Telstra has announced it will sell the BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone from tomorrow, ending an exclusivity period with Optus which had been in effect since the phone launched on 1 September.
First look: BlackBerry Bold 9900
The latest RIM handset, which boasts the BlackBerry 7 OS, will be available on Telstra's various Freedom Connect and Business Maximiser plans from 1 November 2011.
Both plans come bundled with BlackBerry’s unlimited email and internet browsing services. Pricing starts at $49 a month over 24 months, plus $35 monthly handset repayments. (For a full list of pricing plans, click here.)
“The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 is thinner, faster and more powerful than before and we expect it to be incredibly popular with our customers,” said Telstra's Mobile director Tim Webber in a statement.
“The new Bold... has everything customers need to get connected with their email, favourite apps, office calendar and the mobile internet on the go. Battery life continues to be outstanding and teamed with the Telstra Mobile Network customers can access more than twice the geographic coverage of the next largest 3G network in Australia.”
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is a traditional-looking BlackBerry equipped with a QWERTY keyboard and a 2.8in touch screen. At just 10.5mm thick, it is currently the slimmest BlackBerry on the market, although several Android handsets are notable thinner, including the Samsung Galaxy S II.
It also comes with support for augmented reality, which overlays useful information on what the user sees through the phone's camera viewfinder. Other highlights inslude a 1.2 GHz processor, 5MP camera and HD video recording, as well as 8GB of inbuilt memory.
