Sprint on Monday announced that it will launch Research In Motion’s latest CDMA smartphones — the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and the BlackBerry Torch 9850 — on Sunday, August 21st. In line with BGR’s exclusive report from earlier this month, Sprint will offer the Bold 9930 for $249.99 on contract and the Torch 9850 will cost $149.99 on contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. The Bold 9930 is RIM’s brand new touch-and-type flagship smartphone, which launched on rival carrier Verizon Wireless this morning at the same $250 price point. The Torch 9850 is an affordable full touchscreen smartphone that picks up where RIM’s Storm lineup left off. Both smartphones feature Research In Motion’s latest BlackBerry 7 OS and are part of the largest global launch in RIM’s storied history. Sprint’s full press release follows below.
BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850
Available for Sprint Customers on Aug. 21Powered by the next-generation BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry® 7, a performance-driven operating system designed to deliver the ultimate in communications, multimedia and productivity, BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 and BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 will go on sale in Sprint Stores, Sprint Business Sales, Telesales at 1-800-SPRINT1 and online at http://www.sprint.com beginning on Sunday, Aug. 21.
BlackBerry Bold 9930
BlackBerry Bold 9930 boasts the thinnest design and widest QWERTY on a BlackBerry smartphone for $249.99 (excluding taxes) with a new line or eligible upgrade and two-year service agreement.
At just 10.5mm thick, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 smartphone is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone ever. It features a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen display, the widest QWERTY keyboard available on a BlackBerry smartphone and a trackpad for easy navigation. BlackBerry Bold 9930 also offers Near Field Communications (NFC) support for a secure exchange of information between NFC-enabled devices over a very short distance.
BlackBerry Torch 9850
BlackBerry Torch9850, the first all-touch BlackBerry smartphone for Sprint customers, will cost $149.99 (excluding taxes) with a new line or eligible upgrade and two-year service agreement, after $50 mail-in rebate via reward card1.
The sleek BlackBerry Torch 9850 smartphone features a spectacular, new 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display, the largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone, and trackpad for easy navigation.
Both smarpthones feature Liquid Graphics™ technology, a key new feature powered by BlackBerry 7 to deliver incredibly fast, smooth performance and a highly responsive touchscreen experience. They also offer 1.2GHz processors, 5MP cameras and are World Phone capable.
Key features of both BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850 include:
- BlackBerry® service with access to up to 10 supported business and personal email accounts, plus BlackBerry® Enterprise Server support for corporate email installations
- BlackBerry® Playbook™ support with BlackBerry Bridge™ (Bridge is available as a free download on BlackBerry App World)
- Augmented Reality using the built-in compass (magnetometer) to support augmented reality applications
- DataViz Docs To Go® Premium suite preloaded, for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files from anywhere
- BlackBerry App World™, the official app store for BlackBerry smartphones offering customization, fun and productivity
BlackBerry 7
BlackBerry 7 introduces a next-generation BlackBerry browser with a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience that is up to 40 percent faster than BlackBerry® 6 based smartphones and up to 100 percent faster than BlackBerry® 5 based smartphones2.
BlackBerry 7 also integrates BlackBerry® Balance™, which separates personal content from corporate content, giving users the freedom and flexibility to use the smartphone for personal email, Facebook®, Twitter®, multimedia, games and other apps, while satisfying the need for corporate data to be highly secure and manageable. BlackBerry Balance works in conjunction with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0.3, which provides a number of unique IT policy controls, such as wiping only corporate data or blocking work-related content and apps from being copied or forwarded to personal contacts.
BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850 require activation on one of Sprint’s Everything Data plans plus a required $10 Premium Data add-on charge for smartphones. Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $69.99 per month plus required $10 Premium Data add-on charge – a savings of $39.99 per month versus Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB web or $9.99 per month versus Verizon’s 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB web. (Pricing excludes taxes and surcharges.)
BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850 also offer World Phone capability for international travel to nearly anywhere in the world. Sprint customers have the power to make or receive phone calls in more than 200 countries and access to BlackBerry® data services, including email, apps and web browsing in nearly 155 countries. Customers can check the Sprint Worldwide Coverage and Rates page to check coverage in the specific location they plan to travel and find voice, text, and data rates. They also have the option of using a third-party SIM for international voice and data services.
