The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is coming to Verizon Wireless on June 3 for just $149.99 with a contract and after a mail-in rebate. That’s $50 cheaper than with the previous sole carrier, Sprint.
The new BlackBerry Bold model is a bit of a milestone for Verizon, being their first global phone that supports GlobalAccess Connect - meaning users can tether the smartphone to a computer for use as a wireless Internet access modem. New owners will be able to do this in over 200 countries at a rate of $65 per month for 5 GB within the US and Canada, or pay up $155 each month for the same 5 GB allowance in the US and Canada, plus 200 MB extra for use in select countries. Naturally, overage rates will apply, so be careful.
Some of the other global uses with the new Bold smartphone come in the form of VZ Navigator Global software, which provides driving directions in English in more than 20 nations, plus spotting gas stations, ATM locations and other ncessesities along the way.
As a refresher, here’s a bit of an update on what comes inside of the BlackBerry Bold 9650:
- 2.45-inch display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi)
- 3.2-megapixel AF camera with flash
- 512MB of onboard flash memory
- microSD card slot (up to 16GB; 2GB card pre-installed)
- Audio/video/photo media player
- 3.5mm stereo headset jack
- 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- GPS
- BlackBerry Media Sync
- Optical trackpad
- Supports Hi-Speed EV-DO Rev, UMTS/HSPA 2100 MHz (North America), Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM (International)
- Rechargeable/removable 1400 mAhr battery (Up to 5 hours of CDMA voice time)
That $150 price is dependent upon signing a new two-year contract, and the $100 rebate will be returned in the form of a debit card. Those who want to wait and buy the BlackBerry Bold 9650 in stores may do so starting on June 10. If you don’t care about having a built-in camera, there will be a version of the Bold 9650 without one, which could make a difference in price.
