Ripe For The Plucking: RIM Details Two New BlackBerry Smartphones

The Waterloo, Ontario smartphone maker on Monday revealed the new BlackBerry Bold 9650 and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G, updates on the originals that have been available for the past few years.

According to RIM, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 packs 2G power into a candy-bar form factor with a full QWERTY keyboard and RIM trackpad. The updated BlackBerry Bold also adds Wi-Fi connectivity to the mix.

The Bold 9650 also ties in 512 MB of flash memory and an expandable memory card slot for up to 32 GB.

In a statement, RIM said the BlackBerry Bold 9650 "fuses form and function in a striking design" along with packing in the messaging and communications capabilities like email, IM, SMS and MMS, along with access to many social networking features, that made BlackBerry a business staple and helped it cross the consumer chasm, as well.

The gloss black Bold 9650 features a 2.44-inch display; a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, zoom, autofocus and video; an advanced media player with a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack; and easy access to Facebook, MySpace and Flickr, along with BlackBerry Messenger. Other features include GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and support for BlackBerry App World, RIM's mobile application store.

Meanwhile, RIM's updated BlackBerry Pearl received a 3G make over and marks the "smallest BlackBerry smartphone yet," RIM said in an announcement.

The new BlackBerry measures less than 2 inches wide and weighs just 3.3 ounces. It adds support for high-speed 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS. The new BlackBerry Pearl 3G also features an optical trackpad for navigation, a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash and support for up to 32 GB of personal content.

The miniature candy-bar smartphone can access BlackBerry App World and, like the Bold 9650, supports BlackBerry Media Sync for syncing photos, Apple iTunes and Windows Media Player with the device.

RIM said both the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G will be available in May via various carriers. The smartphone maker didn't divulge pricing for the devices or specify which carriers would support the new smartphones.