The 3G
enabled BlackBerry 9000 sports the biggest and brightest display of any
other BlackBerry to date. Key features include a 2.0 megapixel camera,
GPS, Wifi, media player with improved stereo speakers, super fast
624MHz processer, MicroSD slot and "push"/attachment viewer e-mail
client.
Introduction
The highly anticipated BlackBerry 9000 Bold
has finally arrived and it just might have been worth the wait. The
Bold sports all the favorite features wanted on a smartphone: WiFi, 3G
data speeds for fast surfing while simultaneously conducting calls,
stereo Bluetooth, multiple e-mail options and of course, the ability to
view and edit word, excel and PowerPoint docs. But the real story here
is that the Bold isn’t just the workhorse productivity smartphone we’ve
come to expect from BlackBerry; it’s also a solid multimedia cell phone
with a snazzier interface to make it really pop.
Design & Features
Look and feel: The first thing you will notice
about the BlackBerry Bold
is its rockin’ display. It seriously shines and looks gorgeous. The
next thing you’ll notice is the smartphone’s weight. It’s not terribly
heavy, but you will know that you have it with you. Did you really
think a smartphone called Bold, would be super lightweight? Probably
not. At the same point, let’s be honest, the weight is a little bit of
what makes it feel durable – like it wouldn’t fall to pieces if it was
dropped on a table. Speaking of durability, the back of the Bold which
is a leather-like backing covering a hard shell really adds to the
smartphone’s strong exterior.
Of course, the Bold has that
great scroll wheel from the Pearl, which is just superfun to use. Plus,
the display is easy to view in most lighting conditions and really pops
in dimly lit rooms. Unfortunately, like many cell phones these days, it
attracts face grease, so we occasionally found ourselves wiping off the
screen. The amount of buttons on the Bold’s spine is on par with other
BlackBerry cell phones. The MicroSD cover, however, is a little tricky
to remove, so if you’re going to be adding an external memory card, get
a big one, so you don’t have to deal with the cover for the slot too
often.
Keypad:The BlackBerry Bold sports a white
backlit QWERTY keyboard and each of the keys have a slight curve on an
edge. This aesthetically gives the keypad a bit of a slicker look.
Usability-wise it will take a bit of time to get accustomed to it
especially if you have larger fingers. Although you can type long
messages with a few misspells, you probably won’t be using it to create
long documents. Though we were able to dial phone numbers with a
minimal amount of misdials, we still with the alt key was on the other
side of the keyboard away from the numbers, which would make it easier
to access the numbers for other applications besides just dialing phone
numbers.
Music: As noted, the BlackBerry Bold has a music
player as well. You can listen to songs stored in MP3, AAC (Apple’s
audio format) and WMA files (Microsoft’s audio format). There aren’t
many music-centric features included in the player, but it has the ones
we’ve come to expect: Repeat, Shuffle, and Playlists (you can’t create
them on the fly). However, we should note that you can save tunes
stored in your cell phone as a ringtone. The Bold comes with 1GB of
memory onboard, if you want to store a ton of music get an extra
MicroSD memory card - the BlackBerry Bold will support up to a 16GB
MicroSD card. Additionally, you can shop for music, get a subscription
to XM Radio and listen to it on the Bold, use MusicID to get the names
of songs and even learn more about music in the Community tab that
takes you to an AT&T MediaNet site.
Usability & Performance
Menu/phone book: If you love the BlackBerry
interface, you’ll be happy to know not much has changed with the
overall structure on the Bold – but it is a lot snazzier. Corresponding
icons resemble a lighted nightclub sign and really pop against the dark
blue background. You can use the BlackBerry Media Sync software to
easily sync contacts, calendar, and e-mail between the Bold and your
computer. Additionally, you can also view and edit word docs, excel
docs, and PowerPoint presentations on the BlackBerry Bold. You can
store as many contacts as your available memory will allow plus an
additional 250 contacts can be saved on the SIM card. Each entry can
hold multiple phone numbers, e-mail addresses, birthday and anniversary
information, a picture and a slot for both work and home addresses.
Unlike with the Treo, you can’t color-code your calendar entries.
However, you can customize the look of the BlackBerry Bold interface.
Syncing media – videos, music, and pictures – is also infinitely easier
thanks to the Roxio Media Manager software for BlackBerry (see Music
for more details). The BlackBerry Bold comes with a mini-USB-to-USB
cable so that you can connect it directly to your computer. Also, you
can always use Bluetooth if your computer has that functionality.
Messaging: The reason most people
buy a BlackBerry is for the messaging, and rightfully so; it really has
perfected messaging, and it has a built-in spell checker , which makes
sending messages even easier. Even better, it’s extremely easy to set
up multiple e-mail accounts (including work e-mail) on this BlackBerry.
You can do it during initial setup of the device by following the
prompts on the screen. If you already have a BlackBerry e-mail account
and are simply changing devices, you can upgrade the information in the
BlackBerry Start option in the Media Net menu. Also, if you tend to
receive a lot of graphic-intensive e-mails, opt for an unlimited data
plan, as downloading graphics can eat up megabytes of data pretty
quickly.
Camera/video: The
BlackBerry Bold
has a 2-megapixel camera and a flash. Overall, picture quality is
decent when snapping pics using the Bold. Colors are true and bright
even when viewed on a computer; however, it doesn’t capture sharp
details too well. Once you snap a picture, you can save it, rename it,
save it as a Caller ID photo, delete it or send it. Camera features are
a little skim, but you can adjust White Balance, Picture Size, Picture
Quality, Color Effects (Normal, Black and White, or Sepia), and
GeoTagging. We’re glad to see BlackBerry left our favorite feature
implemented on the Bold: the trackball integrated with the camera
application. While you’re setting up a picture, you can scroll around
to zoom or change the size of the image.
Additionally, you can view videos on the cell phone
and now you can shoot video, as well. You’ll be able to watch videos in
the Media folder, but you’ll have to go to Applications to use the
camera to shoot them or switch to Video Recorder when the camera is
launched. Shooting videos is pretty easy, but the quality isn’t
fabulous. The Bold does do a good job at picking up sound, however, so
that’s a plus. While it’s a nice feature to have, you’re probably going
to enjoy watching videos you download or stream from the Internet more.
Playback of video is OK, but not stellar – you definitely know you’re
watching video on a cell phone.
Music:
As noted, the BlackBerry
Bold has a music player as well. You can listen to songs stored in MP3,
AAC (Apple’s audio format) and WMA files (Microsoft’s audio format).
There aren’t many music-centric features included in the player, but it
has the ones we’ve come to expect: Repeat, Shuffle, and Playlists (you
can’t create them on the fly). However, we should note that you can
save tunes stored in your cell phone as a ringtone. The Bold comes with
1GB of memory onboard, if you want to store a ton of music get an extra
MicroSD memory card - the BlackBerry Bold will support up to a 16GB
MicroSD card. Additionally, you can shop for music, get a subscription
to XM Radio and listen to it on the Bold, use MusicID to get the names
of songs and even learn more about music in the Community tab that
takes you to an AT&T MediaNet site.
We still commend RIM for teaming
up with Roxio to help you get music, photos, and videos from your
computer on your Bold. The software has an extremely intuitive user
interface, so you don’t even need to read directions to get started.
You can also use this software to turn CDs into MP3s. Another nice
feature is that the software won’t allow you to move music that the
Bold won’t play back (that is, protected music that you might have
purchased at an online store) onto it, so you’ll never have to wonder
why a song isn’t playing. Instead, you’ll get a pop-up that says,
“There are no media files in this folder that supports filter
settings.â€
This BlackBerry Bold has built-in
WiFi. Besides being able to use this Bold to log onto available WiFi
networks to surf the Web or send/receive e-mail. It’s a nice feature
and it just takes moments to set up on the smartphone. The only thing
you need to know is the WiFi network you want to use and the password
if it’s a secure WiFi network. We should note that surfing the Web on
the Bold wasn’t bad, thanks to the 3G network. Pages loaded quickly and
you could scroll around them via the trackball, but it’s still not the
ideal viewing experience on a cell phone.
Battery Life We
found battery life on the BlackBerry Bold to be an improvement over
that of the Pearl. If you use the cell phone frequently to make calls,
listen to music, as well as send/receive text messages and e-mail, the
Bold will probably last about two to three days before needing to
recharge. However, if you consider the Bold primarily a cell phone and
less of a messaging device, you’ll get about four days of battery life
from it. We should note that listening to music a lot on the Bold
doesn’t have an adverse affect on battery life, but leaving WiFi turned
on does.
;)
