The Rundown on RIM’s new BlackBerrys

The first wave of announcements came through from RIM’s 2010 Wireless Enterprise Symposium (aka WES) just a few short days ago: the company officially launched its two latest wireless devices– the Bold 9650 the 3G Pearl 9100.

The Blackberry Bold 9650, the successor to the Tour 9630, will appear on CDMA carriers. The company indicated that they decided to ditch the “Tour” branding in order to maintain a consistent name for their high-end phones across all network providers.

The Bold will sport 3G as well as WiFi capabilities (more on that later in the post). Additionally, it will include 512 MB of Flash memory and an expandable memory card slot that will support microSDHC cards of up to 32GB– RIM “generously” decided to preload each Bold with a 2GB memory card.

Notable features of the Bold include:

* Stylish design (4.4” x 2.4” x .56” and 4.8 oz.) with glossy black finish and chrome highlights

* Large (2.44”) high-resolution display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi), able to display pictures, videos and web pages with impressive contrast and detail

* 3.2 MP camera with flash, variable zoom, image stabilization, autofocus and video recording

* Advanced media player for videos, pictures and music, a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack and support for the Bluetooth® Stereo Audio Profile (A2DP/AVCRP)

* BlackBerry® Media Sync for easily syncing photos as well as  iTunes® and Windows Media® Player music with the smartphone*

* Easy mobile access to Facebook®, MySpace and Flickr®, as well as popular instant messaging services including BlackBerry® Messenger

* Support for BlackBerry App World™, featuring a broad and growing catalog of third-party mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry smartphones

* Full HTML web browser, streaming audio and video via RTSP

* Built-in GPS with support for geotagging, BlackBerry® Maps and other mapping applications

* Premium phone features including voice activated dialing, speakerphone, and Bluetooth (2.1).

* Support for high-speed EV-DO Rev. A networks in North America, as well as UMTS/HSPA (2100Mhz) and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks abroad

* Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery for 5 hours of CDMA talk time

RIM’s other new device, the Pearl 9100, will be a GSM device.  The phone promises to be extremely small and sleek– according to the official specs, it’s going to be less than two inches wide (50 mm) and will weigh only 3.3 ounces (93g). The 9100 will support high-speed 3G data, a first for the Pearl series. The updated Pearl will be available in both the classic Pearl SureType Condensed keyboard and a typical 10 digit cell phone keyboard.

Notable features of the 3G Pearl 9100 include:

* Elegant candybar design measuring 4.25? x 1.96? x 0.52? (108mm x 50 mm x 13.3 mm) and weighing only 3.3 oz (93 grams)

* 624 Mhz processor with 256 MB Flash memory

* 360×400 sharp-resolution display (238 ppi)

* Optical trackpad that makes navigation fast and smooth, plus a comfortable keyboard that enables quick and accurate typing

* Media player for videos, pictures and music (music plays up to 30 hours), plus dedicated media keys integrated along top of the handset

* 3.2 MP camera with zoom, autofocus, flash and video recording*

* Built-in GPS for location-based applications such as BlackBerry® Maps, as well as photo geotagging

* Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) – first BlackBerry smartphone to support ‘n’

* microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards

* Premium phone features, including voice activated dialing, speakerphone and Bluetooth® (2.1) with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including systems that support the emerging Bluetooth Message Access Profile standard) and other Bluetooth accessories

* Access to BlackBerry App World™, featuring a broad and growing catalog of mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry smartphones

* Support for BlackBerry® Media Sync for easily syncing photos as well as iTunes® and Windows Media® Player music with the smartphone**

* BlackBerry® OS 5

* Support for tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks

* Removable, rechargeable 1150 mAhr battery that provides approximately 5.5 hours of talk time on 3G networks

I can’t say that I’m blown away by these announcements. Everything RIM announced is almost exactly what I expected to see… Even worse, it appears that these phones will not ship with BlackBerry OS 6.0 which is a major disappointment.

Perhaps the only truly exciting news is that the Bold 9650 will support WiFi–the device will be Verizon’s first BlackBerry to support this functionality. This means that if you’re connected to a WiFi network, you’ll be able to browse the web or manage emails while talking on the phone. This feature will come in handy for a ton of CrackBerryers out there; chances are that the casual mobile phone user won’t be effected.

While these announcements may not be groundbreaking, stick with TechTrackr for the latest news from WES!