BlackBerry Bold 9790 goes on sale a bit earlier than expected, but it's priced at $504 (£330)

Still considered to be missing in action over here in the US, our friends across the big pond are getting the opportunity of picking up the latest BlackBerry smartphone to come to market – the Bold 9790. Although it was destined to become available in the UK starting on January 20th, online retailer Clove UK delighted customers by selling the device earlier than expected.

Right now, you can place an order for the SIM-free version of the handset for $504 (£330 VAT included), which is a hefty price when you think about it. Frankly, it isn’t one of the more premium devices we’ve seen pushed out of RIM’s camp, but nevertheless, it’s the latest model from them. Thankfully, the price that Clove is asking for the device is actually less than what was initially expected – well, it’s actually £12 cheaper than the previously announced price point.

Dishing out the money will indeed be rough for most people, especially in this economy, but at least there is comfort knowing that you can pop in just about any SIM and have it working with any operator around the world.  And if you simply forgot about this device, it features a 2.45” 480 x 360 touchscreen, single-core 1GHz processor, 768MB RAM, 5-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera, microSD card slot, 8GB of internal storage, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS.

We know it doesn’t break the benchmark for any BlackBerry smartphone released thus far, but when you look at the pricier Bold 9900, it’s not as bad some might think initially.

source: Clove via Unwired View