5 Comments on BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone

N. Hawkins on Sun, 20th Dec 2009 1:45 am


I’ve had T-Mobile since the Voicestream days, and it was getting to the point where my friends on other providers had 3G and would mock me and previous Blackberry devices and EDGE speed. No longer.

The Blackberry 9700 is the most advanced Blackberry yet for T-Mobile, and it’s leaps and bounds ahead of the previous model, the 8900. From the 8900, they kept the high resolution screen (480×360), the 3. 2MP camera with autofocus (the autofocus is really handy) and the GPS/WiFi combo.

By far the most important feature is the 3G speeds. Basic tasks, like checking WAP web pages for sports scores, was a chore under EDGE speeds and I’m surprised I didn’t nod off in between pages. 3G is amazing, and I don’t know how I lived without it. And uploading camera phone photos to Twitter services doesn’t seem to take hours (it took minutes) but now it’s a lot faster.

The best feature for me is the UMA calling. I do a lot of world traveling, and I need to call home and check in. No matter where I go, I can find a WiFi hotspot, turn on my Blackberry and UMA appears, and voila, my phone is “roaming. ” Despite being in places like Mongolia, UMA works like a dream.

The battery also has gotten a lot better, and I’m pushing 2 days without a charge and heavy use. From an ergonomics perspective, it feels fine and even with big thumbs I’m able to type out things quickly.

For the most part now, I can ditch my iPod nano when out and about since the Bold 9700 works well as a mp3 player. Finally the desktop software (Blackberry Media Sync) has gotten to the point where it’s seamless with an 8gb MicroSD card in the phone.

T-Mobile’s 9700 has a good leather OEM case and rather inexpensive looking headphones, whereas the ATT 9700 comes with a cheap case and premium headphones. Just a FYI.

If you’re looking at getting the 9700, I’d like to suggest getting a clear shield like Clear-Coat Full Body Scratch Protector for the BlackBerry 9700 Bold. After all, you want to keep it scratch free (it improves the resale value too to pay for the next Blackberry that comes out. )

I’m extremely happy with this phone, and it takes a lot for me to be impressed with a piece of gadgetry. If you’re looking at replacing your older Blackberry devices, this is the one you need to get.
Rating: 5 / 5

M. Schatten on Sun, 20th Dec 2009 4:01 am


The Bold 9700 is an outstanding phone but I got used to suretype with the Pearl 8120. If the Bold would have it, 5 stars, hands down, b/c the phone is very fast and has incredible features. 3g is spectacular, good voice quality, and the visual voicemail is a great future. . . Typing out full words with the small keyboard is a royal pain and I’ll need to find an external keyboard for typing at home. One of these days a cell phone company will have qwerty keyboards w/ progressive/suretype, the only downside on a great phone
Rating: 4 / 5

S. Blackmon on Sun, 20th Dec 2009 6:04 am


I have used Blackberry devices for almost 6years. I just upgraded from the Pearl 8100 to the Bold 9700 and I absolutely love it.

G3 is super fast.
zoom in & out is great
the battery last a really long time
love the slacker radio
they included a leather belt clip case
love the trackpad
i happen to like the rubberized back cover. . . it won’t scratch or slide across slick surfaces.
the camera is actually 3. 2MP. . . does pics & video
phone feels sturdy
expandable memory. i already had a 2GB in my pearl, so i just popped it in the bold 9700
maps/gps
really good speakers.
good call quality. . . i’ve never had a problem with tmobile call quality in the 5+yrs i’ve had them.

not crazy about the micro usb, but i didn’t have to buy it
***phone does not support my faves***

can’t wait til there are some better themes.
the buttons are a bit tricky as i am used to the pearl’s layout, but in time, i’ll master them.
don’t like the earbuds that are included. i wish they’d include in-ear buds with silicone tips.

**************UPDATE ABOUT MYFAVES**************
The device does not support the myfaves icons on the homescreen, however, if you have a myfaves plan and keep it (which I did), you can still take advantage of unlimited minutes of your 5 myfave contacts and it will be billed as such. so, you just have to remember who those 5 are. they are phasing out the myfaves plans, so i don’t know if they’ll allow me that billing until my 2yr contract is up or make me change.

Rating: 5 / 5

Quentin Gerlach on Sun, 20th Dec 2009 7:53 am


Alright, let me just say off the bat that as a former Bold 9000 user, I’ve been looking forward to the new Bold 2 for months since pictures were leaked on the internet. Since I get my phones through my company, I’ve had the phone since last Wednesday, when it was released on AT&T’s network for Premier people.

The new Bold 9700 is a sleek phone – no doubt about it. RIM apparently has decided, though, to somewhat standardize their phones’ look, a direction that bothers me to a great extent. One of the things I loved about the Bold was that it was different – you saw any other phone, and then you saw the Bold – and you thought “Wow, that phone IS bold!!” Size I couldn’t care less about – as long as it looked good, and worked awesomely, what else matters? And the Bold 9000 fit those well. So when I got the new 9700, and I compared it to my coworker’s Tour (for Verizon), I was quite surprised at how similar they were. You can barely tell them apart (the 9700 is a bit smaller, and also has the trackpad). Just an observation. . . .

Alright – to the review:

Pros:

Trackpad – this is definitely a most welcome upgrade. RIM outdid themselves on this part – I thought the trackball was good, this trackpad is great! The older Bold’s trackball was great, as long as you kept dirt and dust out of it. Which turned out to be somewhat difficult, since there was a depression surrounding the trackball, and so if too much dust or dirt got in, the ball needed to be replaced. Also, if you used it too much, the ball would lose its grip, and become less responsive, also – once again – needing to be replaced. Both those problems are now gone with this new trackpad. For former trackball users, it may take a little use to get to know it, but once you do, trust me – you’ll never go back.

Speaker – the speakers on the Bold are nothing less than stunning. My friend has an IPhone, and my speakers for playing music and speakerphone blow his out of this century. Not only can they get very loud, but they also are quite clear and crisp, for the volume you can put them to. And, if that wasn’t good enough, RIM includes AudioBoost – for when you hook your Bold up to your car or stereo system, which bumps the output sound even higher. Excellent. . . .

OS – the new BlackBerry 5 OS, which comes preloaded on the phone, is a major improvement over the 4. 6 version in most other phones. It’s snappier, and quite more responsive.

Camera – RIM upgraded the camera from a 2 MP in the older Bold to a 3. 2 MP in the Bold 9700. The pictures that the phone takes are quite good, even in poor light conditions. Of course, if you try to take pictures in the club with it – prepare to be somewhat disappointed. Ha. But for regular, everyday camera uses, that “quick shot”, the Bold 9700 actually takes decent pictures. Nice for when you forget to bring that digital camera with you.

There’s a couple other pros I can think of, but they’re more along the lines of business users, or based on networks (you could get 3G speeds on AT&T’s network since the first Bold – T-Mobile just got their first 3G BlackBerry with this phone). If you’re interested in them, drop me a comment, and I’ll get back to you.

Now, for the cons:

Battery – battery life is still somewhat bad, although it definitely is an improvement over the older Bold. I normally use Pandora – an App that plays Internet Radio, trust me, this should be one of the first apps you download, it’s free – the other is Google Maps, also free – anyway, back to the review, so I normally use Pandora, and I can get about 6 hours out of the battery, with small breaks in-between receiving phone calls. So, in normal use, you could probably get about a day out of the battery, which isn’t terrible, but also is somewhat worse than comparable phones out there.

Hardware – this is probably my biggest negative I had. Normally, when they say upgrade, you would think they would put better hardware in the thing, right?? Well, think again. With the exception of the upgraded camera and trackpad, there is NO difference in hardware between this and the older Bold.
Zero.
Nada.
I would’ve liked some upgraded hardware in the phone. But again – this is just my thing. You may not care.

My last negative is more hit and miss – some people have been reporting that BlackBerry Maps – the app that RIM ships with the phone for navigation, doesn’t work on the 9700. Myself included. This appears to be at random, but it just irks me. Fortunately, there’s a workaround – get Google Maps.

So – overall, the phone is a nice update. It works, takes nice pictures, looks sleek, and can be used as your new boombox when you want to blast “What is Love?” by Haddaway. (Kidding on the last one) I would completely recommend this phone, even with some of its faults, since they don’t really take away from the experience with the phone.

I’ll update this review from time to time, as I continue to use this, so if there’s any questions, please feel free to ask.
Rating: 5 / 5

Menno Aartsen on Sun, 20th Dec 2009 9:58 am


I can’t say the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is pretty – it looks to me like a cheapie, bits of chrome and leather on a plastic casing, with a “keyboard” whose keys can only be operated by a kid. Blackberry used to make more fashionable phones.

But then, as they say in the world of motor vehicles, we get under the hood. This thing (in the version that T-Mobile sells) has: WiFi (a. k. a. wireless networking), 3G, GPS (free) and: UMA! This is too cool.

I am going to assume you’re well familiar with the jargon by now, except perhaps for UMA. UMA, or Unlicensed Mobile Access, is a technology that lets you use a wireless Ethernet (WiFi, in common parlance) network for voice calls, using an otherwise standard GSM cellphone. It’s been around for a while, and I’ve used the service for several years, but what excited me so much is that the Blackberry is the first phone T-Mobile offers that has both 3G and UMA. The terms I am using – 3G, EDGE, GPRS, UMA, all belong in the European GSM technical cellular standard, the same system that is used by T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless, in this country, a system that is in use in over 90% of the world. Verizon and Sprint are using an American developed technology called CDMA, which is, to all intents and purposes, dead outside the USA. American wireline companies, back when, had no option but to use this technology when cellular telephony was introduced, for very valid legal and regulatory reasons, but Verizon, Sprint and Nextel did not switch to GSM when they could, while other North American carriers did, and so their CDMA phones are unusable on anybody else’s networks (with exception of a few specially designed hybrid handsets, which are effectively two cellphones in one, using two different carriers). A GSM phone you can buy anywhere, and use anywhere, provided it is a modern quadband phone, and it is “unlocked” (or “no-line”, as it is called in parts of Asia) – all GSM phones can be.

But back to Blackberry’s new Bold 9700, which I just began using. There is a lot wrong with it – the keys are too small, the display is too small, Blackberry has been trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole. I understand they want to get as close to a “regular” cellular phone form factor as they can, while retaining Blackberry’s PDA features, but they have gone too far, IMO. It is functional and usable, but a pain. The old Blackberry 6230 I got in 2004 is the smallest form factor that is comfortable to use as a PDA.

But there is a lot right with the Bold 9700, much more so than there is wrong. For one thing, I live somewhere with little cell service, so UMA, for me, is the ideal solution – when I get home my UMA phones automagically switch to my wireless network, and then I receive and make my calls using that. Additionally, calls made over WiFi do not count toward your airtime minutes, all calls within the United States are effectively completely free of charge. I can’t tell you how wonderful this is – T-Mobile (the only carrier in the United States that offers UMA) charges a flat rate across my account to put UMA on all lines – and “Hotspot service” is available at most MacDonalds and Starbucks outlets in the US, too. The only problem was that the choice of handsets was limited, and no handset was available that offered 3G as well as UMA. They do exist – an LG phone available in Europe has UMA, but that is enabled only when you buy the phone from Orange in the UK or France.

Enter the new Blackberry. It has 3G and UMA, and more besides, like WiFi and GPS, something I have gotten used to as I have been using the Nokia 6110 Navigator 3G phone for this purpose since 2007. GPS shouldn’t be in cars, it should be right in your hand, and go where you go. We stopped buying carphones, too, nobody in their right mind would have a phone locked to their vehicle, right? As I had not seen the magic “3G” indicator on the screen of one of my cellphones in the US, I drove out towards Fredericksburg after receiving and setting up the Blackberry 9700 I just bought. Much to my surprise, I got a good 3G signal on T-Mobile’s network much closer to home than I expected – at the local Giant store, which sits in a nearby shopping center built only two years ago. That is actually on the edge of the semi-rural area I live in, where cellular service is spotty at best. And it is quite a bit farther from Fredericksburg than I had expected.

What is important about 3G? As many teenagers and students already know, you can have reasonable speed internet, voice and your primary life databases all in one device. There really is no longer a need (depending on where you live) to have anything “wired” any more. Especially a device like the Blackberry, coupled with a technologically savvy phone company like T-Mobile, gives you everything.

The device itself has 3G internet as well as WiFi internet, and it can, in T-Mobile’s version, be used as a digital modem for your laptop or desktop computer – something called “tethering”. Having a separate data card for your laptop is completely obsolete – using Google Voice, you can even have a secondary phone ring when the primary does, so you don’t have to break your data connection when a call comes in. The cost of the second line is only $10 per month, good if you do a lot of talking as well as a lot of internetting at the same time. Having said that, with your laptop connected to the internet using a 3G connection on a 3G phone, you would be able to use Skype for voice communications, and need not bother with the phone in that respect.

Now, I gotta talk to you about GPS. You know the GPS units we’ve been getting for the car – standalone GPS, maps loaded on the device, etc. And then there is the GPS mobile phone companies are trying to sell us, which actually isn’t GPS at all, but just a clever application that uses the GPS chip that has to, by law, built into a cellphone in the US, these days. Its sole purpose is to let the emergency services know where you are when you make a 911 call.

Unlike “true” GPS, this method relies on the phone using the chip to figure out your location, then downloading local maps, provided yours is a wireless broadband phone – 3G or EV-DO. That’s fraught with problems – if you lose your network connection your GPS is dead, I’ve just experienced that with the LG phone I was trying out, whose GPS application spend most of its time not working, when it cannot get a data connection in the rural area that I live in. When I leave the house, where it uses my WiFi connection, it dies as soon as I am halfway down my driveway.

So: if you want a phone with GPS, you’re best off getting one that can function as a standalone GPS unit. Like the Nokia 6110 Navigator I picked up in the Philippines in 2007 (they weren’t sold in the US), which has a complete GPS unit, with Route 66 navigation software, and preloaded maps, those that are not included with the phone you can buy and download from Route 66. The Nokia (its successor is the Nokia 5800, which Nokia does sell in the US, but the 5800, too, uses instant download mapping) does the “on the fly” GPS as well, where you can access free maps from Nokia itself. Nokia does let you download maps to your PC using the Ovi Map downloader, but once you have them on your handset you have to buy a subscription if you want to use navigation with them.

I will be trying out RIM’s own application, Blackberry Maps, which comes with the 9700, and which, from a quick peek, uses the on-the-fly download principle, but has a cache you can set the size of. I am hoping that cache will retain maps after they have been downloaded, obviating the need for 3G where there is none. At least this application comes with the phone for free, and can use WiFi as well as 3G and EDGE. With T-Mobile’s Hotspot service, you could stop in at a Starbucks or McDonalds, I suppose, and download local maps using their free WiFi. Something I had gotten used to with my Nokia, using an external Bluetooth GPS antenna, the 9700 can do too. Using a GPS antenna built into the handset in a car, where the metal prevents the GPS antenna from functioning properly, is a headache – the external antenna you can park on the dash, against the windshield, its rechargeable battery will easily last a day or so, and the phone does not have to power its built in antenna. I am using Nokia’s LD-3W antenna, which set me back $100, a couple of years ago. Here is a cheaper version, that works in the same fashion, providing a Bluetooth serial port.

For the moment, that is really all I can tell you, not having used this unit extensively. I have moved all of my email addresses to the Blackberry, although final storage of my email happens on one of my laptops, but it is very convenient to have the mobile alert me to all emails, and being able to weed out the spam directly from the phone. I’ve tried to get rid of all of the links and applications I don’t need, loaded a very few apps that are central to my life: Tivo, Maps, Google Voice, Google Maps (just because I like seeing a picture of my house from satellite , synchronization is now set to go to Yahoo rather than Outlook (which means you can sync your life even when you’re nowhere near your laptop or PC) – Yahoo and Blackberry both use Intellisync to synchronize PDA data, if you want to know why it is Yahoo and not Microsoft’s Live attempt at gathering even more marketing data from you.

I am genuinely not interested in running a million apps on my PDA. Its primary function is that of a phone (Blackberry’s Bluetooth audio implementation is a cut above the rest, by the way), I run applications on my travel laptop, a tiny 10. 5″ Acer. Having GPS, calendar, address book and a secure document available is part of what I must have, even the Tivo app I do not need, I can log into my Tivo from my laptop using the Blackberry as a data modem. This is not a religion for me, it is a tool. . .
Rating: 4 / 5

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