We aren’t expecting Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon to be launching their new OS 7 BlackBerry devices until at least August 21, but up in Canada, Rogers has already launched the 9900 and 9810, and Bell has recently joined the fray. Bell’s marketing both of them as 4G, along with just about every other phone they’re launching these days. Then 9810 is going for $149.99 with a three-year contract on Bell, while the 9900 is costing $169.99. Pretty reasonable, considering early pricing on Rogers was set at $249.99 (though I hear Future Shop and The Source are matching Bell’s price points on the Rogers handsets). Bell’s subsidiary, Virgin Mobile, is also selling the BlackBerry 9810 and 9900, if you’d rather go that route. Telus has confirmed that they’ll be joining the party too starting tomorrow, despite leaks saying they wouldn’t be available until Monday. Though Telus didn’t mention pricing, recent leaks are suggesting $129.99 for the 9810 and $149.99 for the Bold. No word on the Torch 9860 for any of them, but they’re expected to be coming sooner rather than later.
The BlackBerry Torch 9810 looks an awful lot like its slider predecessor, but cranks up the processor speed to 1.2 GHz, throws in 768 MB of RAM, and has a crisp 640 x 480 display. The Bold 9900 has near-field communications on top of that, along with the biggest keyboard on a BlackBerry to date. They also both have a magnetic compass included to support augmented reality apps, and a 5 megapixel camera capable of 720p video recording, but some common features among other high-end smartphones, like front-facing cameras, DLNA home media sharing, and Wi-Fi mobile hotspot are notably absent. However, a leaked Bell slide suggests mobile hotspot might be activated in a future software update, so cross your fingers. Be sure to check out our 9810 hands-on over here and 9900 video here for a closer look; the performance is a huge leap over older BlackBerry models.
It’s been a flurry of news the last week or two surrounding the new BlackBerry devices, but I’m curious to see how they pan out in the long run. My biggest worry is that tech-savvy shoppers will know full well that RIM is planning to get dual-core QNX-powered smartphones out early in the new year, which could (if done right) make BlackBerry competitive again. Application developers are even more hesitant to dive into BlackBerry since they may very well have to re-write their app for the new platform, which is really too bad since a lot of opportunities are opened up by the 1.2 GHz processor new graphics rendering capabilities of RIM’s new phones.
As far as Canada goes, BlackBerry still has a healthy market share, and the Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 will at very least keep that installed base happy. If you want to pick up either new device, hit up Bell’s online store, or you can hold out for the Telus launch tomorrow.
[via MobileSyrup]