I just got the Blackberry Bold 9000 in early November when it was released by AT&T in the US. I had previously gotten an unlocked Bold for my dad to use in India. Both our experiences have been terrific so far. For me, I was debating between the iPhone 3G and this, and went for the Bold because in trying out my friends’ iPhones, I realized that the virtual keyboard was not my thing and I needed the actual Qwerty keyboard. No regrets so far! Things I love about the Bold are:
Gorgeous display and keyboard - the Bold has a hi-res, half-VGA screen which easily trumps the iPhone. The keyboard has been redesigned with beveled keys, making typing much faster and accurate. And the unit is surprisingly thin and lightweight.
Connectivity - the Bold runs on EDGE, Wi-Fi and 3G - very flexible. I use it on AT&T’s network, and it holds the 3G signal with an iron grip. As a result, file downloading and Web browsing is super-fast. My dad uses it in India on the Airtel EDGE network and reports that’s fast too.
Email - Blackberry’s selling point has always been their push technology for emails. The Bold can support up to 10 email accounts and downloading and sending emails is super-quick.
Call quality - excellent so far. Clear, and no dropped calls.
Multimedia - the Bold has a great music player built in and also a very nice video player. I downloaded all my songs, plus photos and DVD’s to watch. There’s only 1 GB of onboard memory, but the Bold accepts upto a 32GB Micro-SD card for additional storage. Problem is, the card manufacturers only make 16GB cards to date.
Multi-usage - My Bold acts as a 6-in-1 - email, web browsing, phone, organizer, mp3 player and video player! That eliminates the need to carry any other device.
Things I don’t love:
- Price - more expensive than the iPhone and other smartphones. Both unlocked and locked, you pay more than for other phones. RIM should look at reducing the price of these units.
In conclusion, I think the Bold is a winner. Highly recommended to anyone looking to step up to the new smartphones. Between the Bold and iPhone, it’s a tough call as both are excellent. Which one you choose ultimately depends on what you think is most important(physical vs. virtual keyboard, screen size, etc.)