BlackBerry Bold 9650 Smartphone Announced For Sprint
The actual build here doesn't differ much from the previous BlackBerry Tour, with dimensions of 4.4" x 2.4" x 0.56" along with a new Wi-Fi module, 512MB of internal storage (up from 256MB), a new trackpad in place of the trackball and BlackBerry OS 5. There's also support for 10 e-mail accounts, built-in GPS, a 3.2MP camera (with flash, variable zoom, image stabilization, autofocus and video recording), a multi-media player, MicroSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, support for Bluetooth stereo headsets, access to the BlackBerry App World as well as Sprint TV, NASCAR, Sprint Football Live and the Sprint Music Store.
The phone will be available on May 23 for $199.99 after a mail-in rebate and two-year contract; a GSM version of the phone is also being announced, which means that AT&T and T-Mobile USA may make claims of their own nabbing the phone later.
BlackBerry Bold 9650 provides instant access to email, calendar, contacts, robust business and entertainment applications and location-based services, leveraging the best performing wireless networks in the United States and abroad. It is also ideally suited for those who want to stay socially connected and share moments through pictures and videos over MMS and popular IM services like BlackBerry(R) Messenger. It also offers easy access to social networking sites like Flickr(R), MySpace(TM) and Facebook(R), with smooth integration, providing a great view of what's happening both personally and professionally.
"BlackBerry Bold 9650 extends Sprint's position of offering the best portfolio of BlackBerry smartphones in the industry with a powerful mobility tool for those who want to stay connected, both domestically and abroad," said Fared Adib, vice president - Product Development, Sprint. "Our customers will appreciate its fast Web browsing, downloads and streaming as well as social media and productivity enhancing applications. This is an ideal smartphone for juggling busy personal and professional lives."
"The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is a sophisticated and feature-rich smartphone with uncompromising performance that lets you stay connected to the people and content that matter most, whether at home or travelling the world," said David Smith, vice president of Handheld Product Management, RIM.
In addition to top-of-the-line performance, functionality and features, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 smartphone comes with BlackBerry(R) OS 5. It is also designed with a smoothly integrated optical trackpad and a distinctive, highly tactile, fretted keyboard and features a large, high-resolution display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi).
Additional features include:
- Access to up to 10 supported email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts such as Yahoo!(R), Windows Live(TM) Hotmail(R), AOL(R) and Gmail(TM)), plus BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server support offering advanced security and IT administration capabilities for corporate deployments
- Built-in GPS and Wi-Fi(R) (802.11 b/g)
- 3.2 MP camera with flash, variable zoom, image stabilization, autofocus and video recording
- Advanced media player for enjoying pictures, video and music
- 512 MB Flash memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB microSDHC cards, with a 2 GB microSD card included
- 3.5 mm stereo headset jack
- Support for the Bluetooth(R) stereo headsets (A2DP/AVCRP)
- Sprint Music Store, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV(R), Sprint Football Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile
- BlackBerry(R) App World(TM) for access to thousands of applications
