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With the worldwide release of the IPhone and shortages that followed, the people asked for alternatives; they asked for the IPhone killer. Has RIM really answered?

The long awaited BlackBerry Bold 9000 finally found its way into my hands a few days before the scheduled release of July 25th July 29^th  ?? and I posted a quick Bold Sneak Peek. After playing around with it for a few days I had enough written on paper to make a solid opinion on the phone.

The Bold is one of the best equipped smart phones on the market. With a VGA HVGA resolution screen, WIFI, 3g, GPS, 2.0 megapixel camera with flash, 624Mhz processor there is no reason this shouldn’t be considered a great competitor to the IPhone and the newly released Nokia E71. Although BlackBerrys have been marketed more towards business/corporate users in the past, the Bold dares the average consumer to “Be Bold”.

Note: I must mention before I start the review that my impressions here-on are based on a test unit and the production unit differ.

Let’s get into it…

Design:

When I first viewed the unit I was shocked to find that it was missing the bottom piece of plastic off the front of the Phone. I was informed that since it was a test unit the piece where normally the cell provider(Rogers, AT&T) would print their logo was pointless to have on. Regardless of the missing piece the body of the Bold felt tight with no squeak and shaky pieces.

The back is made of plastic covered in what feels like leather. Having played with it on a few hot summer days I can guarantee it is definitely not leather as the unit did not get sticky. So the unit has a plastic backing with “pleather” covering. The final unit for sale will be offered with the pleather backing and optional glossy or mate finish plastic covers (sold separately).

The front of the bold resembles, as many have noted, the IPhone. Sadly the shiny outline is made of plastic and the test unit was plagued with scratches on it. The decision to use plastic instead of stainless steel must have come as means of cost cutting. It is definitely not appreciated.

Update: The chrome plastic might have been used to not interfere with 3G signal as the IPhone is also equipped with it.

Screen:

The hardest part of the review was trying to find something bad to say about the screen. I have found that flaw…It’s just too damn perfect. The quality of photos, websites and videos is simply fantastic on this high res screen. I tried it both in well lit and dark situations and all I have to say is WOW. The reigning champ of high quality LCDs that perform well in direct sunlight has been dethroned (Nokia).

Update: As a reader has pointed out; the Bold’s screen resolution is identical to that of the IPhone. By having a much smaller screen on the Bold, the pixels are more condensed and images look crisper.

Keyboard:

My previous QWERTY keyboard smart phone experience include: Treo 650, Nokia E61, BlackJack, BB 8800, BB 8700, BB 8300. My favourite out of the bunch was the 8300. Although tiny, I got accustomed to it quickly and I was typing fast in no time. It’s widely known that RIM makes a hell of a keyboard. Sadly the keyboard on the Bold has turned it all around. IT SUCKS! The keys are about the size of the 8800 and really crammed together. It really became uncomfortable typing on it after a while.

OS:

The Bold runs OS 4.6 . This apparently is a redesigned BlackBerry OS. This one felt no different than previous Blackberry units. To be honest it really felt more like a theme on top of the old OS. The menus and applications respond very fast and almost instant mostly due to the humongous 624Mhz CPU. There were very odd slowdowns at times while operating the Media Menu. The OS otherwise seemed solid.

Audio Quality:

The Bold steps it up a notch by coming with a stereo speaker setup. Speakerphone is very loud and clear. Music playing through the speaker sounds pretty good for a small phone like this. Watching a movie trailer of Dark Knight proved to be very enjoyable due to the screen and great audio quality of the speaker.

On the side of the unit there is a surprising 3.5mm jack. I hooked them up to a pair of BOSE headphones and music sounded great. I Could not tell the difference between my IPod and the Bold, quality wise. I was definitely impressed to not have to purchase a separate headphone adapter or having to deal with a 2.5mm jack.

Calls on the 9000 sounded clear and callers never complained about sound. So I would have to say great call quality (more on that in next section).

Connectivity:

The Bold is a connectivity beast with 3G, HSDPA, Wifi your covered anywhere with signal. You’ll always have high speed Internet access at your fingertips. I’m glad to say I never encountered the oh so common EDGE symbol in the corner of the screen. Kitchener-Waterloo had a great 7.2 Mbps connection. I unfortunately did not think ahead and do any speed tests. It felt speedier than my EDGE on my E61.

One thing I must note is that when I was driving outside of the 3G area into 2G territory out in the boons, calls and the connection were dropped. This was hopefully due to an old firmware and will be fixed in final release.

Camera:

It’s a shame really that even years after  >2.0  megapixel phones have been on the market, RIM’s top of the line telephone only comes equipped with  a 2.0 megapixel non-autofocus camera. The pictures did not come out terrible, but definitely below par for their top of the line phone. The lack of autofocus surprised me as it seems so common with phones nowadays. On the plus side there is a powerful flash allowing for low light picture snapping (unlike the IPhone).

GPS:

The Bold is one of the first smart phones to include an independent GPS unit. This always allows it to give directions and offer GPS location outside of cell signal. Of course that compared to A-GPS location locking is slower. The tests results I have were:   

A-GPS lock: < 1 min

GPS lock: ~5min

 

Battery:

In the test time I had the unit available the battery lasted about a day. This was with lots of 3G activity, A-GPS, wifi and camera play. Compared to my, now old, E61 the battery life impressed me with the amount of playing around I did. I can see how most people would complain that charging it at the end of the day is poor battery life. I disagree; with the amount of power this unit has you’re lucky to even get a day.Unlike the IPhone’s poor test results I am impressed with the Bold. 

Conclusion:

When the IPhone came out in 2007 people were excited. Never before have they seen such innovative and sleek device. Never could one imagine the possibility of a computer in the palm of your hand. “Your whole life in your hands!” tech nerds would yell out. It’s safe to say no one has come close to it. Sadly when the Bold will be released neither will it.

You see the Bold is cool. It is beautiful. It’s powerful. It just isn’t that BOLD. It’s like being a corporate “suit” and one day wearing a funky tie. You still do something different, but you haven’t yet separated yourself form the pack. The Bold does just that with what feels like an 8820 with a new UI, camera and beautiful screen.

I was very excited to have a hands-on with the unit and a couple hours into it I realized it’s a great phone. I recommend this to any avid BB user. It’s probably one of the best phones I have ever had the chance to play around with. I realized that as good as it is, there is no future for it. The IPhone kept it’s hype with the announcement of the App Store. It was an opportunity for the developer world to show the IPhones true capabilities. The Bold does not, and probably will not.

If you love BlackBerrys and you eat, sleep and breathe BlackBerry, then you will love this phone. If you’re a gadget enthusiast then you will be bored out of your mind within a matter of a few hours. Most important thing you should take out of this review is that the Bold is a great phone that does what it advertises and it does it well.

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