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BlackBerry Bold 9900 to cost $300 on contract with T-Mobile?

Categories: BlackBerry, T-Mobile
By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 at 11:39 AM
BlackBerry-9900-tmobile

Now that the BlackBerry Torch 9810 and 9860 have been announced with nary a peep about NFC, it’s looking like the Bold 9900 will have a distinct lead on features versus the other OS 7 smartphones from RIM. The downside is you might end up paying a premium, according to a leaked slide from T-Mobile. We already know they’re aiming to launch the device on August 31, but the price of the phone with a two year contract may be $299 after $50 mail-in rebate, or $599 outright.

The BlackBerry Bold will be running at 14.4 Mbps on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network (call that 4G if you want), and step up processor speed to 1.2 GHz with a bit of help from 768 MB of RAM. The screen goes back to the classic Bold’s size of 2.8 inches, and cranks up the resolution to 640 x 480. As mentioned, NFC is going to be the big selling point, but there are a few other new additions, including a magnetic compass for augmented reality apps to use, 720p video recording on the 5 megapixel camera, mobile hotspot functions, and a brand new graphics rendering engine. If you want a closer look, check out our hands-on video here.

$300 seems a little high, considering even the most recent Android phones on T-Mobile are going for $199 or less. A few years ago, when BlackBerry still had some brand cache value, RIM might have been able to pull this off, but I have a feeling this price will drop very quickly. Anyone willing to pick up the 9900 on launch day at that price, be it on T-Mobile or elsewhere?

[via TMoNews]

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.

  • http://twitter.com/a1by Alberto Plantilla

    If RIM allows carriers to sell their devices at that price, they won’t be selling many at all.

  • http://twitter.com/#!/PitoVH787 Pito V.H

    $300 come on for old tech no wonder they going down to hell   iphone 5 $200 , galaxy s2 $200  all the hot phone are $200