The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is RIM's latest and possibly the greatest BlackBerry device ever issued yet. It's got everything that you could probably wish for in a smartphone. Whether you're going to use it as a business or personal tool, this smartphone definitely delivers the goods.
Introduction
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is my third smartphone. I previously scored the Google Nexus One in addition to my iPhone 3GS. I've been using the iPhone 3GS for almost a year now while the Nexus One for a couple of months. Coming from two touchy phones with virtual keypads, you can just imagine how different it is to use the BlackBerry Bold 9700 with a real QWERTY keypad. Fortunately I've used the Sony Ericsson P990 before so I'm pretty much used to having a QWERTY keypads.
But this is just one difference between the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and the other two smartphones I have. The rest of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 features are totally different from the iPhone and Nexus One. It's a whole new mobile phone experience - new interface, new controls, new navigation, and new operating system infrastructure.
Design and Form Factor
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Compared to the iPhone and Nexus One, the BlackBerry Bold is way smaller in size. While this is a welcome respite from bringing a huge phone, there's a downside to it, particularly the loss of some screen real estate. Although it only has a 2.44-inch diagonal TFT LCD, it's a good thing that RIM decided to make the screen resolution to 480x360 pixels hence providing a clear, crisp and bright display.
Design-wise, a friend who happens to be an IT person described the BlackBerry Bold as "handsome." Indeed the small form factor, and the classic design with a touch of black leather back panel gives the phone a classy appeal. The black leather back panel also gives the Bold 9700 a secure grip. Other noteworthy physical features of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 are its glossy, black-piano frontal finish and rubber lining on the side.
The Bold 9700's QWERTY keyboard is also a nice feature, the chiseled edge keys makes typing messages a breeze even if these keys are too small. Finally, the phone also sports a nice soft-touch-enabled trackpad which replaced the old, problematic trackball of its predecessor, the BlackBerry Bold 9000. You use this trackpad to navigate through menus, screens and for selecting options.
Messaging Features
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Since I have not used a BlackBerry phone before, I was not aware of its many messaging features. Aside from the usual SMS application the BlackBerry Bold also supports various IM clients including GTalk, Yahoo Chat, and Windows Live Messenger. It connects to the BlackBerry Internet Service which is actually a push email feature. But then, you can have those chat facility with other smartphones, right? What sets the BlackBerry Bold 9700 apart from other smartphones in terms of messaging is the BlackBerry Messenger. This proprietary RIM chat facility makes use of the BlackBerry PINs. These PINs are unique identifier of each and every BlackBerry handsets ever made. Through this PIN, you can send messages to other BlackBerry users as well as received messages from them. Without the BlackBerry PIN system and the Messenger service, a BlackBerry handset is just like your ordinary smartphone.