RIM Blackberry Bold (Blackberry Bold 9000)

Member Name: jacksonthomas

Product:	Blackberry Bold 9000
Date:	02/05/09 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: too many to mention here

Disadvantages: an average camera and a big body

I have to admit something here - I am probably the worlds biggest fan of the RIM Blackberry range of mobile phones. I am, in this regard at least, a complete and utter techno geek. Mobile phones are something of a real passion of mine, bordering on an addiction.

I was over the moon to see this mobile phone come out and on the market just at the point where my contract was coming up for renewal. Suffice to say that I jumped at the chance to own one, since my last Blackberry device was so reliable.

I was not dissapointed. In fact I was thrilled. This phone is a complete joy to work with. I dont know if anyone here has an iphone - I have to admit that I have one, although I dont pay for it, my work gave it to me - but that Apple product is not a patch on this device. Previous Blackberrys have been let down by really poor internet browser software, but this device has all new software. The browser is fantastic! On my old Blackberry I gave up and downloaded Opera Mini to replace the browser, but with this Bold you really dont have to. The preset browser software is much better than Opera, which annoyingly changes web page layouts, fonts etc to suit the phone set up (or at least mine did). For those familiar with Opera Mini, this browser allows the same kind of surfing - zoomed out with an easy zoom in function - but to be honest, the screen resolution is so good that you pretty much dont need to zoom in at all.

There are downsides to this phone, its certainly not perfect. The first issue is its size. Its a big old phone, even for a Blackberry. Its clearly bigger than the Curve. You would think that the increase in size make typing easier or would give you a bigger screen, but to be honest there is no real difference.

Big it may be but its also beautiful. I do like the textured back that my Bold has, its much better than just plain old plain. The glossy black design is slick and very pleasing, as is the screen resolution which really finishes of the appearance of the device nicely.

In terms of usage, there is no getting away from the fact that BlackBerrys are complicated machines. They are so flexible that it is almost laughable the lengths you need to go through to change something as simple as a ringtone. When I say flexible, this is what I mean - You can have a different ringtone for each contact, and that ringtone can be different if your phone is inside or outside of its case. You can switch your phone to silent/vibrate just by taking it out of its case - or by putting it into its case. The phone will actually sense if its in or out its case, and you can have it set up totally differently depending on it being in that case!

You can have up to 10 email addresses set up to the device, and each one can ring/vibrate differently, as well has have different LED flashing options. There really isnt any end to the flexibilty that this phone gives you. But all those options make it very complicated to set up. It took me about 30 minutes to work out how to change the LED flash for one of my email accounts - in the end I went on a search engine to find out how to do it.

The rollerball is such a great innovation in navigation. Its amazingly intuitive to use, and only takes moments to get used to.

Blackberrys are legendary for their battery life, and I have to admit that it is here that this phone is let down a little. The 3G functionality of the device comes at the cost of a great battery life span. The battery life is maybe 35% less than my previous Blackberry. In saying that, you can still get two days worth of life from a battery, with average usage levels. Thats not bad considering that its a SMART phone. If you switch off the 3G option on the device then the battery jumps up to a little over 3 days between charges, and I surf the net quite a bit.

I love this phone, although after seeing the subsequent launch of the 8900, I think I would have that over the Bold. The camera is so much better than on here. I dont understand why it took Blackberry to notice that their cameras were getting out dated - 2 mega pixels simply wont cut it any more.

Still if you can live with an average camera and dont mind a large phone, this device is stunning. Blackberry make the best devices on the market today - bar none!

Summary: a great phone, but not the best blackberry out there

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