Blackberry Thunder 9500...still in the wild

I was always fascinated by Blackberries and wondered why people use it in the first place. This was couple of years back when i was such a noob ;-). I use to think people are crazy enough to spend their money on a Blackberry device. Compared to Windows Mobile devices these were nowhere, but were in demand due to their unique push email feature. Till sometime back Blackberry devices were no match for Pocket PC's that were being flooded in the market. But i guess the dynamics have changed specially after the release of iPhone. Companies are realizing in order to compete they need to have good hardware along with software with ease of usability for an average user and i think Blackberry Thunder or Blackberry 9500 is a big step in that direction by RIM(Research In Motion) not to mention their recently launched Blackberry Bold. Now a days business users would love to carry a single device which is also an entertainment powerhouse. I may be wrong here, since I've never been a Blackberry user, but the way things are shaping up with intense competition and ever evolving user taste people expect more from these devices.

Blackberry Thunder Specifications

Specifications for Blackberry Thunder 9500 are still not very clear but I've tried to list as much information i came across with some speculation on my part.

1. 624Mz processor - Better than any other devices being released in Sept 08.
   
2. 3" Glass Screen with haptic feedback and MultiTouch - Similar to iPhone
   
3. 480 x 360 Display - Better than iPhone but not HTC Touch Diamond/Pro
   
4. OS 4.7 - New Touch UI
   
5. 1GB Storage and 256MB Flash Memory
6. Expandable memory upto 16GB
7. 1500mAh Battery
8. Network Support - UMTS: 2100 / 1900 / 850MHz, GSM: 1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850 MHz, GPRS, EDGE and HDSPA networks
9. Wi-Fi - 803.11a/b/g
10. 2.0M Camera - With mobile LED
    
11. GPS
12. Bluetooth v2.0
13. USB Port - For charging and synching.
    
14. 3G enabled
15. 4G Ready - It will be exclusively launched for Verizon and is 4G ready for their network
    

Also this device will support wide variety of multimedia content. So gone are the days when RIM was designing Blackberry's only for niche business users with just push email feature. Now, its for the masses. It might lag in UI usability compared to current wave of devices hitting the market like iPhone UI or HTC TouchFLO 3d interface but nevertheless this will definitely give other devices a run for their money. As far as the hardware goes its one of the best i've seen.

The only concern that most of the Blackberry users would have, who are addcited to their phone, is lack of physical keyboard. Blackberry users would find it difficult to use Thunder without a dedicated keyboard as it will not be an easy change for them. Also the much hyped about Software Keyboard with haptic feedback of Thunder seems not too impressive after all, so there is huge risk RIM has taken. But you never know and things might turn out just fine. It could be RIM might win hearts of non business users and become more powerful in terms of market share. So we will see how thing shape up in 2008 Q4.

BGR, Crackberry, GSMarena and BlackBerrySync have more details and posts on Blackberry Thunder.