RIM BlackBerry Bold

Review by Julian Prokaza on Tue 19 August 2008

Page 1 of 4

Summary

Guide price
£129.99 on £32.90/month tariff (Orange)
Rating
 5 out of 6
Good
Stylish; fantastic screen; broad network support
Bad
Dreadfully slow web browser
Verdict
An excellent smartphone and by far the best BlackBerry to date, but the Bold is no iPhone – not that that's necessarily a bad thing...
Manufacturer
RIM

Review

RIM BlackBerry BoldBlackBerry devices may be the de facto standard in the world of corporate messaging, but RIM’s share of the smartphone market is actually on the decrease – and it’s no coincidence that Apple’s is growing.

RIM’s dominant position isn’t under threat just yet, but now that the iPhone has rudimentary support for such corporate messaging features like push email, BlackBerry owners will inevitably be looking longingly at Apple come upgrade time. Without a sleek and sexy multimedia smartphone of its own to keep them locked in, these are users that RIM could easily lose – which is where the BlackBerry Bold comes in.

RIM probably won’t admit as much, but its new BlackBerry Bold is a blatant attempt to appeal to an iPhone-buying audience. It’s by far the best-looking BlackBerry to date and it even looks a bit like an iPhone – the stainless steel rim around the case and flush-fitting screen are two obvious design cues.

RIM BlackBerry Bold

The Bold’s shape is a good deal rounder than previous BlackBerries and the back has a curved profile not unlike that of the iPhone 3G. Rather than mere plastic, however, the Bold’s battery cover is covered with fake black leather. This makes it feel more like an old cigarette case than an executive plaything, but we rather liked it. And note the words “battery cover” – the BlackBerry Bold has a removable cell, which is one over the iPhone.

RIM BlackBerry BoldRIM BlackBerry Bold back

Another +1 for the Bold is its physical keyboard, though this isn’t as big a deal as you might think if you’ve spent any time tapping away on the iPhone’s virtual keys. RIM is somewhat renowned for ensuring that the keyboards on its smartphones are nothing short of excellent, and the Bold certainly continues the trend. The keyboard has the trademark BlackBerry ‘smile’ and each key has an angled profile (sloping left on the left side, right on the right) with a bevelled edge that makes each one feel distinct under the thumbs.

The BlackBerry Bold also has RIM’s most recent input innovation – a tiny trackball. As on other models, this replaces the infamous side-mounted scroll-wheel for selecting and it works pretty well – though the consistent behaviour of the back and menu buttons in every application also plays a major part in this (take note, Windows Mobile).

RIM BlackBerry Bold specification

Operating system
BlackBerry OS 4.6
Processor
624MHz
System memory
128Mb
User memory
1Gb
Memory expansion
microSDHC
Screen
480 x 320 (2.7in) transmissive
Bands
UMTS: 2100/1900/850 MHz, GSM: 1900/1800/900/850 MHz, GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA
Camera
2-megapixel with flash
Connectivity
80211a/g, Bluetooth 2.0+A2DP,
Other
GPS. 3.5mm headset socket
Quoted battery life
Standby GSM: 9 days; Talk-time GSM: 4.3 hours (1500mAh removeable lithium cell)
Size
114 x 66 x 15mm
Weight
136g

Comments


Comment 1
neutral
sabesh 15:38 on 21 Aug 2008

That's an unfair browser comparison test. The Bold doesn't have the WiFi icon on. And we can see it drops from 3G to EDGE.

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Comment 2
neutral
Timmy 16:16 on 21 Aug 2008

The iPhone is also on edge, so the test is not really that unfair 8)

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Comment 3
neutral
oakie 16:25 on 21 Aug 2008

[quote=Timmy]The iPhone is also on edge, so the test is not really that unfair 8)[/quote]wrong. you can see the iphone's wifi icon next to the edge icon and signal meter. anyone who has used a wifi equipped blackberry can easily see that the bold was not connected via wifi as the icon was not showing in the browser plus it was greyed out on the homescreen... the wifi radio was turned on, but it was not connected to a network with that radio.plus, you can hear the gsm noise over the mic as the bold downloads over EDGE and not wifi.

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Comment 4
neutral
oakie 16:29 on 21 Aug 2008

sorry, but the iPhone is not a "smartphone". a smartphone is a device with an OS that is able to multitask, i.e. run multiple applications at the same time, relegating applications to run in the background to allow the user to actively switch between them.the iPhone is not able to do this, and therefore is a "featurephone", not a smartphone.

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Comment 5
neutral
Gallardo 16:52 on 21 Aug 2008

[quote=oakie]sorry, but the iPhone is not a "smartphone". a smartphone is a device with an OS that is able to multitask, i.e. run multiple applications at the same time, relegating applications to run in the background to allow the user to actively switch between them.the iPhone is not able to do this, and therefore is a "featurephone", not a smartphone.[/quote]This is the dumbest comment I've seen.. iPhone can multitask and it is a smartphone by any definition of a smartphone:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

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Comment 6
neutral
analogtrail 17:30 on 21 Aug 2008

The BlackBerry Bold's WiFi radio was on but not using WiFi for data. Therefore it was only pulling data via EDGE.Here's a test of the same site with WiFi on and connected.[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YpvquVZw7U[/url]

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Comment 7
neutral
morganti 18:08 on 21 Aug 2008

It sure does look like in THIS test, the WIFI icon was not lit (right-click and hit zoom to see the icon better). However, analogtrail, in my head, I counted the seconds in your video and in the video here (iPhone) and the iPhone was still almost twice as fast. Something like 28 vs 50 seconds.So, yes, this video is bad, but the conclusion does seem to hold.

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Comment 8
neutral
Matthew 18:19 on 21 Aug 2008

The iPhone DOES multitask, it just doesn't run third party processes in the background.This is a sensible decision by a responsible vendor.If iPhone couldn't multitask, you wouldn't be able to listen to Music and read email.Think about this before you rush to the defence of the Blackberry and whether it was/wasn't on 3g/WiFi/Edge:The fact that the Blackberry doesn't default to the fastest data network available doesn't speak volumes of RIM's efforts with usability.This is common sense option. If an independent reviewer from a trade magazine can't figure it out then what hope the rest of us?

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Comment 9
neutral
smokeonit 18:28 on 21 Aug 2008

the small screen sucks...the trackball sucks...the browser sucks...the iphone tops the RiM in all aspects... iphone osX is the best right now...

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Comment 10
neutral
mathiastck 19:00 on 21 Aug 2008

Verizon has had EVDO blackberries for awhile, the 8830 and Verizon's Blackberry Curve.

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Comment 11
neutral
Thomas 20:45 on 21 Aug 2008

It should be pointed out that safari displays it's progress in displaying a page via the address bar at the top. In the video it's repeatedly missed.

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Comment 12
neutral
Lex 22:29 on 21 Aug 2008

[quote=oakie]sorry, but the iPhone is not a "smartphone". a smartphone is a device with an OS that is able to multitask, i.e. run multiple applications at the same time, relegating applications to run in the background to allow the user to actively switch between them.the iPhone is not able to do this, and therefore is a "featurephone", not a smartphone.[/quote]I'm used to reading poorly thought out comments in tech forums, but this one is really one of the worst I've read of late. I'm not really a big fan of the iPhone (or any phone for that matter) but pretending the iPhone is not a smartphone just makes you look irrational. It already meets the criteria you mentioned and pretending the iPhone is not a smartphone doesn't make the blackberry (which is a nice phone) look any better, it just makes you look as if you don't know what you're talking about.

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Comment 13
neutral
balance 00:54 on 22 Aug 2008

wow what browser comparison test, a bunch of bull poo. bold was not on wifi. STOP DOING REVIEWS IF U DONT KNOW HOW

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Comment 14
neutral
01:26 on 22 Aug 2008

"the BlackBerry Bold is cheaper than the iPhone 3G over the whole contract (£548.79 over 12 months on Orange?s cheapest tariff, compared to £639 for the iPhone over 18 months)"Yes, cheaper over the whole contract, but the contract is shorter. It works out at £45.73 per month for the Bold versus £35.50 per month for the iPhone. Or, put another way, 18 months on the Bold, to match the iPhone, would cost £746.19 versus £639.

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Comment 15
neutral
Tom 03:13 on 22 Aug 2008

On the issue of whether the test being run in the US on the Bold's browser suffers from being overseas from the server, I tried the test in the US using my iPhone (3G, not 2G) over wifi. 18 seconds to download www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk.

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Comment 16
neutral
Peter Payne 03:33 on 22 Aug 2008

Interesting. Sorry to the iPhone haters here, but iPhone FTW. It's better in so many areas, as revolutionized my life in so many ways. Interestng to read Blackberry centric comments -- good luck with that, guys.

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Comment 17
neutral
Thiesi 17:44 on 22 Aug 2008

Well, if you want a useful tool, go for the BlackBerry. If you want a useless but definitely nice toy to show off with, buy an iPhone. It's as simple as that.The BlackBerry is a phone for power users whereas the iPhone is more for the casual user. Emailing, instant messaging, word processing on the iPhone? Not impossible, but certainly not a lot of fun. The same with a BlackBerry? No problem at. I spent hours chatting in ICQ on my BlackBerry. And it took me hours to get an iPod Touch (same OS as iPhone) configured properly ...

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Comment 18
neutral
JScottA 19:40 on 22 Aug 2008

Thiesi:Funny, the very things you talk about being, "Not impossible, but certainly not a lot of fun," are the very things I quickly configured on my iPhone and have a ball doing. Your opinion is right for you but not for me. Thus your statement is NOT "as simple as that." Quite the opposite actually. Because you are not competent with an iPhone, it is reaching quite a bit to think that the rest of us are also not competent with it.And because the interface if the iPhone is so much better (for me) I am a lot more productive on it than I was on a Blackberry.

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Comment 19
neutral
dave 21:02 on 22 Aug 2008

I don't think you can legitimately compare hacking on the iPhone with hacking the BlackBerry. The iPhone is hacked because people are passionate about adding functionality to the device, beyond what Apple is willing to permit. With the RIM, no such passion is present, so nobody bothers to even try to hack it.I would bet if RIM could produce something like the iPhone, and generate that kind of passion for the device, RIM's device would also have been hacked.

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Comment 20
neutral
Viktor 21:15 on 22 Aug 2008

Or you have never see a smart phone in your entire life or you don't know the meaning of your words.The iphone can receive calls and messages and manage 3g, edge or WiFi connection while you are playing a game. THAT MEANS THAT A BUNCH OF LITTLE APPLICATIONS ARE RUNNING IN THE BACKGROUND. Apps for the iPhone are Cocoa based (a kind of C++), that is a REAL computer language, not a JAVA browser oriented programing language. I have a iphone, I am not one of apple's fan maniacs, I just got it because it really works great for me 'cause it has UNIX (that is a real computer OS, not like Symbian, windows mobile or Black Berry OS) and we use a lot as a network diagnostic tool in here.So, next time, you better do some tech reading before posting.

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Comment 21
neutral
Michael 14:36 on 23 Aug 2008

So what... 8)

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Comment 22
neutral
14:11 on 24 Aug 2008

my BB Pearl loaded this page in 10 seconds.. don't see the fuss over 3G

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Comment 23
neutral
facher 18:53 on 25 Aug 2008

I would be interested to see you actually set up a test environment that isolated both devices. Turn off all radio except for wifi and then navigate to a website. The bold wasn't even connected to wifi... this is the kind of thing that sways ppl to buying the wrong device for them because they "hear" that there is a problem when there clearly isn't.

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Comment 24
neutral
Malcolm 18:19 on 28 Sep 2008

I have a Blackberry bold I need the software update for the Bold but cant get it.We use macs and although the missing sync takes care of everything else it cant do software. I am not prepared to spend money on a windows os just for that, I could use a friends pc but then, he will have a copy of all my data. so while Apple attracts every one with a free windows i tune software and seamless i phone management what do RIM do nothing. Thanks ?

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Comment 25
neutral
Topgun 12:30 on 5 Oct 2008

The Bold and the iPhone are 2 different phones, for 2 different user groups. I don't get why all these tests are putting them up against each other. On the e-mail front the BB is in a whole different league than the iPhone. Business men on the go that have to answer e-mails every 10 minutes is the kind of group that BB have and are going after. The Bold is just a nicer BB that might also attract the regular joe crowd better than previous models.The iPhone is for "regular Joes", that like music, like the cool touch screen feature, and all that regular joe type tech stuff.Thanks.

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Comment 26
neutral
itsjustme 02:25 on 19 Nov 2008

...as I found out, for the 30 minutes I was dumb enough to think the bold was better than the iPhone. I bought into the "blackberry is king of email" bit, buri soon found out that blackberries don't even offer basic email functionality unless you are on BES. Using BIS, you can't even access any email folders other than your inbox which makes it practicaly useless to me. So what can blackberry claim now that you don't even get basic email functions out of the box? Not looking so good RIM.

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Comment 27
neutral
fugnaman 18:28 on 30 Oct 2009

I just can't believe that it costs over a hundred bucks just to use the iphone plan. I mean i want one for me and my kids but 300 plus a month is rediculous. i don't know what it would be with the blackberry but jesus, its bad enough to have to pay 40 a month just for the stupid data plan for our regular cell phones. any suggestions cause i wouls like to get either blackberry or iphone for our family.

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Comment 28
happy
srinio 11:53 on 3 Nov 2009

Nice that I have gone through this post, because I got have some good piece of information from this post. Thank you very much.

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