Review compliments of Shaun from PDA247

The BlackBerry Bold 9700, also known as the Bold 2 is a curiosity in many ways; it carries the ‘Bold’ name, but shares the bulk of its physical similarities with the Curve 8900. Put them next to each other and it is hard to tell the difference. The 9700 is slightly less curved and of course the back is leather, but besides that I would bet good money than few people who do not know much about BlackBerry’s would see any discernable difference.

However, the improvements in the Bold  2 mostly lie under the hood and this is what makes the Bold 9700 a definite improvement on what has come before. Outwardly the keyboard and optical trackpad complete a set of changes which come together to create something evolutionary which will appeal to a specific set of users who want the ultimate BlackBerry which can handle a variety of tasks in a way that only a BlackBerry can.

It would be all too easy for me to sit here and proclaim the Bold 9700 to be a minor update in a long line of BlackBerry devices which seemingly change very little from year to year, but who am I to say that this approach is not right? RIM has made a fortune out of these smartphones so it must be doing something right and there is a solid argument that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Here is a quick rundown of the current BlackBerry line up (Storm not included) and the negatives that come with each-

• BlackBerry Bold 9000- quite big, serious lack of internal memory, trackball reliability issues
• BlackBerry Curve 8900- only 2G, questionable build quality (some have loose keyboards and battery covers), video playback can be choppy, trackball reliability issues
• BlackBerry Curve 8520- only 2G, poor music quality, low resolution screen

ALL of the issues above have been fixed in the 9700; it is similar in size to the 8900, it has a lot of internal memory, is built like a brick, has a high resolution screen and the optical trackpad which is a huge improvement over the trackball. Let’s take a look at each aspect of the Bold 9700 in detail-

Keyboard / Trackpad
Somehow RIM has managed to bring the original Bold keyboard feel to the smaller 9700 and produced a keyboard which is light to the touch, yet extremely accurate during bouts of super quick thumb typing. Anyone who has used a BlackBerry before will understand the lack of a full stop key (that still annoys me) and even those new to this kind of device should have no problems. It is the best front facing keyboard on the market and beats all of the others I have used from the newer smartphones all the way back to the Palm Treos.

The trackpad is a revelation after the trackball. I have suffered multiple trackball issues and started to lose faith in the entire idea. The trackpad is easy to master and feels more natural than almost any other hardware navigator I have used in the past.

Screen
I don’t have much to say here. It is 2.44” which is obviously smaller than the original Bold, but at 480×360 pixels the detail on offer is crisp and offers the same exceptional quality seen on the original Photos jump out of the screen and well encoded videos also display well with no stutters. I had many problems with the Curve 8520 and 8900 video playback, but the same videos have all played without any problems on the 9700- that’s a relief.

Build Quality
Exceptional. It is a solid as a rock and there are no moving parts to take away the feeling that it will serve you well on the busiest of days. After so long with the, in comparison, flimsy 8900 this feels just right to me. The only concern I have is the silver BlackBerry logo on the back leather cover which looks like it could easily peel off to me.

Buttons
On the sides we have rubber volume and side keys which most people seem to like. I am not a huge fan of these because they detract from the overall look, but I guess that they will be more hard wearing than the standards seen on previous devices. The expected mute and standby keys adorn the top and work as you would expect, but it would have been nice to see the media keys lifted from the 8520. It is a personal choice, but I never use the top keys. The 3.5mm headphone jack is top left and curiously I can use my iPhone headphones with this device. I never could with the 8900. The microUSB charger/sync jack is on the left as well which is not ideal, but the inclusion of the charger pods (left and right at the bottom) means that the classic cradle can be used. Every BlackBerry needs a charging cradle which rivals the Palm Pre touchstone for ease of use.

General Performance
This smartphone is quicker than any other I have used to date. The 624Mhz processor is powerful indeed for an OS which is widely regarded as one of the most efficient in the business. Throw in 256MB of memory and the natural trackpad and everything feels snappy and you soon forget that you are doing multiple things at once. I managed to have 15 apps open at once and it did not blink once. With music playing in the background I could skip between the browser, MobiPocket and anything else in the blink of eye. At no point has this phone given me any cause for concern in terms of performance.

Media
As I said earlier video playback is excellent and photo viewing is also a pleasure. The ability to move through photos with just the swipe of the trackpad makes navigating a large collection of images very easy and the overall simplicity of the interface works well. There are few bells and whistles in terms of the look, but it is debatable as to how necessary this is. Music playback is much, much better than the 8900 and on a par with the original 8900. I would advise dumping the included headphones because they do not bring out the best music experience. It is a difficult one to judge, but it is just about comparable to the iPhone with maybe a little too much music up front if you know what I mean. I would still rate the iPhone as better for music quality, but we are talking by a minimal amount.

Battery
After the first charge I managed a full day’s email, 70 minutes of calls, 2 hours of music, 2.5 hours of Wi-Fi and lots of messing around installing new apps and moving calendar entries etc. I left Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled for the whole day. Result: 60% battery remaining. Find me a smartphone that has a better battery life and I will give you the Bold. OK, no I won’t, but you get the idea.

Camera
I didn’t expect much of an improvement over the 8900 here, but it is quicker and the snaps are much clearer than before. I am no camera expert, but the colour reproduction seems more real and I am able to grab good snaps much easier than I could before.

The video camera is rated at 30 frames per second and capable of 480 x 352 recording. Again I noticed a big improvement and it is more than acceptable for capturing those moments when you do not have a standalone camera handy. It will not compete with the efforts found on Nokia phones, but is more than good enough for most people’s needs.

OS5.0
At first glance the move to OS5.0 seems inconsequential and in many ways it is. The speed improvement is the most noticeable change, but there are lots of small interface changes which add a more modern feel to the OS. Buttons in thirds party apps like Ascendo Money are different and the other changes like the easier profile management do make a difference. There are many, many changes onboard, but none that make it is revolutionary upgrade from the previous versions. Hopefully RIM will look at some more wide-ranging changes in the near future despite serious BlackBerry users likely being well pleased with the latest update.

Voice Quality / Signal
The voice capability of the Bold 2 is as I would expect from any BlackBerry nowadays. It is loud and clear in ear or through the speaker phone and easily one of the best in the smartphone market. Only Nokia creates a better voice experience on ‘some’ of its smartphones.

Signal wise I have been impressed with the 3G coverage and manage to grasp a 3G signal anywhere in my house. Besides that it is difficult to test, but the GPS chip is also efficient and works quietly in the background when I need it. One day we will see a decent turn by turn navigation solution for BlackBerry, but until then it is hard to really push it.

Connectivity
The inclusion of 3G was not something that bothered me before I received the 9700, but I may have to eat my words with regards to how useful it can be. There is a caveat here in that you need a device with a BIG battery life to get the most out of it and as I said earlier this one is capable of supporting long periods of 3G.

You are only getting up to 3.6Mbps speed which will seem slow to some and I fully understand that. The problem is that little on the BlackBerry OS needs faster speeds and this is why some will not even look at a smartphone like the  Bold 9700.

Conclusion
As you can tell from the above, this review is unusually positive for me. I am conscious that there are minimal downsides in this review, but that is because there are minimal downsides to the device. I am no fanboy of the BlackBerry platform and recognise that the OS is boring compared to much of the competition, the third party app market is devoid of imagination and the whole setup is looking long in the tooth. The messaging application could be a lot better and the OS needs an all encompassing refresh to battle it out with Android, the iPhone and even Windows Mobile in the consumer market.

However, if you need a phone which has a great screen, a huge battery life, excellent data entry and general performance which is able to cope with the most needed tasks of everyday life then this is the one to go for. The OS may look boring, but it handles all of the major tasks perfectly and third party apps like Ascendo Money and TweetGenius are hard to beat on any platform. There is a lot going on in a small space on the Bold 9700 and RIM has managed to create a device which will turn few heads, but one which is almost flawless in its implementation. I will be keeping this one as my main smartphone and will report back in a longer term review in a few weeks time.