Review Gadget : BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 review

Research in Motion, regardless of how you may view its recent history or its long-term future, still has a stronghold on the corporate world. Its lineup of BlackBerry smartphones are known for great battery life, comfortable keyboards with intuitive shortcuts, top-notch native email and Enterprise clients and -- most important to businesses -- unrivaled security features. Sure, its influence is waning as competitors have caught up in some areas (and surpassed it in others), but there are plenty of companies that have clung to their CrackBerries and held on tight.

RIM's been hard at work trying to regain lost momentum by introducing a series of new devices featuring its latest OS, BlackBerry 7, and the BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930 series has been the star of the show so far. The problem is, it's not flashy enough. How is a C-level exec supposed to walk proudly on the golf course with a $300 (subsidized) phone? Talk about embarrassing. Have no fear, poor corporate top dog, luxury brand Porsche Design has come up with a solution: the $2,300 BlackBerry P'9981, a Vertu-ized version of that lesser handset you wouldn't be caught dead using.

Review Gadget : BlackBerry Porsche Design P9981 Preview

30 October 2011 – What do you get when you bring a luxury car maker and an enterprise phone maker? The futuristic looking Porsche Design P’9981 BlackBerry, which comes with a stainless-steel frame and a leather back cover.

It still remains distinctively BlackBerry, and comes with its physical backlit QWERTY keyboard and trackpad. It also comes with a 2.8-inch touchscreen unfortunately displaying 640x480 pixels (VGA) but BlackBerry says the device comes with Liquid Graphics technology.

Trust the luxury car maker to limit its availability and slap on a (estimated) $2000 USD price point.