Blackberry QNX phone details leaked

But underpowered if true ...

Images and specifications for the first Blackberry running QNX have surfaced, but if these are accurate then the Blackberry Colt is underpowered, incompatible and doomed from the start.

The details come from the Boy Genius Report blog, which claims inside information and a photoshopped image of the handset. That information points to a single-cored handset running QNX, but without BES integration and reliant on Microsoft's ActiveSync for reading email, which sounds so unlikely it might just be true.

The blog does say that some details might change, but is adamant that the device being tested within RIM is a single core – while many of the competition is already using dual cores, and many will be quad-core by the time the Colt launches next year.

The report also claims that BES integration is proving harder to port to QNX than previously thought, which is why the handset will launch without it. BGR claims this is the reason the PlayBook doesn't have an email client, which is in contrast to RIM's claim that the PlayBook was only ever intended to be an adjunct to a BlackBerry handset and therefore has no need for a local client.

The PlayBook's lack of email client was much reported when the tablet launched, but surprisingly the App World isn't bulging with email clients, as most users seem to have got used to webmail or do indeed sync with their BlackBerry handsets.

But, stung by the early reviews, RIM promised a proper BES integration which hasn't yet arrived – lending credence to the idea that it is proving to be a difficult port.

RIM needs something remarkable to regain trust in its brand, and an incompatible and underpowered handset isn't going to deliver that, so hopefully the company has something more impressive which has remained under wraps. ®