Research In Motion formally announced the BlackBerry Bold 9700 today.
“The BlackBerry Bold 9700 builds on the success of the original BlackBerry Bold with new, state-of-the-art features and a smaller, lighter and highly optimized design that looks, feels and performs great,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion.
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is powered by a 624MHz processor and BlackBerry OS 5.0. It comes with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA connectivity, a 2.44-inch HVGA display, 256MB Flash memory, the traditional full-QWERTY keyboard, built-in GPS, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, a 3.2MP camera with auto-focus and flash, a microSDHD memory card slot (2GB card also included), a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, and a 1500mAh battery. It replaces the original Bold’s track ball with an optical track pad. It is also thinner and lighter than the original Bold. It measures 109 by 60 by 14.1 millimeters (4.29 by 2.36 by 0.56-inches) and weighs 122 grams (4.3 ounces).
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 will be available in two versions to support different carriers. The first will come with 800/850/1900/2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA support while the second will offer 900/1700/2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA support.
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 will be available from a number of carriers starting in November. Among those are AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S. and Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility in Canada. Rogers also announced that the Bold 9700 will sell for CA$299.99 with a three-year Voice and Data contract (minimum CA$45 per month).