With the current models of the Blackberry getting a stiff competition from the iPhone, we’re glad RIM finally woke up to the lack of touchscreen credentials on their own handsets and smelt the proverbial coffee. Word is that the new phone is going to be called Blackberry Thunder (for now at least) and even though it wont be endowed with amps and sub-woofers to justify its name, it could be available with some real thunderous HSDPA speeds on the Verizon and Vodafone network that might just launch the phone with exclusive lifetime contracts. Now before you get all excited about finding ways to have one of these beauties for yourself before anybody else in your office does, lemme tell you that the set will make full use of its touchscreen and do away with having a full-QWERTY slide-out keypad that could have made this phone a modern classic.
Instead the phone will have four keys to help users find their way around the thing, teh usefulness of which only time will tell. The hybrid device will also be packed with CDMA EV-DO Rev. C and GSM HSPA making it ultra globe-trotter-friendly. The phone is rumored to be launched somewhere in Q3 this year and I can only hope that the final version of the model does not crumble under the huge expectations that the prized title of being the first ever touchscreen BB comes with.
Source: Rimarkable