i specified in terms of aesthetics. It is relevant in this instance since the Blackberry 9000 is a direct response and competition to the iPhone. So when this direct compeition has a striking resemblance when placed next to an iPhone, one has to wonder hmmm. I guess the correct response from an Apple fan should've been flattery, since imitation is considered the highest form of it.

[chickenator @ Mar 28th 2008 10:04AM]

i thought that the most right one is a KIRF...nevermind...

[moophisto @ Mar 28th 2008 10:06AM]

interface looks like a mix of android with ps3/psp wavy bg :]

[CrucialBT @ Mar 28th 2008 11:05AM]

yeah, my first thoughts of the one on the right were "oh, look at that. RIM is mimicking sony's XMB interface"

[Skullgrl @ Mar 28th 2008 10:11AM]

Ok, well, I like it but I don't use my blackberry for business purposes. I think they're trying to appeal more to their portion of subscribers that are average consumers. Like myself and I use mine to organize my life, and chat with the people that are close to me. The organization is the reason I got a blackberry (otherwise most other phones would've been fine). I like my electronics pretty and functional. Though I will happily sacrifice pretty for more function.

(I have the curve in the dark grey colour. You know the 8310.)

[Jay @ Mar 28th 2008 10:20AM]

YEAH NOT TOO SHABBY LOOKING... IS IT SNAPPIER?

[packetsniffer @ Mar 28th 2008 10:37AM]

STOP YELLING.

[packetsniffer @ Mar 28th 2008 10:36AM]

Wow... Color me impressed. This almost makes me want to get a Blackberry.

[darin @ Mar 28th 2008 10:46AM]

It looks like it has the same crap keyboard I hate on my 8800. :(

[Longhorn @ Mar 28th 2008 10:48AM]

Sex. Uhhhhhhh.

[jperry @ Mar 28th 2008 11:00AM]

That's sexy. Verizon needs to get that soon. I'll drop the Voyager for that.

[SeditioN VII @ Mar 28th 2008 2:13PM]

Either Verizon is gunna have to convert to GSM then, or you're gunna have to wait the usual year or so for RIM to release a CDMA version.

[madgunde @ Mar 28th 2008 11:11AM]

*COUGH* iPhone envy *COUGH*

[Ellianth @ Mar 28th 2008 11:23AM]

Why would anyone envy a device that tries to keep it's users in a pen. I know I don't envy buying devices then being treated like I'm renting it rather than owning it.

[chickenator @ Mar 28th 2008 11:38AM]

but it is

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 28th 2008 5:49PM]

If you ever wonder why people have such hatred toward Macheads, this would be why. When the iPhone was finally released, several people mentioned that it seemed to have taken a lot of design cues from the BlackBerry 8800. The glossy black and chrome styling, the way the icons were laid out, the way Google Maps worked it was all kind of reminiscent of the 8800. Dutiful Macheads all started shouting about how insane any comparison was, because the iPhone had no keyboard, it didn't use a trackball, it had a totally different market, and in no way had anything in common with the BlackBerry.

Cut forward a year, and RIM releases their next device following in the same direction the Pearl and 8800 did, and suddenly all the idiot Macheads are claiming that Apple now owns chrome and black, and claiming that all those elements that were totally dissimilar between the 8800 and the iPhone, are ripped off completely from the iPhone in the new device. It really is fairly pathetic how you guys really have to believe that everything in the world is ripped off from Apple, even when you have it completely backwards. You do realize that Apple is the one trying to catch up to RIM in the market, not the other way around, right? The huge announcement of SDK and enterprise support will give the iPhone (later this year) the functionality a BlackBerry had 5 years ago. RIM isn't the one desperately scrambling to sell 10 million handhelds to try an keep up with the iPhone, they already outsell it, and have since the thing came out.

[haX0r @ Jun 21st 2008 6:46PM]

iPhone fanboys think they are the shit with investing the first touch screen phone (NOT). You Fanboys never heard of LG's Prada???

DUH, it was released before your beloved iPhone: http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/lg-ke850-prada-unlocked/4505-6452_7-32316442.html

So you can't claim that you invented the interface, you just copied it from LG!

Now take your sorry ass iPhone and try to type me a long message on it with two hands without hitting the other keys.

[Ellianth @ Mar 28th 2008 11:21AM]

"Head on over to Engadget Mobile for pictures and video of the little beast in action!"

Damn you! Now I have to make an extra click. How come iphone articles don't require going to another site (especially the redundant ones)?

Small thing to complain about but it needs saying. Sorry. I'll give cookies to anyone who doesn't rank me low.

[Christian Martin @ Mar 28th 2008 1:41PM]

I'll take a box of Thin Mints, please.