BlackBerry Essex - Hands On

http://www.blackberryos.com/image-fi...1/14/essex.png
(image courtesy of Salomondrin.net)

4 months have passed since the Tour 9630 had been released by Verizon. They wasted no time to push out the Tour 2, known as the Essex. Verizon is keeping their promise with having wifi on all new BlackBerry devices. Other major selling point for the Essex is the track pad; no more track ball! Isn't it sad that after 4 months, your 9630 is already considered old. There is no number set for this device but its looking to be 9650 (not confirmed, rumor) but according to Sal, the engineering screens show this device as being the 9630 still. It is still a CDMA/3G just with a few upgrades. The two obvious ones, being the wifi and track pad. Another upgrade but nothing I would consider huge, is the Essex comes with 2GB internal memory. He goes on to state that Sprint will release the Essex (in fact the Essex he has is in fact a Sprint Essex). Verizon has confirmed they will have a "tour track pad device" but would not confirm release date or device model number or price. Rumors are roaming around on the net of a December release date. However, agreeing with Sal, I do not believe this would be true. It is to close for it to be released. If you look at the past, before a new device is released, there are quite a bit of devices appearing for reviews. At the same time, this would be awesome if it was to release.

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Nice for the tour users.. Just dad that they wanted to make another device so quick. But took a year for storm 2. This device looks very promising and I like the fact that it has the trackpaf and the higher memory. But I wounder if they are going to offer free upgrades it some kind of insentive for current Tour users.
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Brett, this just looks like a Bold??? :p

Wirelessly posted (Stormy 4)

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Originally Posted by olta777

Brett, this just looks like a Bold??? :p

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Very much so.

kinda upset if i would have know this i wouldnt have upgraded when the 9630 came out :17:

RIM really likes pissing its customers off huh?
firs the Storm, now the Tour....dont they see that most of us are stuck on a 2 yr contract!
They should really consider giving out a rebate or some sort of credit to current Tour owners.

Ok, so now I want that! I'm going to get rid of my Tour as soon as I can get this.

I'm HOPING that VZW is smart, like they were with the Storm2 and allow current Tour owners to swap out since this device will probably be out on the market prior to July 12th! I mean, come on!

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Originally Posted by Bert336

RIM really likes pissing its customers off huh?
firs the Storm, now the Tour....dont they see that most of us are stuck on a 2 yr contract!
They should really consider giving out a rebate or some sort of credit to current Tour owners.

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agreed!

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Originally Posted by Grafixx01

Ok, so now I want that! I'm going to get rid of my Tour as soon as I can get this.

I'm HOPING that VZW is smart, like they were with the Storm2 and allow current Tour owners to swap out since this device will probably be out on the market prior to July 12th! I mean, come on!

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I'm with sprint and I'm sure I'm boned for a rebate but man! it's just not fair! I want that trackpad conversion so BAD!!! sucks, I can't spend another $300-$500 for a new phone...
:aargh4::aargh4::aargh4::aargh4::aargh4:

Its definitely good new bad news with RIM this past year and going into 2010. Nice to see new devices, but 2nd gen devices less than a year from the original launch date is craziness. Thats just making existing owners mad and potential owners hesitant to purchase with fear of a newer better device right around the corner.

:irked: I waited three years to upgrade waiting for a WiFi device and after one month I hear this news... hope VZW does give some consideration to us short timers.

I am a little hesitant over the trackpad - never been a fan of touch pads on laptops. Any feel for operation?

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Originally Posted by C_McD

:irked: I waited three years to upgrade waiting for a WiFi device and after one month I hear this news... hope VZW does give some consideration to us short timers.

I am a little hesitant over the trackpad - never been a fan of touch pads on laptops. Any feel for operation?

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If its anything like the one on the new 8530 curve you will love it.. seems great.

I just hope that they fixed the radio-related issues on this new Tour 2 (Essex). I get more dropped calls on my 9630 in one month than I did in the 2 years that I owned my Curve (which was SOLID). I'm already on my 7th Tour...

Personally I think it's pretty sad. All this is the Tour with wifi and a trackpad. Honestly what's so novel about that. RIM really needs to step up their creativity and actually offer the consumer something novel.

Wirelessly posted (10150)

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Originally Posted by jlevy73

Personally I think it's pretty sad. All this is the Tour with wifi and a trackpad. Honestly what's so novel about that. RIM really needs to step up their creativity and actually offer the consumer something novel.

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I so agree with ya, I looked more into the Essex and now am just going to wait till a more advanced BB comes out for VZW. Yeah it has WiFi/Trackpad and 2GB of internal memory but the guts are the same as the first Tour! I mean really RIM? Ya could've boosted the processor and what not and the look of it! Another thing, I am a fan of trackballs. :D

This is definitely an upgrade from the original Tour. While I do not think I would purchase the current Tour, I would most certainly entertain the thought of getting the Essex. Especially because there is no Bold for VZW.

Just rewatched this and started to drool again... June can't come quickly enough!