RIM unveils BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone in Philippines
SHOWCASE: Research in Motion (RIM) unveiled the thinnest and lightest full-QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone - the BlackBerry Curve 8900 - in the Philippines today. Within the region, the Curve 8900 has been announced in Singapore with a price of S$898 (US$586) without contract.
BlackBerry Curve 8900 has no price and service plan yet, but expect them before the end of March 2009.
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone weighs 110g and measures 109 x 60 x 13.5mm. Besides the usual multimedia and office productivity apps, the Curve 8900 has a built in GPS, EDGE, a HVGA+ (480 x 360) screen and 3.2-megapixel camera. It also boasts a hot-swappable microSD/SDHC memory card slot with support for cards up to 16GB. The Curve 8900 will be available from Globe Telecom and Smart Communications but pricing info and service plans weren’t released by the carriers.
Information about the BlackBerry Curve 8900 was previously announced with the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 in Singapore on January 15. However, while there are no pricing or service plans released for the Curve 8900 by carriers SingTel and StarHub so far, M1 Singapore has it at S$898 (US$586) without plan and between S$298-S$498 (US$194-US$325) for different service plans here.
The Curve 8900 is currently offered by T-Mobile in the US and Rogers in Canada.
Meanwhile, here are some images of the BlackBerry Curve 8900.
- BlackBerry Curve 8900 has no price and service plan yet, but expect these info before the end of March 2009.
- Full QWERTY keyboard, elegant curves for one-handed or two-handed use.
- The Curve 8900 will feature a built-in GPS and support location-based apps and services.
- Weighing at 110 grams with a thickness of only 13.5mm, the Curve 8900 will also come with Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) and a 3.2-megapixel camera.
- The camera comes with image stabilization, digital zoom, flash and video-recording. While the Bold uses a 624MHz CPU, the Curve is powered by a 512MHz XScale processor.
Looks good! Is HWZ going to do a comparison with the Bold? Wondering why the Curve looks so similar with the Bold and what’s RIM’s plan in terms of positioning for the 2 models.
1HWZ will have a comparison up as soon as we get our hands on the Curve.
2The Curve and the Bold do share similar traits aesthetics-wise but the Curve is lighter and thinner than the Bold. The Bold got rave reviews (including from yours truly) for its sleek design and RIM probably wanted to use the same winning design formula for the Curve. In terms of positioning, there are some markets in Southeast Asia where 3G penetration is not so evident whereas in other markets, 3G connectivity is a must to have in the consumer’s eyes so it all boils down to your needs at the end of the day.