As we all patiently impatiently wait for BlackBerry 6 to roll out to device other then the BlackBerry Torch, Salomondrin and BBLeaks have decided to give us a video run through of a very early revision of BlackBerry 6 on the BlackBerry Bold 9650. Granted some things are a little choppy in the video but, given the early build nature of the OS it leaves room for improvement. Have a look and let us know what you all think. Personally, I think BlackBerry 6 will run fine on the BlackBerry Bold 9650 but it may have some issues when placed on the BlackBerry Bold 9700. We've yet to see any of those videos appear. Alas, just my thoughts. Feel free to share your own in the comments.

Source: BBLeaks

Shortly after the new BlackBerry Bold 9650 and BlackBerry Pearl 3G were announced, we headed over to the BlackBerry room to get some hands-on time with the devices. Check out the video above for a quick look of what's in store. Mike McAndrews, RIM's VP of Product Marketing, was on hand so for this video (more vids to come) we had him walk us through the devices.  In addition to the new 9650 and Pearl 3G hardware, I was pretty excited to see the new line of BlackBerry Pearl 3G cases RIM had in the showcase. Featuring a combinanation of hard case and rubber skin, they look awesome!

Today at WES 2010 in Orlando, RIM has finally announced that the long awaited Bold 9650 will be coming to North American networks in early May. The device will support 3G and have both Wifi and an optical trackpad. As expected, the device will also be rocking a full 512 MB of flash memory, which should allow for OS 6 down to fly when it gets released down the road. No official date just yet, but we should know more in the coming weeks. Hit the jump for the full release.

Press Release

RIM Introduces the New BlackBerry Bold 9650 Smartphone

CDMA customers get a bold new choice with powerhouse 3G smartphone that offers premium features and performance together with popular keyboard and trackpad, as well as support for Wi-Fi and high-speed 3G networks around the world

Waterloo, ON - Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today introduced the BlackBerry Bold 9650 smartphone - the latest addition to the BlackBerry Bold portfolio of premium smartphones. Sophisticated, powerful and feature-rich, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 is a global smartphone for CDMA customers who want to stay connected, productive and entertained.

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It looks like Verizon may have jumped the gun on this one. A keen eye spotted this banner in a Verizon corporate store, and it looks like the device in the middle is the yet to be released Bold 9650. We're not sure who's to blame for this one, but you can be sure someone will be getting a talking to. With the Bold 9650 release still in the dark, its odd that Big Red would be sporting it in print ads already. Hit the jump for a closeup shot.

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When early pre-production units of the BlackBerry "essex" aka "Tour2" started floating around and making appearances on the interwebs, they were still showing the same 256MB of device memory that other current-generation BlackBerry device models like the Tour 9630, Storm2, Bold 9700, Curve 85xx, etc. possess. In those early days of 9650 sightings, it was also thought the device would launch in early-ish 2010. From there, things presumably got delayed a bit for a couple of reasons, one being the brand switch from Tour to Bold and the other reason being a welcomed bump up in device memory from the standard 256MB to 512MB (photo above).

Though the BlackBerry Bold 9650 has yet to be officially announced or released, we've already seen many OS leaks pop up for the device, all of which have been 5.0 builds, clearly indicating the device will initially hit the market with OS 5.0. But with OS 6.0 just around the corner, RIM needed to make sure the BlackBerry Bold 9650 is 6.0 compatible and ready to rock the new WebKit browser in full force when released, so they upped the memory to 512MB which is likely to be the new minimum standard for device memory on new models moving ahead. 

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We got our hands on some info that is packed with the Bold 9650 features and specifications. According to this image, the device may be set to release as early as May 27th as well. We know a fair amount about the Bold 9650 already (trackpad, addition of Wifi) but here are some of the other specs:

• 1xEVDO/3G
• 3.2 Megapixel Camera
• GPRS/UMTS
• GSM Quad Band 850/9001800/1900 mHz
• GSM Dual Band 900/1800 Mhz
  
• 2.4" TFT LCD Display, 480x360 65k color support
• Bluetooth

Nothing regarding the inclusion of the trackpad or Wifi on the Bold 9650 can been seen here (maybe they just got cut off the bottom?) but both will be included for sure. No word of memory either, but it would be great it if it were greater than 256 MB. Its looking more and more like the only change from the original essex/Tour2 is the Bold branding on the back. We're hoping for more details soon if this release date holds true so stay tuned. 

Hot off the CrackBerry Tip Line and following up yesterday's photos of the 9650 OEM casing, you're looking at live photos of the Blackberry Bold 9650. As you can see in the photos, the About screen is branded with the BlackBerry 9650 device model (I guess RIM's thought here is to keep the 96xx as CDMA and 97xx as GSM) and the back of the device features the Bold brand name. Referred to by the codename essex (originally thought to be the Tour2 as it follows up the BlackBerry Tour 9630), the Bold 9650 adds WiFi, an optical trackpad and OpenGL support above and beyond the features and specs found in the 9630. Two more photos below.

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* Download Link: Click here to download the BlackBerry Bold 9650 User Guide *

With the leaked 9650 OS today, the included user guide not so surprisingly shows the device as being labeled as the Bold 9650. As has been rumored before and stated many times since on the blogs and in the forums, this update device to the original Tour (which now has WiFi, optical trackpad and more) won't be released as a Tour but rather as a Bold, so any doubters can take this new user guide as one more piece of evidence. We talked more on the new CDMA Bold on yesterday's CrackBerry podcast so be sure to take a listen there if this device is of interest to you.

While the relabeling the Tour to a Bold isn't that shocking of a notion anymore, what is surprising (to me anyway) is that this user guide points to the device retaining a model number of 9650 still despite the product family change. Now that it's a Bold, I would think RIM would instead push it into the BlackBerry 97xx line, being a 9750 or 9730 or something like that. Instead it keeps in line with the 96xx series numbering. I guess it doesn't really matter, but it does seem odd to me. It has been rumored by some that this OS may be a final version for the new device, so if true it could be a Bold 9650 afterall. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to find out! 

OK. Here's the deal. Some rumors popped up on the net that the much-anticipated BlackBerry Tour 9650 (Tour2 as many refer to it as), which at the minimum ads WiFi and an optical trackpad to the original Tour 9630, is no longer going to be released as a Tour but rather as a BlackBerry Bold.

I held off wanting to post on this because, well, unless I can personally confirm or at least get a much better feeling of what's actually going down surrounding a rumor like this, I'd rather not perpetuate it. Especially in a case like this where first hearing about it seems a little crazy, considering the fact RIM recently announced the BlackBerry Tour 9650 on Facebook (albeit accidentally), and any changes now are happening relatively last minute and not as initially planned. So taking some extra time to get things sorted, I feel a lot more comfortable relaying this info now. As far we now know, this is the deal:

Is RIM Going to Release the Tour 9650 as a Bold now? Yup. As strange as it may sound to some and make a ton of sense to others, it definitely appears that this is what RIM intends to do. At this point the change of branding decision is still pretty fresh and I don't think every detail is yet set in stone, so when it comes to the actual device model number we're not quite certain. Calling it the BlackBerry Bold 9650 wouldn't make a lot of sense, as that would keep the Tour's 96xx numbers alive and further confuse things even though physically it looks more Tour-like in the body, so I think there's a better chance we'll now see this new device hit as a BlackBerry Bold 9750 or something along those lines with in the 97xx series of numbers (or maybe RIM will keep it uber simple and it'll just be the Bold 9700, now available to Verizon, Sprint et al).

Why is RIM going to do this? To keep people from getting pi$$ed off. Look, the Tour 9650 is what the original Tour should have been. The Storm2 got WiFi and the Curve 8520 got the optical trackpad. Had the Tour 9630 just been a little less behind in the development/rollout cycle it would have and should have hit the market with both of these new features. Anybody who reads the comments or forum posts to any Tour2 story that has surfaced in the past few months can see the reaction that original Tour 9630 owners have - they are NOT happy. Nor should they be. When the new Bold 97xx hits Verizon/Sprint, original Tour customers will still be ticked off despite the branding change, but this way there is now more distance from this issue for RIM and the carriers to fall back on (and no need for carriers to provide some sort of incentive to Tour1 owners to upgrade for less to a Tour2). The Tour name likely dies, it keeps RIM's brand lines from splitting equity and fragmenting too much, and as a further benefit there is no issue of the Tour2 being what the Tour1 should have been since it's now a different device and is the new Bold. It's a little sad and confusing, but also very logical at the same time.

So that's it. See ya later Tour, hullo CDMA Bold. As for release date, I was originally hoping/thinking we'd see the Tour2-gone-Bold get announced sometime between Mobile World Congress (ended last week) and CTIA (end of March/beg. April) but now I'm thinking it'll happen sometime between CTIA and WES (end of April). Either way, it's not too far around the corner, so I guess we'll know soon enough just how this plays out.

So what do you think of the name change? Like it? Love it? Sensible? Senseless? Sound off below in the comments!