RIM to launch five new BlackBerry smartphones, should you be excited?
(CBS/CNET) - Yesterday, Research In Motion (RIM) announced the launch of five new BlackBerry smartphones. Do the iPhone and Android have themselves a rivalry here? Many tech nuts say nah.
In a CNET commentary, senior writer Roger Cheng, explains why it's not a good idea to get a BlackBerry...
"In fairness, I haven't had a chance yet to play with the new BlackBerrys. But there are serious business and technology issues that should make you think twice before you buy one of the new ones unveiled today. From an operating system destined for irrelevancy to the continued lack of worthy applications, this latest line of smartphones from RIM may be dead on arrival. If you need to change phones, and your company isn't forcing you to use a BlackBerry, you're better off moving over to the iPhone or an Android smartphone."
Complete coverage of BlackBerrys on Tech Talk
The upcoming BlackBerry mobile devices, BlackBerry's "largest launch" ever, will include a new operating system, BlackBerry OS 7, which features a browser 40 percent faster than the BlackBerry OS 6 and 100 percent faster than BlackBerry OS 5. "This is the largest global launch of BlackBerry smartphones in our history," Mike Lazaridis, RIM's president and co-CEO, told International Business Times.
So what are these super phones going to bring to the table? The BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860 will be touchscreen-only devices with BlackBerry 7 OS. Then, there's the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930, RIM's slimmest smartphones ever, which will have large keyboards, as well as touch displays. Last, there's the BlackBerry Torch 9810, which looks like the original Torch but offers improvements, such as a faster processor. It also has a keyboard and a slider mechanism.
Check out more improvements, changes and specs about these new BlackBerrys on CNET
Cheng says, even though the BlackBerry OS 7 is an improvement over BlackBerry's past operating systems, "in reality it represents only a minor update over OS 6, found in the original Torch that debuted a year ago. It was originally known as OS 6.1, but was renamed to 7 because the company claimed the update was so big. A more cynical person would suggest RIM was engaging in overly enthusiastic marketing to better sell its devices."
