TechCrunch » niagara

RIM rumor: VZW-bound BlackBerry Niagara, Apex to debut next week

Nicholas Deleon — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:20:59 +0000

Two bits of BlackBerry news/rumor for you to digest. One, it looks like RIM will officially unveil the niagara at its Wireless Enterprise Symposium next week in beautiful Orlando. The niagara, you’ll recall, is supposedly the greatest BlackBerry in the history of the world: a 3G world phone that’ll be available on Verizon Wireless. (Expect it to be available within the month, now that’s it May and all.)

Two, RIM may also debut a VZW flip phone called the Apex. When you think Apex, think Pearl Flip, the reasonably okay phone that’s on T-Mobile.

Again, from what I’ve read, the BlackBerry niagara is pretty much the best BlackBerry ever, and it’ll give VZW users another reason to skip the Storm. Solid network + solid, “real” BlackBerry should = win.

The BlackBerry 9630 is shaping up nicely

Matt Burns — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:20:22 +0000

Praise Jebuz! The next-gen CDMA full keyboard Blackberry seems to be right on track according to a pre-release hands-on by CrackBerry. The model they sent through the paces came out fine, despite not being the final version meant for consumer’s hands. There were, of course, some bugs, but overall, the 9630 seems to be as good as CDMA users can get.

The keyboard is great and compared to a mix of the Bold and Curve. The OS bring some of the Storm’s design magic while pairing it with trackball movement. Hopefully we’ll see this BB on Verizon’s shelves soon, but we haven’t heard anything since the sometime in May timetable. No word on price yet, either.

BlackBerry 9630 groped, declared best ever

Peter Ha — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:00:26 +0000

The BGR is probably one of the biggest BlackBerry fanboys of all time, so when he says the 9630 aka Niagara is the best. Ever. Then I believe him. Well, he doesn’t say it’s the best BlackBerry of all time, but he might as well have after you read his short but concise first impressions of the latest BlackBerry from RIM.

* Best BlackBerry keyboard. Ever.
* Best BlackBerry speakers. Ever.
* Best screen. Ever. (It looks more like glass than crappy plastic)
* Best size/feel. Ever.

via BGR

First extensive hands-on with the BlackBerry 9630 Niagara

Matt Burns — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:00:36 +0000

Bits and pieces of info have been dropping about the upcoming BB 9630 Niagara over the last few months. We spied a video showing the hardware a few days ago, but CrackBerry got their hands on a pre-production build. They like what they see.

The 9630/ seems to fill the space between the small Curve and the large Bold. CB liked the keyboard and form factor. In fact, they like most of what the early build had to offer. There isn’t a working OS, so the extensive post is all about the hardware. We agree that it’s great the CDMA carries here in the States will finally get a great BB before GSM carries. That doesn’t happen often and the craptastic Storm doesn’t count.

Video: First look at the BlackBerry 9630

Matt Hickey — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:00:10 +0000

If the Internet rumors are correct, and when are they not, the BlackBerry Niagara 9630 should be hitting VZW stores sometime this Spring. After the break is the first video we can find of the hardware in action. Word to the wise though, the OS is an early build and is a little buggy. In fact, it never starts up. But the hardware, oh the hardware. It looks great.

Early info about the Verizon-bound BlackBerry 8230 Niagara

Matt Hickey — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:09:59 +0000

You didn’t think Verizon was going to let the craptacular BlackBerry Storm stay around as VZW’s top BlackBerry, did ya? Hells no. The upcoming 8230 Niagara should take that spot when it drops in May according to our and BGR’s source. It seems that the 8230 is going to be a cross between the Bold and Curve 8900 with the physical size coming in between as well. If the rumored specs are true, this BlackBerry will be killer.

We’ve got:

480×360 screen resolution
EV-DO Rev A
aGPS
3.2MP camera (with flash?)
Qualcomm MSM7600 624 MHz CPU
4.7 Operating system

As soon as a firm release date and price drops in our tips box, we’ll pass it along.

BlackBerry Niagara has a twin

Peter Ha — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:33:46 +0000

Looks like the BlackBerry Niagara is one of two devices with the similar facades. The Niagara is the EV-DO version that’s slated to hit Verizon a year from now and there’s also a 2.5G version dubbed Javelin. Seems pointless to keep making 2.5G devices since T-Mobile’s 3G network should be in full swing by 2009. Specs for both after the jump.

Niagara Specs

* “Large screen family”
* QWERTY keyboard
* 480×360 LCD
* EV-DO Rev. A
* aGPS
* 3.2 megapixel camera
* 4.7 OS platform
* BES 5.0 support (HTML email, etc)
* Qualcomm MSM7600 processor

Javelin Specs

* QWERTY keyboard
* 480×360 LCD
* Quad-band GSM/EDGE
* GPS
* Wi-Fi
* 3.2 megapixel camera
* 4.6 OS platform
* BES 5.0 support as well
* ArgonV processor

BlackBerry Niagara: Like the 9000 without 3G

Peter Ha — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:39:29 +0000

BGR didn’t divulge too much information on the Niagara other than the fact that it will be 3G-less, which stinks considering AT&T’s network has been up and running for quite a while and T-Mobile just commenced rolling out of their UMTS network. It appears to be a frumpier version of the 9000 aka Storm.