A screenshot of Verizon’s BlackBerry Bold 9650 running RIM’s updated operating system bubbled up last week, but if you needed further convincing that it was real, here’s a picture of the device running OS 6 live. During their announcement of the AT&T BlackBerry Torch 9800, RIM said that OS 6 would be coming to the 9650, along with the Bold 9700 and Pearl 9100. That lack of mention for any other handset implies that anything older will likely not get an update.
Although it looks a little cramped on the BlackBerry 9650’s smaller screen, this goes to further confirm that OS 6 will work without a touchscreen just fine. There were some concerns that devices would need 512 MB of RAM to run the new operating system, but if it’s coming to the 9700 and 9100, so 256 MB is clearly fine. Unless there’s some other hardware bottleneck, everything back to the Tour should in theory be able to handle OS 6. BlackBerry 6 has a wealth of new features, like universal search, categorized icons, tighter social network integration, a new Webkit browser, and general UI improvements. Check out our walkthrough of all the main improvements, or RIM’s announcement for the official pitch.
[via BBLeaks]