Let’s start this off this by stating there’s more to this device than what will be listed. This is just what’s known at this point, although these details have yet to be confirmed as final specifications. One of the BlackBerry 9000 devices will sport a screen with the dimensions of 480 x 320 (or maybe that’s 320 x 480), 1GB of on-board memory, and an Intel XScale PXA270 processor at 624MHz, clocking in slightly faster than the 620MHz ARM 1173 processor found in the iPhone. The BlackBerry 9000 will also sport the dual-threat of GPS and WiFi as well as introducing 3G support (multi-band HSDPA) to the GSM carrier family devices, answering the prayers of many of us. At this point in time, there’s no update to the camera, which remains at 2 megapixels, although we’re hearing there is the possibility of seeing a 3.2 megapixel camera at launch. You all know the drill! Rest of the goodies, after the break!
No features, both software and hardware, that are currently enabled in OS 4.3 and above will be missing from the 9000-series family. This doesn’t rule out a major change in direction for the BlackBerry OS, as there is a strong possibility that what we’ll see in the future will either be completely different, or at least it will look the part of a distant – but more intelligent and handsome – cousin.
Barring a massive breakthrough in pixels per inch capacity in the 480 x 320 resolution, with the obvious increase in real estate, you have to wonder what will become of our beloved keyboard. We have yet to hear any final details in this arena, but this certainly will make for loads of speculation, both on the internet and off-net, of a touch screen or slider device. We’re not holding our breath with regards to the near-term introduction of any non-standard keyboard layouts from Research In Motion, though.
As you might have guessed, there’s no pricing or availability information for this device. If you want our opinion and pure speculation for a release date, based on the information we have, we’d expect this to drop sometime in Q1 – Q2 2008. Bring it, RIM!
