BlackBerry Tour sprouting from Verizon July 12
Today Verizon put the latest BlackBerry, the Tour, up for preorder. Priced at $200, the smartphone will be available July 12. The Tour, also known as the BlackBerry 9630, is a dual-mode world phone, meaning it works on both CDMA and GSM (quad-band) networks, as well as EV-DO and HSPA for 3G connectivity. It's a sleek little number, just half an inch thick and sporting a 480 x 360-pixel screen that's said to be crisper and clearer (aren't they always?) than its predecessor, the 8830. You also get GPS, Bluetooth stereo streaming and tethering, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and BlackBerry's trademark keyboard and pearl controller. On the downside, there's no Wi-Fi and just 256MB of internal memory (expandable to 16GB with a card).
The Tour's world-phone abilities are impressive, but I find it difficult to get excited about a $200 smartphone that doesn't do Wi-Fi. If you're into non-touchscreen keyboards or have been waiting for an upgrade, maybe this is your thing, though. Anyone excitied to get on the Tour? Please share with us why you want one.
