Sweet! CrackBerry member salisa.m got his hands on a BlackBerry 9630 and per the request of our forum members has put together a little video overview. The pre-release version 4.7.1.10 device software running on this "Niagara" is still glitchy as heck, so think of this as more of a "hardware" review at this time. I'm sure this is just the first of many BlackBerry 9630 reviews that we'll see in the days and weeks ahead. When it rains it pours right? Good work salisa.m!
Reader comments
Video First Look at the BlackBerry 9630!
Do you guys/gals all use media cards? I think that's the common theme here.
Sometimes if an upgrade is done with the media card in the device, this will cause the rebooting issues you all are experiencing. In this case, you'll need to reinstall the OS without the media card and then reformat the media card in the device with the new OS. There could also be some corruption of data on the card causing the issue as well. Another Stacker (sherlockphones) came up with a great solution. See below:
Like many of you, after the OS upgrade I was plagued by constant rebooting as long as my media card was in my device. I found a solution that seems to be working well. Here it is.
1. Using Desktop Manager / Media Manager, copy the entire contents of your media card to your PC.
2. Format the media card using your 4.5 device.
3. Using Media Manager, I noticed that some of my pictures had nothing in the attributes column. Therefore, copy only those images that have attributes back onto the media card.
That seems to have done it for me. Just as a test I put a couple pics on the media card that had nothing in the attribute column and my device started rebooting again.
Within Roxio Media Manager, I used the top window to show the pictures on my PC and the bottom window to show my BB. The view defaults to "Thumbnails" because most people like that option. I changed it to to "Details" (select View\View As\Details).
Looking at it in this view, you'll see that your pictures are listed with 5 columns of information. Specifically they are File Name, File Size, Date Created, Attributes, and Date Modified. For the majority of my pictures, the Attributes column lists the pixels, bits, and dpi (i.e. 2592x1944 pixels, 24-bit, 180 dpi) but I noticed that some of them had that column blank.
Next I selected all of my pictures and then deselected those that had that column blank. When I transferred only the pictures with attributes information back to the media card it seems to have worked and I've had no problems since. Granted, this means I was not able to get all of my pictures back on the media card, but I only lost a few.
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i had the same problem when i updated a pearl to 4.5 with the micro card in it. some of the pics didn't have attributes on them so that was 1 reason. you can go to pinstack.com and it tells on there forums how to do it. and now my pearl works fine. just take out the card, wipe the phone, then reupdate to the new OS.
Life as a Mac user & BB owner is kind of uphill..
Palm Pre promises no easier path for a Mac owner..
Love the slightly increased width of the keyboard on this
Despite being a big iPhone hater, typing on glass might be in my future...
i feel like this phone is a storm and bold hybrid that is coming out for verizon
Sweet review. Only think I can say is buy a new camera and a tripod. ;)
As a true Blackberry addict, I'm really hoping that Sprint gets this phone... I will be inline whenever we get a new berry!
Boosh!
The one thing I had been wondering about after the latest set of pictures came out was the battery cover. I was beginning to think that only the slim middle section was the battery door and through, "how the heck do you get battery and SD card (plus, since this is a world phone, a SIM card) through that slim door!". I like th afact that the entire back comes off, and that the SIM slot and SD slot are not burried under the battery. It looks like everything under the battery door is easily accessible.
Hopefully there will be replacement battery doors in all different flavors, so if you want a leather-ish back, or a different color, you could easily switch up the looks of this phone.
It did look like the trackball on this model was the black one, like the 8900. This is definitely a welcome upgrade to the 8830WE!
Does it have the atomic trackball?? If it does, I think I will stop waiting for the touch-screen Bold and switch to Bell for this phone...
perhaps he can shoot another video in a few days that isn't grainy and out of focus so we can see what it really looks like. i have a storm but i would seriously consider going to this phone if verizon gets it.
whats so special about it? looks like just another bold or whatever doesnt look like its anything to get excited over...
whats so special about it? looks like just another bold or whatever doesnt look like its anything to get excited over...
i wish you showed the curve 8900 next to it. and the bold. or something.
cuz i love how small my 8900 is and wouldn't wanna sacrifice any size even if it meant more power.
Hey salisa.m, any specs on it?
Sprint...? Hugh?
This phone is coming out to Verizon First, its a CDMA phone and verizon, does not have its latest edition upgrade to the 8830 or Curve yet....So Imagine that Verizon will pick this one up, considering the other carriers scopped up the Bold and 8900 Curve. I can't wait for it to come out, Im getting it. I have a storm but I miss the keyboard interface I had with my 8830...
I'll rock both phones..LOL
I wanna!
i really think this phone is coming to sprint the reason i say this cause they have stopped selling the the curve 8330 on their website obvious reason they are getting this phone.
This phone replaces the 8830 in the lineup, not the Curve 8330. The Curve 8930 will probably be replacing the 8330 in the near future.
The reason for the 8330 beign out of stock could be the same as USCC - they ran out of ESN numbers and are switching to the 8330m.
looks like a nice phone but i dont see why everyone hates the storm... get a leaked os, im running a .114/.113 hybrid and i have no problems at all. of course any early stage of a phone is going to be glitchy but i love my storm, even texting, and i do that a lot.
This looks awesome! I so can't wait until VZW brings it out! I'm going to have to pay full retail but I don't care!
Wasn't it said that this is supposed to be like the new "World Edition" one so I'm guessing that's why it's got the SIMcard slot so it'll be like CDMA and GSM? **Correct me if I'm wrong**
But I want it so bad now. I was going to break down and get a Storm but I really just can't do that 'virtual keyboard'. I need a full QWERTY that is touchable.
Oh well, I guess the 8830 is getting scrapped and I'm giving the Curve to the wife so I can get this one...
BUT...Maybe I can talk her into letting me use her NE2 for this one!
Any ideas on a date? I heard a speculation of like around May time frame... Anything more concrete? Because from the video with the OS constantly restarting, I'm probably going to think more towards the end of the year and another like Thanksgiving release time?
The video makes the device more promising, sad that device never stopped rebooting. Even with 4.5 my 8330 is taking significantly longer to reboot, I thought this was the case here too as the Storm is the absolute worst rebooting experience ever for a BlackBerry. I think RIM's dinosaur OS is getting to heavy for itself and is causing all sorts of performance lags and issues. Time for a refresh of the OS and more quality into the building of their devices. I can say I am glad the whole back comes off as I thought only the thin part did which would of been awkward looking.
Wow this is really nice. Too bad its not for T-Mobile! Either way I can buy it unlocked. Do I really want to give away my 8900??
I wonder how long he will have to wait for the software to use the phone?
Well first let me thank the reviewer for providing an ergonomic review of the device. It's too bad the final operating system is not in it yet. Also, the video itself was unfortunately pretty blurry and dark. However, his efforts are appreciated. I'm pretty sure I'll swap out that plastic back cover for a nice leather one. Now let's just hope Verizon unleashes this early on in April.
this phone is going to verizon, not sprint..check out phonearea.com...they have the specs for this phone for a while..i was thinking about waiting for the pluto, which is the bold 2 (touchscreen and keyboard), but they got rid of the trackball...why?..i have no idea...so niagara it is..
Yeah, I already said that when they first announced the phone. It's a no brainer! Verizon always lucks up.
THIS phone reminds me of a cheap version of the Bold. The back pannel is cheap plastic and it runs slow! I'm not looking for this to come out anytime soon!
How on earth can you surmise it runs slow from seeing that? And just because it's plastic, doesn't make it cheap. Isn't the back of the iPhone 3G plastic? My laptop is plastic. My LCD monitor is plastic.... the list goes on. Plastic makes it light, it doesn't necessarily make it cheap. As long as the fit and finish are good.
How many times is he going to tell us how good it feels in his hands in this video lol
Is this the one sold on ebay?
I think its going to sprint. Curve 8330 no longer even avail on sprint site. Blackberry dept with sprint says in store for new device soon!
pretty darn good! I Just picked up a storm and I am really enjoying the experience (except for the random freezes, lol). The storm should tide me over till may comes and around and this bad boy is released.
I want one. Always liked the form factor of the Curve, but wanted the power of the Bold. Jumped to a Storm, and will be landing with the 9630 when it's released. Thanks for the Vid!
i think this one is GSM too! it has SIM card Slot, like Storm 9530..
Everytime I get a notice to check crackberry I get so excited when I hear more about the Niagara!!! I'm so ready for Verizon to get this phone!
Fuzzy image but is that the Bold's keyboard basically?
How exciting for the CDMA folks!
This is one of the nicer ones I've seen in a while.
I wish I could talk VZW into letting me trade my Storm for this when it comes out.
It goes to show that jumping on the bandwagon just to say you have and awesome touchscreen BlackBerry isn't the best way to go.
Geez.
This phone looks awesome!
Thanks for taking the time to make the video for us!!
I wish I could talk VZW into letting me trade my Storm for this when it comes out.
It goes to show that jumping on the bandwagon just to say you have and awesome touchscreen BlackBerry isn't the best way to go.
Geez.
This phone looks awesome!
Thanks for taking the time to make the video for us!!
Dood... not sure what you do with that video camera in your spare time, but wipe off whatever is on the lens next time, pl0x. ;)
Seriously...or get a new cam.
No, there have just been all of these people posting videos and pictures all over the internet for no reason. I'm tired of the skeptics, just BELIEVE people, BELIIIEEEEVEE!!
are we sure this is the niagara? I thought RIM said this phone would not have GSM, as of yet, and that it would be released on CDMA first????
It's going to be a WORLD edition. so therefore it'll be gsm/cdma
don't like the kbd on the bold, same for this one.. loving my 8900 big time!!
Kevin is the one who bought the phone off eBay.
I wonder how he can be so "sure" there will be more reviews in the upcoming days and weeks..
http://smartphonenation.com/?p=1089
Thanks for taking the time to show us the phone. My wife is looking to buy a new BB soon. I'll have her check out your video too. I'm looking forward to the follow-up when the OS is working.
Bryan
Was he the one who paid $1995.00 dollars for this on eBay???
How is he going to download the new OS if his phone is always in reboot mode???
Same way you'd do it with other BlackBerry, I'd assume. JL_Commander.
Looks nice!
Does anyone know if the keys are like the 8830, with the ridges on top? it is hard to tell from the photo.
Best 3 minutes and 42 seconds of my day! Cannot wait to get my hands on one of these. Come on RIM/VZW, let's hurry it along now and get this out ASAP.
I am sure at least some people on CB may tell you that that may not be the wisest suggestion.
Yes, the 9630 is making everyone happy. A great gadget for sure
I'm trying to get my hands on one. How did you?
OH SNAP!
Woah.....looks dope