Communications

[#1]

I've had my Blackberry Bold 9700 for almost a week now, and I've gotten quite a good feel for the phone as a whole. I am on the Telus network.

Chassis/physical 9.5/10

- solid feel 

- high quality materials 

- high quality keys

- 1 area on the side of the chassis creeks a bit on my phone

- a large amount of screen flex, although google hasn't really reported any cracked screens yet 

- optical trackpad works well, not as flawless as the ball, but in the long run, the trackpad is probably good 

- perfect size overall 

Software 8.8/10

- original shipped firmware was a tad buggy with a few very minor bugs (as is normal with any phone). updating the firmware solved most issues.

- layout and complexity is the same as any other blackberry, just cooler icons and colours

- high level of customization, yet still lacks a few items 

- the software will not allow me to send an sms to an email address!!! Telus makes this feature available, and I had thought this would be a very important feature for business things.... not sure why RIM didn't incorporate it!

- quite the multi-tasking setup compared to the iPhone! 

- web browser is acceptable for a device with a small screen. Renders HTML as does a computer. 

- boot up time, very acceptable, it is often comparable to the iPhone boot up time 

Camera 8.5/10

- I haven't tested this completely but so far the pictures have been quite decent 

- video quality is very decent as well, was higher than expected for a 3.2MP camera.

- flash is very good and can be used as a light during video recordings

Screen 10/10

- extremely bright! I only have this at 60% max and it still is uncomfortable sometimes!

- the screen auto ambient adjusts - the feature works quite well!

- I have no complaints about colours or resolution!

Audio 7.5/10

-ear piece on the phone  is average - it doesn't go as loud as I would have liked. Compared to the iPhone, the loudness is up, but the quality is down. Verdict: (competitor) > iPhone as the iPhone would be rendered useless before the (competitor). 

- music audio quality with headphones is comparable to the range of ipod shuffles and ipod touches and iphones. (this means sub-par to the ipod nano etc)

- speaker phone is meets expecations

- speaker ringtones meets expectations 

Battery life 15/10

- I went 4 days without charging it! (whereas I had to charge the iPhone daily!)

- Battery changed from dead to 100% in approx 2 hours! 

- leaving wifi on did not cause any noticeable difference in battery life

- alarm clock does not drain battery (as opposed to iPhone) 

Reception 10/10

- hmmmm, reception basically everywhere? haha.

- acceptable reception seek-time 

Other

- memory expandable to 32GB.... lmao!

- ability to type: great (took a few mins to get used to, but now i'm blazing!) 

- holster for the phone... still trying to discover a way to wear it! I just can't get comfortable 

- telus doesn't support MMS on (competitor)... dumbest thing ever. It's one of the only companies that gives it free, but I can't use it! (courtesy of krypto)

Overall, I prefer this phone much more than my iPhone. Although it costs quite a bit, it comes with a memory card and a holster case, which gives it a lot of value compared to the iPhone. I would definitely have to recommend the Bold 2 a lot of people.  

[#2]

Great review quickinferno, and I like how you compared it to the iPhone!  Gives a bit more perspective.

As a heads up, try out MMS... Because the Bold 9700 is on the new HSPA network, I think that you can actually use MMS now (you can't with BlackBerry devices on the CDMA network still though).

And crazy battery life!  I'm impressed... I've been hearing 2 days from a variety of power users, but 4 days is awesome!  Much better than my Storm (if I don't play games or go crazy on the browser, I can manage 2 days although I usually charge every day anyhow).

If you want a faster browser, check out either Opera Mini or Bolt Browser for BlackBerry.  While I don't care much for them on the Storm (they just aren't built right for the touchscreen), they supposedly work great on the other models with a trackball or trackpad.

And if you want any recommendations on accessories, etc., you know where to ask!   And for an in car bluetooth option, check out the BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone - you can use this to stream audio from your Bold to your car stereo on top of it's obvious function as a Bluetooth speakerphone.  I've been using it for the past 6.5 months and I have to admit, I think that's the best accessory out there right now.

Good job and thanks for the breakdown.  I think this is one of the more thorough reviews I've read yet!

[#3]

Hmm.... problem is that I'm using a Bell Bold on the Telus network. I can't seem to find any APN settings to make it work! (mostly because not too many others are in the same situation)

[#4]

Have you tried any APN settings yet?

I've found the following over on Howard Forums (scroll down about 1/3 of the way down the page, there are 2 options listed there), so hopefully that will help.

The other one to try is (competitor).telus.com and leave the username and password blank.

It seems that Telus is reluctant to give out the username and password info, but maybe if you can go in store... 

According to others on Telus with the Bold 9700 (over on CrackBerry), they do have working MMS, so it is possible.  You have BIS up and running just fine, right?

[#5]

I bought mine in the beginning of the month and so far its been great except for one nasty little JVM 102 error...ughhh... The last phone I owned was the LG 3300, so yea I've really stepped up a bit. Won't even bother comparing them, would be like comparing a Commodore 64 to my Gateway DX4820-07h...alteast thats how I see it anyways.

I like the layout, its very easy to use especially once I got used to it. I really like the optical trackpad, its cool to view pictures, just flick my finger across it and and the next picture comes up. My hands get a bit cramped whilst texting but its not too bad. I've tried out other (competitor)'s keyboards and found this one better. Seemed like neighbouring keys would move too if I hit one button.

The camera and video camera are decent, I expected decent and got it. I don't expect them to be in line with my Canon SX20IS...LOL The video can be a bit dark though and environmental sound was a bit dull. On the other hand for sound, music playback without headphones was really good! I was impressed. The pictures were good, I wouldn't rely on it as a personal camera but its good for fun or misc shots. Great for outdoor pics, indoor was ok/decent.

The display is amazing! 480x360...awesome. Not much more I can say except wow! I loaded on pics with heavy blacks and whites plus various pics of people. I found the blacks and whites were deep and vibrant, flesh tones were good, and other colours were bright but not over done. Some pictures I've modified and had transparences over solids, some screens tend to wash these out but not this one.

I found browsing to be easy, loading up web pages seemed quick. It connects to my WiFi at home pretty fast and the set-up was quick and easy. Reading e-mails is good. Texting back forth between (competitor) and non-(competitor) users is flawless and quick...I found it to be anyways. I use the (competitor) Messenger and the regular texting.

The case it comes with is great, very solid. The only issue I have is removing that microSD card, its very difficult to get out. I pushed it in the get it to pop out but can't get it past that point...grrr...other than that I highly recommend it. Any suggestions?

Call quality is good so far, no dropped calls yet.  

[#6]

@krypto

No, I don't have BIS, I'm only on a regular mobile plan, not a smartphone plan. :S So I tried the PCS APN for the general APN setting, but it didnt' work. There's no input for a specific MMS APN or proxy for that matter. For the iPhone, the proxy was required to make the MMS work. :S

@ snapshot

Which network are you on? 

I just had 2 dropped calls last night, but I think that was Bell's customer support system instead of my network/phone because they both dropped as soon as the second customer rep picked up.  

Message Edited by quickinferno on 01-01-2010 11:11 AM

[#7]

@quickinferno, try under Options > Advanced Options > TCP/IP. 

[#8]

@krypto

Yeah, that's where I put the general APN setting in.

Here's what the screen looks like:

TCP/IP

[checked] APN Settings Enabled

APN: (i tried sp.telus.com and (competitor).telus.com here)

[checked]APN Authentication Enabled

Username for APN: (this i left blank here)

Password APN: (this i also left blank here)

But still, there's no where to put the MMS APN and the proxy :S 

Also, how do I do a proper reboot? Do I have to power down + take out the battery? Because if I don't take out the battery, the power up is instant LOL. 

p.s. I once time I went into the store and said "APN", and the rep reallllllly got confused hahahaha and hadn't a clue what I was talking about. 

Message Edited by quickinferno on 01-02-2010 11:29 AM

[#9]

For a proper reboot (useful when things start to slow down or after you install/uninstall applications), just pull the battery out for 15-30 seconds and then reinsert.  No need to power down first (actually, it's better if you don't).  Took me a bit to get used to because if I did that with my old HP iPAQ, it reformatted and I lost all my data.  Not so with BlackBerry devices... an occasional battery pull is often a good thing (if you need to do it daily, there's likely a software problem somewhere).

As to the MMS APN, if that's the case, sorry... I don't know that one.  Just like the Telus rep you spoke with, I'm still in CDMA land so I haven't bothered to figure out all the settings like that.   (Although it's funny that the Telus rep knew nothing at all about APNs.   To be honest though, when it comes to BlackBerry devices, I probably know more than most of them too... I've actually helped mine figure out how to load OSes, etc.  ).

Message Edited by Krypto on 01-02-2010 09:43 PM

[#10]

I'm with Bell.