The BlackBerry Bold 9790 is due for a launch sooner than later, if RIM’s latest blog posts are any indication, but some fresh pictures are showing us that the hardware layout may have significantly changed from what we had seen since the phone made its first appearance five months ago.
The navigation keys in the middle are no longer a seamless part of the front face, but instead look a lot like the Torch 9850 / 60. Yeah, it doesn’t look as good, but the tactile feedback can certainly be helpful when fiddling in the dark. The 9790 will also have the same slim, smooth, and sharp side convenience key style as the Torch 9850 / 60. The microUSB port has also been moved from the side to the bottom of the phone – a first for RIM. Autofocus is reportedly included in the 5 megapixel camera, which was a legitimate worry given the Bold 9900 / 30 shipped without it. Previous info indicated that the touchscreen would be 480 x 360 in resolution and measure 2.4 inches, while the whole package is lighter and slimmer than the old 9700 chassis. Aside from having some slight curvature on the left- and right-edge keys, the 9790 looks very similar to its 9780 predecessor. Likewise, don’t expect any crazy BBX implementation here – as you can see, it’s running the same ol’ OS 7 as RIM’s other latest smartphones.
Although the 9790 might seem kind of yawnworthy, a lower-end version of the Bold 9900 / 30 will likely find a home to those not interested in shelling out a premium for RIM’s top-of-the-line at this point. Even the BlackBerry faithful may want to hold off on big spending until there’s an honest BBX phone in the market.