To say that RIM has a lot riding on their new BlackBerry 10 platform is a hell of an understatement, but to date the company has generally kept quiet on what consumers can expect from their first BlackBerry 10 devices.
As anticipation builds for a launch slated for later this year, N4BB has gotten their hands on an internal slide that reveals a few new details about RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 phones.
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins confirmed at this year’s BlackBerry World event that the first BlackBerry 10 device to hit the market would be a touchscreen-only model, and RIM has been getting developers ready for it by doling out thousands of their Dev Alpha devices.
While company representatives were quick to note that the Dev Alpha was nothing close to the touchscreen device they would eventually ship, the slide notes that the L-series BlackBerry (previously known as the London) would sport an OLED display running at the same 1280×768 resolution as the alpha hardware. That display manages to cram 356 pixels into every inch, which also confirms that the L-series device will have a 4.2-inch display panel.
The slide also offers up a few details about what RIM has planned for their forthcoming keyboard-toting N-series model, perhaps most notably that the phone’s OLED display will run at 720 x 720 with a pixel density of 330 ppi. Crunching the numbers points to a screen that’s just a shade under 3.1 inches diagonal, making it the largest display to go on a more traditionally designed BlackBerry (the touch-friendly Torch series had larger 3.7-inch displays).
Just when these first devices will begin to trickle out of Waterloo is still a carefully-guarded secret, but sources have told N4BB in the past that an August announcement for the first BlackBerry 10 device would be followed by an October release.
Interestingly, the leak comes hot on the heels of rumors that RIM was pondering the outright sale of their handset business, something that doesn’t seem terribly outlandish considering CEO Heins’ past statements on corporate strategy. That said, The Globe and Mail reported earlier today that sources close to RIM have denounced the rumors as short-sighted and untrue.
