BlackBerry

At January's BlackBerry 10 launch event, the company introduced two new phones, the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, and a new platform optimized for touch computing called the BlackBerry 10.

The BlackBerry Z10, available for preorder on AT&T for $200 starting March 12, is a black sheep in the thumb-tapping BlackBerry universe. The phone will be available online and in retail stores on March 22. The company's newest device has no physical keyboard — just a 4.2-inch display designed for precise touch input. It seems that BlackBerry is attempting to compete with the likes of Apple and Android touchscreen devices, and with such a competitive price, it may have a good shot.

BlackBerry also announced a new smartphone for its core button-clicking fan base, the Q10, which has touch capability and a keyboard. The Q10 won't be available until April, and the company has kept mum on pricing and availability information.

Click on to take a closer look at what's under the hood of BlackBerry's newest devices.

BlackBerry's new toy, the Z10, was introduced today, and smartphone accessories maker Case-Mate already has the gear you need to outfit the phone in style. Choose from sustainably harvested wood-trim cases, elegant leather, or the sporty look of brushed aluminum. Take a closer look at the cases, ranging in price from $50-$80, in the gallery.

Think about how many surfaces you touch throughout the day — door handles, hand rails, elevator buttons, ATM screens — and then consider how many times you touch your cell phone before washing your hands. Gross, right? So it should come as no surprise (or maybe it will) that a recent study shows 16 percent of cell phones have poop on them. Not only that, but our keyboards are home to 60 times more germs than a toilet seat, which is 150 times over the acceptable limit for bacteria. Dis-gus-ting.


If that doesn't make you want to immediately clean your entire workstation, I don't know what will. While using some disinfectant wipes on your keyboard and desk often will do the trick for keeping your space grime-free, the same cannot be said for cell phones. Get the lowdown on how to clean your sensitive smartphones here.

RIM announced three new BlackBerry Curve models today — the 9350, 9360, and 9370. All come with sleek and slim bodies, but they are virtually identical (save a few small tweaks in battery life and storage capacity). Check out the differences of the new trio of BlackBerry Curves below!

Specs They Share in Common
All three Curve models are super slim, coming in at just .43 inches thick and just a hair under 3.5 ounces with a 2.44-inch display and 800mhz processor. Just as a comparison, most of the Android phones you know and love these days are being stocked with 1Ghz processors and above. (Some of which are dual core, like the Droid X2), which make them lightning fast so you can expect these Curves to be a little on the slower side. Good news is that they all come with with the new BlackBerry 7 OS, a 5MP camera with flash and some other cool camera features like face detection, image stabilization, and geo-tagging. Video isn't going to be all that great, though, since it records at VGA standards (640x480). Additionally, all three of the 9300 series phones will come with NFC technology for mobile payments on the go.

Where They're Different
All of the new BlackBerry Curve models come with up to 5.5 hours of talk time, but the Curve 9350 has the most standby time (14.5 days) and media playback time — 45 hours of music and 9 hours of video. It seems that the 9360 has the least battery life of all three models, so if you're planning on playing a lot of music and videos, you might want to go with the 9350. Additionally, (not that I think this will be a dealbreaker) all three models are compatible with a number of music, video, and photo formats, but the 9350 and 9370 can also play .qpc audio formats, which are generally used for unique ring tones and voice recording. Finally, the 9370 has the most storage, coming with 1GB of on-board and expandable up to 32GB MicroSD. The 9350 and 9360 trail slightly behind at 512MB of on-board, expandable up to 32GB MicroSD. All three phones have 512MB of RAM.

Now that you know the (very minor) differences, get a closer look at the devices in the slideshow!