Disqus
The first proper look at the BlackBerry Essex has surfaced, promising to one-up the original Tour with added Wi-Fi, optical trackpad, and OS 5.0. Likely to be called the Tour2 9650, this BlackBerry doesn’t otherwise differ much from the current versions on Verizon or Sprint. I’m glad we’re finally seeing the Tour2 show up for real, I was starting to get worried Essex was the Curve2… Phew. On that note, why didn’t RIM just put out the Tour with these features in the first place? The touch trackpad would have made a much bigger splash with this device rather than the 8520. Check out our review of the original Tour 9630 to get a general idea of how this sequel will handle, and if you’re hoping to pick one up, rumour has it the 9650 will be available before the holidays.
Video after the jump! Video was taken down, but we got some stills.
[via CrackBerry]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
