Blackberry Colt - world's first QNX smartphone coming next year?

According to rumors, Blackberry could be launching a QNX powered smartphone, following the announcement of its BlackBerry 7 lineup.

So, what is QNX? and what does the rumored Blackberry Colt have on offer?

QNX is an operating system owned by a Canadian company, QNX software systems, which was recently acquired by Blackberry owner RIM. It is a real-time operating system which provides us the ability to run many functions at one time. It simplifies smartphone processes and enables better communication between programmes. It also makes it easy to communicate between devices.

Blackberry CEO Mike Lazaridis, has stated in the past that Blackberry was working on QNX devices. Even Blackberry's new playbook would run on a QNX OS.

The market is holding its breath for QNX-enabled devices. The OS already generated much hype. Therefore, when the news of a QNX-enabled handset surfaced, it lit the net on fire. Blackberry Colt has become a buzzword for smartphone enthusiasts.

According to speculations, RIM is planning to release its first QNX enabled smartphone - the Blackberry Colt in the first quarter of 2012. RIM is supposed to be working on a QNX-specific Enterprise server code for this phone.

Moreover, this phone would run on a single-core processor, instead of the much popular dual-core and upcoming quad-core processors. In the age of 1.5 GHz chips and smart operating systems, it might be difficult for a single-core processor to stand out.

But, we have placed our trust in Blackberry and we believe it will come out with a well-coordinated OS that makes up for its weak processor. It will most probably be modified to support programs such as Microsoft ActiveSync.

This phone will release in Europe by the first quarter of 2012. Its Indian release can be expected around the third quarter of the same year.

It will most probably be priced in the high-end smartphone range, lets say around 25K-30K at the least.

Many new phones are releasing in 2012. Will the rumored Blackberry Colt be able to stand up to the competition?

We sincerely hope so. But alas, rumors are rumors unless proved otherwise.

Watch this space for more on Blackberries and smartphones.