BlackBerry Curve 9360, Torch 9860 in the flesh!

Aside from the BlackBerry Bold 9900 which was launched by RIM last night, they also introduced two more upcoming BlackBerry handsets to the media — the BlackBerry Curve 9360 and the BlackBerry Torch 9860.

The BlackBerry Curve 9360 is the thinnest Curve yet at 10.9mm (although the Bold 9900 beats it by 0.4mm). Aside from the re-freshed design, RIM also upgraded the internal hardware of the handset.

The Curve 9360 looks much better than the previous Curve — which, by the way, is said to be the most popular smartphone model in the Philippines according to a recent GfK survey.

BlackBerry Curve 9360
2.44″ display @ 480×360 pixel
800MHz processor
512MB of RAM
512MB internal storage
Optical trackpad
up to 32GB microSD
HSDPA 7.2Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g
5MP camera with LED flash
VGA video recording
NFC support
Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP
GPS w/ aGPS support
BlackBerry OS 7.0
Li-Ion 1,000mAh battery

The older Curve 3G had 1150mAh of battery capacity so I’m wondering it’s lower on the Curve 9360 instead of higher.

RIM’s new country manager for the Philippines would not comment on the release date and expected price of the Curve 9360 except that it will be announced soon.

On the other hand, one of the two BlackBerry Torch handsets were also shown — full touch-screen Torch 9860. The familiar slider Torch 8160 wasn’t presented in the event (I failed to ask why and if they have plans to release that as well in the country).

The last time we saw a full touchscreen BlackBerry handset was with the BB Storm many years ago. It was a flop then so we’re interested to see if avid BB users will like the absence of a real keyboard on this one.

BlackBerry Torch 9860
3.7″ capacitive touchscreen @ 480×800 pixels
1.2GHz processor
Optical trackpad
2.5GB internal storage
768MB RAM
up to 32GB via microSD card
HSDPA 14.4Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP
GPS w/ aGPS support
5MP camera with autofocus
720p video recording
Li-Ion 1230mAh battery
BlackBerry OS 7

Just like the Curve 9360, RIM also did not indicate any specific release date and suggested retail price for the BlackBerry Torch 9860. I looks like the Bold 9900 will land first next week and then will be followed later by these other two.