Verizon BlackBerry Bold 9650 on sale Thursday for $150

Verizon has announced that the BlackBerry Bold 9650 will go on sale from Thursday June 3rd, with the QWERTY messaging phone priced at $149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and assuming a new, two-year agreement. The Bold 9650 has EVDO Rev.A and 2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA for global roaming, together with WiFi b/g, a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, and GPS.

There’s also a copy of VZ Navigator – including international functionality – and push-to-talk support, while memory consists of 512MB of RAM and a microSD slot (a 2GB card is included). Bluetooth 2.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack and 2.45-inch 480 x 360 display round out the key hardware features.

The Verizon Bold 9650 will show up online for purchase from tomorrow, and in stores from June 10th. A camera-free version will also be on offer, and of course you’ll need to sign up to both a voice and data plan.

Press Release:

Get Bold With The BlackBerry Bold 9650 Smartphone From Verizon Wireless
Global-Ready Smartphone Offers New GlobalAccess Connect Service

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Verizon Wireless today announced that the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9650 smartphone will be available to order online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning June 3 and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning June 10. Running on the largest and most reliable wireless voice and 3G data network in the United States, the BlackBerry Bold is the first global phone from Verizon Wireless to support GlobalAccess Connect, allowing customers to tether their BlackBerry Bold to a notebook or netbook and use it as a modem for wireless Internet access in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Key features:

Optical trackpad for easy and fluid navigation
Built-in Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g)
Push to Talk feature – Allows customers to leverage Verizon Wireless’ 3G network for instant two-way communication with up to 50 people with the touch of a button
VZ Navigator® version 6 – Gives customers access to free mapping and integration with Bing to sort searches by relevance and a new option to choose day, week or monthly subscriptions
VZ Navigator Global capabilities – Provides turn-by-turn directions and maps in English while navigating through more than 20 destinations, including Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This easy-to-use application also marks distances in miles or kilometers and finds restaurants, gas stations, banks/ATMs and other popular spots using the Local Search feature

Additional specifications:

Stylish design (4.40” x 2.44” x .55” and 4.8 oz.) with glossy black finish and chrome highlights
Mobile e-mail and messaging capabilities
Large (2.45”) high-resolution display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi) that displays pictures, videos and Web pages with contrast and detail
3.2 megapixel camera with flash, variable zoom, image stabilization, autofocus and video recording
Advanced media player for videos, pictures and music; a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack; and support for the Bluetooth® Stereo Audio Profile (A2DP/AVCRP)
BlackBerry® Media Sync to easily sync music as well as photos*.
Easy mobile access to Facebook®, MySpace and Flickr® as well as popular instant messaging services, including BlackBerry® Messenger
Support for BlackBerry App World™, featuring a broad and growing catalog of third-party mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry smartphones
512 MB Flash memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB microSD™ HC cards (a 2 GB card is pre-installed)
Full HTML Web browser, streaming audio and video via RTSP
Built-in GPS with support for location-based applications and services as well as geotagging
Premium phone features, including voice-activated dialing, speakerphone, and Bluetooth (2.1)
Support for high-speed EV-DO Rev. A networks in North America as well as single band UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz) and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks abroad
Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery for up to 5 hours of CDMA talk time

Pricing and availability:

The BlackBerry Bold 9650 smartphone will be available for order online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning June 3, and it will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning June 10 for $149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. A non-camera version of the phone will also be available for order online beginning June 3. Customers will receive the mail-in rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.

Verizon Wireless customers will need to subscribe to a Nationwide Talk plan or Nationwide Talk & Text plan and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access. Email and Web for Smartphone plans start at $29.99 for unlimited monthly access.

GlobalAccess Connect plans are available for $65 monthly access for 5 GB allowance in the United States and Canada ($0.05/MB overage) and 100 MB allowance in select countries ($5.12/MB overage). There is also a $155 monthly access option that offers 5 GB allowance in the United States and Canada and 200 MB allowance in select countries, with the same overage rates as the $65 monthly option.

Customers can add Push to Talk for $5 per month per line and download the service from the Application Center or through VZStart on their handsets. VZ Navigator is available for $2.99 for daily use, $4.99 for seven-day use or $9.99 for monthly subscription.

For information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
*Music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies. Photo syncing is currently only available for Windows-based PCs.