Can a BlackBerry ever be sexy?
The problem: It's solid, reliable, safe -- but not likely to get noticed in the iPhone/Android smartphone party
Follow @infoworldResearch in Motion, best known as RIM, is said to be working on a revamped version of its BlackBerry smartphone. The device, reports suggest, will boast a touchscreen, a slide-out keyboard, and a brand-new operating system that immediately brings the iPhone to mind.
The apparent similarity is no coincidence: RIM's new device, The Wall Street Journal reports, is being built specifically to better complete with Apple's prized device. The iPhone, combined with the growing number of Android-based handsets, has been chipping away at RIM's share of the mobile market for too long -- and now, RIM seems ready to do something about it.
Image courtesy TheCellularGuru.com
According to the latest blog-driven rumors, RIM's updated BlackBerry will be called the Torch 9800 and will debut on AT&T sometime this summer. If the various "people familiar with the device" are to be believed, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 will feature swipe-style controls, a universal search bar, and home screens with support for user-selected icons.
Other suspected specs for the new BlackBerry smartphone include 4GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel camera. The device would likely use RIM's upcoming BlackBerry 6 OS, which features an improved Webkit browser and built-in social networking integration.
That's all fine and dandy, and no doubt a step up from RIM's previous efforts -- but the one thing RIM's new BlackBerry really needs to compete is something that can't be listed on a spec sheet. What the phone needs is sexiness.
