Where are the BlackBerry Storm 3 and the BlackPad?
As the year enters its final stretch, two BlackBerry devices that everyone has been waiting for are noticeably absent. The Storm 3 and the BlackPad were rumored earlier in the year, but we have heard barely a peep about them lately. I think I can speak for most when I say that I do not care about the BlackBerry ‘Style’ 9670 or the ‘Atlas’ for China. What I am looking forward to are these touchscreen devices that will supposedly be packing Adobe’s Flash format with some type of hardware acceleration and the latest in BlackBerry technology. Call them BlackBerry OS 6.5 devices if you will.
However, while we have seen plenty of leaked photos and videos of the rest of the BlackBerry devices that have come or are coming out of Research In Motion (RIM) this year, where are the pics of the Storm 3 and the BlackPad? You would think that RIM would realize its stock needs a boost right now and it would at least leak something itself. People don’t want to buy “clamshell” (read flip phones) right now. What they want are phones and tablets with Long Term Evolution (LTE or 4G) network abilities, Flash Player and higher resolution screens. The Storm 3 and the BlackPad rumors have promised features like these, but so far… nothing.
Okay, even the most baseless rumors are putting the BlackPad and the Storm 3 launches in the coming November to January range. We really might see them before the end of the year. I just want some hard evidence here, and RIM’s customers deserve it. The Torch is a nice smartphone, but its not a game changer. Neither is BlackBerry OS 6 right now since its being hampered by that same 624 MHz processor every BlackBerry being produced right now seems to pack.
If you believe the rumors, the Storm 3 could have LTE abilities on Verizon’s network. I would not even mind the BlackPad’s supposed lack of a cellular radio and its reliance on a Bluetooth tether to access the internet when Wi-Fi is unavailable if some BlackBerrys with LTE come out around the same time (your opinion might differ). Another thing that these devices are promising are more RAM and faster processors. OS 6 really needs a processor in the one gigahertz range for it to be as snappy as some would like. Again, why the ‘Style’ right now RIM?
Are we really going to see the Storm 3 and the BlackPad in the next four months or has the rumor mill created these devices out of thin air? And what is up with the Android/QNX/BlackBerry OS rumors concerning the operating system for the BlackPad? Which is it? Why does this just sound sketchy?
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Tags: BlackBerry BlackPad, RIM, BlackBerry Storm 3, rumor
I just read all of the comments below. My take away is that RIM has a ton of (perhaps unhappy) but very loyal customers. People that read blogs about smartphones are upset that RIM isn’t wow-ing us, but they have time. Stock will get killed but again that should be the short-run objective. Long-run yes.
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I’d like to see some stuff too, but your wrong to say RIM’s managers should worry about the stock price, this is the kind of thinking that kills vision.
What people don’t understand is that RIM never intended its devices to be non-business phone. They were likely caught by surprise with the success they had in the consumer market.
Then the iPhone came along and that’s another surprise. A clearly inferior phone for business being pushed into businesses by workers. The real surprise is businesses seem to be caving to their workers who’s rather play games than actually do work.
So we see a company that is in transition. They haven’t really entered the consumer market in North America Europe yet, and they are at the same time rolling out in the developing world, which is where you want to be right now.
If you ask me what markets do you want NA and Europe or Indian and China (and indonesia) I’d gladly take the latter.
Is RIM out in NA because they don’t have a consumer smart phone now? The answer is clearly no. I’m sure the same people calling for the death of RIM were saying the same thing about Moto after the Razor lost it’s flavor of the month status. Now everyone was a DROID X
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According to the rumors, Blackpad is better than ipad. I’ve purchased an ipad, but I’m long to get a small BlackPad(7inch tablet). I’m using ipad as an kindle, so 9.7inch is big. My friends suggest me to enjoy videos with ipad and reccommend an easy-to-use video converter to me, ifunia, some of them think that ipad is next great portable video game device, taking the same opinion as ifunia’s(in their ipad column.) ouch!
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Agreed!!! I check all the time or the S3 and nada! RIM will be in serious trouble if they don’t hurry up. The new name will be crackdroid!
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I have also been checking constantly for news of the Storm 3. I still have the Storm 1, and will get a new phone in November–if there’s no 3 by then, I’ll get and Android model…
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I agree with many of you the Storm 1 & 2 kust did nothing for me they were just OK and I’ve been waiting and waiting for something really special from Blackberry to get me to up-date. I think that the Blackpad (if it exists) could be just what I need as I love the idea that you can use your standard blackberry as the modem for the B’pad off your standard phone contract.
I am however fed up with waiting for the “Special one”
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I have an HTC Incredible which is okay, but I would really like an improved Storm. The exchange support for multiple addresses is just not there in Android or anything else out there, and frankly the touch screen causes me more ass-dials than anything else. I miss the sure-press. I check almost every day for rumor of the next blackberry storm release, and I am truly hoping RIM can pull it off instead of going the way of Palm. Sigh!
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RIM has been dragging their feet for too long with their new products. They offer zero leaks other than that horrible Odin refresh picture. This really leads me to think that the Storm 3 is so far behind time that it would be too embarrassing for them to leak the news out or they simply just gave up.
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I am very disappointed that Blackberry has and is falling further behind the market. How could this innovative company fall asleep at the switch so badly!?
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Well if blackberry is listening or reading, they better release this tablet soon because many apple activists are waiting for this tablet and apple just realeased news that the ipad officially supports flash!, so RIM better get going or else their gonna lose alot of buisness to apple, including mine!
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I agree with all of you…….it’s almost like watching grass grow……Storm 3 better blow 1 & 2 out of the water considering 2 wasn’t much of an improvement. I currently own Storm 1 & dislike the Storm 2 especially because the buttons (dial, end, menu, back) are part of the screen. I definately prefer the buttons separate as they are used most often……
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No friggin kidding. I’m watching for blogs daily as my phone contract is up and I am dying to get a new phone(Smartphone) if RIM does not get this thing out ASAP I will say the heck with it and go get the new Droid but I am willing to give this to late October and thats it. I’ve been waiting 2 months already. I was excited about the Torch but then they sent it to darn ATT. pooey.
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I’m still using Storm I and am so ready for a change. The absence of any current news on Storm 3 is making Android look more and more attractive every day. I give RIM another month to hold my interest and then see ya.
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Yes it would be nice to see a few images about the storm 3,..I owned the first 2, currently have the 9550,..I hope this Series really Jumps out with Power,..or else..
I may just lower My BB Flag..
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Hoops Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
I still have my 9530 and waiting patiently for 3. I do know how nice the Droid phones are but I just can’t switch loyalty till I know for sure that there’s no Storm 3 coming out before the end of the year. I’m eligible for an upgrade since May btw.
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Brotherob Reply:
September 16th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
@Hoops,
I’m hearing end of October”how exciting ;p
wiLL see,’
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