Verizon confirms BlackBerry Tour for July 12

by Stevie Smith - Jul 1 2009, 15:30

When it comes to the iconic BlackBerry smartphone and its candybar design, it’s often hard to discern one model from the next beyond specific features and functions – but that doesn’t mean we’re not suitably excited by the incoming BlackBerry Tour 9630.

Set to tempt mobile professionals in the United States this coming July 12, the new Tour handset will be carried by Verizon Wireless and will come attached to a mandatory two-year contract and a respectable price tag of $199 USD (after a $70 USD mail-in rebate).

A return to the classic chassis design following the much-maligned departure that was the BlackBerry Storm, the Tour sports a full QWERTY keyboard and runs on Verizon’s high-speed 3G (EV-DO Rev. A) network in the U.S. and EDGE/GPRS/GSM when taken to foreign climes. Oddly, there’s no Wi-Fi.

Equipped with all the regular corporate-focused features mobile professionals have come to expect from RIM phones – including Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange – the Tour also offers pushed business e-mail along with personal mail and messaging through the likes of Yahoo! And Gmail.

Other contributing aspects bundling into the Tour include a 3.2 mega pixel camera (with auto focus), versatile multimedia capabilities, a full HTML browser, Bluetooth, Verizon service support from VZ Navigator and V CAST Music, iTunes synching, and also integrated GPS navigation and location.

Not limiting its reach to Verizon Wireless, the BlackBerry Tour is also scheduled for release through Sprint Nextel. However, while pricing is likely to be the same, Sprint Nextel has not yet confirmed the handset’s exact time of arrival.

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