I've been watching this for a while. It's been in development for the Asian markets mostly but i guess it will come as a lower cost alternative to the 8900 potentially.
I saw a picture of the presentation... and apparently this device has a trackball!! Is this possible? I mean, I thought that RIm had taken a non returning step towards the trackpad.....
I saw a picture of the presentation... and apparently this device has a trackball!! Is this possible? I mean, I thought that RIm had taken a non returning step towards the trackpad.....
RIM just took the 8900 hardware, upped the internal RAM to 512 so's it'll run OS 6. (this bodes ill for many a 256Mb BlackBerry owner) took out the WiFi (don't want those Asians getting free connectivity - thanks- RIM) and wheeled it out the door to those 2G networks in the developping world.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that since they now have a 512Mb 89xx, device and they probably just took the WiFi chip off the board, we could just see and 89xx + WiFi over here.
Of course it will still have a trackball.
So, why did they not do this with the 9700 and make a 9710? Interesting.
I don't understand the marketing behind releasing an old BB to an Asian market with phones that are more futuristic than a trackball. This is marketing suicide.
I don't understand the marketing behind releasing an old BB to an Asian market with phones that are more futuristic than a trackball. This is marketing suicide.
100% agreed!!!!
Apples comes up with the Iphone 4 and HTC with the evo.
And RIM wants to get the leadership with a "old" 8900...
That�s ridiculous!
Don`t get me wrong the 8900 (8910) is still a great device, but
why not an 9700 with 3G?!
I would rather prefer the Bold 9000 with upgraded memory!
The biggest Asian market is China, and RIM has a serious disadvantage there. It's called BIS. The government can't monitor it so they don't allow it. From what I understand you can sign up for a BES service that's controlled by the company though and indirectly by the government.
The Wi-Fi move I am not too sure, but as data connectivity is seriously restricted I suspect they are just taking it out and replacing it with more RAM to become an app phone.
The biggest Asian market is China, and RIM has a serious disadvantage there. It's called BIS. The government can't monitor it so they don't allow it. From what I understand you can sign up for a BES service that's controlled by the company though and indirectly by the government.
The Wi-Fi move I am not too sure, but as data connectivity is seriously restricted I suspect they are just taking it out and replacing it with more RAM to become an app phone.
Okay, maybe there are some problems with "freedom".
But why not a device with a faster processor and trackpad?
