BlackBerry 9000 carriers, specs firmed up

Final information about the BlackBerry 9000's features and its initial launch partners has been confirmed, BGR says. The full QWERTY phone will boast its expected 3G access with tri-band HSDPA for both the Americas and elsewhere; it will also be the first BlackBerry to go beyond a basic QVGA (320x240) screen and move up to 480x320. Wi-Fi is onboard; GPS mapping is assisted, however, rather than completely independent. A 2-megapixel camera and a microSD slot will also be part of the design.

Phone creator Research in Motion is also reportedly planning a tightly coordinated international launch. Rather than launch on Rogers in its home country of Canada, the 9000 will debut first on AT&T and will quickly spread to NTT DoCoMo in Japan, followed by Vodafone in Europe. The Japanese release is unique, as RIM's dependence on GSM has until now locked it out of the southeast Asian country and its almost exclusive dependence on 3G service for both calls and data.

Release dates for the smartphone are still unavailable, though a recent leak has the phone announced as early as July, with carrier appearances shortly afterwards. [image via Engadget]

Filed under: gadgets
Other story tags: AT&T, BlackBerry, Rogers, RIM, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo