The funny thing about the BlackBerry game is watching new devices flip between GSM and CDMA; it seems as if the GSM side can't stand to let the CDMA side have the spotlight for more than a few months. Shortly after transitioning the "flagship" moniker to the CDMA BlackBerry Tour 9630, the Onyx decided to rear its beautiful head, complete with 3G and RIM's latest feature, the all-new trackpad. If you read my review of the Curve 8520, you know that I see it as a great replacement to the trackball.
In separate reports, both AT&T and T-Mobile are planning to pick up the BlackBerry 9700 ("Onyx") at some point in the future, though no one knows exactly when. Crackberry's Kevin Michaluk was lucky enough to snap a few pictures of a T-Mobile branded 9700 while sitting in an airport, returning from vacation. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!
Though the AT&T branded 9700 has not been spotted in the wild as of yet, a tipster managed to snap a picture of AT&T's internal systems, showing the 9700 on the charts for release at some point in the near future (though, as we all remember with the AT&T version of the Bold, and more recently with the Nokia E71x, "near future" is defined differently with AT&T). Regardless, getting it into the system is half of the battle, so let's hope that this screenshot is a sign of good things to come.
With the "9700" model number, the "Onyx" would be classified as a member of the Bold family, and as of a few days ago, we have visual proof to lend credence to it. As Noah mentioned in his post (and believe me, Kravvy's still a spry young whipper snapper, despite what he says), IntoMobile ran across a picture of the 9700, complete with "Bold" branding and the faux-leather back Bold owners have come to know and love.
So, we're still in the dark when it comes to launch dates and pricing, but live pictures and internal screenshots are half of the battle. Who's gearing up to purchase one at launch?
