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The BlackBerry 8980, code-named Atlas, is something we’ve been hearing about for nearly a year now without any official announcement, but has shown up recently bearing China Mobile branding. Considering the BlackBerry 8980 will be amounting to little more than a Bold 9700 with a Curve keyboard and minus the 3G, maybe it’s not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but for China Mobile, whose only recent device is the 8910, this could be a nice update.
The biggest addition will be Wi-Fi support, which was previously locked-down due to regulatory restrictions. Maybe RIM jumped through the right hoops for the Chinese government to allow them to sell a Wi-Fi enabled phone, which would be par for course considering RIM’s in the habit of co-operating with market gatekeepers.
The camera is labeled as 3.2 megapixels, and it stands to reason most of the specs will probably be similar to the 9700: HVGA display, GPS, 624 Mhz processor, and 256 MB of RAM. A lot of people have a soft spot for the Curve’s keyboard, and prefer it over the Bold’s fretted design; I almost wish the 9780 made the same keyboard switch, if only to mix things up a bit more from the 9700.
[via BerryCN]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
