The UK Mobile Phone Blog

BlackBerry Magnum: QWERTY plus Touchscreen?

BlackBerry are a company that are easy to get your head round. If you want a touchscreen device then the Storm is the perfect BlackBerry for you. Want a physical keyboard? Then the Bold 9700 is what you’re looking for. Simple. But what if you’re after both? What if you want a BlackBerry phone with a touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard? Well until recently, your only option would have been to jump ship and get yourself a shiny new Palm Pre. That was until we caught sight of a new rumoured BlackBerry phone that promises to offer the best of both worlds. Ladies and gentleman, i give you the BlackBerry Magnum.

Ok, so i’d like to start by pointing out that this has yet to be officially announced and so nothing is concrete but from what we’ve seen so far, the Magnum looks too good not to be true. Similar in size and design to the recent BlackBerry Bold 9700, the Magnum boasts a full QWERTY keyboard and clickable touchscreen as seen in the Storm2.

From the leaked image we can clearly see the keys are slightly larger than those found on the latest Bold meaning we could, if at all possible, be in for an even more user friendly typing experience. As for the display, it looks to match the screen found on the Bold meaning somewhere in the region of 2.6 inches. Exactly what a touchscreen of this modest size will be like to use remains to be seen but if BlackBerry can get the operating system on a par, it could be perfect for navigating web pages and menus.

In addition to the touchscreen, the Magnum is rumoured to include an optical trackpad which should offer another method of navigation. Elsewhere, expect the phone to include HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, built in GPS a microUSB port. No word on availability yet but fingers crossed the Magnum will get officially announced at this months Mobile World Congress, the years premier mobile phone event. Keep an eye on the blog and we’ll keep you posted.