RIM has unveiled a couple new smartphones today that are said to be the thinnest and most powerful Blackberry devices yet. The two smartphones are also the first to use the new Blackberry 7 OS. The smartphones are the new Blackberry Bold 9900 and 9930.
"The new BlackBerry Bold smartphones and BlackBerry 7 OS are inspired by millions of customers around the world who want the ultimate combination of performance, functionality and style," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion. “These fully-loaded and beautifully crafted smartphones offer a highly refined user experience with blazingly fast performance, a brilliant touch screen and an outstanding typing experience.”
RIM says that the new devices are only 10.5mm thick and that the materials used on the smartphones are optimized for quality and durability. Both smartphones have 1.2GHz processors inside, use new Liquid Graphics Touch screens, and also support 4G HSPA+ mobile networks. The new Liquid Graphics touchscreen is a key new feature of the devices and is powered by Blackberry OS 7 according to RIM. The screen offers responsive touch navigation and is up to the task of mobile gaming too. RIM claims that the screen is good for up to 60 fps performance for video and gaming and the screen has 287dpi.
Of the two new smartphones, the 9900 supports HSPA+ networks and the 9930 supports CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and HSPA + global roaming on GSM/UMTS networks. Both devices also have integrated NFC technology that will let the smartphone be used for mobile payments and a lot more. Other features of the two phones include an integrated compass, APIs to allow the developers to take advantage of the hardware the phone offers, and support for HD video.
Both the 9900 and 9930 share most of the same specifications. The screen is a 2.8-inch unit with a 640 x 480 resolution. They have the QWERTY keyboard that Blackberry devices are famous for and an optical track pad. The smartphones also have 8GB of on board storage, a microSD card slot with support for up to 32GB cards, and a 5-megapixel rear camera. That camera will record 720p video. Other features include 802.11a/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
new Blackberry 7 OS is as big of news as the new hardware. The new OS has improved browsing online, voice-activated searches, and the ability to manage a user's personal content separately from their business content. The new browser in the OS supports HTML5 video and other elements. The browser also has a new JIT JavaScript compiler to speed the loading of web pages.
Another feature of the new OS is BlackBerry Balance, which is the part of the OS that separates personal from business content. That allows the user to have one device for both parts of their life. Balance works along with BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.3 allowing the remote wiping of data on the smartphone if lost or stolen.
