BlackBerry is finally giving consumers what they want, a real BlackBerry. Sure, the BlackBerry Z10 is an official BlackBerry 10 smartphone, but any BlackBerry diehard will tell you, the QWERTY keyboard makes a BlackBerry a BlackBerry. This new smartphone will follow in the footsteps of the BlackBerry Curve in being an entry-level BlackBerry at an affordable price.
The image of this new smartphone appeared in the BlackBerryOS.com forums, where the poster wrote, "Hello mates, Blackberry are working on this curve-like model for BB10, the R-series..." We are beginning to learn even more about this new BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
BlackBerry Empire received a tip from a source that gave a few important details about some of the features this leaked BlackBerry R-Series smartphone will include: external SD and MicroSIM card slots on the left hand side of the device. The smartphone will reportedly ship with the same 1800mAh removable battery that the BlackBerry Z10 currently ships with. The smartphone is also expected to have 8GB of internal storage, which is half the space currently found in both the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10. This shouldn't be much of a surprise, as BlackBerry is creating the R-Series as entry-level BlackBerrys at an affordable price.
This smartphone is expected to debut sometime between late summer or early fall and is expected to retail with a price tag of $300-$400 without contract. BlackBerry is clearly recreating the lineup it had offered before BlackBerry 10 became a reality.
The BlackBerry Q10 is the new Bold, this new R-Series smartphone is the new Curve, and the BlackBerry Z10 might seem similar in some ways to the BlackBerry Storm but is mainly BlackBerry's response to all-touch screen smartphones like the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 and more.
Things are looking up for BlackBerry and it seems to be picking up where it left off when it ruled the smartphone world. It looks like BlackBerry is getting back to its roots and is finally realizing the keyboard is what makes a BlackBerry a BlackBerry.
