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Last week, Bell launched the BlackBerry Curve 9360 shortly behind Telus, and raised them a Torch 9860. Since the two carriers share an HSPA network, it’s no surprise that their device launches are close together, or that they’re matching pricetags at $49.99 on a three-year contract.
The BlackBerry Curve 9360 is RIM’s new entry-level offering, and is surprisingly tiny. It’s got a 2.4-inch 480 x 360 display, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, and runs on an 800 MHz processor with 512 MB of RAM. NFC is also packed in there, but it looks like carriers are locking that feature down for the time being. There’s still the magnetic compass in there for augmented reality apps, at least, but no other industry standards like DLNA home media sharing or mobile hotspot. The Torch 9860 is a bit higher-end, with its 1.2 GHz processor, 768 MB of RAM, and 3.7-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, but it otherwise offers the same core OS 7 experience minus the physical QWERTY keyboard.
Rogers is already selling the BlackBerry 9860, and now Bell’s offering theirs, but Telus’ version is still listed as “coming soon”. We have yet to see the new Curve pop up south of the border, but we’re expecting it early next month. Maybe they’re waiting on the higher-end 9370, which should have a bit more RAM and world roaming capabilities.
If you’d like to snag this one on Bell, it’s available at their online store over here, or you can go with their subsidiary, Virgin Mobile, thisaway.
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.
