The BlackBerry 9630, Blackberry Niagra, BlackBerry Tour or whatever you’d like to call it is slated to drop on Verizon Wireless next month according to Internet rumors.  The device has been handled live and in the flesh by BGR so at this point the speculation can be minimized to a release date and any additional carriers hoping to get their hands on the hot new Crackberry.

For the sake of simplicity think of the BlackBerry 9630 ‘Tour’ as a refinement in everything we’ve loved about the Curve, Bold and Storm.  The design and build quality draws heavily on the Storm, yet the keyboard and form factor are a mix of the Curve and Bold.  One unfortunate twist for prospective BlackBerry 9630 owners is that like the Storm it will stick lack WiFi, but at the same time Verizon maintains arguably the largest data coverage map of any North American carrier.

I’ve always been a fan of the voice quality traditional flip phones bring to the table, but this time it seems Verizon and RIM have found the perfect balance.  Not to mention a speakerphone which can rival the loudest and clearest ever offered in any phone.  To help keep 4 hours of talk time, 3 hours of video playback, 8 hours of music playback and 18 hours of email/messenger/sms/browsing, Verizon and RIM kept the 1400 mAh cell battery currently used on the Storm (and the BlackBerry Curve 8900).

When it comes to screen resolution things remain unchanged from the 480 x 360 pixel screen used on the Storm and 8900.  Bright crisp images surrounded by a black bezel will draw much attention, but At&t BlackBerry Bold owners will still maintain top honors when it comes to physical screen dimensions.  The keyboard of the 9630 is narrow, but clearly superior to the alternative choice for Verizon Customers thinking about a BlackBerry purchase (Storm).  If you find your At&t BlackBerry Bold keyboard just the right size there will be little CrackBerry envy when it comes to typing.

So what about release dates and carriers?  At the moment Verizon Wireless has an exclusive agreement to launch the BlackBerry 9630 ‘Tour’ just like they have with the BlackBerry Storm.  However unlike the Storm there is a possibility that Sprint could be launching the 9630 as well.  At&t and T-mobile could buy the 9630 unlocked, but a 3G enabled Curve is headed our way later this year so it makes little sense to envy the 9630.  At&t users should be plenty happy knowingthe Bold still offers a better typing and viewing experience thanks to a larger screen and wider build.  As far as release date goes the BlackBerry 9630 is expected to launch on Verizon as early as late May 2009, but should be in stores by Summer.