The hottest device coming out of Research in Motion right now is the BlackBerry Bold 9700. The hottest news coming out of Research in Motion is OpenGL (3D graphics) support. The BlackBerry Bold 970o, unfortunately, doesn’t support OpenGL.
The question to you is does the Bold 9700 still sound just as hot?
Currently, only the BlackBerry Storm2 and the BlackBerry Curve 8530 support OpenGL ES. RIM has stated that new CDMA BlackBerry devices with Qualcomm chipsets going forward will support OpenGL as well. I am sure that GSM devices will eventually get it, but, how long will they have to wait?
At least for a short time, there will clearly be a case of the haves and the have nots when it comes to application support.
Hmmm… I currently have a Bold, and I was going to get the Bold 2, but this does make me think about a Storm 2… Why would they not include it? It should be the RIM flagship device… Silly RIM!
It would be stupid to buy a new phone that cannot support upcoming features.
For that reason, I wouldn’t touch the 9700 with a 10 foot pole.
Actually, it kind of makes sense that OpenGL is first available on CDMA devices. This is RIM’s first stab at 3D graphics and the Storm2 will be able to showcase them better than any other device so you have to make sure that you support your best hardware out of the gate.
@JoSaki
That is ridiculous. RIM builds crap hardware and has a crap to 10th power OS but they are not stupid. They know that if a lackberry with OpenGL came out on on AT&T first it would be judged side by side with the iPhone, pail miserably in comparison, and move the overall demise of the company up 6 to 12 months.
Does this mean anything to those of us not interested in gaming? Would it impact the ability to upgrade the browsing experience in the future?
“Actually, it kind of makes sense that OpenGL is first available on CDMA devices”
Yeah RIM why not build new technology for a closed, non-standard, non-global technology which is well on it’s way to being obsolete. Even big red has seen the error in their ways and are in the process of upgrading their network to LTE/GSM.
In reality there is little to no sense for RIM to spend much if any time and money on CDMA devices.
I’m a little disappointed that the 9700 won’t have OpenGL, but I still plan on buying the new Bold as soon as it’s released. Playing games on my BlackBerry just isn’t that essential. (I also carry the latest gen of iPod Touch, so if I really want to play a fancy game, I can)
In my opinion it is actually a half decent idea for RIM to come out with OpenGL on CDMA devices first. 3D graphics on any BlackBerry carried by AT&T will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the iPhone so long as the iPhone is exclusive to AT&T and its marketing, no matter how good a BlackBerry that supports OpenGL is, will be capped. Sprint with the 8530 and especially Verizon with the BlackBerry Storm2 can market the heck out of OpenGL and pit devices that support it squarely against the iPhone.
I hear what the Rock is saying about GSM being the worldwide standard but the difference where it counts the most is non existent. GSM has about 62-63% market share world wide. That is a pretty wide gap over CDMA, iDen, and other technologies so insignificant that they aren’t worth mentioning. What you have to take into account, however, is that many if not most of these GSM carriers supporting populations in underdeveloped areas of the world either don’t offer BlackBerry service at all or offer devices well behind the initial releases in North America and Europe.
Believe it or not, CDMA is actually the dominate standard in North America and by a fairly wide margin. The success of the BlackBerry largely depends on how well it does in the U.S. and Canada where over 70% of all BlackBerry devices are sold, and in Europe, where just over 20% of devices are sold.
To make a long story short, it is true that GSM is the worldwide standard, but, RIM sells so many CDMA devices in comparison that it simply doesn’t matter.
I was so looking forward to the Bold 2, but I won’t get it now. I’ll be switching to either the Storm2 or Droid as soon as my contract ends…
As a current Bold 9000 owner, I wouldn’t buy a 9700 knowing this. My current phone has a bigger screen, I like the looks of it better, and besides the trackpad, there’s nothing that it will offer that my phone can’t do.
I would probably buy an 8530 over a 9700, and the Storm 2 is looking much more attractive because of this news. The Droid looks very good, but I’d say by the time my contract expires I will have better options from all manufacturers.