Details of RIM's first QNX-based "Colt" smartphone leaked

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Hot on the heels of Research In Motion's BlackBerry 7 smartphone lineup announcement, technology blog BGR.com has uncovered details of the company's first QNX-based device, a smartphone codenamed the BlackBerry Colt.

The BlackBerry Colt will be powered by the same OS as the PlayBack tablet, "which we hope will make RIM competitive in the smartphone industry once again" said BGR.

However, RIM seems to be stumbling further from the front of the smartphone race, even with a bevy of next generation QNX smartphones on its horizon.

"The worst part isn't that the QNX-powered phone won’t be ready until the first quarter of 2012, but that RIM doesn't seem like it has learned from the mistakes from the PlayBook," wrote ZDNet.

According to BGR's tipster, the BlackBerry Colt won't be sporting a uber-fast quad-core or even a dual-core processor on launch. It will have a single core 1 GHz processor which, as ZDNet notes, puts it behind its already launched Android and iOS rivals.

Another complaint is the phone's initial lack of support for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, RIM's corporate email solution.

"If companies want to use Microsoft Exchange email on the device, they will actually have to use Microsoft ActiveSync," said BGR.

One saving grace for RIM is that the BlackBerry Colt is still in testing and the specifications could easily change before the device's release.