RIM Announces 2 New Blackberries

Research in Motion has announced two new BlackBerry devices today, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G at the  company’s Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES).  Both of these phones have significant upgrades.

The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is the much improved successor of the troubled BlackBerry Tour.  The BlackBerry Bold 9650 features a 480×360 non-touch display, 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, autofocus, and image stabilization, optical trackpad, BlackBerry OS 5.0 (probably upgradeable to OS 6.0), 802.11b/g, WiFi, GPS, QWERTY keyboard, 512MB flash memory upgradeable to 32GB via microSD card, 3,5mm headset jack, Bluetooth, and BlackBerry App World support.

This phone  will become available as of May 23rd for the  usual price of $199.99, but only after slapping down the  $100 MIR and the two-year agreement with Sprint. Verizon should also have this phone soon.

he BlackBerry Pearl 3G is an update to the immensely popular BlackBerry Pearl series, which combines BlackBerry functionality with a more typical smart phoney-candy bar design. The new phone adds speed, more device memory (256MB), 3G support, GPS and an optical trackpad. The phone includes support for Wi-Fi 802.11.b/g/n networks and has a higher resolution 360×400 screen. The Pearl has always been marketed as a starter BlackBerry, or a BlackBerry for the non-business user. This is in part because the smaller size compresses the QWERTY keypad.

The BlackBerry Pearl 3G will be available in two models with different key layouts. The BlackBerry Pearl 9100 has the traditional 14-key layout while the Pearl 9105 has an expanded 20-key layout for an enhanced QWERTY experience.

The release date of this phone is yet to be announced. The BlackBerry Pearl 3G series is a standard GSM-compatible phone, and we can expect to see it on T-Mobile and AT&T in the U.S. and on most major carriers in Europe.

So obviously the Blackberry has not been eradicated by all the other glitzy and fun smart phones out there or even WIndows Mobile despite all those who have abandoned their blackberries for other devices. Let us know what you think.