5 Comments on BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone

A. Saba on Thu, 7th Jan 2010 1:25 am


Ordered the T-mobile Bold 9700 early December 2009 for my wife, after waiting for its arrival over a 2 weeks periods (yes I got messages in track my orders that it will be delayed a bit) suddenly I get a notice from Amazon saying that t-mobile no longer offers it. this mind you after going through all the process the the hoops of ordering a phone with a two years plan, and giving the Social Security Number and the driver’s license number. . the whole works, and receiving an approval that everything is A-OK. No explanation given. After waiting for 3 weeks, and after checking the credit (my wife’s credit score is a stellar 820). What I did not like is the lack of explanation and the wasted credit check that will eventually lower the credit score, as well as all the time spent online to get the phone, and the missed Xmas gift to my wife. She did better, she got me a 2010 MBZ E 350!!
Rating: 2 / 5

N. Hawkins on Thu, 7th Jan 2010 2:27 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 Thu, 7th Jan 2010 2:57 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 Thu, 7th Jan 2010 5:39 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 Thu, 7th Jan 2010 7:49 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

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