Blackberry launches
9720 with BB OS7 in Africa
on september 05, 2013 at 9:38 pm in
technology
BlackBerry-9720
Blackberry has been in shambles lately so
much so that it has put itself for sale. But,
that doesn’t stop it from adding new products
in its portfolio. Just a few days ago, it had
quietly launched 9720 in the mid-range
segment and now it’s available for sale. What’s
interesting about this device is that it’s running
on Blackberry 7 OS, instead of newly launched
BB OS 10. With 9720, Blackberry seems to be
pleasing its loyal fan base using its Bold or
Curve series of smartphones. Let’s check what
it offers-
Externals: Design and Display
BlackBerry 9720 features a similar design to
BlackBerry’s Curve smartphones with QWERTY
keyboard. It also offers touch-screen which
means users get the best of both worlds.
Unlike newly launched, Q10 and Q10 with
touchscreen and physical keyboard, the
smartphone also comes with answer/ reject
keys and popular optical trackpad. It also has
a dedicated key for quick access to BBM
(BlackBerry Messanger). To woo the youth, it’s
available in wide range of hues- Black, White,
Purple, Blue and Pink.
It has a 2.8 inch IPS display with resolution of
480 x 360 pixels, resulting in average pixel
density of 214 ppi. The IPS display provides
good viewing angles and is viewable even
under direct sunlight.
Internals: Hardware and Connectivity
The smartphone is powered by an 806 MHz
Tavor processor accompanied by a 512 MB
RAM. This would be sufficient for running most
of the tasks or games on the device. In terms
of memory, it has 512 MB of in-built storage
with option of expanding it further via
microSD card up to 32 GB. It’s fueled by a Li-
ion battery of 1450 mAh which claims to give
it talk-time of up to 7 hours.
For connectivity, it offers usual options of 2G/
3G network support with microSIM, Bluetooth
2.1, Wi-Fi b/g, GPS and microUSB. It also
provides FM radio functionality which is
available in very few models of BlackBerry.
Camera
BlackBerry 9720 comes with 5 MP camera at
its back with LED flash and useful features like
geotagging and image stabilization. It’s also
capable of recording videos.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t have secondary
camera which means users will not be able to
use the device to make video calls.
Software Goodies
As stated earlier, 9720 runs on OS 7.1, but
BlackBerry has added several enhancements to
it. It has a Multicast feature, which allows user
to write a status update once and post it
simultaneously to several social networks like
Facebook, Twitter, etc. With BBM, users will
also be able to make voice calls to other users
apart from text chatting. BlackBerry App World
allows to download numerous apps and games.
Conclusion
The smartphone will be a good choice for
QWERTY aficionados in the mid-level segment
as other manufacturers are offering
touchscreen devices only. However, apart from
physical keyboard, it doesn’t have any other
USP against more powerful Android and WP
devices.