May 15 - BGR is reporting that some new details about a very advanced smartphone from RIM have come to light. The BlackBerry Thunder would follow in the footsteps of the iPhone by doing away with the standard QWERTY keyboard in favor of an entirely touchscreen interface.

The only buttons on the phone would be the answer key, the BlackBerry key, and the escape key.

Aside from the touchscreen, BGR is reporting some very interesting rumors about the power of the internet in the BlackBerry Thunder. Apparently, the Thunder will be getting unprecedented wireless support, with support for GSM and CDMA.

These could allow for downloading at speeds that are unheard of, a possible 280Mbps with the EVDO Revision C support on a CDMA network. While this level of internet support would allow for 3.5G internet support around the world, some of this information is suspect.

Verizon, the reported carrier, has already claimed that they will be dropping CDMA networks entirely in favor of LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks in the future.

The LTE network would be a 700MHz 4G network that will be made available once the 700MHz spectrum is abandoned by analog broadcasts.

Still, it does make sense for RIM to come up with some form of competition for the iPhone, thereby solidifying their position in the corporate world, but it remains to be seen what form this will actually take.

Back to the News

[Via BGR]