Touchscreen Blackberry: Myth or Legend?

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Rumors have been swirling for months about this mysterious cryptogadget, the rumored Blackberry 9000 series. Does it have a touchscreen? Do its specs exceed the iPhone’s? Well, some patent documents filed show a slide-out QWERTY keyboard hiding under a fat touchscreen display that rivals or exceeds the dimensions and pixel count of the iPhone, which currently sports the sexiest mobile screen, whatever issues one might have with the phone itself.

Now for the bad news: the OS is now expected to be an evolution of the old OS rather than a whole new bag, and despite rumors of 3G capability, the documents indicate the initial rollout will be limited to 2.5G. Sad, but at least it will have Wi-Fi and a nice touch browser for when you’re somewhere with wireless. Are these hints as to the first carrier to have this elusive gizmo? T-Mobile is the obvious choice, as they will not have a 3G network rolled out at that time, and their Hotspot@Home service would love to get that Wi-Fi on. Not to mention they carry the Pearl and could probably do with an updated version. Intriguing.

So as the mystery gets dissolved, we find less of a “wow” device but still a perfectly usable one and certainly a logical one given the success of devices in that class. Some analyst predicted we’d be seeing this critter in the wild come February, but that sounds a little optimistic. I think it’ll have a dual release with Duke Nukem Forever.

Analyst: Touchscreen Blackberry Due February [Electronista]

Update:
Boy Genius Report’s clarification of the information swirling around is worth mentioning. The 9000 is indeed a single device does not refer to a line of products, and while signs point to 2.5G for the 9000, the upcoming 9X00 series is supposed to be 3G-capable.