14 DAY TRIAL // Unveiled last month, BlackBerry’s affordable 9720 smartphone is about to hit shelves in India. The handset has just been confirmed to arrive in the country on September 14 at major authorized resellers.
Customers will be able to purchase the BlackBerry 9720 beginning this weekend for only Rs 15,990 outright, which is about $250 or €190.
Unlike the Z10, Q5 and Q10, BlackBerry 9720 runs the previous BlackBerry 7 operating system, and that is also reflected in the price.
Those who wish the premium feel and the modern features offered by BlackBerry 10 OS will have to come up with at least Rs 24,000 ($375/€280) upfront for which they will get the Q5.
BlackBerry 9720 is available for about the same price in more developed markets, so customers in emerging markets might find it a bit overpriced.
Anyway, the smartphone ships with BlackBerry 7.1 operating system out of the box and offers two input options: touchscreen and QWERTY keyboard.
Aimed at business customers or those who simply want a solid texting experience, BlackBerry 9720 sports a decent 2.8-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen display that supports 480 x 360 pixels resolution and 214 ppi (pixel density).
Hardware-wise, BlackBerry 9720 is decent enough for an affordable handset, but I’m not sure whether Indian customers will find it attractive enough.
The smartphone is equipped with an 806 MHz Tavor MG1 processor, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of storage, which can be further expanded up to 32GB via microSD memory card.
It also features a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and video recording, as well as an 1450 mAh Li-Ion battery, which is rated for up to 430 hours of standby time or up to 7 hours of talk time.
“The new BlackBerry 9720 smartphone builds on the incredible success of the BlackBerry 7 OS. This new smartphone is absolutely stunning and provides an ideal choice for urban youth and customers who are looking to upgrade from a feature phone or existing BlackBerry Curve smartphone to an affordable, easy-to-use smartphone with rich messaging and social networking connectivity,” said Sunil Lalvani, managing director for India at BlackBerry.