BlackBerry 9720 Smartphone Gets Official

BlackBerry today introduced the new BlackBerry 9720 smartphone. Available in a variety of colors, the new smartphone comes packed with all of your favorite social apps to let you spark the conversation. "The BlackBerry 9720 smartphone gives you all the essentials of the BlackBerry smartphone experience to support a communications centric lifestyle. It has the best keyboard and functionality for BBM, as well as an updated BlackBerry 7 OS that adds many enhancements," said Carlo Chiarello, Executive Vice President for Products at BlackBerry.

With the new device, Blackberry hopes to attract customers who wish to upgrade from a feature phone or entry-level Android or Windows Phone device.

The BlackBerry 9720 smartphone features a BlackBerry Keyboard, a 2.8" touchscreen and trackpad, offers generous battery life, and numerous enhancements including:

- BlackBerry 7 OS - The new BlackBerry 9720 smartphone comes with BlackBerry 7 OS version 7.1, which features an updated interface that lets you swipe to unlock the phone or access the camera from the lock screen, as well as additional enhancements.

- BBM - The new BlackBerry 9720 smartphone features a dedicated BBM key that makes it quick to access the popular mobile social network, and with its BlackBerry Keyboard, messaging your BBM friends is easy. It also includes BBM Voice, which lets you chat over Wi-Fi for free. The latest version of BBM, which features BBM Channels, will also soon be available for download on the BlackBerry World storefront, letting you tune in and connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups.

- Built-in FM Radio - With the BlackBerry 9720 smartphone you can listen to local FM stations, and automatically let your BBM friends know what station you're currently listening to.

- Multicast to Make Yourself Heard in an Instant - The refreshed BlackBerry 7 OS lets you quickly type your message once and post it simultaneously and instantly to your friends on BBM, Twitter and Facebook. You can even snap a picture and post it to multiple social networks all at the same time, right from the camera app.

- Discover New Possibilities - Access BlackBerry 7 apps and games on BlackBerry World.

- Smart for Business Too - With BlackBerry Enterprise Server or BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, the BlackBerry 9720 smartphone offers business productivity features with mobile device management, application management and security.

Beginning in the coming weeks, the new BlackBerry 9720 smartphone will be available in select markets from retailers and carriers in Asia, EMEA and Latin America.

Size

Height 114 mm / 4.48 in
Width 66 mm / 2.6 in
Depth 12 mm / 0.47 in

Weight: 120g / 4.23 oz

Navigation: Touch screen, optical trackpad and QWERTY keypad

Keyboard: 35-key, backlit, narrow QWERTY keyboard

Dedicated keys: Send, End (Power), Menu, Escape, Camera (user customizable, convenience key), Volume Up/Down/Mute (Fwd/Rwd for media, Zoom for camera), BBM (user customizable, convenience key), Lock/Unlock

Resolution

480 x 360 resolution (HVGA), at 214 ppi
24-bit colour

Screen size

2.8" diagonal
4:3 aspect ratio

Operating system: BlackBerry 7 OS version 7.1

Desktop software: BlackBerry Desktop Software (including BlackBerry Media Sync for transferring music, photos, videos)

Processor: 806 MHz Tavor MG1

Memory: 512 MB eMMC / 512 MB RAM

Expandable memory: Removable microSD memory card?slot under battery door (up to 32 GB)

USB ports: USB 2.0 high speed port?allows charging and data synchronisation of the device with a USB cable

Battery: 1450mAH removable battery Battery life

Up to 7 hours talk time
Up to 18 days standby time

Rear camera

5 megapixel EDOF (Extended Depth of Field)
Flash, continuous
Image stabilisation
4X digital zoom

Image formats: BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, SVG, WBMP Audio & video formats: 3GP, 3GP2, MOV, MP4, AVI, ASF, MP3, AAC, AMR, FLAC, M4A, MIDI, OGG, QCP, SPMID, WAV, WMV, WMA Audio & video encoding/decoding: H.264, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG-3, H.263, AAC (AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+), PCM, GSM (GSM6.10), AMR (AMR, AMR-NB), WMA (WMA 9/10/LL), SPARK, Vorbis, FLAC

Security: Password protection and screen lock

Alerts & notifications