The first thing you notice when you pop the Bold out of its box is its considerable width - but this does allow for a full Qwerty keypad and a wide screen. Similar to the Nokia E71, the Bold’s keypad is superb. Its keys are spread out just the right amount and they’re raised at one edge so you can easily distinguish between each one.
As if a good keypad wasn’t enough to grab our full attention, the Bold’s screen is also impressive. RIM claims the Bold got its name during user testing, when many people remarked how’bold’ the screen looked. We can confirm that it is indeed very sharp - excellent for watching videos or reading emails.
In between the bright screen and easy-to-use keypad there’s a trackball similar to the one found on the BlackBerry Pearl, which some users like while others found fiddly. We think it works well and once you get used to it, it can make searching through lists or going through the menu very straightforward.