PhoneTalk

If you thought when the first BlackBerry touchscreen phone, the BlackBerry Storm, came out a few years ago that it would be great to have that touchscreen on the Bold, you'll be happy to learn that RIM has announced just that product. Well two version actually the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the BlackBerry Bold 9930. The phones were announced today at RIM's annual BlackBerry World Conference in Orlando, FL along with BlackBerry 7 OS.

In addition to the new OS and touchscreen these models sport a few features we've yet to find on BlackBerry models namely a 1.2GHz processor and the ability to record and playback 720p HD video. The cell phones are also thinner than previous models at only 10.5mm. Other features include a 5-megapixel camera, 8GBs of onboard storage plus the ability to add more storage space via a microSD card, a built-in compass, WiFI 802.11 b/g/n, and support for NFC (Near Field Communications) for pairing the BlackBerry Bold to an accessory or read information from a smart tag web link.

There's been no word on which carriers would be offering the new BlackBerry Bold models, but the 9900 model is designed for GSM networks (think T-Mobile and AT&T), while the 9930 is designed for CDMA networks (think Verzion and Sprint). The smartphones are expected to be available from carriers around the world beginning this summer.

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