RIM has an interesting reputation in the trade show world: it rarely makes any announcements of interest or consequence during events, but if you look hard enough, you still might just find something juicy. Last year's CES, for example, briefly saw a Curve 8900
mysteriously running AT&T-branded firmware, which we now know foretold a release several months later. This year's shindig in Vegas proved to be a little less bombastic -- or so we thought, anyway, until a dude cleaning out his camera's memory card noticed that Case-Mate (of all companies) allegedly had an unannounced
Curve 8910 chilling in its booth. It's pretty common for manufacturers to give valued accessory partners some prototypes ahead of time to make sure there are plenty of add-ons available by the time a device is released, they just don't usually... you know, put those prototypes out at a booth for everyone to enjoy. We actually
stopped by Case-Mate this year and didn't catch the 8910, but we don't know how long it was actually out -- and besides, telling the difference between this and a Bold 9700 takes a Mike Lazaridis-like understanding for the subtle differences in RIM's industrial design. Next year, though, be on notice, guys: we'll be scanning your kiosks with a fine-tooth comb.
posted January 25th 2010 1:22PM
@Solidstate89 that just shows how the black and grey corporate suits truly live in a dull and dreary black and grey world. That's all.
@NeoSeer
You do know that RIM has a huge consumer presence too, right?
@NeoSeer I'm anything but a businessman and I can't live without my BlackBerry. They're built durable and put funtionality first. I'm hoping mine survives its fall on the pavement into a puddle today. :(
yah great! more blackberry. Where is my strawberry?
@allenade Thanks for that completely nonsensical statement.
On another note - compared with some of RIM's latest offerings, that thing is damn ugly! No wonder they told us to pay no attention to the phone behind the curtain...
@Alasdair Keep in mind that this is a picture of it wearing a Case-Mate case.
@mbadawy Ahhh, my bad! Forgot about that little detail. In that case, I'd like to mirror ljm's comment below on it pushing the design boundaries for BlackBerries to their absolute edge XD
@mbadawy There isn’t much information on the phone just yet, but it will probably be running BlackBerry OS 5.0. The 8910 has also shown up at the Bluetooth SIG certification, so that’s some sort of confirmation on the device. It'll be cool if this one will be release on Asia as well. More details: http://bit.ly/blackberry-8910-more-details
I can never really tell whats new when a new Blackberry is released. It seems like they release the same version of a phone over and over again. I'm sure that's not the case. Its just so non exciting when they release.
@Grape Drink
You must be crazy and/or blind...this is a ground breaking, paradigm shifting design!
@ljm
Hah....What was I thinking?!
@Grape Drink Totally agree, and ppl can sent my comment into the Oblivion, but how the hell can anyone tell what's a new berry from the existing ones... you'd thought they would change it up a bit.. but boy do they over play the word subtlety. RIM should adapt the Nokia Maemo strategy - stick to ONE BB per year and make it the best all around. ppl love their keyboards so build on that and throw in WiFi and camera and GSP instead of spreading them out (that shit don't flow anymore with these new HTC, and Fruity phones around and still coming)
@Grape Drink - I have two thoughts on that. 1: is that if something works and keeps on working then don't mess with it. 2: is that it hasn't done Apple any harm. I can't see any real difference from their first gen phone to their last release, and it hasn't done them any harm.
RIM just suffers from a history of being a business only tool - but in all honesty I think their Curve broke that enough for us to maybe start looking at them as maybe the option for consumers who just use email more than media player.
@Rebajas - Maybe I could get another maybe in that last sentence...? Would go back and edit, but you know...
@Rebajas i see your point. so maybe there should be a well-defined category called Business Phones. and leave all those designed for do-it-all as Smartphones. with so much phones out there these lines should be drawn more clearly so consumers would get a much better idea on what suits them the best IMO.
@Rebajas Yeah, I get that. And I don't think they should make wholesale changes or anything. They are highly evolved devices. I get it.
I just think their releases could capture more mind share if better planned.
When I see a new Blackberry release on engadget, I just scroll right through it. Except for this one of course ;)
@Grape Drink I can never really tell whats new when a new iPhone is released. It seems like they release the same version of a phone over and over again. I'm sure that's not the case. Its just so non exciting when they release.
How IS this different from a Bold 9700? The only difference I can see the small red markings on the control in the center. Is that it?
@Devotpohats well, if you look at the current line of BB devices, the curve has EDGE only, whereas the bold has 3G. this 8910 looks like its just a curve upgraded with a trackpad versus a trackball
@chop Sure, but I mean visually, how did they identify this as being something other than a Bold 9700? If all we have to go on is the picture, how was it spotted? The little red things?
@Devotpohats
The keyboard is the traditional Curve style, many users prefer it to the new style keyboards found on the Tour and Bold 9700.
@Devotpohats This is an EDGE only deviced thats optomised for battery life and developing nations who use mostly EDGE.
Curve and Bold/Tour keyboards are different. Bold/Tour have the fretted style while the Curve series has the "classic" BB keyboard. The form factors are also different (including screen size) and internals usually. Curves are generally weaker have and lower screen resolution.
Post has been taken down. I think Crackberry is on to something.
C'mon! Is RIM carrying it forward here? I mean, really. The sooner MS buys them out of desperation, the better.
Found anything?
Not yet sir.
How bout you guys?
Not a thing sir.
How bout you two?
We ain't found shit!
While I'm a big BB fan, and purchased the Bold 9700 when it first released, these phones really do need some jazzing up. Keep the form factor, keep the keyboard, but there's gotta be something that can be done with the software.
@superdx you know...i just migrated to a bold 9700..first branded carrier phone in years, and i thought the same thing at first. but once i got down to figuring it out completely...i realized its perfectly fine. blackberry isnt about a total user experience like some of its competitors (android, iphone...etc), the way things are placed, and the way things are integrated are perfect. everything just works and ive left it at that
@superdx BlackBerry: Functionality > Aesthetics
Yawn, blackberry's are boring they need to spruce up thier OS and update it big time, it's looks ancient compared to the other smartphones.
Blackberrys are great for business and have a solid os, but why do all their phones look the same? Yea theY tried their hand in the touch screen market and well we all know how that turned out.