Images of production BlackBerry Curve 8520 aka Gemini surface

By on May 1, 2009 at 5:45 PM
General May 1, 2009

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the much-rumored BlackBerry Curve 8520, codenamed Gemini, but there’s no question that when it rains it pours. We showed you what now appears to be an early prototype back in March and gave you some preliminary specs, but it looks like quite a few things have changed since that image was snapped. Namely, it got itself an optical trackball. CrackBerry got a hold of some new shots and this little guy could definitely be shaping up to give 8900 owners a healthy dose of buyer’s remorse. Beyond what we’ve already reported — and the optical ball of course — the Curve 8520 is going to hit the streets with dedicated media buttons, Curve branding and a rubberized finish surrounding the metal battery cover. It will indeed lack 3G as we reported but maybe the allure of an optical trackball is enough to compensate. Hit the jump for a few more shots.

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  • rederikus

    RIM has done it again. What a fantastic device. I want one. The software will hopefully be as reliable as the 8900 and with no 3G, battery life will be good and data transmission consistent.

    RIM’s UI is truly excellent and with all their devices being the same to oprate, large corporations can move to the 8250 with ease.

    I am dying to get my hands on the new traclball/mouse/whatever to see how well it works.

  • Jeremy

    Samsung Epix anyone? Why the hell would anyone want an optical trackball? Sounds like poop to me.

  • Jeeverz

    9900 Pluto I await thee. But the optical trackball is one helluva feature that would really attract me to purchase a device like such. i still love my bold <3

  • albertwesker

    Subscribe post

  • Galvatron

    you would think they would have a crackberry that has a UMTS frequncy for TMOS 3 g frequency.

  • former-crackberry addict

    i definitely dig this

  • Rob

    Is the 8520 wider than the Curve 8900? I like that the keyboard is similar to my old 8700. I really think that is Rim’s best keyboard. Do we have any shot of an update anytime soon? I would give up 3g for a rugged blackberry that is a little wider than the 8900.

  • joecurve

    I don’t understand why RIM didn’t go with the new 8900/storm/tour look, instead they opted for the old 8300 look on the top earpiece area.
    Looks like they want have multi-design devices to please any1′s taste.

  • Uncle Bernie

    How many damn curves are there? no wonder rim is losing. tiny little changes to tiny little keys is not innovation.

  • sean76

    Well I guess at&t is out also! Remember a while back that is was reported that they wouldn’t be droping any new divices without 3G? And not for nothing how late are they to bring the new Curve 8900 to the masses! Anyway, looks decent! But a step back in my book if RIM drops this without 3G.

  • David

    The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t last. It is bound to fail, as all things are; it’s just a matter of time. If RIM doesn’t innovate sometime soon, it will be heading down a very similar path to Palm before it woke up and started innovating. The consumer tech industry moves very quickly, and there is no room for companies sitting on their ass doing nothing new.

  • tron

    What, no flash for the camera??

  • MichaelSF

    Of course this all depends on what RIM is doing in the market. In 2007 it was estimated that there are in the U. S. 195 million cell phone consumer users and there were about less than 20 million business users. (As I recall, RIM had about 6 million accounts and with the introduction of the Pearl it went up to 10 million). But don’t hold me to those numbers.

    Anyway, I know that RIM made a decision to drink from the consumer user well, hence their introduction of multi-media smartphones.

    But they also intend to keep their business users, who do not give a rip about multi-media capabilities. (Hence the stripped down models.)

    So I have to wonder if there’s something about making non-3G phones, so to keep the business user. For example, my understanding is that feature laden smartphones are less secure than the models that have few features. Another example, government users want phones without cameras, so that the phone can be taken into secure areas.

    So that is why RIM keeps making what appear to those 195 million users as outdated phones. But to the business and government user the phones are exactly what they want.

  • http://davidthande.blogspot.com David Thande

    Free BlackBerry software
    http://www.the-wongs.net/chris/bb/index.html

    Best thing is these apps are small so they don’t take a lot of onboard memory.

  • MichaelSF

    Just for the record, I loved my T-Mo BlackBerry 7100t, Pearl 8100, 8120, and Curve. But with no T-Mo 3G and limited BB apps, I had to move to the G1.

    Truth be told, I totally miss my RIM e-mail push service. But after using the G1 I can’t go back to a T-Mo BlackBerry.

    When I access law-related websites, the 3G speed makes all the difference in the world. And the full display makes viewing easy as I have poor vision. (No way I can go back to a Curve-sized display).

    If T-Mobile comes out with a 3G BlackBerry phone, with a full display and slider keyboard, I’ll be back. :)

    Come on T-Mo, if they can do it in Japan (with the quad-band 3G Bold), they can do it here.

  • cmackenzie

    has anyone noticed that they keys have a BB 8700 look to them or is it just me????

  • B Fisher

    Get a clue! RIM will be around longer than you

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