Rumors have been swirling about a new CDMA BlackBerry device, the so-called BlackBerry Tour 9630, and it's now clear that this phone will be coming to Verizon Wireless and Sprint in the next few months. The phone uses the same collection of radio bands as the BlackBerry Storm, a unique combination of EV-DO Rev A for fast browsing here in the states under Verizon's network, as well as HSDPA in the 2100 band which is only useful for 3G browing in Europe and abroad. This lets Verizon Wireless and Sprint compete with AT&T's tri-band HSDPA World phones in terms of global coverage.
The phone(specs & gallery) will not have a touchscreen like the BlackBerry Storm, but sites familiar with pre-production models describe it as being similar in shape to the Storm. The Boy Genius report has spent some time with the device. The phone uses a QWERTY keyboard, which would be the first completely new BlackBerry device on Verizon Wireless and Sprint with a keyboard, after the BlackBerry Bold went to AT&T and the new BlackBerry Curve 8900 went to T-Mobile.
The phone will not include Wi-Fi support, though the phone will get a full complement of modern, advanced features otherwise. The Tour will use a 3.2-megapixel camera with auto focus and a flash. The screen will be the same resolution as other recent BlackBerry devices, 480 by 360 pixels. It will also get the same large, 1400 mAh battery as other recent BlackBerry phones, so hopefully RIM's tradition of solid battery performance will hold up. All these specs also apply to the Bell version of the phone. Bell runs a Canadian cellular network with technology similar to Verizon Wireless, but carriers have been known to change or adapt phones to suit their own needs and tastes.
Otherwise, the phone will probably see the latest software updates for the BlackBerry platform. That means BlackBerry OS 4.7, and support for BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) 5.0. The latter update brings improvements like html e-mail to the BlackBerry at last. The phone will be available in July 2009 for $200 (after rebates) with a contract agreement.
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