Over the weekend, another batch of pictures of the unreleased BlackBerry Curve 9300 “Kepler” bubbled up. As we had heard before, the BlackBerry 9300 has OS 5.0 (with the distinct possibility of OS 6.0 support), Wi-Fi 802.11n, 3G, and more memory than its 8520 predecessor (256 MB), but keeps the 320 x 240 QVGA display. The only new spec available from this leak is a a 624 MHz processor. As you can tell, aside from a few small changes, the 9300 casing is identical to the old 8500 Curve series, including the top-mounted media control keys.
It’s unclear what kind of prerequisites are required for BlackBerry OS 6 – when the 9700a was rumoured, it suggested that BlackBerrys needed 512 MB of RAM for OS 6, but if the 9300 is launching with 256 MB, then it’s hard to say. As a product, it looks about as samey, iterative, and boring as the 9650, but the 9800 slider and 9670 clamshell should be a little more exciting for those looking for something new in a BlackBerry. As an upgrade on RIM’s family of low-cost devices, the 9300 should still manage to sell well, especially in emerging markets.
Anyone hankering to pick this one up?
[via BBLeaks]