BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone Review

BlackBerry Bold 9700

BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone Review

Reviewer:  AAlt 

I have been using this phone for about a week now. And while this device beats previous bold 9000 in many aspects there is still much to be improved. So let me first say things that I do like about the phone. Of course the greatest improvement was the addition of the trackpad, at first it was kind of unusual to navigate with it but I got accustomed to it very quickly. Second thing is the screen resolution, it was improved from the old bold by 480x360 vs 480x320 pixels. The screen is really crisp and bright and sunlight legibility is very decent. The camera also experienced an improvement and while I was taking pictures outside on a bright day and later comparing them to the previous bold, there is a very noticeable change, pictures look somewhat close to my wife's 10 megapixel canon camera. I was also surprised by the improved quality of the videos this device shoots. Much better and less pixelated than the original bold! Now for the things that I don't like or wished to be improved. Despite of the fact that everyone raves about "amazing" battery life on this device, I must say I am disappointed. At best, the battery lasts me a day and a half but not two day as many reviewers say. Perhaps I do extensive web browsing and chatting via instant messaging. I usually like to read various blogs and news on opera mini 5 browser and I noticed that this application along with IM+ drains battery like crazy! Of course at least now I don't have to carry a spare battery with me like it was with the previous bold since I am sure this one will last me for the full day. But most often I still have to charge it every night. Which is kind of a disappointment and not what I expected after reading various reviews. Now about the browser: It sucks.... It simply sucks so much that any other smartphone's browser will put it to shame. But another annoying problem now that I noticed is that I can't get to mobile version of citibank online at all! No matter how I would reconfigure the browser... So it means no banking online for me as I used to do on my previous bold. Very annoying... The browser is still slow as hell and only the fact that I have opera on this phone doesn't make it a deal breaker. I must say though that I am running a latest .405 version of the software and perhaps the issue with banking online maybe be fixed in later versions. Which I again, doubt very much. Now another disappointment is the absence of many supported languages. For example there is no Russian support whatsoever. But than again, it may be released in the later versions. I hope so. And now last but not least is the speaker quality. In the first day of use I noticed that the speaker has been downgraded. Instead of the three speakers which previous bold had, this device has only one and when you bring the volume all the way up you can hear a rattling noise. Not a very nice experience... Overall I like the device especially it's size, I was skeptical about it as I liked the bold 9000 big screen. But this one seems to be slim and looks more eye appealing. also I like the battery cover design, you can not accidentally open it and whole device seems sturdy and has a look of a professional tool. Hopefully with next updates there will be support for more languages. But as of now I am giving it only 3 stars.

UPDATE:

Couple of weeks ago I noticed that phone would randomly delete data, but today was the worst: In the morning I discovered that all my contacts were completely wiped out!!! by itself! And when I tried to restore them from the backup file it would not do that saying that the file is read only. I tried this file in my old curve 8310 and it worked flawlessly. So I suspect that there are serious bugs in the OS 5.0 and AT&T is not coming up with any updates as of yet. In a mean time I am lowering score for this phone because i am very disappointed by the poor implementation

UPDATE 2:

As five months passed since I got this phone, I must admit I like it much more than I did before. True, I still have some issues with it, but these issues are just too minor comparing to lots of useful features that this device delivers. Previously I wrote that it deleted all my contacts from the phone book, and last week it just happened again but I noticed that it happened after I added an another gmail account to the phone. So after I gooogled a bit I found out that gmail actually will sync your contacts with your gmail account but for some unknown reason remove them from the phone book. So basically all you have to do is to download google sync on your phone and transfer contacts back to the phone book. So I tend to believe that this issue has more to do with google gmail setup rather than the phone itself. Also the issue with the Citibank mobile site have resolved mysteriously, and now I am able to do banking through the native browser (which still sucks by the way in many aspects) I am also looking forward to the release of OS 6.0 which should include webkit browser with flash support and other new and exciting features. So I must say that ever since I got this phone it never crashed or restarted on me, not even a single time. So I must increase the rating of the phone to 4 stars as it's been a really great tool which I certainly can rely on in terms of usability and trust.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700

Reviewer:  Tarun Chachra

Bolder then the Bold - The 9700 Rocks

The Blackberry Bold 9700 is a great new Blackberry with speed that I have yet to see on any model out there. Before this model my favorite was the Blackberry 8900 which lacked 3g capabilities and thus was a little tedious at times. The 9700 truly has everything that you will ever want out of a Blackberry:

* 480x360 High Resolution Screen

* Touch Sensitive Track PAD Which is FANTASTIC (the track ball on previous models was always a problem)

* A new upgraded CPU which makes this device SCREAM with speed.

* 3G and EDGE Cellular Service

* Wi-Fi

* 3.2 MP Camera with Auto Focus, Image Stabilization and a LED Flash.

* A new operating system - Version 5.0.x to be specific.

* Includes a 2gb Micro SD Card for storage of Music, Images, Videos, and Applications.

* Super clear speaker both in the handset and as a speakerphone. Loud and Clear... (Note, the previous bold had stereo speakers, this one does not)

* Micro USB Charging (Industry standard - previous bold had mini-usb)

* Elegant design with leather embossed battery cover

If you are looking to find a negative here then you will not...I have used these devices ever since the first one was introduced in the mid/late nineties and I can say will full confidence that it is the BEST BLACKBERRY I have ever used.

PS: You will see an identical review of this unit for the T-Mobile network...which is the only negative. I am a corporate user and we have both AT&T and TMO....AT&T is the clear leader with this device..

Please ask me any and all questions via the comments system and I will answer them as best as I can.

PS: Quick Note: I have a leather holster for my 8900 - the 9700 fits in it perfectly.

Reviewer:  Hoppaguy 

As a quick background, I am a heavy user of Blackberries and have owned almost every incarnation. I can say hands down, this is the best Blackberry to date. The screen is high resolution and the overall size of the new Bold is amazingly compact. It is smaller than my old 8310 Curve and much smaller than the previous generation Bold 9000. The most noticeable difference in this new phone is the speed. The processor is much faster and with the 3G capability, it is not as painful to surf the web. While the web browser is still not as good as the iPhones, it is much more useable than previous versions.

Speaking of the iPhone, the sales representative at AT&T kept asking me if I didn't want an iPhone 3GS instead. I have already owned an iPhone and returned it because of the simple fact that it does not have a QWERTY keyboard. I cannot type with the same speed that I can on my Blackberry. The keyboard layout on the new Bold does not disappoint in that the key layout is slightly tighter than the Curve but you get used to it after typing about 5 messages. If you are a previous Blackberry user that is looking to upgrade, then the new Bold is a worthy of the upgrade. In addition if you are the type of user that wants your phone to handle voice and messaging well, then I would also recommend the Bold as a phone to checkout!

Review form UK

I feel I should have picked a Blackberry earlier, I'm not really sold on big, touch screen devices, I certainly can't type anywhere near as fast on a touch screen as this Blackberry, clicking on links etc is so much easier with the trackpad.

I'd also highly recommend one of these which compliments the 9700 perfectly. BlackBerry 9700/8900 Leather Pocket - Black

This Blackberry just works. Beautifully.

Reviewer: Andy c UK

My opinion of this product is as per Peter Haydon's review. It's excellent.

However, I just wanted to add a few things:

1. The battery life on this device is outstanding. It arrived on Tuesday and it is now Friday evening and the phone is still on 20% battery - even after the compulsory 'new gadget' constant fiddling. Battery performance usually improves after a few charge/discharge cycles, so I can only see it improving.

2. Unfortunately, the phone doesn't work with my Nokia CK-7W bluetooth car kit. The phone and car kit pair together nicely, but the caller hears a horrible echo on their end of the line. Having had a look around on Google, it seems that this is a common problem with Blackberrys and Nokia car kits with no real solution (the 'echo control' option on the handset did nothing). As a result, I think I'm going to have to get a new non-Nokia car kit. This isn't a massive problem as I'm fairly confident in DIY / car electronics and a new kit isn't too expensive, but if you'd have to pay someone to fit a new kit, factor the extra expense into the equation.

3. As mentioned in Peter's review, the 'Google Sync' app is superb. All of my contacts from Google / Gmail and my calendar entries were loaded onto the phone in a couple of minutes. No errors, no hassle. You can then set it to auto-sync every two hours or manually, as you wish.

I bought this to use with an O2 SIM-only 'Simplicity' tariff. The option to choose a Blackberry bolt-on isn't listed on their website, but you can swap any standard bolt-on for the 'Blackberry Unlimited' bolt-on. Just call up customer services and they transfer it over overnight.

 Thank you review form customer