RIM’s latest touchscreen BlackBerry is launching on Verizon later this week. The Touch 9850 will hit VZW’s online marketplace on the 8th with retail stores getting the handset on the 15th.
The phone taps a 1.2GHz CPU to run BlackBerry 7 on its 3.7-inch touchscreen. A quad-band mobile radio makes the 9850 a global traveler while the rest of the standard suite of WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS completes the connectivity options. Verizon’s 9850 offering hits at $50 more than Sprint’s Touch model, but $50 less than Verzion’s own 9930 Bold BlackBerry. Not that the price matters as this phone is clearly for the BlackBerry loyalist as Android and the iPhone have clearly taken over as the everyman’s smartphone.
PRESS RELEASE
Watch videos, play games and stay productive on the largest display and highest resolution on a BlackBerry smartphone to date. Powered by the new BlackBerry® 7 operating system, customers can enjoy the next generation BlackBerry browser with optimized zooming, panning and HTML 5 performance. BlackBerry® Balance is now integrated, allowing secure access to business information while preventing it from being copied into, sent from or used by personal applications. Customers can stay connected to their personal and business lives while in or out of the office.
Key features:
3G coverage on the nation’s most reliable network
3.7-inch high-resolution touchscreen display (800 x 480) with trackpad navigation
1.2 GHz processor
Global Ready™ – Quad band with support for UMTS, HSPA, GSM, GPRS and EDGE allowing customers to enjoy wireless voice and data service in more than 200 countries, including more than 95 with 3G speeds
5-megapixel camera with flash and 720p HD video recording capabilities
Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS and Bluetooth® 2.1
16 GB microSD™ card pre-installed, with support for up to 32 GB microSD card
BlackBerry 7:
Liquid Graphics™ technology combines a dedicated high-performance graphics processor with a blazingly fast CPU and stunning high-resolution display to deliver a responsive touch interface with incredibly fast and smooth graphics.
Premium version of Documents To Go is now included at no additional cost, offering customers enhanced document editing features, as well as a native PDF document viewer.
The newest release of BBM™ (BlackBerry Messenger) now extends the real-time BBM experience together with a range of apps including gaming and social networking.
Updated Social Feeds app has been extended to capture updates from media, podcasts and more, all in one consolidated view.
Universal search capability now supports voice-activated search, allowing customers to simply say what they want to find on their device or the Web.
BlackBerry Balance administrator can remotely wipe business information from the device while leaving personal information intact.
Pricing and availability:
BlackBerry Torch 9850 smartphone will be available for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
Customers that purchase a BlackBerry Torch 9850 smartphone will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 for monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.
For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.