BlackBerry announces the BlackBerry 9720, a smartphone stuck in 2011

Brian Hough -

In 2011, the newly released BlackBerry OS 7 was supposed to be BlackBerry’s – then known as RIM – Hail Mary throw. BlackBerry had been in a spiral, bleeding through a user base that had been so large and so dominant just years before to the likes of the iPhone and Android-based smartphones. BlackBerry OS 7 was supposed to stop the hemorrhaging, interweaving a more multimedia and consumer angle on the age old BlackBerry formula. Around this time, the company also released the BlackBerry Torch – a QWERTY slider running BlackBerry OS 7 that RIM-hopefuls across the globe hoped would allow their favorite smartphone company to reclaim their crown.

Of course, it was never meant to be. The BlackBerry Torch went on to become a commercial failure, and BlackBerry OS 7 was simply too closely tied down by the limitations of the aging “classic” BlackBerry platform which BlackBerry OS 7 was based on. The company then went on to completely reboot its image and product line with BlackBerry 10 and the BlackBerry Z10 throughout the last year or so, and the rest – as they say – is history. Or is it?

It would seem not, as BlackBerry has just  today announced their newest smartphone – the BlackBerry 9720. Yes, the very same BlackBerry 9270 that I noted just a couple of months ago. And yes, it really does run BlackBerry OS 7. Featuring a 2.8-inch display with a 480×360 resolution (that’s a pixel density of just 214 ppi, to be clear), a full QWERTY keyboard, 512MB of internal storage, and a 5MP back facing camera, this truly is a smartphone stuck in 2011. Even then it would have been seen as somewhat of an antique – the iPhone 4S, which was released in November of that year, even crushes the 9270.

BlackBerry is planning on launching the 9720 in “select markets” across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America in the coming weeks and months, likely in emerging markets so as to not cannibalize the company’s premium BlackBerry 10 products. The company hasn’t put a price tag on this sucker yet but we can’t imagine you’ll be looking at too pricey of a phone here.