BlackBerry 9800 Preview

Written by: Shawn Drew • Edited by: Christian Cawley
Updated Aug 4, 2010 • Related Guides: Blackberry Devices | Blackberry

A collection of information about the upcoming BlackBerry 9800. The article reviews both the hardware and software features that have been gleamed from the handful of demo devices that have been released.

Introduction to the BlackBerry 9800

The BlackBerry 9800 is the next highly-anticipated device from RIM. The device looks to incorporate many of the good elements from previous BlackBerry devices, with plenty of new features to enhance the BlackBerry experience. While the mobile carrier for the 9800 is known, the release date is still up in the air.

Carrier and Technology

click to enlarge

The BlackBerry 9800, rumored to now be called the BlackBerry Torch, will be available through AT&T at launch. Additional carriers may offer the phone either later in the year or early next year, but at this point, any additional carrier information is simply rumor.

The BlackBerry 9800 will have support for WCDMA bands 1, 2, 5 and 6, so this will be a world phone as the device can work on CDMA networks in Japan and most of Europe.

Physical Specs

The BlackBerry 9800 will measure 113 by 59 mm, that’s 4.4 by 2.3 inches, and will be available in black upon release. The battery will last for up to 260 hours in standby and will offer between two and three hours of talk time. The HVGA touch screen display covers almost the entire front of the phone and has 360 x 480 pixels using 65K colors. RIM added a 5 megapixel camera to go along with the large display.

The 9800 has 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage on board. It also has a microSD slot that can offer another 16 GB of storage through a memory card. The phone can utilize an 802.11n Wi-Fi connection, for those times that you don’t want to rely on the 3G network for data applications.

Inputs

click to enlarge

The BlackBerry 9800 will have a virtual QWERTY keyboard that works in both landscape and portrait mode. The keyboard can be dismissed with a downward swipe. The phone can also slide up to reveal a physical QWERTY keyboard. When you slide the phone up, the virtual keypad quickly and smoothly hides itself.

The touch screen is capacitive and, while this is not specifically a sign that RIM has abandoned it, this screen does not use SurePress technology. Pinch-zooming is available in both the browser and the image gallery. Like almost all new BlackBerrys, the device has a touchpad instead of the old problematic trackball.

Showing page 1 of 2

12next »