SlashGear

RIM’s BlackBerry Onyx 9020 could be the second handset from the company to feature an optical trackpad instead of the usual trackball.  While previous leaked shots of pre-release Onyx hardware have shown the smartphone with a trackball, according to the latest news from CrackBerry’s trusted sources the final production version will definitely get the trackpad.

The buttons on the Onyx have apparently also been reworked slightly, in part to better accommodate the trackpad.  No photos of the updated BlackBerry have been released, nor concrete justification for the design decision, but it’s believed to be an attempt to minimize hardware failure and reliance on mechanical input methods.

What’s still unknown is when we can expect the Onyx to actually arrive on store shelves.  The last we heard, back in March, was that it would land on AT&T and perhaps as a different version – with UMA support – for T-Mobile USA.

[via Electronista]