BlackBerry Bold 9700, Bold 9650 Getting an Upgrade to OS 6.0, BlackBerry Storm2 Is Not

Today is the official unveiling of BlackBerry OS 6.0, and RIM has announced the short list of smartphones that will be getting upgrades. The two most recent Bold models are getting one, but just about every other BlackBerry model is not.

According to an official statement from RIM:

Subject to carrier certifications in the months ahead, the new OS is expected to be available for the BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry Bold 9650 and BlackBerry Pearl 3G, as well as future BlackBerry smartphones.

This includes the BlackBerry Torch 9800, which will debut in the middle of this month.

RIM has not give specifics about when any of the system software upgrades for the current devices will be available.

No Upgrade for You!
Today's announcement is bad news for a large percentage of BlackBerry users. The entire Curve series is being left out of getting an upgrade, for example.

A group even more likely to be upset, though, is those who have a BlackBerry Storm2. Because of its touchscreen, this high-end model would benefit from many of the new features of BlackBerry OS 6.0, which has been designed to be much more fingertip-friendly than its predecessor.

As it stands now, those who like the Storm's tablet shape with a large display and want to latest version of RIM's operating system will have to wait for the release of the BlackBerry Storm3, expected later this year, or for an unofficial upgrade put together by the community. 

Overview of BlackBerry OS 6.0
This new version is going to bring really significant changes, making devices running it more competitive against Apple's iPhone and smartphones running Google's Android OS.

An updated user interface will be more functional and more fingertip friendly for touchscreen devices like the BlackBerry Torch 9800.

In addition, it will include a much enhanced web browser that's faster and includes support for more of the latest standards.