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BlackBerry Bold 9700 Is Sleek, Slim, but Not So Bold
by Nicholas Kolakowski
The Bold 9700 feels compact in the hand, with a weight of 4.30 ounces and a height-by-width of 4.29 x 2.36 inches. It features a 35-key QWERTY keyboard, as well as a trackpad for navigation. The trackpad, it seems, has permanently replaced the trackball in RIM devices.
The Bold 9700’s 2.44-inch screen displays images and videos at 480x360 resolution.
In addition to 3G connectivity, the Bold 9700 includes 802.11 Wi-Fi. Its integrated GPS allows users to access BlackBerry Maps, which displays the surrounding territory and offers step-by-step directions through it.
The eWEEK test of the Bold 9700 was conducted using a device connected to T-Mobile, which served up Web pages quickly in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
BlackBerry users will be familiar with this screen and its display of the operating system’s various functionalities. From here, users can access their documents, e-mail, media, camera and virtually anything else.
Besides standard-issue features such as auto focus, 2X digital zoom and image stabilization, the 3.2-megapixel camera includes video recording in "normal" mode (480x352 pixel) and MMS mode (176x144 pixel).
BlackBerry allows users to view and make lightweight adjustments to Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, a useful feature while on the road.
BlackBerry’s Word To Go feature in action.
Instant messaging isn’t the only way to communicate in real-time over the Web; the Bold 9700 also offers the ability (if you’re running T-Mobile) to make calls over Wi-Fi, thanks to the device’s Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) support.
For those moments between meetings, BlackBerry continues to offer a suite of games—and what BlackBerry would be complete without games?
The back panel of the Bold 9700 is pebbled leatherette that looks handsome, and also prevents the device from sliding around on a slick surface such as a metal desk.
The Bold 9700 includes a 1500 mAh removable Lithium-cell battery, which Research In Motion claims will provide up to 6 hours of talk time, 21 days of standby time and 38 hours of music playback.
While not known primarily for its multimedia capabilities, the BlackBerry 9700 will support music files in MP3, WMA9 and various professional formats (such as Professional AAC/AAC+/eAAC+).
The sides of the Bold 9700's casing include a miniature USB port, 3.5-mm headphone jack, volume adjustment keys and a button for either snapping photos or opening applications.
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Research In Motion’s share of the enterprise smartphone market has been challenged lately, as competitors ranging from Apple’s iPhone to the Palm Pre all seek to usurp the BlackBerry as device of choice for many business users.
RIM’s response to this increasingly competitive landscape was to issue the Bold 9700, a phone that includes BlackBerry’s enterprise functionality in a sleeker and more streamlined package. While not a radical updating of its Bold line, the Bold 9700 does include improvements to its display and form-factor, as well as a newly tweaked operating system with BlackBerry OS 5.0.