Take this one with a grain of salt, but it's looking like our old friend the
BlackBerry Bold 9700 is getting a wee bit of an update. Yesterday evening,
CrackBerry discovered a RIM document that describes a QWERTY-packing, OS 6-rocking "BlackBerry 9780" destined for a GSM carrier near you... and less than 24 hours later, handset sleuth
Salomondrin claims to have the first picture of the device. While we quite honestly
can't tell the difference, the man
who outed the Curve 2 says this device's chrome bezel is a tad darker than the original, and that it'll have 512MB of flash memory when it hits the scene. Of course, this could just be an Bold 9700 with a hacked ROM or a theme of some sort, but we certainly hope not; pepper it up with CDMA, and you've got a shoe-in for the
Curve 3.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
@XChrisX
Pearl = Suretype
Storm = Touchscreen
Bold = Keyboard
Curve = Low End Keyboard, lighter than bold.
It also says the model at the back of the device if you're unable to identify.
Blackberry CEO : "We need a new phone what should we do"
Design Team " Lets just put a little more ram in the same phones and call it a new model"
Blackberry CEO " Sounds good! Won't our customers get mad though?"
Design Team " They are suckers they have bought the same weak phones over and over time and time again, no worries"
@Hydra BlackBerry CEO: Good thing our customers who aren't idiots know that the last two digits in our product numbers indicate variations on the base model and will then know that a 9780 isn't a full new upgrade form the 9700 and can make a decision accordingly about whether they want something truly "new" or if they like the form factor and would be fine with the better internals and new OS
@Hydra
Apple CEO : "We need a new phone what should we do"
Design Team " Lets just put a little more ram in the same phones and call it a new model"
Apple CEO " Sounds good! Won't our customers get mad though?"
Design Team " They are suckers they have bought the same weak phone over and over time and time again, no worries"
@iMiiTH Blackberry phones are so slow compared to all the other phones out in the current market. This you can't dispute, at least all other companies are making innovations, with hardware.
Blackberry hardware is straight out of 1995, the phones are slow , the OS is laggy
@iMiiTH If you think that the differences between a 3g, 3gs and iphone 4 are the same then you sir are a moron. From 3g to 3gs was a huge difference is power and speed and double the ram. It made web browsing a delight compare to the shitty iphone 3g. But i guess your too smart to notice.
@Leindurstit
yawnz, have already pre-ordered a Bold 10000
@Leindurstit
RIM is playing a dangerous game. They are extremely popular with business and social media people. However, this slowness to innovate is going to catch up with them soon. Nobody is saying change the look of your base model, but to have ALL your models basically look the same... BORING. The Storm is the only touchscreen and it sucks.
@Leindurstit
While 512MB of RAM might seem awesome to some, keep in mind that the new OS 6 takes up more than half of that just to run... and that same memory is the same amount used to house your apps.... which is just horrible. Man RIM, you could have future proofed your device a long time ago if you had just put 1 GB of RAM...
If RIM has any chance on making it, they will need to hit the nail on the head with OS6 otherwise I recommend shorting their stock.
@indigo9
thats why your are not on wall street
Looking at the crap is like hitting the snooze button!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
On a serious note, there is no other outfit making its own hardware and software as appealing as Apple.
What's that, opinion?
@One Love
.. a little TOO different for my tastes.
This is only a refresh.... lets compare shell we.... when the iPhone 3G was replaced by the 3Gs it didn't change the look at all, it changed the processor and updated the software, yet is was considered a HUGE deal.... RIM made a similar change in hardware and updated the software (big time)..... this is great news.... why change a great design......
@mariachi7026 The problem appears when you don't ever change the form factor. The iPhone is released once a year. Blackberries release like 20 times each year. 20 of the same handset is never a good thing. That's all. No other company does this. Every other company that releases hardware as much as RIM changes the form factor at least most of the time.
@annoynimous then it woud be OVER 9000
@salane89
oh yeah so every fortune 500 company only thinks they do business the best GTFO troll
Man wtf. Rim I am not gonna continue to be a fan if you release a new model every other month dammit. Some of us have these things called contracts which make it cheaper to get these new devices but that discount is not every other month! Take some time and design a phone like that htc concept emgadget had up last week or so. That thing was incredible
quote: this device's chrome bezel is a tad darker than the original
omg totally MAGICAL.
There's so much innovation going on at RIM up North, I can almost smell it down here in good ol' PA, USA.
The second they upgrade the Bold line like that Magnum prototype by adding a touch screen to it along with the four face buttons, the trackpad, and the full QWERTY, then it's fucking game over. RIM pretty much owns the business market, and they have the consumer market by its neck, even more so then the iPhone or Android. Seriously, go into any college or high school it's Blackberry Curves and Bolds everywhere.
@kenny goo HAHAHAH WHERE THE HELL DO YOU LIVE BRO? every school i know of in my state are full of iphones and androids. what high schooler would use a crackberry?
@EpicBlob
Long Island, New York. It's a lot of kids who used to be on the Sidekick tip, and now that they're not really good anymore people have moved onto the other best QWERTY experience: a Blackberry. There are literally more Blackberrys then their are any one smartphone at my high school. Yea, Android and iPhone are getting bigger and bigger (and Symbian, WebOS, and WinMo are basically non existent), but RIM is still the king here.
They have the best keyboards, best email and texting interfaces, and one of the snappiest, most reliable operating systems out there. That's why they appeal to the consumer market. OS 6 is just going to help that mainstream appeal.
@kenny goo
More like LOST Island...
@giants
Yea, because you're just fucking hysterical.
/sarcasm
Yawn
My friend has been using this since last 2 weeks - he's been testing it for Telus.
@annoynimous ITS OVER 9000!!!!!
wow, if it was 1995 that would be one cool, modern looking phone!!!
When are they gonna wake up and innovate? Seriously I feel sorry for them a bit. Unless you get your phone and services paid by your employer, why would someone invest in them when you have iPhones and Androids out there.
heres to hoping that os6 will run on my tour... but i doubt it
The thing is, with Android and iOS natively supporting corporate email, Enterprise clients are starting to consider these consumer devicws as cheaper serious alternatives to BlackBerry which requires expensive complex infrastructure and trained support staff. The line between corporate and consumer is blurring. RIM needs to seriously reevaluate its business model soon and update its brand, or it will see its market share erode considerably over the next few years. Shoehorning the OS onto clunky touchscreens is not the answer.
@531m
From what I heard, people use BB because of it is more secure in terms of protecting you e-mail content and such from hackers...but that I could be wrong; if so correct me.
@jiffster... You are correct, there is a security appeal to government and certain industries. However Microsoft and IBM have improved security built into their mail servers which is sufficient for many businesses. Apple has also improved security in iOS4, Android lags here.
I have a BB 9700 and LOVE it. Great phone (and yes, it actually works as a phone).
Here's the real issue, and I'm pissed off at RIM for it. I bought the 9700 about 7 months ago, as soon as it was available. It was their flagship device (and arguably, still is). Now they're about to release an OS that WILL NOT WORK ON THAT FLAGSHIP DEVICE. I'm in Canada, so I'm stuck with another 2.5 years on a contract for an obsolete phone.
I've been a loyal BB user for years, and actually chose the 9700 over the iPhone last year. But now I am totally regretting that choice. Apple takes a lot of heat, but at least they have the decency to keep a software upgrade path alive for more than 6 months.
Stats can be deceiving, people are locked into contracts so blackberry will see the hit in 6 mo to a yr
Could we get a fact or two straight here???
BB's sell just the same way Windows does: IT MANAGERS decide that it's "whats best" for the users - or, what keeps them having a job.
As long at it's not the USER that choose, I think it's hard to argue anything based on sales numbers alone.
So, as long as RIM has the right tools for keeping the IT Managers happy (even though it costs more than a new kidney...) who cares? If you want a company phones, most places you need to take what you get...! Even though it sucks big time!
Ohh, and this might come as a surprice to some, but documentation from inside a big fruit company tell that the trend in 5-10 years (maybe even before) is that the role of the companys IT department is changing from "deliver everything from cables to devices" towards "deliver the cloud and the employees bring their own devices" (yes, bring your own favorite laptop/phone/tablet...) !
That means RIM is gonna face a HUGE challange... because BB's REQUIRE an IT department with a complicated infrastructure for it to run... iOS and others does not...
I have a 9700 and I can confirm that the chrome bezel is indeed slightly darker on the 9780.
When they say "QWERTY instead of touchscreen" I get the idea that they were sad. I think its great! I thought that maybe OS6 would only be for touchscreen blackberrys...
@ Engadget. The bold line will ALWAYS be with a keyboard & the Storm line will alway be with a touchscreen. Is it really hard to make the link?
When I saw the new HTC EVO? I thought innovation, when I saw the new Blackberry? I thought New Era.
I'm up for it. I need a newer Bold, my 9700 is great, I really don't want an iPhone, but my kids are pushing it since my Bold is a bit dated, and AT&T still hasn't pushed out 5.0 yet and I don't want to brick my phone with an unauthorized version. So yes I'll go with a Bold with OS 6, sign me up!!
@oldbluetooth Meant Bold 9000, guess I can't type either, but I really Love my Bold, it just needs an update.