Mobile phone operator Vodafone UK has started accepting pre-orders for the Research in Motion’s (RIM’s) latest handset, the BlackBerry Bold 9900, which will be released on August 16.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 will run on the BlackBerry 7 operating system, which includes the best of what is being offered by the BlackBerry OS 6, coupled with a number of improvements.

To be come installed with the BlackBerry 7 OS, the new handset will provide users with a usability that is significantly improved over previous touchphones.

The new handset will come equipped with a 1.2GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording capabilities, 768MB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage that is expandable to 36GB via microSD.

However, the touchscreen of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is disaapointing at merely 2.8 inches wide. But, the upcoming handset boasts of being the thinnest BlackBerry handset to date.

Vodafone is offering the BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone for free on a £41 a month two-year contract, the deal that will offer 1200 minutes, 500MB of inclusive data allowance and unlimited texts per month.