RIM Officially Announces the BlackBerry Bold 9700

Tweet

Just earlier today we told you that the BlackBerry Bold 9700 was confirmed by T-Mobile USA and right now we’re going to give you even better news. RIM decided it was about time to make an honest phone out of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and officially announce it.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is going to be the hottest “old-fashioned” Berry out there. By old-fashioned I mean BlackBerry phones that sport a full, real QWERTY keyboard. Because the hottest BlackBerry phone of 2009 will probably the Storm 2, a phone that sacrifices the physical QWERTY keyboard for a full touchscreen display. Care to debate on the matter?

So let’s take a look at the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in all its glory. After all we now have the official specs and features of the 9700. We don’t need any leaks and we’re not guessing any more. Here’s what the Bold 9700 will officially have to offer:

• BlackBerry OS 5.0
• 624MHz CPU
• 256MB flash memory
• support for microSD cards up to 32GB
• Quad-band UMTS/HSDPA (800/850/1900/2100 MHz)
• tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (900/1700/2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with UMA support
• GPS and A-GPS
• 2.44-inch HVGA+ display
• 3.2 megapixel camera with 2X digital zoom, autofocus and LED flash
• Optical trackpad
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP/AVCRP
• 1500 mAh battery
• 6 hours of talk time and 17 days of standby (3G)
• 109mm x 60mm x 14.1mm
• 122g with battery; 89g without battery.

I did say that the new Bold 9700 smartphone is one of the best RIM has created so far, didn’t I? So what carriers are interested in getting it? You already know that T-Mobile USA, AT&T, Bell and Rogers Wireless are some of the carriers that will launch the device and according to RIM other mobile providers around the world should get the device this November. The phone will be available for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a 2-year new contract from AT&T and T-Mobile in the USA. Canadians BlackBerry fans will be able to get a BlackBerry from Bell or Rogers. Bell hasn’t mentioned any pricing details yet but Rogers will sell it for $299.99 with a 3-year contract.