by Lynette Alice

Created on: May 23, 2010

The BlackBerry Bold 9800 Slider is going to take things to a new level. While some of the specs that were released early on sounded good but lacked any real “wow” factor, the newest updates on what consumers expects delivers that. Whether it is all going to work great is a whole other issue, but for now it looks like the BlacckBerry Bold 9800 Slider is going to deliver the goods.

The media player, pod cast apps, and Webkit browser are all really cool things that are going to make plenty of users happy. The big thing however is the newly announced on-screen keyboard. It was hinted around for awhile, but nobody was really too optimistic BlackBerry was going to have a viable model in time for the Bold 900. Evidently they did get it working and they are rolling it out.

The BlackBerry Bold 9800 is still going to have a physical keyboard and track pad - which is a good idea for several reasons. Some users are more comfortable using that apparatus already, some users have fat fingers that could make using a virtual keyboard problematic, and it is good to have a backup just in case it goes south so users aren’t stuck being unable to use any keyboard. Although it was only an unsubstantiated rumor early on, the word was the on-screen keyboard was a little wonky under temperature extremes, but an insider has said that the issue is under control and should present no problems.

Some of the BlackBerry Bold 9800 specs you will want to be familiar with include:

* HVGA Display
* 512MB RAM
* WiFi 802.11n
* 4GB on board storage
*OS 6.0
* On-screen keyboard
* Upgraded Webkit browser
* Enhanced media player

While there is still quite a bit BleackBerry is keeping under wraps, what could be controlled leaks to a few tech sites has revealed a few things that may be present on the BlackBerry Bold 9800 Slider. It is certain that SurePress is on-board to make the touch screen more user friendly, and it is also believed to be capactive. This will be the first BlackBerry smartphone to have a touch screen, physical keyboard, and directional input. The camera may be a 5 mega pixel, but there is no solid confirmation on that yet either.

As for a release date, Blackberry has not given a hard date yet, but it is believed they will be available for pre-order somewhere in the range on the early/mid June timeframe with a delivery date before June closes out - perhaps as early as a week after pre-orders open. All indications from AT&T seem to point in this direction as well a few hints from BlackBerry them self.

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