BT Calgary Blogs

No one can argue about the stranglehold Research in Motion has on the corporate world. True, the iPhone may be popular with hipsters and teens, but in the office BlackBerry still remains king.

Last summer RIM made a move to turn the corporate device into a more multimedia friendly phone, letting the world know it wasn’t just for executives anymore. Thus the Blackberry Bold was born. Now the company is looking to build on the success of the Bold, with the introduction of the Bold 9700. RIM has made a few tweaks here and there creating an even sexier, dare we say bolder, Bold. But is it worth upgrading to? Read on CrackBerry lovers, read on.

The Design

At first glance, the Bold 9700 looks very similar to the original Bold. It has the same characteristics that made the Bold so popular. The smooth curves are back, as is the beautiful high resolution screen capable of displaying pictures and video. Yes it looks like the old Bold, but there are a few differences.

First, you’ll notice the Bold 9700 is smaller than the original. This newer version measures 4.29 inches by 2.36 inches. The original Bold was 4.48 x 2.6 inches. It’s not a huge difference but it is noticeable. The Bold 9700 fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. It’s also lighter than the previous model. The original weighed in at 4.8 ounces. It has now been reduced to 4.3 ounces. If you’ve owned a Bold in the past and pick up this new model, you will immediately feel the difference.

The Features

RIM has basically taken what was good about the original Bold and simply made the features better. All the standard fare is there. The Bold 9700 still uses RIM’s  next-generation 624 MHz processor which I found to be incredibly fast. While starting up the Bold 9700 took a long time, once it was up and running I rarely got bogged down while loading applications or surfing the web.

The Bold 9700 has RIM’s latest 5.0 operating system which includes a number of improvements. The new OS brings an updated Web browser with more accurate AJAX rendering, faster JavaScript processing, threaded SMS chats (long overdue) and BlackBerry Widget support.

Other features you’ve come to expect in a BlackBerry include built-in media player GPS, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), and an microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to a 32 GB card when it become available on the market. A camera with flash is built-in and has now been upgraded to 3.2 MP. It will support both stills and video.

Now that the technical specs are out of the way, let’s take a look at what’s new… the absence of the oh so familiar track ball. RIM has ditched the ball in favour of a trackpad. No more rolling your finger on the trackball, now your finger swipes and movements are registered on a glossy black pad. I actually was pleasantly surprised with how well the trackpad worked. I’m used to using a trackball on my BlackBerry and thought it would be difficult to adjust, yet I navigated through the screens with relative ease. It is very sensitive, even the slightest brush of your finger will move your cursor on screen. It didn’t take me long to realize I now prefer this method of navigation over the classic trackball.

If you take a look at the underside of the Bold 9700 you’ll also see one more upgrade. The typical black plastic battery over has been given a faux leather finish. It’s a small yet elegant touch. You can notice the new leathery feel while typing and talking on the phone. It also prevented the phone from sliding around on my desk and vehicle (not that I would ever text while driving).

The Downsides

Like many other BlackBerry phones on the market, the Bold 9700 suffers from seriously long start up times. You will be waiting between 2 to 3 minutes to start using your phone from the time you place the battery in the phone until the time it’s usable. Mind you once the battery is in, the phone never really turns off. You can put it in sleep mode, but it will wake up once you press a button (unless you lock it). I suppose cell phones are basically small computers so I should get used to the fact that starting up newer phones take time.

I also found battery life to be less than ideal. Although RIM claims you will get up to 6 hours of talk time on one charge, I noticed I needed to plug in my Bold 9700 by mid afternoon, and this was on days I didn’t talk much. Turning Wi-Fi off helps prolong battery life, but it still seemed to drain quickly. Of course there is a chance I just had a bad battery. I was not able to get another battery to further test out this theory.

Finally I will point out, a smaller phone does mean a slightly smaller screen and keyboard. It’s not a significant size reduction (1/4″), but it is worth mentioning.

The Bottom Line

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is one sleek phone. The new smaller size gives the phone a nice feel, and the trackpad makes navigation a breeze. I even loved the faux leather treatment to the battery cover. When put to the test, call quality was great (tested on Rogers HSPA network) and connection to the web never skipped a beat. If you can live with a slightly smaller screen and keyboard than the original Bold, you’ll discover the new Bold 9700 truly is the best of what RIM has to offer.

The Good

Smaller than original Bold
Trackpad makes navigation easy
Faux leather finish on battery cover creates anti-clip surface
Good call quality

The Bad

Short battery life
Long startup

Bold 9700 is available on Rogers, Bell, and Telus in Canada