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TagsBlackBerry claims its new Bold smartphone features an "elegant design not sacrificing features and functionality." As a user of the BlackBerry Curve we find the recently released version more of a fashion statement than an upgrade - maybe attracting a more professional audience to the iPhone. With claims that it offers advanced email, phone and IM, does this upgrade have any technology different to its previous releases?
In fact it does offer faster speeds on the 3.5G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network and along with the smartphone's 624MHz Intel PXA270 processor makes downloading email attachments, streaming video or rendering web pages an easy thing to do. (Of course there is also quad-band GSM on the phone as well).
It is also bigger than the curve, measuing in at 115.5mm by 62.1mm by 12.3 mm (compared to the Curve's 107mm by 60mm by 15.5mm). This is to accommodate the full QWERTY keyboard and display.
The mobile has 128MB of flash memory and 1GB of storage suitable for filling up with photos, videos and music tracks. There is also a microSD/SDHC memory card slot that is accessible from a side slot and the Bold can support up to 16GB in storage. Also on board is a 2-megapixel camera and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
An upgrade to the multimedia on the Bold is featured as "Blackberry media sync." A way to transfer desktop iTunes files to your BlackBerry Bold - making it easier to enjoy music on the move - supposedly stopping that unnecessary manual transfer of files. Unwillingly I feel that the attraction to iTunes is far too great for buyers to resist, bringing me back again to my original argument.
We have to admit that the introduction of BlackBerry Maps would be a good piece of technology. The integrated GPS paired (alongside location-based services) enables users to get a "turn by turn account" of where they might be, making walking round London a thrill rather than the usual stressful experience. The map definition is helped by the WQVGA 480 by 320 65,000 colour LCD display.
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{mospagebreak}As far as applications are concerned, the smart phone comes with WordToGo, PowerPointToGo, WordMole, and a couple other games.
The Wi-fi connection (supporting a/b/g networks) is very much the same, and although it suggests on the website that it may "lower your costs" it does not offer any obvious benefit that has not been featured on any previous BlackBerry. Just as the website suggests, an exaggerated description of the display and colours provided to users - after looking into the design, there seems to be no difference between the two phones that we feel is worth forking out another £100 on top of the RRP.
After comparing our already-swayed judgement to the BlackBerry Curve, we feel that our view has slightly changed. The BlackBerry Bold does offer an introduction of the very practical Blackberry Maps and has made transferring music far less monotonous, however at around £400 (£100 more than the Curve) does not make me more inclined to go to the next phone shop we come across and hand over our hard-earned cash.
Rating: 6/10
