BlackBerry Bold 9700

BLACKBERRY BOLD 9700 REVIEW

The original Bold (9000) has been one of RIM's most successful handsets to date, and deservedly so. Combining distinctive looks with great build quality, easy operation, and a wealth of features, it still sits high on our list of top QWERTY keyboard-equipped smartphones over a year after its release. Nevertheless, with smartphone competition being so fierce at the moment a new model was certainly due and now it has been delivered in the shape of the Bold 9700. The latest BlackBerry Bold doesn't look much different to previous models, with its full QWERTY keypad and leather back. Under the hood, however, it has a faster processor is lighter as well as smaller in every dimension. The screen's resolution has gone up too, and with 480x360 packed into only 2.4in of space, text and images are really clear and sharp. Like the Blackberry Curve 8520, the new Bold has an optical trackpad which we found responsive, and which is less prone to mechanical failure than the rollerball it replaces. While the keypad may be narrower than before, it's just as usable, with moulded keys that have excellent feedback. The interface has changed too: rather than a full screen of icons, the first thing you see now is a pretty background, with a single row of icons at the bottom of the screen. Pressing the BlackBerry button now shows the full application list, as well as acting as the menu key once in an application. BlackBerry's strength has also been its email, but now most other smartphones come with push email and decent virtual keyboards. Account creation and setup can be a nightmare as well, depending on how your carrier or IT department has set the phone up. Although the phone comes bundled with office viewers and some decent business tools, Blackberry's App World still lags behind the likes of the Android Market and Apple App Store. In the revised interface, we found it took a while to get to know the icons, which aren't as distinguishable as they used to be. You can group applications into folders, or drag them into the top row so they appear on the home screen, but this still means you're limited to having only six applications readily available, unlike an Android phone or iPhone. Delving into the Options screen is still a nightmare of text menus, however, and is probably best left to your carrier or IT department. But the BlackBerry Bold is all about the keyboard and here in the new 9700 it keeps the ridges of the previous Bold and an action that is possibly the best QWERTY keyboard of any mobile phone. With the keys flush together, they are larger than those of the 8900. There is a silky feel to the keyboard. Not only is the choice of materials perfect, but the action is tight and responsive too. Packed into the BlackBerry Bold 9700 you get all the connectivity you expect. You get HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You get the assisted GPS and the 3.2-megapixel camera with an LED flash. RIM has a habit of differentiating between their devices by omitting some critical piece of hardware and fortunately the Bold 9700 gets the full bunch. Dive into the interface and the 9700 comes with BlackBerry OS 5, the latest version of their software, carrying the look and feel that was introduced with version 4.6. In essence little has changed here: it is functional and relatively easy to use, but occasionally you'll find yourself digging around in some minor menu looking for an obscure setting. The BlackBerry Media Player is reasonable, giving you support for the usual video and music formats. There is only 256MB of memory however, which you'll need to keep aside for your applications that you download. Under the back cover you'll find a microSD card slot to handle expansion, and our review model came with 1GB in the box, although this may vary by carrier. The battery in the 9700 is the same as the original Bold. It stands up well against touchscreen smartphone rivals, but the constant data consumption does leave its mark on the phone. In normal use it will get you through a couple of days, but on intensive days you'll find it needs charging every night. But it will also happily sit around for several weeks, picking up emails and still keep charge. As expected, the Bold 9700's battery lasted far longer than most other phones. As well as push email, there are security features that will please IT departments, so if your company runs a BlackBerry server it would be a good choice. The small screen won't appeal to those who want to take a lot of photos or movies, however, and BlackBerry's App World doesn't have the variety of competing app stores.

SPECIFICATION & FEATURES