BlackBerry Bold 9700 Review

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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.

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.

As a business phone, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 has all the features that you need. You can easily have your corporate email account connected to your phone provided that your enterprise IT infrastructure support such connectivity. If it does, then you can receive your corporate email messages on your BlackBerry phone like a regular SMS. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 also supports and reads various MS Office files including PPT, Word, and Excel. So, you can practically load up your files, go on a business trip, and check them out on your phone while on the move. No need to install additional app, as these software comes preloaded on your Bold 9700. The phone also has several Personal Information Management tools including Calendar, Voice Recorder, Note taking and contacts management tools. Just like a regular smartphone, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 has all the business productivity apps that you need.

The BlackBerry smartphones have always impressed me as business phone. To be honest I never really thought that I'd be owning and using one. But then I did took the plunge and got it. And I never regret my making that decision. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is BlackBerry is a great all-around smartphone that will cater to both your entertainment and business needs. It's got the apps, the network and Internet connectivity, multimedia functions. Practically everything about the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is worth every penny you spend buying it.

If you're looking for a useful smartphone that is not touchscreen-enabled, get the BlackBerry Bold 9700.