RIM launches three BlackBerry 7 smartphones in India

Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the launch of three new handsets based on its BlackBerry 7 operating system in the country.

Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the launch of three new handsets based on its BlackBerry 7 operating system in the country.

With this, RIM now has seven handsets in India based on the latest operating system, which it claims has faster performance, enhanced browsing and richer multimedia compared to its predecessor.

'We are pleased with the response that the new BlackBerry 7 operating system is receiving from customers in India and we are very excited to introduce these three new BlackBerry 7-based models here,' Research In Motion Director of Marketing for India Krishnadeep Baruah told reporters here.

The new BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve smartphones offer compact designs with faster performance, enhanced browsing and richer multimedia, as well as near-field

communication (NFC) support, he added.

The smartphones are expected to be available nationwide from the first week of December, 2011.

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 combines QWERTY keypad features with a touch display and a 1-GHz processor. Priced at ₹27,490, the handset features a 2.45-inch display, 5 megapixel camera and has an 8-GB of onboard memory (expandable up to 32 GB).

The company has also launched the BlackBerry Curve 9350, which is the first CDMA-based BlackBerry 7 smartphone in India.

The handset is equipped with a 5-MP camera with flash and has in-built memory of 512-MB (expandable up to 32 GB). It is priced at ₹20,990.

The third handset, the BlackBerry Curve 9380, is the first full-touch device in the Curve category, which is the mass market category for RIM. Featuring a 3.2-inch display, the handset has a 5-MP camera and is priced at ₹20,990.

All the devices include built-in support for Augmented Reality and NFC.

While Augmented Reality allows users to use applications to find nearby BlackBerry Messenger contacts, read reviews or get the story behind an interesting landmark, NFC enables pairing of accessories or reading of SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone.