BlackBerry's first QNX phone will come as early as Q1 2012

BlackBerry is currently testing out its first phone, running on the QNX platform - dubbed the BlackBerry Colt. BlackBerry's first QNX handheld will, however, most probably arrive in Q1 2012.

BlackBerry have lost a lot of ground to both iOS and Android smartphones and many are hoping that QNX is just the platform to bring the Canadian manufacturer back to its former glory. 2012 isn't all that far away but the competition is set to become even more fierce leading up to Q1 of 2012.

BlackBerry's new OS 7-running devices are still hot out of the oven, but QNX is already stirring great expectations.

There isn't much information about the Colt but BGR claim to have a valuable source with insider information on the mysterious device. So far we know that the Colt prototype in testing has a single-core processor and that it runs on the QNX platform - so far a BlackBerry Playbook-exclusive OS. Still, BlackBerry have hinted at dual-core QNX devices to come. It's also possible that BlackBerry will have to make some compromises in order to launch the device on time.

The Playbook launched without email support as BlackBerry had to rewrite its entire BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) code for it to support the QNX platform and it seems that now RIM is working on a new BES, specifically made for QNX. The first QNX-powered smartphone will probably launch without support for the current BES versions. The phone should, however, support Microsoft's ActiveSync out of the box - so Microsoft Exchange email will be possible.

BGR reports that the Software Verification team of RIM is hard at work, testing the BlackBerry Colt and the release date for the device will heavily depend on how this testing goes.

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