Blackberry's New OS 7 Touch Screen Devices Revealed at RIM Event
In an event celebrating the announcement of the new Blackberry OS 7 devices, Research in Motion (RIM) unveiled the new models to fans, giving them a hands-on experience with the devices in Toronto on Tuesday.
Fans got to test the Blackberry Bold 9900/9930, Blackberry Torch 9810 and the Blackberry Torch 9850/9860 according to CNET.
“From what we saw tonight, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that these new handsets bring some much-needed hardware and software improvement, and generally speaking, we liked what we saw,” wrote Bonne Cha on CNET’s Dialed In blog. “The bad news is that there doesn’t seem to be enough there to push it past or even catch up to its competitors.”
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She reported that the Blackberry Bold 9900 a predecessor to Blackberry’s most popular phone will now incorporate a touch screen which is 2.8 inches. She adds that is has a sharp display and a quick response time pertaining to the touch screen.
The new model still sports its classic keyboard with a slightly wider layout than past Bolds, and is the thinnest Blackberry yet at 10.5 mm thick.
The new Blackberry Torch 9810 doesn’t differ much in appearance from the previous Torch according to Cha, who also said the new model felt less sturdy than the older one.
As far as positive improvements she adds that the display has improved and the texts and images appear smoother than before.
RIM also let her test an augmented reality and Wikitude app on the Torch 9810 which interacted with Blackberry’s BBM, allowing them to use the phones magnetic compass in order to pinpoint other BBM users nearby by pointing the phones camera in their direction.
The Blackberry Torch 9860, which will be RIM’s next touch screen only Blackberry, will feature a 3.7 inch display, the largest screen for a Blackberry to date according to Cha.
She expressed her disappointment in the fact that although the new screen was bright and smooth, it paled in comparison to the Android’s and iPhone’s screens, the Blackberry’s biggest competitors.
But it wasn’t all bad.
“On the bright side, I have to say that these are some of the fastest Blackberrys I’ve ever used,” wrote Cha.
She complimented the OS 7’s Liquid Graphics technology stating it allowed her to easily swipe through the various menus on the phone when combined with the 1.2GHz processer in the new Blackberrys.
