New BlackBerry Touch (monaco) Hands-On Photos Emerge

The new BlackBerry 6.1 icons look pretty snazzy... but I wonder what the
blacked out ones are for?! 

If you're getting sick of the PlayBook tablet talk and have been hoping for something phone related on the news and rumor front, here it is. BG posted some hands-on photos of the upcoming BlackBerry full touchscreen device (monaco/monza... aka Storm 3 but it won't launch as a Storm) which *could* hit the market as the BlackBerry Touch. Not too much was said by BG that we haven't already seen or talked about in the past about the device (see 2011 BlackBerry Smartphone Roadmap, Monaco Hands-On Video), but he did note that it seems BlackBerry OS 6.1 requires you to create a BlackBerry ID account. We saw this on the BlackBerry PlayBook Setup Tutorial the other day and have talked about this previously on CrackBerry podcasts - BBID is definitely growing into the centralized "iTunes" like account for RIM. As for specs, here's where things have been sitting...

BlackBerry Touch Specs:

• Dimensions: Sleek, thin profile - 11.5mm thick (120 x 62 x 11.5 mm)
• Processor:
  • Monza / GSM: TBA...
  • Monaco / CDMA: Qualcomm 1.2GHz Processor
• Radio:
  • Monza / GSM: TBA...
  • Monaco / CDMA: Dual band CDMA, EV-DO Rev A, RX Diversity ; Quad band EDGE / Single Band UMTS
• Display: 3.7" - 800x480 resolution, 15:9 aspect ration, 253 DPI
• Camera: 5 MP - Flash - Image Stabilization - HD Video Recording (720p)
• Navigation: Capacitive touch + BlackBerry navigation keys + optical navigation module. One convenience key
• Memory: 4GB storage + 768MB RAM + up to 32GB MicroSD
• WiFi/GPS: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n + GPS + Bluetooth 2.1 EDR + Mobile HotSpot
• Connectivity: Micro USB - Bluetooth - NFC
• Sensors: Magnetometer - Accelerometer - Proximity
• Software: Enhanced BlackBerry SW v.6.1, BlackBerry Evolution 6, Open GL ES 2.0, APIs for magnetometer and augmented reality apps

As for release date, BG's hearing the same things we've been hearing, that's it looking like BlackBerry World in May will be the venue where RIM announces most of these new devices, including the BlackBerry Bold Touch, BlackBerry Torch 2, BlackBerry Touch and new Curves. Should be a great show and May can't get here soon enough! One more photo below showing off the new battery, and you can hit the source link for more photos.

Source: BGR

BlackBerry Touch Photos