BlackBerry Dakota/Magnum prototype in the flesh?

There are probably a good amount of BlackBerry Storm or Storm2 owners out there that wish they had a physical QWERTY keyboard – it’s definitely one styling that makes the name BlackBerry widely recognized. Many dreams will come true if images of RIM’s alleged portrait style QWERTY handset with a touchscreen, known as the Magnum/Dakota, are seemingly coming into form slowly.  The first time we heard news about the Magnum were made known a while ago – which then transitioned to the Dakota moniker most recently. From the looks of it, the Bold inspired smartphone has its navigational device missing and regarded as being a preproduction model. RIM’s SurePress touchscreen will most likely make another appearance on this handset – which can be a good thing as they continue to improve on it. Finally, there’s no information regarding what’s going to power the handset under the hood. When this device does launch, customers will now have the best of both worlds – something everyone has been yearning for a long time.

source: Twitter via CrackBerry