BlackBerry Bold 9700 – One Week In
I’ve had my BlackBerry Bold 9700 for over a week now. It’s the second generation Bold and having previously had a Bold 9000, I can say that the 9700 is a significant improvement. But all is not perfect. Here’s the pro’s and cons of this BlackBerry:
Pros:
- The keyboard is top notch.
- It’s sleeker, faster and lighter than the 9000 and it feels good in your hand.
- The screen is sharp and vivid.
- It now has a 3.2 megapixel camera, up from 2 megapixel which gives you sharp photos.
- It comes with BlackBerry OS 5 which is a step up from the previous BlackBerry OSes in function and user interface.
- The speed of the device is great… By BlackBerry standards.
- It doesn’t drop calls when you grip the bottom where the antenna is…. Unlike the iPhone 4. Sorry Steve.
- The audio playback abilities are good enough that it’s replaced my iPod Nano.
- The video playback abilities are impressive.
- The ability to use WiFi will keep your data charges low.
- Battery life is impressive.
- The trackpad ROCKS!
Cons:
- It now has a Micro USB port. That means you’ll have to ditch those mini USB cables that you’ve used with previous BlackBerry devices.
- The MicroSD card slot now requires you to remove the battery cover to insert and remove the MicroSD card. The 9000 had a separate door for that purpose.
- The web browser that comes with BlackBerry OS 5 is weak compared to iPhone and Android smartphones. Thus this device needs OS 6 in the worst way to make it rock.
- It smudges easily.
- Video recording abilities are kind of lame compared to an iPhone 4 which does 720p video.
- Hey RIM, how about a bigger screen?
Bottom line: If you want a quality BlackBerry, consider Bold 9700. It’s well built, fast, and a great choice for a smartphone. Now if RIM will kick out OS 6 for it, it will make good piece of hardware great.
Leave a Reply