2011 BlackBerry line-up

Article first published as The 2011 BlackBerry Lineup on Technorati.

Rumors have been circulating that RIM is going to announce four new gadgets in June/July- the BlackBerry Bold Touch, BlackBerry Curve Touch, BlackBerry Torch 2 and BlackBerry Touch(Monaco/Monza).

RIM has also hinted at including NFC in all four models…which means that making payments will become much easier!

So, here’s a look at the four devices.

• BlackBerry Bold Touch(9930)

The BB Bold Touch is the successor of the widely popular Bold 9780 a.k.a Bold 3! It is code-named as BB Dakota. The BB Bold Touch will have specifications slightly better than the previous Bold models. It may not seem much when compared to the Androids and iPhone but, it is definitely a start!

The new BB Bold Touch will feature a 5 megapixel camera (with flash) which will be capable of HD video recording. It will have a 2.8 inch VGA 640 X 480 capacitive touch-screen. It will have 4 GB of built-in storage(expandable via external memory card), a 1.2 GHz processor and 768 MB of RAM. It will be launching with BB OS 6.1 pre-installed. RIM has also introduced a new feature (quite late) by which the customer can share their mobile’s 3G connection with their friends. It will also feature a magnetometer, accelerometer and a proximity sensor. The BB Bold Touch is rumored to be only 10.5 mm thin! A video of the Bold Touch can be found here.

• BlackBerry Curve

The Curve series of BlackBerry is very popular with teenagers and people who want a device which performs basic functions like e-mail, calling, texting and BBMing. The new BB Curve has been code-named Apollo by RIM. It will be featuring a 480 X 360 HVGA touch-screen display. The camera on the Curve will also be 5 megapixel (with flash), which is a welcome change. The cameras on the previous Curve models were absolutely pathetic. The Apollo will have 512 MB of eMMC and 512 MB of RAM and an 800 MHz processor. Like the BB Dakota, it’ll have an NFC chip included! It’ll come pre-installed with BB OS 6.1 and will be only 0.5 mm thicker than the BB Dakota.

• BlackBerry Torch 2

The BlackBerry Torch 2 is the BB Torch’s successor. RIM has retained the basic design of the original Torch i.e. slide-out keyboard with a touch-screen. The specs of this model are far more superior to the original model which was quite inferior. It’ll feature a 3.2 inch 640 X 480 pixel touch-screen display. The Torch 2 will have 8 GB of internal storage (expandable via external memory card), a 1.2 GHz processor and 768 MB of RAM.  The camera of the BB Torch 2 is the same as the previous Torch. And, it’ll come equipped with a NFC chip for easier payments. The new BB OS 6.1 will also be pre-installed on this device! The basic features like GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi etc. remain the same. All this only at 14.6 mm. A video of the BB Torch 2 can be found here.

• BlackBerry Touch(Monaco/Monza)

The BB Touch is touted as the end of the Storm series from RIM. After receiving innumerable complaints from various customers who complained about the SurePress technology of the Storm, this is a brilliant step from RIM. They should’ve kept this in mind when they had released the Storm 2! The BB Touch will be a luxury product and will feature a 5 megapixel camera (with flash, capable of HD video recording) and a 3.7 inch WVGA touch-screen display. This beast will house a 1.2 GHz processor; 8 GB of internal memory (can be increased by inserting an external memory card). The BB Touch will also include an NFC chip and all the features you can imagine at only 11.5 mm! And yes, it’ll be powered by BB OS 6.1!

RIM’s new 2011 line-up may not seem impressive to the Android & iPhone users but, it’s sure got the BB FanBoys drooling! RIM is planning to announce these devices in May and will launch them by June-July.

Image courtesy- BGR