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BlackBerry Bold 9650. Expected May 2010 (United States).
The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is physically almost identical to last year's BlackBerry Bold 9700,
but it comes with the unusual feature of supporting both CDMA/EVDO networks (as found in the US)
as well as GSM/UMTS networks found in the rest of the world. BlackBerry have done this
before, for example with the 8830, and it's a very useful option for CDMA customers which
allows them to roam abroad.
If you're familiar with the 9700, then there's not much more to say about the 9650, except
that it is heading for Sprint in the US and possibly some other carriers from May onwards.
However, if you're a CDMA customer then you might be a little behind the times when it
comes to BlackBerry devices, and in this case the BlackBerry Bold 9650 will bring you ***
up to date. It has: a 2.44" 480 x 360 pixel display; a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus,
flash and video recording capabilities; built-in GPS with geo-tagging support; a web browser,
multimedia player and of course support for push email; a 3.5mm audio socket plus stereo
Bluetooth and microSD expandable memory. To top it all, the 9650 also supports WiFi..
so if you have a wireless access point handy then you can avoid racking up data costs.
This current generation of BlackBerry handhelds have replaced the trackball with a trackpad
which is certainly easier to use, and the 9650 has the classic BlackBerry layout with
a compact but usable QWERTY keyboard underneath.
This is all well and good, and there's no doubt that this will be a useful device for
many people, but essentially this phone is identical to the BlackBerry Tour 9630 announced
last year. It's a bit disappointing that in a whole year of development, RIM have only
managed a few minor upgrades.
RIM say that the 9650 should be available in the US from May onwards. No details on
pricing are available at present.