RIM and T-Mobile announce the BlackBerry Curve 9315

While RIM is gearing up to launch BlackBerry 10 at the end of the month, the company is still hard at work launching other phones in the meantime. Case in point, the company officially announced the BlackBerry Curve 9315 on T-Mobile's network. It's not a high-end device by any means, but it's only $49 plus $10 per month for the Equipment Installment Plan.

The phone features a 3.2 MP camera, microSD memory card expansion and a full, physical QWERTY keyboard. RIM will launch on January 23, just seven days before the company unveils its first BlackBerry 10 phones. Pre-sales for the Curve 9315 begin on January 16, and the phone will be priced at $49 on top of a 20-month Equipment Installment Plan for $10 per month.

In case you were curious, the Curve 9315 runs off of BlackBerry 7.1 and includes 3G connectivity as well as a built-in FM radio. The phone itself isn't anything new, since it looks like a classic BlackBerry device, but either way, those on T-Mobile wanting to get a cheap BlackBerry device now have a reason to do so.

RIM is set to launch BlackBerry 10 on January 30, and have a handful of devices ready to unleash. We've already taken a peek at some of the handsets thanks to a few leaked shots, so we already have an idea of what to expect, but nonetheless, we'll be excited to see what RIM's new operating system has to offer.