Amid speculations of BlackBerry putting itself for sale, the Canadian company on Tuesday pulled the wraps off its mid-range QWERTY based BlackBerry 9720 smartphone.
Executive Vice President for Products, BlackBerry, Carlo Chiarello, at the launch event said, "The BlackBerry 9720 smartphone gives you all the essentials of the BlackBerry smartphone experience to support a communications centric lifestyle. It has the best keyboard and functionality for BBM, as well as an updated BlackBerry 7 OS that adds many enhancements."
"It's perfect for customers upgrading from a feature phone or entry-level Android or Windows Phone device, as well as existing BlackBerry smartphone customers, that want a richer experience and jump up in style and performance," he added.
BlackBerry 9720 sports a 2.8-inch HVGA touch screen with a pixel density of 214 ppi (pixels per inch) and the rest of the front side is covered by the QWERTY keypad. Internally, it packs a 806MHz Tavor MG1 processor with 512MB RAM and 512MB eMMC (embedded- Multi Media Card). The phone's memory can be expanded up to 32GB via microSD card.
The new smartphone runs on the BB OS v7.1 with an updated interface which enables users to unlock the screen with just a swipe and also gives easy access to launch camera on the lock screen. BlackBerry 9720 flaunts a 5.0-megapixel camera on the rear side with EDOF (Extended Depth of Field), Flash support, 4x digital zoom and continuous image stabilization.
The company has confirmed that BlackBerry 9720 will be made available in Asia (possibly include India), EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and Latin America in the coming weeks. Details regarding the price of he smartphone are still under wraps.
The launch has come at a time, where BlackBerry's board of directors are exploring options to make a strategic partnership with other companies or a buyout due to the rise in operating losses leading to a sharp decline in share prices for quite some time now.
Once a world smartphone pioneer, BlackBerry now has become a lame shadow of its glorious past. Rivals, Apple and Samsung have become dominating force in the current market pushing BlackBerry's global market share to less than 5-percent
Key specifications of BlackBerry 9720:
| Model | BlackBerry 9720 |
| Display | 2.8-inch HVGA touch screen with 480x360p resolution and pixel density of 214 ppi (pixels per inch), display aspect ratio 4:3 |
| OS | BlackBerry OS v7.1 |
| Processor | 806MHz Tavor MG1 processor |
| RAM | 512MB |
| Storage capacity | 512MB eMMC, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card |
| Camera | Main: 5.0-megapixel camera with EDOF (Extended Depth of Field), flash support, continuous image stabilization, 4X digital zoom |
| Network | 3G |
| Battery | 1450 mAh removable batteryTalk time: up to 7 hours
Standby time: 18 days |
| Add-ons | Bluetooth v2.1 with EDR, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), A-GPS, built-in radio, USB v2.0 port |
| Dimensions | 114 x 66 x 12 mm |
| Weight | 120 g |
| Price | Not announced |
