One day before its launch, Verizon has finally officially announced the BlackBerry Bold 9650. It was not a secret at all that the Bold 9650 was coming to Verizon, however, Verizon usually acknowledges that a device exists more than 24 hours before they start selling it.
As we reported previously, the Verizon BlackBerry Bold will be available online starting tomorrow, June 3rd, and in brick and mortar stores one week later, June 10th. The device is priced at $149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate on a 2 year contract. This is actually a pretty good price.
The BlackBerry Bold 9650 ships with BlackBerry OS 5, however, is one of the three devices upgradable to BlackBerry 6 whenever it is released. Let’s hope sooner rather than later…
I’ll be receiving one of these. Already ordered yesterday.
You’ll have to tell us how you like it. I think that will hold out for the next Verizon BB with a touchscreen…
Not much of a difference from the Tour aside from the obvious touch pad, additional memory, PTT capability and Bold name. One thing that is an issue after testing…and I’m amazed that this one was able to escape RIM’s labs…
For those of you who sync Desktop Manager via Bluetooth on your system, you’re in for a surprise. Once you’ve set up the connection and sync via DM, your BB will loop and continue to search for the desktop connection every thirty seconds. I tested 5 other BB models/devices and couldn’t replicate the error. After reinstalling the OS, still had the issue. Took another 9650 device and set it up to the system, same issue. Tried a different system, same issue.
Problem is that I like to keep my BB connected to the Bluetooth headset, but can’t because of the setup with the system. Either deleting the connection or turning off the Bluetooth frequency will only solve the issue. Major pain.
For now I’m regulated to syncing via USB.
PS – I was on the phone with RIM for close to 3 hours and they couldn’t determine the issue based on the log files, etc. Seems like they are going to have to push out a patch for the build to solve the issue.
**Another observation I had was a slight delay from time to time where the OS will stall before moving forward with the command (whatever you selected, wasn’t particular to a specific job or category). It’s happened on other devices when busy pulling in data, but not as noticeable as this particular model (especially when no data is being pulled in).
OS6 better be a savior.
Hey I love this phone and hope to be getting it. I just started a blog on bberries myself if you or anyone else wants to check it out go to http://www.jamesverow101.blogspot.com/
How did you order it? I tried calling Verizon, asking for price and info and they told me they didnt even know.
For those of you interested…stores have them and are selling them. My local store inventory manager just contacted me with the devices already in and ready to be sold.