Credit: RIM
World: Say hello to the RIM BlackBerry Bold. *Cue dramatic music* You may know it as the RIM BlackBerry 9000, but today, Research in Motion (RIM) officially took the wraps off the highly anticipated and much-rumoured smartphone, complete with a new name. The "Bold" is in reference to the smartphone's gorgeous display, but it's also bold in that it represents a number of new moves for the company. Oh, BlackBerry Bold, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways.
The bold and the beautiful
As we just mentioned, the device gets its name from its screen. The BlackBerry Bold features a half-VGA (480 by 320-pixel resolution), 65,000-colour display, and during some initial product testing, research group participants repeatedly called the screen "bold" and "brilliant". The Brilliant moniker didn't really jive with the company, thus the BlackBerry Bold was born.
So just how bold is it? Well, RIM stopped by our office late last week to show us the device, and let us just tell you, we were absolutely blown away. We can pretty much say we've never seen a better-looking display on a smartphone. Colours pop off the screen, and it's really amazing how sharp and crisp everything looks on the display. We watched a couple of videos, and for the first time, we didn't notice any of that pixelation or blurriness that you typically get with phones. In addition, the menu interface has been revamped with a much more modern look and icons.
Also, as you can see from the images, the BlackBerry Bold boasts a new design. It's more elegant than past models, with curvier edges and a silver trim that complements the black casing. If you turn it over, you'll also notice that the back has a leatherette texture. No more slick plastic and RIM will sell replaceable backplates in different colours, including blue, grey and red, if you want to spruce up your phone a bit. Size-wise, the BlackBerry Bold measures 114mm tall by 66mm wide by 12mm deep and weighs 135g.
Finally, the BlackBerry Bold has a new QWERTY keyboard that RIM likened to a modernised Curve keyboard, but we're not really seeing it. Instead it reminded us more of the BlackBerry 8830. Now, we know some of you 8800 series users had issue with the keyboard, but we tried it out and it's pretty easy to use — largish buttons with some spacing between the keys.
Credit: RIM
Wireless smorgasbord
There's a heaping of wireless options on the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) BlackBerry Bold, but the most appetising and notable item is the HSDPA/UMTS (850/1900/2100) support. It's the first HSDPA BlackBerry, and we all know it's been a long time coming. RIM says the delay for bringing such a device to the market is that it wanted to make sure battery life wouldn't be sacrificed at the expense of including the 3.5G technology. Hey, whatever the reason, we're just finally happy to have it. You also get integrated Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 with full A2DP support, and built-in GPS (enhanced and assisted).
Horsepower
The RIM BlackBerry Bold is equipped with a 624MHz Intel PXA270 processor whereas previous BlackBerrys had 312MHz processors, so technically, you should enjoy smoother and faster performance. During our briefing, there were a few hiccups in performance, but we're going to keep our fingers crossed and chalk it up to the fact that it wasn't a final unit. There's also 128MB flash memory and 1GB of on-board memory, which is all supplemented by the microSD/SDHC expansion slot (supports up to 16GB cards).
Multimedia, Web, and other good stuff
You still with us? We know this post is getting a bit lengthy, but just a few more highlights to note. First, the Bold includes an improved Web browser (thank goodness) with the option to view pages in a full desktop HTML style or a mobile version, and you can now more easily navigate pages with the trackball, which acts like a mouse cursor, and zoom in/out.
As for multimedia, the smartphone is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities and up to 5x zoom. The media player also continues to support numerous audio and video formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, DivX4, and WMV3 files, and the phone is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack. By the way, the Bold has got some pretty powerful speakers — none of that weak, tinny junk.
Oh, and hey, what's this? It makes calls and sends and receives e-mails you say? Yes, you'll still get all of the voice and messaging features of previous BlackBerrys, and the handset will also come preloaded with Dataviz's Documents to Go suite for document viewing and editing.
"When and where can I get one?"
Now, that we've totally built up the device and you're ready to run out and buy one, here's the let-down. The RIM BlackBerry Bold isn't available quite yet. Nor has RIM announced pricing, though if you consider the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 sold for AU$659 then our guess is that the Bold will sell for around AU$800 with worldwide availability expected "this summer".
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dfraser
15/05/2008 06:58 PM
I think you mean "available this winter" as we are in the southern hemisphere.... at least i hope thats what you mean!
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katiezoppo
20/05/2008 08:48 PM
would be better if it was touch screen though...
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pidjijafa
02/07/2008 01:08 AM
I WANT ONE !! WHEN DO THEY COME OUT IN AUSTRALIA ?
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dan_rox77
08/07/2008 05:47 PM
Cummon - it needs a touch screen!
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blahhh@yahoo.com
10/07/2008 12:31 AM
On telstra website the Blackberry bold is already advertised. yay!
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yislam
20/07/2008 06:12 PM
fron the Australian IT news 3G BlackBerry Bold to debut locallyFont Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Fran Foo | July 17, 2008 THE long-awaited 3G version of the BlackBerry device will be unveiled on July 29 in Australia, Research In Motion has confirmed. The BlackBerry 9000, commonly known as the Bold, will be available from Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 3 Mobile. Pricing and availability dates will be announced by the individual carriers. "3 Mobile has no pricing and availability information available at the moment (for the Bold)," company spokeswoman Edwina Elliott said. The telcos and RIM have been keeping mum on the Bold's release but in the US, carrier AT&T is expected to sell the smartphone for over US$300 ($307) when it launches, although the exact date is unclear. RIM's other 3G offering, the BlackBerry 8707g, which starts at around $580, doesn't come equipped with the Bold's bells and whistles. The new device will have integrated GPS, WiFi and other multimedia features. BlackBerrys are popular amongst business users but RIM is hopeful that the Bold will have broader appeal. In an interview last month, RIM Asia-Pacific vice-president Greg Wade said the Bold represents a balance between the company's traditional strengths in the workplace and meeting the needs of users for applications that go beyond the workplace. "BlackBerry is highly applicable in the workplace, and we're looking at expanding that outside," RIM Asia-Pacific vice-president Greg Wade said in an interview last month. "In the early days, the drive for us was in enterprise and government, then small businesses, which is always a great market, started to get into the BlackBerry experience. "Now we're taking it even further and looking at individual buyers and users. The Bold is for individuals looking for strength in workplace functionality but also wanting to connect that with social and out-of-work relationships." "What is really important to us is to continue to respect our lineage from the enterprise environment and build on it," Mr Wade said. Recently, Qantas chief information officer Jamila Gordon said the airline had purchased 400 BlackBerrys to investigate replacing paper-based customer service forms. Story Tools
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QC
29/08/2008 09:59 AM
Optus are selling it for $799, will be on shelves within the next week. (According to the shop I was in yesterday...)
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