Review of the BlackBerry Bold
Here at Mobiles.co.uk we're never normally shy to get hand on with a mobile phone to give you the best possible advice. Personally though I must admit I've always found Blackberry phones to be a very daunting proposition as they tend to be aimed at business users. Now however with the Bold, Blackberry claim to have released a Blackberry phone for the masses but how does the phone measure up to this Bold claim? Well that's what we intend to find out in our full review.
When the Blackberry Bold first turned up on our doorstep I was keen to get to grips with this smartphone having never owned one before and having had only fleeting experiences with previous models. When you first hold the Bold, the first thing that strikes you is the premium design. The phone is comprised of a smooth black finish, a shiny silver border that surrounds the outside of the phone and stylish black leather on the back all of which help to give it a very classy look. The front of the phone is divided between the full QWERTY keyboard and the screen at the top by a strip of four buttons and the trackball in the middle which is used for navigation and selecting different actions in the menu. The LCD screen on the Bold is crystal clear- everything looks bright and vivid which makes operating the phone all the more enjoyable. I'm not going to lie and say the Blackberry is a small phone; it was never going to be with a full keyboard (it measures in at 114 x 66 x 14 mm), but with the design and build quality as good as it is, it's not an issue.
The first thing that springs to mind when you mention the word Blackberry is email. So the first thing that I decided to test when using the Bold was unsurprisingly its email capabilities. .The home screen on the phone has an envelope icon which takes you straight in to your mail box. Here you can open received messages, reply, create new emails and view and download attachments. Everything is simply laid out and very clear to use and the added bonus of the QWERTY keyboard makes typing out emails even easier. The Blackberry comes in to its own because it allows you to add up to 10 email addresses (business or pleasure) in addition to a pre-assigned Blackberry account so that all your emails come straight through to the phone without the need to log in to specific accounts. For people who send and receive a lot of emails, this is invaluable. If you leave the office you can still have full access to your email account, never again turn up to a meeting to find that it was cancelled on your day off! The Blackberry also supports instant messenger so you can chat just as if you were sat at your PC.
So the Blackberry Bold handles push email perfectly, but we would expect that from a Blackberry phone. What about those claims that this would be a phone for everyone? Well, in terms of multimedia, the Bold doesn't disappoint. Firstly, the phone features full iTunes support meaning you can sync it with your iTunes account and upload all your music and then sort by Artist, Album, Genre, and Playlist just like on a dedicated music player. What's more, the Bold has a 3.5mm audio output jack so you can use your own headphones for an improved audio experience, has 1GB of internal memory for storage which is expandable further via a memory card slot and also supports video playback that looks simply stunning on the razor sharp screen. The phone we were sent for review had a trailer for the CGI heavy film Speed Racer on and I would gladly have watched the whole film on the Bold, it looked that good on the screen.
A 2.0 Megapixel camera has also been included on the phone and while it isn't going to trouble the big boys of the camera phone world such as the C905, i8510 and Renoir, it's perfect for taking out and about for the odd snap or video. The camera features a built-in flash and 5x digital zoom as well recording video. What is a slight disappointment is that when you open the camera application the viewfinder doesn't fill the whole screen but instead has a large black border. While this doesn't compromise the quality of captured images once uploaded, it is still an annoyance none the less. On the subject of uploading, this is all handled without fuss by plugging in the USB cable (bundled with the phone) and copying over from the phone memory, a task that's easy enough for even the biggest technophobes out there.
The Bold is also a powerful navigation device thanks to the built in GPS receiver. The Bold comes pre-installed with Blackberry Maps which pin points your location and also lets you navigate by entering a postcode, address or town name. The phone also supports simultaneous voice and data meaning users can navigate while on a call. The added bonus of being a smartphone as well means that you're not just tied to the software that comes included with the phone; there is a whole host of third party applications that can be downloaded to meet all your SatNav needs!
In terms of connectivity, the Blackberry Bold is a HSDPA mobile phone (the first Blackberry to feature this) and Wi-Fi so web browsing and downloads are lightening quick which is useful for when opening and downloading email attachments. The web browser on the Bold is amongst the best I've used on a mobile phone. The widescreen orientation means that web pages aren't too condensed and the track ball is the perfect tool for scrolling down through pages. You can also zoom in to get a closer look. The ease with which it handles browsing combined with the speed makes the Bold a formidable internet phone. Elsewhere we also find Bluetooth, a document viewer with support for Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and even edit them on the phone and a great organiser and calendar for keeping on top of everything.
From my brief dabble in to the world of the Blackberry I can see why there is such a devout fan base. Once you've got used having all your emails, all the time, it is hard to go back to a normal phone. And now with the Bold and the addition of the more consumer friendly features, that fan base is set to grow more and more. Anyone with reservations that the Blackberry is an uncompromising device is in for a pleasant surprise with the new Blackberry Bold.
Dan, Mobiles.co.uk
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