It’s not a big shocker, seeing how Rogers has already let the cat out of the bag, that Research in Motion has officially announced the BlackBerry Curve 3G. The Curve 3G has a 2MP camera, 256MB of memory, a 320×240 display, and ships with OS 5, however, is said to be BlackBerry 6 ready. (Maybe there is still hope for the BlackBerry Storm2)
RIM Introduces the New BlackBerry Curve 3G Smartphone
New addition to the globally popular BlackBerry Curve series is fast, easy-to-use, richly-featured and BlackBerry 6 ready
Waterloo, Ontario – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the new BlackBerry® Curve™ 3G, an exciting addition to the globally popular BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones. Designed to provide the growing mass of smartphone purchasers with a distinctly powerful, approachable and affordable choice, the supports high-speed 3G (HSDPA) networks around the world and gives users the exceptional communications features they need to accomplish more than ever, when they’re at home, at work and everywhere in-between.
“The majority of people in the worldwide mobile phone market have yet to buy their first smartphone and the BlackBerry Curve 3G is designed to provide an extremely attractive and accessible choice that will help convince many of them to make the leap,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The new BlackBerry Curve 3G is a perfect choice for happily busy people who are looking for a user-friendly 3G smartphone to help them make the most of their day and to stay connected with their friends, family and co-workers.”
The BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone features a comfortable full-QWERTY keyboard for fast, accurate typing, optical trackpad for fluid navigation, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi®, as well as dedicated media keys, so music lovers can easily access their tunes while on the go. The new smartphone also features a camera that can record video and a microSD/SDHC slot that supports up to 32 GB memory cards for media storage. Support for 3G networks makes browsing faster, streaming music smoother, and gives users the ability to talk on the phone while they browse the web, instant message with BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) or share their location with friends on popular social networking sites.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G ships with BlackBerry® 5 and is BlackBerry® 6 ready. BlackBerry 6 is a new operating system for BlackBerry® smartphones that was announced last week. It retains the trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh and engaging experience that is both powerful and easy to use. BlackBerry 6 is expected to be available for the BlackBerry Curve 3G, subject to carrier certifications, in the coming months.
The new BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone (model 9300) will be available from various carriers and distribution partners around the world beginning in August. Check with local carriers for details about availability and pricing.
For more information about the new BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone visit www.blackberry.com/curve3G. For more information about BlackBerry 6, visit www.blackberry.com/6.
That’s pretty humorous that in this day and age… with all the technology out there… we’re still releasing phones with 2002 technology and getting excited about it.
Yawn. OS6 looks nice, but RIM just keeps regurgitating outdated technology in “new” handsets and marketing it as new and revolutionary.
Yeah, it might sell well…however, judging by the specs here (2 mp camera, 256mb ram, and a crap display… it outta be free with a contract.. so yeah, it probably will sell a lot.
This phone will have a hard time fetching $199.99 with a contract when you could go get a HTC Evo 4g, iPhone 4, Droid, Droid Incredible, and the new BB Torch for $199.99 and those are all FAR (wish I could underline, bold, and increase text size to emphasize FAR) superior phones.
This is not exciting news.
While the 8300 Curves used to be “top of the line”, I think the newer phones with that branding are designed to “reel in” the first time smart phone buyer. A buddy of mine just bought an 8530, and it’s his first ever smart phone. He’s thrilled with it! Give him a year or so of playing around with that, and he’ll be chomping at the bit for a Bold or Torch or whatever has more juice.
The price point was what made up his mind – he didn’t have a lot of money to burn but the $19.99 Verizon special (which we all know is to burn out the inventory to make room for the new stuff) versus the $199.99 Bold was the difference.