The BlackBerry® Curve™ series of smartphones have always been fun and easy-to-use, with great attributes that distinguish the line in a sea of entry-level handsets. Today, we are excited to announce the latest addition to our Curve family, the new all-touch BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone!

Our BlackBerry® 7 OS devices have been getting great buzz since we first announced the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and 9930 smartphones, the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810 smartphone, the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 and 9860 smartphones, and the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. Later this month, the new BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone running BlackBerry 7 will be making its way to carriers and retail locations around the world. So, we thought it would be a good time to get Product Manager Mark to share three key things you need to know about this new BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone. Take it away, Mark!

1. All the great attributes of a BlackBerry Curve in a sleek all-touch design

First off, the new all-touch BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first BlackBerry Curve smartphone that sports a touch screen, offering a full-sized touch display at that. It maintains the great attributes and fun and approachable features that distinguish the BlackBerry Curve family, adds some really cool new technology such as NFC and Augmented Reality, while offering users a responsive all-touch screen interface.

Like existing BlackBerry Curve models, the BlackBerry Curve 9380 is light in weight and has a sleek and stylish design. The beautifully crafted handset fits easily into your holster, feels great in your hand, and looks good no matter where you go.

The 3.2” all-touchscreen is packed full of pixels for a crisp picture, which makes it ideal for quickly scanning and scrolling through messages, zooming in on your friends’ newest Facebook® pics or streaming YouTube® videos on the go.

2. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 keeps you socially connected

The BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone is jam packed with features. From the basics like phone functionality, SMS and email, to a great web browsing experience and cool apps that take full advantage of the smartphone. It also makes it easy to interact with your social network, because the new BlackBerry Curve 9380 delivers an amazing social experience!

Your social life can be fully integrated through BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) driven by BBM 6, and great new BBM-connected applications which, for example, allow you to connect with your friends through BBM while playing a game or listening to (and sharing) tunes with BBM™ Music.

The new BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone also features our Social Feeds application, which ties all of your social networks together into one place. With Social Feeds you can update each of your social networks at once, and new messages from your friends pop up at the top of the screen so you can check them quickly and easily.

Oh, and we can’t forget the 5 megapixel camera! You can take a photo or a video of whatever you want, whenever you want. The camera allows you to take that snapshot quickly and then upload it to share on Facebook or Twitter®.

3. NFC and Augmented Reality – Some cool technology in the new all-touch BlackBerry Curve 9380

As we mentioned earlier, there’s some really cool new technology in the BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone too: NFC (Near Field Communications) and Augmented Reality (driven by the digital compass). NFC technology will allow you to interact with your surroundings in a whole new way. You can read and create smart tags, tap to connect with posters to access content, or sync up with NFC-enabled accessories. The recent announcement about BlackBerry® Tag coming in a future release of BlackBerry 7 will apply to this model and we’re working with MasterCard® to bring their MasterCard® PayPass™ mobile payment certification to this handset as well.

If you haven’t yet, you have to check out Augmented Reality technology, starting with the Wikitude app. This app allows you to hold up your device and, using the camera, explore the world around you. Standing in front of an important landmark? Just point your BlackBerry Curve 9380 at it and let Wikitude tell you all about it. It is even designed to work with BBM in virtually real-time to let you see where your BBM friends are in a crowd! These new experiences will blow you away, and we really encourage you to check them out yourself on the BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone.

You’ll be amazed with how easy and intuitive the BlackBerry Curve 9380 is to use. The responsive all-touch screen, optical trackpad, navigation keys and virtual keyboard make using the BlackBerry Curve 9380 effortless. Another bonus is that the smartphone’s features are well laid out, accessible, and you’ll really appreciate having all that screen real estate for watching YouTube® videos or viewing pictures. We’re incredibly excited about adding the BlackBerry Curve 9380 to our lineup and can’t wait to hear what you think!

Check out our BlackBerry Curve 9380 Where to Buy page for more details. Availability dates for specific devices from specific carriers will be announced in coordination with Research In Motion® (RIM®) partners. For more information on pricing and availability, contact your local carrier.

Make sure to post a comment below and let us know what you think!