Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

BlackBerry 9650 makes the Bold RIM's new flagship smartphone

By | April 26, 2010, 5:30am PDT

Summary: While RIM’s big announcement of the first day of WES 2010 was the resurrection of the Pearl series with the BlackBerry Pearl 3G, the company also showed off its new CDMA version of the BlackBerry Bold.

While RIM’s big announcement of the first day of WES 2010 was the resurrection of the Pearl series with the BlackBerry Pearl 3G, the company also showed off its new CDMA version of the BlackBerry Bold. Called the BlackBerry Bold 9650, the new high-end smartphone helps RIM standardize the devices across the top of its product line.

See alsoRIM melds BlackBerry with PBX handsets

RIM President Mike Lazaridis said, “The new BlackBerry Bold 9650 is an extraordinary smartphone that we think customers will love. Whether at work or at play, the new BlackBerry Bold 9650 offers a truly impressive communications, multimedia and connectivity experience.”

The Bold 9650 has essentially the same features as the Bold 9700, which is already on AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S., Bell and Rogers in Canada, and several other smaller GSM carriers. The Bold 9650 will obviously be aimed at CDMA/EVDO carriers Sprint and Verizon Wireless in the U.S. so that North American businesses can easily standardize on the device. That’s important because some companies are starting to use the Bold as a replacement to the universally-available BlackBerry Curve.

Here’s a quick summary of the primary features of the 9650:

  • 480×360 display
  • CDMA/EVDO + UMTS/HSPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM (for global roaming)
  • 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi
  • 512 MB of RAM
  • microSD/SDHC slot for up to 32 GB of storage (2 GB card included)
  • 3.2 MP camera
  • Optical trackpad
  • Full HTML Web browser
  • BlackBerry Media Sync (connects to iTunes)

Keep in mind that Verizon, Sprint and other CDMA carriers already have a similar product called the BlackBerry Tour 9630. The Bold 9650 adds two main upgrades to the Tour: 1.) It replaces the trackball with the new trackpad, and 2.) It adds Wi-Fi, which is increasingly important for fixed-mobile convergence to save cellular charges.

UPDATED 4/26, 9:45AM: Sprint announced Monday that the Bold 9650 will be available on its network on May 23.

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Jason Hiner is the Editor in Chief of TechRepublic. He writes about the products, people, and ideas that are revolutionizing business with technology.

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Jason Hiner

Jason Hiner has nothing to disclose. He doesn't hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Jason Hiner

Jason Hiner is the Editor in Chief of TechRepublic, an online trade publication and peer-to-peer community for IT leaders. He is an award-winning journalist who examines the latest trends and asks the big questions about the technology industry. He previously worked as an IT manager in the health care industry.

You can also find him on Twitter, , Facebook, and at JasonHiner.com.

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The Blackberry is great!
chitchatgirl2 27th Apr 2010
I love smartphone! Especially the Blackberry. It's so professional and just
a great phone in general.
The coolest part about it is that it works on Fuzion Mobile, which is an
autopay service. For only $50 a month I get unlimited everything and I
get to keep this phone. Check them out! I really like their service.

*No, I don't work for them. I just love how they let you keep your
smartphone and pay for inexpensive coverage.

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