There’s a bit of good news this morning for the RIM faithful: the first BlackBerry 10 device with a QWERTY keypad has been outed. Unfortunately, in keeping with most other RIM developments over the past year or two, there’s bad news, too: none of the new hardware is slated to arrive until the first quarter of 2013.
That’s not a good thing, since it’s already been announced that no current RIM smartphones will receive an update to BlackBerry 10. If the information presented on these leaked slides is accurate, then, that means RIM is either planning on launching some non-upgradeable handsets in the interim or nothing at all for at least 6 months — when the all-touch L-Series or the QWERTY N-Series finally arrive with the new OS. Neither of those situations bodes well for the embattled company.
On a more positive note, the square-screened N-Series is getting a nice display upgrade. It’ll feature a 3.1-inch 720 x 720 OLED panel (for a ppi of 330) perched atop RIM’s trademark keypad. The all-touch L-Series will feature the same panel that’s used in the Playbook-esque BlackBerry 10 developer device: a stunning 1280 x 768 unit with solid viewing angles that has impressed those who have handled it.
Initially there were some concerns that RIM was going to scuttle QWERTY devices altogether, but CEO Thorsten Heins quickly informed the public that wouldn’t be the case. He also promised that devices running the new OS would arrive before the end of this year — so there’s a chance that this slide could be a bit out-of-date. If not, there are more than a few BlackBerry users that are going to look to another platform instead of waiting patiently for an upgrade.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
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