We’ve been seeing a lot of an in-the-works device from RIM sporting both a full physical QWERTY keyboard and a clicking touchscreen, code-named the BlackBerry Magnum or Dakota. TD analyst Chris Umiatowski has it on good word that there will be a BlackBerry that has those features as well as an optical trackpad. At first, I thought having the two input mechanisms would be redundant, but a lot of Android handsets are pulling it off these days. The absence of any kind of directional navigation was the key characteristic of the previously leaked device (above), although it was said that it was a prototype that would never see production. Either a newer version of the Magnum will include a trackpad, or that’s what differentiates the Magnum from the Dakota. One way or the other, we apparently won’t see anything until Q3. Umiatowski also expects the 9100 Striker, successor to the Pearl, to be released in April, which lines up nicely with RIM’s dedicated BlackBerry show, the Wireless Enterprise Symposium.
[via Reuters]