BlackBerry Bold 9000
Discontinued 12th May 2008
Representing an evolution of the existing
Blackberry
8800 series devices rather than a revolutionary
new handset, the BlackBerry Bold (also called
the BlackBerry 9000) combines GPS, WiFi and 3G support
in a classic BlackBerry layout, with a number of other
enhancements to make the 9000 a pretty desirable upgrade
for existing BlackBerry users.
Before we get into the technical details,
it is worth having a look at the BlackBerry Bold's design.
Owing rather more to the stylish BlackBerry
Curve than the old 8800, with a glossy front with
chrome highlights and a leather effect back, The handset
is more curved than the old 8800, and the QWERTY keypad
has been tidied up too.
As we mentioned before, under the hood
the BlackBerry bold has WiFi and 3G with HSDPA support
for high-speed downloads. The 9000 supports tri-band
UMTS 850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz with quad-band GSM, GPRS
and EDGE data. This means that the BlackBerry Bold 9000
can access high-speed data pretty much anywhere in the
world. Unusually, the 9000 supports 802.11a WiFi as
well as the more common b and g varieties. 802.11a is
rarely found in the home, but is often used in corporate
environments.
One
annoying feature on some older BlackBerry devices
was that you could have WiFi or GPS but not both.
The 9000 rectifies this by adding a GPS receiver as
standard.
Another new feature is the "half
VGA" 480 x 320 pixel display. We can't think of
any other manufacturer that is using this at the moment,
but the higher resolution combined with some new technical
wizardry with the 9000's panel means that this look
to be a very promising display. Remember, the display
on the 9000 is not a touchscreen, but the trackball
is easy enough to use once you have gotten used to it.
The software has also been upgraded,
and the 9000 now runs BlackBerry OS 4.6. The interface
looks sleeker and less busy than older BlackBerries,
and it gives the device a more polished look which should
help to compete against the iPhone
generation.
Internal memory is an impressive 1GB,
and the 9000 can be expanded using microSD cards with
a theoretical maximum of 16GB. On the back of the Bold
is a pretty basic 2 megapixel camera with a flash, and
there's no video calling camera. This isn't really marketed
as an imaging phone.
Of course, the 9000 Bold offers excellent
email support and it also comes with a web browser and
document editor. Multimedia support is good, and the
9000 comes with a graphics equaliser with several present
functions depending on the type of music you are listening
to. The BlackBerry Bold supports stereo Bluetooth.
It is almost exactly the same size and
weight as the 8800, with the 9000 weighing in at 133
grams and 114 x 66 x 13mm in size. The large capacity
1500 mAh battery can drive the Bold for up to 5 hours
talktime and 13 days standby time.
We don't have specific details on pricing
or availability, but RIM say that the BlackBerry Bold
9000 should be available during the summer of 2008.
|
RIM
BlackBerry Bold 9000 at
a glance
|
Available:
|
Q3
2008
|
Network:
|
GSM
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
+ UMTS 850 / 1900 /
2100
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
+ WiFi
|
Screen:
|
480
x 320 pixels
|
Camera:
|
2
megapixels
|
Size:
|
Messaging
device 114 x 66 x 13mm
/ 134 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
microSD
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Yes
|
GPS:
|
Yes
|
Battery
life:
|
5 hours talk / 13 days standby
|
|
|