Is RIM Readying BlackBerry London as Rival to iPhone 4S, iPhone 5?

Research in Motion's BlackBerry, which accounted for three percent mobile devices sales worldwide last year, is still the most preferred smartphone in the UK for the second year running.

At present, BlackBerry holds the best-selling smartphone position in the UK although RIM is steadily sliding down in the overseas market. However, a silver lining has sprung up in the forms of an image and leaked specifications of the long-rumoured BlackBerry London.

The new images reveal a svelte look which is very similar to a top end Android smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S2, HTC HD2 and Motorola Droid X2. A leaked roadmap recently revealed that RIM plans to launch BlackBerry London around September or October. Apple's iPhone 5 is expected in the same time frame.

If the new looks are said to be true, then the upcoming BlackBerry London smartphone may eat a pie out of the market share mostly dominated by Android and Apple iPhone.

Here is a special look at the comparison of BlackBerry London and iPhone 4S with the acquired specifications.

Display: Even though the information related to display looks vague, RIM's previous image leak related to the same phone showed a device looking thinner than iPhone 4S showcasing a black and silver angular design similar to the BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981.

However, the present images with a fully polished black look shows a display close to 4.3-inch. The iPhone 4S features a display of 3.5-inch and the upcoming iPhone 5 is touted to come with a 4-inch plus display.

Operating System: The new 'London' smartphone is expected to come with new BlackBerry 10 QNX-based operating system, previously known as BBX. RIM's new CEO Thorsten Heins recently did reveal that the company was open to licensing the BlackBerry 10 OS to other manufacturers. Meanwhile, the present iPhone 4S has the iOS 5 support whereas iPhone 5 may receive an updated version of iOS 5.

Processor: RIM is believed to be testing TI OMAP5 and Qualcomm processors both of which are said to be 1.5GHz dual-core offerings whereas iPhone 4S runs on an 800 Mhz processor and iPhone 5 is expected to retain the same processor as the existing models.

Storage: BlackBerry London will come with 1 GB RAM memory and 16 GB internal storage along with up to 32 GB microSD card support while the present iPhone 4S features 512 MB RAM and has varied 16/32/64 GB storage models. Apple has maintained a low profile when it comes to RAM memory compared to other smartphones in the market.

Camera: RIM's new smartphone is expected to feature an 8 megapixel and 3264×2448 pixels camera along with LED flash and 1080p HD video recording similar to iPhone 4S.

WLAN: iPhone 4S has Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz support and BlackBerry London may feature Wi-Fi ranging 2.4 GHZ b/g/n - 5GHz a/n support.

On the other hand, iPhone 5 rumors have reached an upscale as the phone is expected to come with NFC, LTE technology, HD video support, home button, 3D content and Apple's I / O Apple technology called Thundebolt that enables a faster transfer of data and phone recharging.