BlackBerry Tour


The BlackBerry Tour is a consumer smartphone developed by BlackBerry Limited and is part of the 9600 device series. This high-end messaging phone combines the multimedia features of the Curve with the global roaming of the 8830, plus a higher-resolution display, 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, overseas 3G data and faster EVDO Rev. A data in the United States and Canada. Other key features include voice calling, video capture, a 3.5mm audio jack, a microSD slot, push email, a QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, and GPS navigation. The BlackBerry Tour was released on July 12, 2009. In 2010, the 'Tour 2' refresh was re-branded as the Blackberry Bold 9650 when RIM decided to merge the GSM and CDMA2000 variants under the same brand.

Specifications

The BlackBerry 9630 has the following features:
  • 256 MB internal flash memory
  • 3.2 Megapixel camera with flash
  • aGPS - internal assisted GPS with extended ephemeris, BlackBerry Maps as standard
  • MP3/WMA/AAC+ media player
  • DivX/WMV/XViD/3GP video player
  • Bluetooth v2.0, Bluetooth Stereo Audio via A2DP and AVRCP
  • Browser - HTML browsing; view movies / video clips from websites built for mobile streaming; RSS feed support
  • BlackBerry OS 5.0
Research In Motion released BlackBerry OS 5.0 for the Tour in North America in April 2010, with the following improvements:
  • All BlackBerry Internet Service devices running OS 5.0 received an updated Web browser with more accurate AJAX rendering, faster JavaScript processing and BlackBerry Widgets support, including Google Gears and SQLite.
  • Companies running BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 - originally released in May 2009 - saw several additional improvements on OS 5.0-equipped devices. They included follow-up flags for email messages; email folder management; the ability to view, edit, save or email documents from remote file shares; calendar appointment forwarding and attachment viewing; and wireless contact sync for multiple folders, distribution lists, and public and shared folder contacts.
  • BlackBerry Messenger 5.0
  • Email and text messages with a stationary date header
  • Threaded text messaging
  • When sending pictures via email, MMS or BBM, an option to resize them to 1024×768, 800×600 or 640×480 was given.
  • Forwarding calendar entries
  • Updated BlackBerry Maps
  • Users could set their default download folder, wallpaper, theme and reset the icon layout of a theme to its default layout from 'Homescreen Preferences'.
  • If the device was running low on memory, a message would pop up that not only informed the user, but also recommended rarely used apps for deletion
  • Users could decide whether to hear sounds when the device was booting up, shutting off, plugged in to charge, unplugged from charging, and when the battery was full or drained.
  • Users could individually encrypt email PIN messages. The sender and receiver need to know the S/MIME encryption password.

    Last officially released 5.0 operating systems

  • Telus: 5.0.0.419
  • SaskTel: 5.0.0.419
  • MTS Mobility: 5.0.0.419
  • Sprint: 5.0.0.1030
  • Verizon Wireless: 5.0.0.975

    Critical reception

's Bonnie Cha criticised the BlackBerry Tour for lacking Wi-Fi and for not allowing applications to be downloaded to the memory card, but also praised its high-resolution display and QWERTY keyboard and concluded that it was a 'feature-rich and well-performing smartphone'.