Research In Motion (RIM), the famous maker of BlackBerry smartphones, is fighting back – and it seems to be relying on numbers to help it out of the current mess. While the need to bring the hardware in line with the current gen of smartphones was a critical requirement, what was more important was to bring the software bit on par with the likes of Android and iOS. The BlackBerry OS6 did change things to a certain extent, but the rivals just went that bit further.
RIM’s fortunes took a big hit when the PlayBook tablet didn’t catch on with the consumers. However, the software bit of the PlayBook apparently showed the future of where BlackBerry 7 OS may be going. While the much-criticized tablet did miss out on some critical features, the multi-tasking capabilities was something that impressed us quite a bit. Maybe it did show RIM just what the future BlackBerry phones could hold.
BlackBerry Torch 9860 (Also known as the BlackBerry Monza)
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The form factor brings the 9860 very close to the form factor of the iPhone and most Android phones. While the Storm had attempted this a few years back, the mixture of bad ergonomics, the not-so-good clickable touchscreen and an OS not meant for touchscreens meant RIM still didn’t have a like for like competitor. A 1.2GHz processor coupled with 768MB of RAM means multitasking will be smooth. The 3.7-inch touchscreen with a 480×800 pixel resolution does make for pretty good reading (and hopefully as a display also!).
Why we think it might work: RIM seems to have made a simple touchscreen smartphone – the way it is meant to be made. No clickable touchscreen nonsense. A new OS specifically meant for the touchscreen experience, and a very capable spec sheet, this one might just be a winner. Depends on how sensible RIM is with the pricing.
BlackBerry Torch 9810
The Torch 9800 did very well. And the successor, the Torch 9810, looks like it will build on the strong points of the version it is replacing. The touchscreen and slide out QWERTY keypad combo appealed to a wider audience, than what a touchscreen only or a completely non-touchscreen phone would. Power has been upped quite considerably- 1.2GHz processor, 768MB of RAM along with a 3.2-inch touchscreen and a slide out physical keypad and 8GB built-in storage. We expect this to cost about Rs 32k.
Why we think it might work: As seen with the predecessor, consumers have taken a liking to this kind of a form factor and the feature specs on offer. With the added power and a tweaked OS, the user experience could be something very good.
Blackberry Bold 9900 (Also known as the Blackberry Dakota)
It wasn’t possible that RIM will update the Blackberry smartphone range and not give some new goodness to the Bold series. The 9900 is one of the slimmest Bold smartphones ever, and carries on with the form factor we are all well accustomed to. The 2.8-inch display gets touchscreen capabilities as well. As seen with the other two phones, the processor has been bumped up to 1.2GHz and 768MB of RAM. This phone will appeal to those who would usually buy from the Curve series, or even choose from either the Bold 9700 or 9780. Pricing will be critical here, and a tag of around Rs 25k is what we expect.
Why we think it might work: This is a tried and tested formula, which will only bettered by more power and the better OS. Pricing will be critical, and we are sure RIM doesn’t want to kill off the Bold 3 so quickly. Will that phone also get the update? Assuming that’ll be a no, we can assume that the 9900 will be priced far enough from the Bold 3.
What’s new with BlackBerry 7 OS?
RIM was desperate to bring the BlackBerry smartphone OS at par with Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS mobile operating systems. Apparently, BlackBerry 7 OS builds on what RIM learnt from the PlayBook’s QNX OS, and adds some new stuff to the smartphones.
Browser update: Every OS update seems to be improving the web browser, be it the iOS4, Symbian Anna or Android 2.3 that makes us wonder – how bad was the smartphone’s web browser till now? RIM claims that the new browser is 100% faster than the one on OS5 and 40% faster than BlackBerry 6 OS. If that is the case, we are in for a treat!
New UI: What they call the Liquid Graphics Interface brings a sense of slickness and modernity (if we can really use that word, considering how the older OS versions looked dated) to BlackBerry phones. With added focus on multimedia capabilities, the new UI makes media playback a lot slicker. Plus, with the focus on higher display resolutions, a good-looking UI is a must.
Updated apps: While these aren’t specific to BlackBerry 7 OS only, Social Feeds and Facebook 2.0 versions have been released for the new phones. BlackBerry Messenger 6 has also arrived just in time. These phones will also come with RIM’s own BlackBerry Protect app preload- something Android and iOS offered out of the box, for quite a while.