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BlackBerry Apollo to be the Next Curve, Also Has NFC?

Categories: BlackBerry, NFC, Rumors
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, January 13th, 2011 at 11:45 AM

The last in a trio of BlackBerry leaks today (presumably from the DevCon Asia conference, where we saw the WebWorks SDK for the PlayBook, OS 6.1, and the Payment Service announced), is the BlackBerry “Apollo”. It doesn’t look like it’s quite set to replace RIM’s entry-level Curve 9300, since the specs (and probably the price) are significantly higher. Still, it looks more or less like its predecessor on the outside, if not on the inside.

  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
  • Tri-band UMTS/HSPA 7.2Mbps
  • Bluetooth 2.1
  • Wi-Fi b/g/n
  • GPS
  • NFC
  • 512MB of eMMC, 512MB of RAM
  • 5-megapixel camera with flash
  • HVGA 480 x 360 display
  • 1050 mAh battery
  • Tavor MG-1 800MHz CPU
  • BlackBerry OS 6.1
  • 11mm thin

We haven’t seen this high-grade of a Curve-series BlackBerry since the 8900; since then, the Curve was entry-level, and had QVGA displays and 2 megapixel fixed-focus cameras. Between the upgrade to an HVGA display, the inclusion of NFC, and an upgraded 800 MHz processor, the BlackBerry Curve will mean business again. I’m not quite sure what the means for marketing and product placement versus an equivalently high-grade Bold or Torch, or if RIM thinks they can sell the Apollo for just as cheaply as they did the previous Curve models (which would be impressive.

[via BGR]

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.

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