BlackBerry 9700 Bold

Editor's Review of the 9700 Bold

Adding to the Blackberry range of attractive and user-friendly Smartphones, the Blackberry 9700 Bold sports solid candy bar design in subtle black casing that is typical of Blackberry handsets. It holds resemblance to the Blackberry Bold 9000 in terms of its feature selections. Tipping the scale at 122 grams including its rechargeable battery, this Smarpthone is light enough not to weigh down its users. This mobile also has the full measurements of 109 x 60 x 14 millimetres.

This mobile phone is equipped with a 66.04-millimetre TFT screen that supports clear viewing of wallpapers, photos and other images in 65,000 colours over a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels. Situated right under the TFT screen is a large full QWERTY keyboard complete with a touch-sensitive trackball for navigation and control purposes when scrolling through the handset's features and menu. With its array of ringtones in MP3 and polyphonic formats, users will find it easy to customise this handset's alerts to reflect their personality.

Working on quad band technology, this mobile phone works on GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 and GSM 1900. It also supports HSDPA 850, HSDPA 1900 and HSDPA 2100 networks. As such, this handset is a handy communication gadget that frequently travelling owners may use on roaming mode. However, this mobile phone's network reach depends on its service provider.

The Blackberry 9700 Bold runs on BlackBerry V.5 operating system. Through its pre-installed HTML Internet browser, users can check out the World Wide Web conveniently. For on-the-go Internet access, users may utilise the Wi-Fi facility that allows users to go online in designated hotspots. In addition, this Smartphone has the connectivity feature of USB through which file transfers with compatible devices is possible. For wireless connections, the Bluetooth with A2DP feature works by allowing data sharing with laptops, personal computers, scanners, printers and other handsets that are, at most, 10 metres away from each other. Users are assured of faster download rates and file sharing, thanks to this handset's GPRS and EDGE technologies.

The Blackberry 9700 Bold allows users to send to and receive from their contacts messages in text or SMS and multimedia or MMS. Owing to the World Wide Web access that this handset offers, users may also access their email accounts and compose, send or receive email messages right through this mobile phone. It also comes with instant messaging capability for chat purposes.

Keeping users organised in their schedules, appointments and other tasks, this mobile phone offers an array of organiser tools. This handset has phone book, calendar, alarm clock, clock and tasks list. It also works as a document viewer that supports file viewing in MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint and PDF formats. Moreover, it assists users as they find their way through unfamiliar places through the integrated A-GPS system with support for Blackberry Maps. Users need not hold this mobile phone when speaking with their contacts with its built-in hands-free speaker.

While packed with practical functionalities, the Blackberry 9700 Bold makes a handy entertainment companion. It comes with an onboard 3.1-Megapixel camera complete with LED flash and auto focus for clear and precise shots. It also has an image stabiliser that gets rid of those blurs when photos are being taken. This integrated photo snapping device also comes with camera settings that users may tweak to come up with their desired picture outputs. Also doubling as a video recorder, this camera keeps memories alive through footages. Users may also view videos on this handset's TFT screen. This handset also makes a good music companion with its integrated music player that supports MP3, WMA and AAC+ audio formats. Moreover, it enables users to enjoy their games that are downloadable from the Internet.

This mobile phone comes with 256 Megabytes of Read Only Memory. It has 1 Gigabyte internal memory that can be expanded to support up to 16 Gigabytes through a microSD memory card. Its 1500 mAh Lithium battery offers users 5 hours of talk time and an equivalent of 500 hours in standby time when working on a fully loaded battery.

Unsatisfied owners of this Smartphone find flaw in the trackball that are reportedly less controllable than those of other Blackberry handsets models.

Avid Blackberry users, however, praise the Blackberry 9700 Bold's QWERTY keyboard for its individual keys that are perfectly spaced for utmost ease of use. Others also find that the handset offers quick opening and shutting of applications.