Hands On: Got my Blackberry Bold (9000)

T

TechieSooner

Supreme [H]ardness
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Here's my unnoficial review of it, after moving from Sprint with my HTC.
I did not like the HTC because of a few reasons. A) Sprint's VOICE coverage fails compared to ATT's (and is also not a world phone), B) Windows Mobile drains battery life, sucks up resources, and even though you use the latest version of it: still needs to be reset on occasion. C) RAM was not sufficient. Phone lagged or even locked up at times, paired with Windows Mobile, this was a mess.

First, general comparison of my phones. Yes the screen is not as big, but it packs much better resolution. Smaller screen without touch capabilities also means better battery life. Huge plus for me. Granted dust is a ton worse in these pictures than you could ever see in real life, but here goes.
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As you can see, the Bold is much thinner. Feels a ton thinner than it is, when in my pocket. I had a brick in my pocket prior, now it's a featherweight!
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The Bold is a bit wider.
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General photo (looks perfectly clean, but dirty in the picture!):
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The screen is the best I have seen on ANY phone, and this includes the iPhone.
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One of my main complaints is the keyboard. The Curve's is easier to use for me. My opinion may obviously change with time as I use this.
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The leather backing feels great, much better than cheap plastic. Main concerns are durability of the backing, but obviously it can get replaced with ease:
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PROS:
Revamped interface is great. Fantastic screen is wonderful.
Simplicity of use is fantastic, as with all Blackberries.
Battery life is great. Judging on my usage today (quite a bit, toying around with it), I expect to get 2-3 (or more) days out of it. WiFi on, may just be a couple of days, but as long as it lasts a FULL day, I'm happy. It's more than I can say of my old HTC.

CONS:
Touchscreen is nice at times, but sacrificing battery life isn't worth it.
Questionable durability of backing.
 
I wish that thing wasn't so darn expensive. It's freaking 400$ even with the 2 year contract (and a 100$ mail-in rebate, come on guys, just do a damned instant rebate for once). But does look quite sexy, let us know how it goes.
 
kidstechno said:
I wish that thing wasn't so darn expensive. It's freaking 400$ even with the 2 year contract (and a 100$ mail-in rebate, come on guys, just do a damned instant rebate for once). But does look quite sexy, let us know how it goes.
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Mine was $300??? I think I got another $100 off based on the fact I activated it on an Enterprise Data Pack.

Where's the MIR at? Another $100 off would be sweet ;)

$300 isn't that outrageous. When the HTC came out I probably paid $200 or better, same goes for the Curve and everything else.

Loving it so far though.
 
I got mine a few days ago and I love it, had(still have a curve) before and this screen is way better, plus its got 3g and wifi and gps man this thing rocks.
 
Elmntskater1588 said:
Nice phone, to bad its not coming to verizon.:mad:
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your getting the storm....thats a cool phone I got to play with some guys at the airport the other day....makes me want to order one from the UK and unlock it for ATT
 
Elmntskater1588 said:
The storm looks pretty solid, but im iffy on not having a qwerty keyboard. Your phone is so sexy!:p
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I must say I am liking the keyboard better and better.

Have not had a chance to try the GPS but I won't use ATT's service, probably Live Search or something.
 
TechieSooner said:
I must say I am liking the keyboard better and better.

Have not had a chance to try the GPS but I won't use ATT's service, probably Live Search or something.
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Would it be possible for you to try Google Maps? I'm seriously thinking about getting the Bold, and the GPS is a big concern of mine. Also, I've read that the WiFi browsing on the Bold isn't that great, what are your experiences with it?

Thanks in advance!
 
Elmntskater1588 said:
The storm looks pretty solid, but im iffy on not having a qwerty keyboard. Your phone is so sexy!:p
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The Storm has a qwerty keyboard in landscape view. Also it is more than likely someone will make an app to give the Storm a qwerty keyboard in portrait view as well.

Ontopic though, the Bold is definitely one sexy phone
 
Hurdler said:
Would it be possible for you to try Google Maps? I'm seriously thinking about getting the Bold, and the GPS is a big concern of mine. Also, I've read that the WiFi browsing on the Bold isn't that great, what are your experiences with it?

Thanks in advance!
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I'll try playing with it. Just haven't had much of a chance to really play around with it.
 
I've got a Bold on order. Got it through Amazon for $150 after rebate. I thought about waiting for the Storm. However, given the Storm will be Rim's 1st gen touch screen effort, no WiFi, and likely will be at a higher price point, I decided to go with the Bold. Storm's interface looks great though.
 
Still haven't had a chance to try the GPS, probably next time I go out of town I'll give it a shot.


Lepke said:
I've got a Bold on order. Got it through Amazon for $150 after rebate. I thought about waiting for the Storm. However, given the Storm will be Rim's 1st gen touch screen effort, no WiFi, and likely will be at a higher price point, I decided to go with the Bold. Storm's interface looks great though.
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http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/00/00/02/88/06/34/288063470._V242786873_.pdf
There's the rebate. Would this qualify on business plans too?


At any rate, the Storm looks great. I think it will go over just fine: RIM doesn't make crap like so many others do. If there's a prhase to describe them above any other phone I've used: Build Quality. Touchscreen, the interface, I'd expect it to be just fine.

I don't know if it will be more expensive than the Bold, but Verizon's pricing is pretty darn expensive for their plans, so it'd be offset either way.
 
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Loving mine so far. Looks even better with the red number keyboard which makes it stand out. And the ugly ATT logo is gone!
 
i can't wait to get mine. waiting for them to port my number over then it will get shipped out to me. hopefully I have it early next week.
 
The keyboard looks a lot like the 8800 series. I'm really torn between which of the 3 new BBs to get when my T-Mobile contract ends in early 2009.

Bold: I love everything about it except its size and AT&T.
Storm: Touch screen e-mailing/texting has never worked for me, but the click-able screen might be the solution. I love Verizon.
Javelin: Only drawbacks are no 3G and it won't be available 'til Spring '09. T-Mobile service has been very good. They treated me well with replacing my broken 8320.
 
man i swear, i have seen nothing but good things about the BlackBerry Bold, and to say, i saw one review about it, and ive just seen nothing but BlackBerry bolds ever since, i want one but my contract doesnt expire till jan 2010 :(, i guess i could cancel my contract for 175, then buy a new blackberry bold for 300$ with a new 2 year contract....but idk....it is alot cheaper at $475 rather then paying 600$ for just the phone right? And do you get a @blackberry.com or some email address with the bb plan or is that for business only?
 
Wow awesome! Anyone know if T-Mobile is offering the Blackberry Bold?

Blackberry = FTW (currently using Curve 8310)

edit: no BB Bold for T-Mobile yet, hopefully soon...
 
Motley said:
Wow awesome! Anyone know if T-Mobile is offering the Blackberry Bold?

Blackberry = FTW (currently using Curve 8310)

edit: no BB Bold for T-Mobile yet, hopefully soon...
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You can get an ATT one and unlock it
 
Eragon Dragonslayer said:
man i swear, i have seen nothing but good things about the BlackBerry Bold, and to say, i saw one review about it, and ive just seen nothing but BlackBerry bolds ever since, i want one but my contract doesnt expire till jan 2010 :(, i guess i could cancel my contract for 175, then buy a new blackberry bold for 300$ with a new 2 year contract....but idk....it is alot cheaper at $475 rather then paying 600$ for just the phone right? And do you get a @blackberry.com or some email address with the bb plan or is that for business only?
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as this is possible, you will lose your number in doing so. For me, my number that I've had for over 8 years is worth more than the 125 I'd be saving doing that.

Not sure how your carrier handle things, but as a Verizon employee, i know how verizon does it. There is an Advanced Device Credit that only applies if you are getting a data plan for the first time. This works on just about any way of purchasing a phone whether it be outright or with contract.

For example BB Storm:
579.99 full retail
349.99 /w 2 year contract.
-100 advanced device credit
-50 MIR
199.99 Advertised

But if you bought it without a contract from my store you would be looking at 429.99 not the 600 that you would think because you still get all the extras they calculate in for advertised price.

anyway, long story short, ive had a ton of people ask me to do what your doing, but after they realized they have to get a new number to do it they change their mind.
 
Wirefly.com has the Bold for $149 (after $100 MIR) with a new 2-year AT&T contract. They also have the Storm for $149 with new 2-year Verizon contract. Both are pretty hot deals.
 
_tar said:
I am loving mine as well and it's been less than a week. I came from an iPhone and I just did not like the iPhone.
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I had yet another person look at my Bold this week.
Was a person that has seen all the new Storm/touchscreen commercials like the iPhone, and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.
I turned over by Bold, let them play with it for awhile, and they LOVED it.

I'm even more 100% sold on the idea that touchscreens are a gimmick. Done right, a button/trackball interface is just as good. Touchscreens are never worth the decrease in battery life.

I was out of town for a few days, and never got down past 50% each day (I charge each night), even with heavier usage being out of the office.
Battery life is great. That was even with 3G being on!

Aku12 said:
as this is possible, you will lose your number in doing so. For me, my number that I've had for over 8 years is worth more than the 125 I'd be saving doing that.
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Um.... you don't lose your number. All the termination fee does is ends your contract. Instead of waiting 2 years to end it, you pay $175 to end it now. That's all it is.
By law you get to keep your phone number now.



Also a comment on GPS which I tried using.
The Live search I guess sucks for the Blackberry. Usually I could pick a destination location, and choose the starting position as "Current GPS Location". Either I couldn't figure it out or it's just not there on this Blackberry. Not sure if the GPS is locked or what the deal is, but I may need to try Google Maps and see if it has the same deal.
I couldn't get any GPS-capabilities to work, it was like the GPS functions are gone in the BB version.
 
Nice phone! I'm still using the 8100 Pearl and just waiting to see if BF will offer something better on the Bold.
 
So for work related stuff (mostly email), would I want to go with the Bold as opposed to the iPhone?
 
I'm looking to get a new phone soon, and as I may be traveling a lot I want a phone that I can browse the internet, check e-mail, play music, and watch some movies on. Having said that, could anyone comment on how the Bold stacks up to the iPhone?
 
PsichoDM said:
So for work related stuff (mostly email), would I want to go with the Bold as opposed to the iPhone?
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Lands yes. Blackberry still reigns supreeme in the business market.
iPhone is for your casual users IMO. Yes, it has Exchange support, but try doing any serious emailing or anything else relating to business and it gets old VERY fast.

Hurdler said:
I'm looking to get a new phone soon, and as I may be traveling a lot I want a phone that I can browse the internet, check e-mail, play music, and watch some movies on. Having said that, could anyone comment on how the Bold stacks up to the iPhone?
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iPhone has one thing better than any other phone out there: browser. It's got a full-blown browser, and if that is the #1 priority I'd recommend the iPhone above anything else.

When it comes to anything else though, the Bold would trump it in every way.

One other thing the iPhone has is the app store, which is mostly little games and such (again if you are a business user who cares??). Might be dealbreaker for you too, but that's also something RIM hasn't taken hold of yet.
 
in terms of apps, RIM allows 3rd parties to market their apps. Apple, on the other hand, does not.
 
liar2 said:
in terms of apps, RIM allows 3rd parties to market their apps. Apple, on the other hand, does not.
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True, but not so much the small guy creating apps for it.
Good and bad I guess. You get overall more high quality applications for Blackberry.

That's one thing I've DEFINITELY found with my Bold, any apps for it are well designed. You don't get the preschooler-created crap that Windows Mobile and iPhone is plagued with.
 
TechieSooner said:
Also a comment on GPS which I tried using.
The Live search I guess sucks for the Blackberry. Usually I could pick a destination location, and choose the starting position as "Current GPS Location". Either I couldn't figure it out or it's just not there on this Blackberry. Not sure if the GPS is locked or what the deal is, but I may need to try Google Maps and see if it has the same deal.
I couldn't get any GPS-capabilities to work, it was like the GPS functions are gone in the BB version.
Click to expand...

Provided your GPS isn't locked out by the provider, I find that it's faster to lock on the satellites via the GPS menu in Setup as opposed to using BB Maps. I would avoid BB Maps entirely and use Google Maps. The only problem with Google Maps is it can't manipulate the GPS hardware at all (you need to perfrom the lock via setup - I think the app only intercepts the GPS info), but not like BB Maps does a good job either, it literally takes forever to lock and fails quite frequently for me.
 
Actually the Live Search wasn't configured to use the Blackberry GPS. It defaulted to NONE. Why in the world it did that I don't know, especially when on my WM device it picked it out right away. Next chance I get I'll try the GPS out with Live Search. I'll try Google Maps too, but at least from a WM standpoint the Live Search was better for me.
 
The Bold goes for 299 with 2 year plan and 100 bucks rebate at my local AT&T store. Is that the lowest I can get it for in the US?

Also, the dude there told me that I need to pay for the 45 bucks a month data service because I'd be using an exchange server, and that is not supported by the 30 bucks a month data plan. Is that true? My boss says he's using the 30 bucks plan on his iphone and he can connect to our exchange servers just fine.
 
Crap that is actually a 150 bucks better deal than what the store is offering. Wow. I'm never buying anything again before asking online lol.
 
Mr. Wolf said:
Still, my Bold-lust might overwhelm my hatred of AT&T...
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Mine did. Even after having a great 3G device with ATT, I'd still give the gold trophy to Sprint any day as far as 3G speeds go.

ATT voice coverage is a little bit better (maybe 20%) but not by much.
 
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