New BlackBerry Curve 9320 with 3G in India next month

RIM has just upgraded its Blackberry Curve 9320, which is already a very popular device in India. The Curve 9320 will have 3G connectivity and also include BlackBerry’s latest 7.1 operating system. The latest announcement comes on the back of the release of the new BlackBerryCurve 9220 last month in India for Rs 10,990.

IBN-Live reports, The new BlackBerry Curve 9320 has the WiFi hotspot functionality, making it the first Curve series phone to have the feature.

The hotspot feature will allows users to share Internet services with up to five different devices.

Other features of the phone include a 2 megapixel camera, and expandable memory up to 32 GB which is not likely to excite many users in this day and age of powerful phone cameras. However India’s many BBM addicts will be pleased to see that there is a BBM button on the phone that allows them to go instantly to the messenger service having to navigate the main menu.

It seems RIM has stuck to CEO Thorsten Heins ’ promise that it won’t be ditching its Qwerty keypads. RIM has recently showcased, prototype BB 10 OS devices to developers, which were touchscreen phones, sparking rumours that the next BB would be without a Qwerty.

The price of new Curve 9320 has not be released but according to IBN-Live it could be in the Rs 12000 range. If this is true, then RIM’s latest 3G offering will seem a tad too expensive in comparison, especially when there are viable competitors like Samsung’s Galaxy Y which is available for Rs 7000.

Will the new Curve 9320 give RIM an edge in the Indian market, which is getting flooded by a slew of cheaper, Android devices with various multimedia features? That only time will reveal.