Blackberry Bold 9700 for business

With the reports of flagging Android sales this week and with RIM updating their flagship model with a sleeker and more powerful model – the Blackberry Bold 2 9700 - will we see Blackberry regain the market share of the business mobile phone market that they enjoyed for so long prior to the i-phones and other smartphone releases?
Featuring an improved processor and latest UI, can this phone really take the i-phone for a run for it's money? And also from my personal view point - the HTC Desire?

With the bold, Blackberry tried to produce a model that was a viable cross over between the business and consumer user and it has worked well, but in this market there is a constant need for progression and that's where the new BlackBerry Bold 2 9700 comes in.

The first thing that RIM have improved is the size - this phone is not only faster than its predecessor but it is lighter and smaller - 5mm shorter and nearly 1cm thinner - obviously an incredibly noticable difference.

The Blackberry Bold 2 9700 then has a smaller keyboard as it is a still endowed with a QWERTY. so can you still type effectively? hmm, i'll come to that.

There is no doubt that the Blackberry 9700 is a more classy Bold - it looks like the Storm but with the keyboard. On the top of the phone there are two buttons; one to mute the phone and one to lock it. This is great for business users who privately need to check on something with others - just quickly press mute during your call to converse in private with your colleagues.

The screen has an incredibly high resolution and is ridiculously clear - I just started wearing glasses this week so it may have been amplified but compared to our other Blackberry phones this is a high res screen!

There is a volume key on the right hand side. On the left there is the function key, which can be used to perform various functions; the default is voice control.

On the edge there is also the 3.5mm headphone input which means that you can use your own headphones as well as the standard supplied ones; a small gripe is that the headphone plug sticks out a little from the phone. This sat flush on the older Bold version but there didn't seem to be any performance issues so it is just a visual problem.

As previously suggested the keyboard is pretty small but with the new more pyramidal keys typing is actually not too bad - not as easy as with the HTC Desire but definitely an effective keyboard that you could easily get used to.

This phone has an optical trackpad instead of the trackball which has previously been used on the BlackBerry Curve 8520. This gives a different, and more stylish look to the front of the mobile phone.

The back of the phone has that nicely nicely I am a classy phone kinda touchy feely leather back as well as a relatively good 3.2 mega pixel camera.

The Bold 9700 has a nice chrome outline like some of the earlier Blackberry models, but this does look classier - perhaps due to the reduced width of the phone.

The BlackBerry Bold 2 9700 is a more powerful and intuitive device than its predecessors.

There are the supplied shortcuts but most navigation can be done through the optical trackpad with ease, it is also easy to switch the phone to vibrate only for meetings and important client meetings.

The optical trackpad has a variable setting that you can adjust at any time and is the main way to navigate the main menu.

The processor is very proficient but if you are having issues then holding down the trackpad opens up the running tasks menu so that you can see what is using up the phone's memory - very similar to the windows task manager on a PC.

Actually, the performance in both the BlackBerry 2 9700 and the Storm 2 has been speeded up considerably, with both of them reacting to inputs and opening applications much faster than before.

You can unlock/lock the phone using the star key in combination with the call button - Nokia stylee.

As always with Blackberry the UI interface is very simple, this is why we like the Blackberry. It's good that they have stuck to this style rather than try to go for something different.

When you go into the profile of your contacts you can see the photo, details and more of each of them so quite good for managing business contacts and personal friends alike.

It's pretty handy that you can scroll down with the trackpad and select an option such as a text message without having to go through a long message menu.

The BlackBerry series is primarily designed for the business user and this comes through load and clear with the Bold 9700 as the options during a call include the ability to add a caller to the conversation (with the phone opening up the contacts list to do so) and you can transfer it on to another person using the same function.

The call coverage seemed to be good although in all honestly we didn't make it to the top of Snowdon.

As always with the Blackberry email is brilliant and with a simple plug in you can connect to your online accounts quickly and easily and also text messaging is a breeze - Blackberry are known for this functionality and they do it well.

OK, typing as we mentioned earlier is not quite as easy due to the compressed keyboard but the new ridged keys do help.

BlackBerry Messenger is included as well, so you can type the PIN of your colleagues or clients into the device and away you go.

The BlackBerry Browser on the BlackBerry Bold 2 9700 is not the best to put it mildly - a little slow and wieldy and not particularly intuitive. You can connect on both Wi-fi and 3G, sometimes which were perfect but at other times less consistent.

Browsing simply does not measure up to the i-phone - too many of us have got used to the pinch and scroll way of browsing so find it frustrating when you have to move the cursor left and right to see the site properly on a mobile phone.

In normal daylight, the phone really does capture images well, picking out a good level of detail (although colours aren't as well formed as they could be).

The Bold 9700 is not great at night time photography but Blackberry phones are predominantly designed for business users so the camera is not normally key so overall it is fine.

And that's all you really need in a phone like this – there are some new basic functions but generally it is a phone for taking pictures that will just sit on the phone or on your PC and will probably not be used for anything serious. RIM has added simple cropping (for contact profile use) and renaming functions to the photograph review pane, before you can send it off to Facebook or email or even through MMS.

The Blackberry Bold 9700 is simple and fast - we got through images quickly and simply - the thumbnails show up quickly and they are easy and quick to expand.

Video too is mediocre but does the basic job. With the converged media sector on the new 2 9700 there seems to be a definitive move towards a handset that is suitable for both work and play.

The screen is a little small for video but the resolution is good so it is possible to watch a film on this phone but the 2.5 inch screen may kill your eye sight before the film is over.

Listening to music on the blackberry Bold 9700 is a pleasure - the sound is at a good volume and obviously the memory is sufficient. and the 3.5mm headphone jack allowing for better quality headphones makes the phone more accessible as a music player.

Other nice features in the media section include a voice recorder with apparently no limit on how much sound can be recorded in one sitting, and voice notes so you don't have to write down the notes from that incredibly interesting monologue that your boss just reeled off.
The battery was good and survived a 2 day business trip without a recharge which included browsing, email and quite a few calls and texts.

There is a good range of commuter games to keep the businessperson who likes a fun mobile phone occupied on long train journeys.

The Word, Excel and Powerpoint viewers are fine but a shame that you cannot edit and create.

There is the Blackberry maps but we recommend the Google maps app from Blackberry Apps World as the Blackberry one is still not quite up to the job.

The Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G are all present and correct and working well apart from on big websites.

We very much like the fast switching between Wi-Fi and 3G – if you've got the battery life available (and you should have) then you can leave Wi-Fi on and let it connect to your trusted networks whenever you come in range of them.

With BlackBerry Desktop manager you can back up all your files to your computer to make sure they're safe if you lose the phone.

Overall I liked the smaller size but this also gave the phone issues with the typing. The design is fine and works well for business users, I cannot fault Blackberry for sticking with this format although some may accuse them of being boring and not taking the necessary risks to move forward in this market - this remains to be seen.

The best thing about this phone is it's speed! Again, it is great for business mobile phone users but possibly not achieving their goal of bridging the business-consumer market. I am not sure if this can be done with a QWERTY keyboard based phone.