Purported images of BlackBerry 9720 with BB 7 OS spotted online

When BlackBerry showcased its new operating system BlackBerry 10 in January, it was believed that the company will ditch its existing OS to brace the new one. However, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins dispelled all concerns regarding this OS at the Q1 2014 earnings call. At the same forum he also announced that the company will be launching new BlackBerry OS 7 smartphones in 2013.

Now images of an alleged BlackBerry OS 7 smartphone have been spotted online. As per ThaiBBclub, the new BlackBerry OS 7 will be dubbed BlackBerry 9720.

It is noteworthy, that there is no mention of the series name in this smartphone unlike earlier smartphones that were named BlackBerry Curve 9220, BlackBerry Curve 8520, BlackBerry Bold 9900 et al. However, from the leaked images this smartphones appears to resemble the smartphones in the Curve series. It also seems to have dedicated BBM button just like the BlackBerry Curve 9220.

Furthermore, ThaiBBclub speculates that BlackBerry 9720 will come with a 360X480 display resolution. However, it is not clear whether this smartphone will be just a QWERTY phone or will it be a touch + QWERTY device. The Thai site also maintains that the BlackBerry 9720 will come with scanty 105.8MB of internal storage, which can be expanded by a microSD card. The smartphone is also likely to come with a front camera and will support 3G connectivity.

BlackBerry's decision to offer a new BlackBerry 7 OS smartphone perhaps stems from the fact that these phones are still popular in emerging markets. In addition to this, the company has still not been able to launch an entry-level BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

BlackBerry is currently offering its flagship smartphones Z10 and Q10 that run on the BlackBerry 10 OS. The company has also launched a mid-range smartphone BlackBerry Q5 based on this new operating system in some of the international markets. BlackBerry Q5 is expected to be launched in India soon.