BlackBerry Tips

I’ve tried a few phones. I hated the Tytn II – It had a lot of potential – a Windows operating system, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and a really nice keyboard. But it was slow and crashed often. With great happiness I moved to the Nokia 97.

It was good, great keyboard, etc. and was much faster than the Tytn II. It wasn’t, however, cool enough for my kids and when Orange (yeah, that was a mess. See my Cellular Agony blog if you don’t know what I’m talking about) gave me the offer of a free iPhone 3G, I took it. Well, Orange didn’t live up to their promise and was quietly charging me a fortune, and the iPhone didn’t really live up to my expectations either. I didn’t like being limited to doing only one thing at a time, for example. I’m not hyperactive, at least I don’t think I am, but I do multi-task and the iPhone is not for those who need to be doing more than one thing at a time.

When we left Orange in disgust and went to Pelephone, I was again faced with the phone choice. I went with BlackBerry, and I’m not sorry. The BlackBerry is not a toy – it is truly an excellent business tool for communication and I’m really enjoying it.

I’m still learning my way around it, but finding tremendous help as I go along. I configured the BlackBerry to download email easily enough but then I got stuck. I get upwards of 1,000 emails a day. How do I delete them in a massive group?

No problem…there has to be a way. Almost 2,000 emails later, I wasn’t finding it. Social media to the rescue. Within minutes, I got three excellent responses showing me two ways:

    * Hold cap key and roll trackball to highlight and then hit delete key. Easy, simple, and effective for deleting a large group.
    * Highlight the date at the top of a box of messages. Select Delete Prior. This will delete all messages from that date and all prior dates.

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BlackBerry 9900 Bold Review

It feels like we have been waiting a long time since learning about this device at BlackBerry World 2011. But finally we have managed to have some hands on time with it before the launch in August.

The BlackBerry 9900 Bold is a touch and type hybrid and continues on (in terms of size) from the Bold 9000, which is still a favourite among corporate customers the world over. While the BlackBerry Torch offered both a touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, many users complained that the keys were too closely positioned together. So although the touchscreen was a nice addition, typing was a bit of a nightmare for all involved. The Bold 9900 has rectified this.

BlackBerry has really built some hype around their new device and for good reason; without doubt this device looks good, performs well and rectifies issues found in the OS6.? The Bold 9900 has a woven glass back panel which not only looks great but adds a touch of class and sophistication. The device has aluminium highlights around the edging which also add to the solid feel, and all whilst claiming the crown and title of slimmest BlackBerry device to date. You can really feel the difference when holding it, the Torch, the Curve; they all feel oversized and heavy in comparison to the 9900.

Around the edge of the 9900 you will find a slight redesign to the buttons. They are all aluminium to begin with, long gone are the nasty tacky black plastic buttons of the Torch. The screen lock button is now lowered into the aluminium casing, the media keys are positioned on the right with a Camera shutter button lower down on the same side. The left hand side is home to the 3.5mm headphone slot and the microUSB port. Around the bottom of the device you will find 2 charging points for usage with a desktop charging stand.

The woven glass back panel removes easily to reveal a slim, lightweight battery, which despite the rumours before BlackBerry World 2011, is removable. Underneath the battery is the SIM card slot and access to the microSD card slot, which is actually one of the more annoying things about the 9900 Bold. With the battery in the device it seems like you can add and remove microSD cards at will, however the battery is just a millimetre or 2 too big. Something the BlackBerry Torch and old Bold 9000 did very well was allowing access to the microSD card slot without needing to remove the battery every time. It is only a small grumble, but a grumble nonetheless.

he display on the Bold 9900 is 2.8inches, ever so slightly larger than the 9780s screen which was 2.4inches. Originally I was worried that the touchscreen would not feel natural, but after only a few minutes I felt completely at home, in fact I have found myself trying to tap the screen when troubleshooting older none touchscreen devices since. The only downside is the screen is slightly small compared to what we are used to on touchscreen mobiles, therefore it does take a little concentration to make sure you are aiming your fingers correctly.

The screen response time was impressive, and responded to my gestures without fault or error. When it comes to actually displaying icons and items on screen, the 9900 is miles ahead of any other BlackBerry on the market. It is super crisp and ultra sharp when browsing, reading emails or updating your LinkedIN status. In summary the screen is a TFT capacitive touchscreen with 640 x 480 pixels. It includes touch sensitive controls, proximity sensor for auto on and off controls and an accelerometer sensor for auto rotate.

Under the hood there is a 1.2GHz processor ensuring BlackBerry OS7 runs as it should. The processor is a step in the right direction for RIM and a huge improvement over the 624Mhz processor that was shamefully included with the 9780. I experienced very little lag when testing the device, and when I did it was whilst switching between processor hungry applications like App World, Protect and Foursquare. The sharper graphics on the 9900 Bold are highlighted by the new fresh look of BlackBerry OS7 which includes some redesigned icons and ultimately give the OS a classier, more up to date look and feel. RIM are advertising the browser on OS7 as 1.6 times faster than that of OS6, something I noticed immediately when trialling the device. The zoom was smooth and pages load quickly and cleanly with little or no lag whilst the resizing the page to fit the screen.

The QWERTY keyboard on the 9900 Bold is one of the biggest features in terms of how user friendly the device really is. It feels more spacious than the 9780 and the keys almost bounce as you select them and type out short or long messages. Even whilst typing and send lengthy emails, you wont get that nagging feeling of cramp that smaller keyboards give you.

In terms of connectivity the 9900 performs as you would expect of a flagship device. Tri-Band HSDPA 3G support, GPRS with A-GPS support, EDGE, 14.4Mbps HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n and dual-band support and not forgetting support for NFC Technology.

The 9900 Bold has some impressive specs including weighing in at 130g and is 115 x 66 x 10.5mm in size. The internal storage is 8GB with 768mb RAM. The microSD card slot can support up to 32GB cards. The camera is a 5MP with autofocus and LED flash, Geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization and supports video recording at 720p.

Conclusion

With all the bad press surrounding RIM recently and a disappointing start to the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook, RIM needed to deliver a device that stood out from its existing line up. The BlackBerry 9900 Bold does just that. With a new look OS, speedy web browser, sleek look and feel and better performance; the 9900 is a great device to take over as the flag ship model.

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BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 vs Apple iPhone 4

We compare the Apple iPhone 4 to the brand new BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900.

Form:
BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 – 115 x 66 x 10.5 mm, 130g
Apple iPhone 4 – 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm, 137g

These two handsets could not be any more different visually, the iPhone is a looker with a design like a shard of sculpted and polished glass, meanwhile the BlackBerry has a squashed and frumpy appearance with both a screen and keyboard squeezed awkwardly into its frame.

It’s not hard to see why Apple’s designs have been so successful to the point of imitation by other manufacturers.

Winner – Apple iPhone 4

Display:
The Bold’s TFT capacitive touchscreen is a little on the dinky side of things at 2.8-inches, the resolution clocks in at 640 x 480 pixels and an impressive 287 dots-per-inch (dpi), it also uses RIM’s ‘Liquid Graphics’ technology for enhanced graphics and a more responsive touch control experience. The screen shares its space with a Qwerty keyboard and an optical track pad, and an accelerometer sensor wraps-up the list of display features.

Apple has used an LED-backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen in the iPhone 4, measuring 3.5-inches with a resolution of 640 x 960 pixels at 326 dpi. It features a scratch resistant oleophobic surface designed to reduce greasy fingerprints, multi-touch, accelerometer and gyro sensors.

The iPhone 4’s screen isn’t vastly bigger than the Bold’s but it’s enough to draw and hold our attention and both the resolution and dpi are higher too. We prefer a solid keyboard but not at the expense of screen space so as the Bold isn’t sporting a slide-out version this isn’t earning it any extra points.

Winner – Apple iPhone 4

Storage:
The BlackBerry has 8GB of internal storage while processing power is boosted by 768MB of RAM and Micro SD cards are supported up to 32GB.

Meanwhile on the iPhone 4 there are options for either 16 or 32 GB of onboard storage capacity, which is much more generous than the Bold, however, things start to go a little downhill from here with 512 MB RAM and no card support.

There’s nothing wrong with 512 MB RAM but the BlackBerry simply has more to throw around and no card support for the iPhone 4 is disappointing, though not exactly surprising.

The wealth of storage space on Apple’s device is a big plus in its favour though and in our view is of primary importance when it comes to phone storage, so in this round the iPhone 4 wins.

Winner – Apple iPhone 4

Processor:
Both handsets are powered by single core processors, the iPhone 4 uses a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor on the Apple A4 chipset and paired with a PowerVR SGX535 graphics processing unit (GPU).

The BlackBerry Bold, meanwhile, runs with a more powerful 1.2 GHz Qualcomm 8655 Snapdragon.

Not only do both these phones have a decent amount of muscle but they’ve been nicely optimised with their respective operating systems too, both therefore offer silky smooth performance as you navigate round the interface and multi-tasking with a selection of apps is also well handled.

On paper the BlackBerry should win with a more powerful processor and more RAM but in actual use both deliver equally satisfactory performance and we’d be hard pressed to pick a favourite between the two.

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Verizon BlackBerry Bold 9650 Review

Coming off my 8330 I was more than excited to pick up a Tour 9630 the day it was released. I was one of a dozen or so people in line at my local Verizon store, and was in and out in a few minutes. I rushed home to get up and running on my new device. I fell in love with the higher resoution screen, keyboard and all around design. Thankfully I didn't have the trackball issues like some, but my battery door did come loose at times. I was happy to finally have the latest device on Verion's network (not such a big fan of AT&T or T-Mobile here in New Jersey).

Enter the Bold 9700. The feel of the device combined with the trackpad and overall "smoothness" just left me thinking "where is my CDMA version"? Rumors started flying, and sure enough talk of the Tour 2 popped up. Wifi and a trackpad on my Tour? Yes please. As with everyone else I was asking why Verizon didn't do it right the first time with the release of the 9630, but hindsight is 20/20. Months down the road, doubled memory, a trackpad, Wifi and a bit of rebranding leaves us with the newly released Bold 9650. Read on for my review.

Straight up out of the box you just think "Tour". The trackpad is the obvious difference, and aside from the Bold branding on the back it's the same device ... on the outside. On the inside we have juiced up memory to 512MB (in preparations for BlackBerry 6) and the addition of Wifi. The Bold 9650 feels great all around. Its a bit bigger than the Bold 9700 I've been using for the past few months, but nothing I won't be able to get used to. Holding the device is a bit different as it takes up more "hand space", but again I'll get over it. I love the 9650 keyboard (as I did the Tour) and mostly that I can get back on Verizon since the service is sooooo much better than that of T-Mobile where I live. Having the Wifi on a CDMA device is kind of a first for me since I never used a Storm2 and only rocked out the 8530 for a week or so. I was never a big believer in it in the past, but after having the Bold 9700 I really can't see myself without it. The back of the device has the large battery door, and thanfully it isn't loose and wobbly like my old Tour 9630. The site buttons and convenience keys are in the same place, with the exception of the micro USB port having dropped down a bit for some unknown reason. The placement of the port still is a mystery to me since it gets in the way if you try to type with the device plugged in.

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BlackBerry Bold 9650 (Verizon Wireless)

Verizon now offers several excellent Android smartphones, but enterprise customers may want a level of security and global roaming they can't get from the carrier's Android lineup. The BlackBerry Bold 9650 delivers. Like its brother on Sprint's network, the Bold 9650 on Verizon isn't exciting. But even if it feels like last year's smartphone, all of the Bold 9650's parts work with precision, and it's a pleasure to use for business.

Design and Call Quality
The Bold 9650 measures 4.4 by 2.4 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.8 ounces. It's made of a pleasing combination of matte and glossy plastics. The small 2.4-inch screen sports 480-by-360-pixel resolution, but still displays just 65K colors. The QWERTY keyboard is one of the best on the market. It features perfectly sculpted keys, a sensible arrangement, and just the right amount of resistance while typing. The sensitive trackpad was easy to use in testing. It should last for the life of the device, unlike the trouble-prone trackball of years past.

The Bold 9650 is a dual-band EV-DO Rev A (850/1900 MHz), quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), and single-band HSDPA (2100 MHz) device. That makes it a true world phone that hits high-speed data networks both here and overseas, including Europe and China. This is a big deal for globe-trotting executives. The 9650 connects calls over CDMA in the U.S., and on foreign GSM networks. The phone also includes 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, as well as the same 528MHz processor found in last year's Tour 9630.

Call quality was excellent overall, with a warm, full tone in the earpiece. Reception was solid, and transmissions were clear in both directions. Calls also sounded fine through an Aliph Jawbone Icon ($99, ) Bluetooth headset, and voice dialing worked fine over Bluetooth without training. The speakerphone was loud and powerful. Battery life was solid at 6 hours and 41 minutes of talk time.

Messaging and Apps
There's nothing tremendously new about BlackBerry OS 5. In fact, the screen, icon arrangement, and bundled apps recall the original BlackBerry Bold 9000 from two years ago. RIM has promised a BlackBerry 6 upgrade for the Bold which would add many new features, but they haven't committed to a firm date, and we don't like recommending products based on vaporware.

The Bold delivers push e-mail for up to 11 accounts, including from Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes. You can't sync Exchange contacts or calendar without a BlackBerry Enterprise Server setup, though. Verizon throws in IM clients for Google Talk, AIM, MSN, and Yahoo, and there's always BlackBerry Messenger.

Like all recent BlackBerrys, the Bold 9650 can view and edit Microsoft Office documents with its included DataViz Documents To Go suite. The included Web browser was still slow and error prone, though it's not as bad as before. We prefer the alternative Opera Mini and BOLT browsers. For GPS, VZ Navigator delivers voice-enabled, turn-by-turn directions for $9.99 per month. BlackBerry Maps and Google Maps both do the same thing without voice prompts for free. Verizon V CAST with Rhapsody offers streaming video and music options.

Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions
BlackBerrys are pretty solid media devices, and the Bold 9650 is no exception. The microSD card slot underneath the battery cover works with 32GB cards; my 16GB SanDisk card worked fine. The battery cover is easy to remove, and the slot is the newer, spring-loaded kind that should hold up over the long haul. Music tracks sounded punchy and clear over Motorola S9-HD ($149.99, ) Bluetooth headphones. The player was easy to use and displayed large album art graphics. The new BlackBerry Desktop 6 works with PCs and Macs, and does a surprisingly good job of syncing your media, including iTunes playlists. Verizon's Rhapsody software syncs subscription music with PCs, for Rhapsody subscribers. Standalone videos looked sharp, bright, and colorful, though the small screen may put some viewers off.

The 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera includes an LED flash. Test photos were sharp, with natural lighting and color balance. One quirk: in one particularly bright room, all test photos came out tinted pink. Outdoor pictures looked sharp, and the LED flash was one of the brightest I've tested. Recorded 480-by-352-pixel videos looked dim but smooth at 24 frames per second; fortunately, you can kick the LED flash on as a light for video recording if necessary.

All told, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 is a solid value, even if it's not groundbreaking in any way. It's the perennial safe smartphone purchase for business travelers, especially when combined with Verizon's solid voice and data network. Owners of existing BlackBerry Curve phones will want to jump up for the much better screen, but owners of Tour 9630 phones can hold off on upgrading until their trackballs break or until they see BlackBerry OS 6 appear here.

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Hands On Review of the Sprint BlackBerry Bold 9650

The launch of the new BlackBerry Bold 9650 has been highly anticipated among the CDMA users on CrackBerry. The day has finally come where the masses can now add this new BlackBerry to their mobile communications arsenal.

The Bold 9650 was announced at WES 2010 to be launching on Sprint starting on May 23rd. However we have known about the existence of this device for quite some time. Just a few days ago, Sprint upped the ante with its users and launched the device one week early via online sales. Many happy CrackBerry readers were able to order their new device and will have it in their hands before it actually hits the stores. The question that lingers in my mind is why did Sprint move up the launch date? Are they worried about sales of the Bold 9650 with the impending release of the HTC EVO? I guess only time will tell, but from my viewpoint, this is one awesome BlackBerry.

Keep on reading to get my full thoughts.

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FNB app now supports Blackberry Curve and Bold

FNB has announced that their new ground breaking application is now available for download on the majority of BlackBerry smartphones, including popular handsets like the BlackBerry Curve series and BlackBerry Bold series.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry Bold 9000 (image: RIM)

Farren Roper Head of Products and Markets at FNB Connect says “We launched our App with touchscreen BlackBerry smartphones and had an overwhelming response from keypad device customers to make the App available to them as well. We are proud to be in a position where we cover both touchscreen devices as well as keypad devices.”

FNB has also collaborated with Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry solution, to include the FNB App as a free download to FNB customers using BlackBerry smartphones.

BlackBerry smartphone users will not incur a data charge when using any of the value added services or performing banking transactions on the FNB App.

Roper adds “At FNB we are always looking for innovative ways of bringing down our customers data costs. The BlackBerry application is just another way of making access to our proprietary platforms easier and more cost effective for our clients.”

In addition to BlackBerry smartphones, the FNB App is also available to iOS (Apple) and Android users using Motorola, HTC and Samsung to name a few. FNB has indicated that Nokia Symbian is on the way soon.

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BlackBerry Bold 9650 “Essex”

Shortly following the launch of the BlackBerry Tour, after the complaints of a buggy trackball and lack of Wi-Fi had gushed over the blogs and forums, Sprint confirmed that there would be an updated version of the Tour that would have Wi-Fi. As it turned out, the optical trackpad that was introduced around the same time in the BlackBerry Curve 8530 would also be included in the refresh. The trackball was notoriously unreliable on the Tour, and no doubt those who had wrestled with it were eager to find an alternative.

A little under a year later, Sprint’s promise came to fruition. RIM announced the Pearl 9100 and Bold 9650 at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium this April, finally offering a CDMA BlackBerry that could properly compete with the latest Bold available on GSM carriers, currently the 9700. The most notable addition that gave the 9650 an edge over the 9700 was doubled application memory (256 MB to 512 MB). Was there a lot riding on such a cold, hard statistic, were there any more substantial difference between the two, or are they really more or less the same, just built for different wireless standards? The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is out on Sprint and Verizon, so discriminating buyers may want some answers.

Hit the jump to find them.


Pros

    * Responsive and reliable trackpad
    * Mammoth application memory
    * Excellent display, as always

Cons

    * Long-overdue
    * Single sound port produces uneven sound
    * Little consumer appeal

Hardware

The casing is identical to the Tour 9630, aside from the replacement of the trackball with a trackpad, so not much new there. Size-wise, that’s just a big bigger than the 9700. There’s the same Bold-style keyboard with fretted spaces between each row, single sound port on the left side, and a unified mute/lock key on the top. Let’s take a looksee at the specs.

    * 112 mm x 62 mm x 14 mm, 136 g
    * 2.4″ 480 x 360 (HVGA) display
    * 512 MB of RAM, 528 MHz processor
    * 1400mAhr battery – 13 days standby, 5 hours talk
    * GPS, Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1
    * Quad-band EDGE, single-band HSPA, dual-band EV-DO Rev. A
    * 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, 2 x digital zoom

Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I found the trackpad on the Bold 9650 exceptionally responsive and smooth, even versus other trackpad-toting BlackBerrys. It worked just fine in direct sunlight, which is usually a big problem for those kind of sensors. I still find the top-mounted lock/mute keys a little too easy to accidentally press, but at this point, RIM seems dedicated to consistently keeping them there.

Overall, the build quality is stable. The battery door is in the same style as the old Tour (including the latch mechanism), but they swapped out the glossy texture for a matte plastic matching the main body, and a new ridged texture for the center. Scratch at it, and in no time you can be the office’s resident irritating DJ.

Software

The BlackBerry Bold 9650 runs OS 5.0, which includes a variety of new features, like e-mail flags, distribution list sync, and a mix of aesthetic and practical updates. By default, the UI is a pretty standard grid, which you navigate with the trackpad, and access functions through the menu key (to the left) and the back key (to the right). There are plenty of themes out there to change the layout, colour scheme, fonts, and generally offer a more colourful ride.

BlackBerry remains an efficient, if sometimes stark experience. Third-party application selection in the App World feels a little limited compared to Android sometimes, and iPhone often, but Google has managed to get most of their major products on BlackBerry, which usually rank high on usefulness and polish. GPS is always helpful, and RIM has their own BlackBerry Maps app which is easy on the bandwidth, but light on the features – get Google Maps for Mobile instead. Official RIM apps for social networking and instant messaging tend to be well done, and integrate with the native messages and address book apps.

Now, the big selling point with the Bold 9650 is the 512 MB of app memory. It’s the first BlackBerry to dial up memory that high, and it is an absolute godsend. My daily driver is the Bold 9000, which is stuck with 128 MB of app memory – an amount you have to judiciously monitor or suffer regular waits while the OS scrambles to make room after downloading everyday files like web pages, e-mails, and the like. In that way, app memory is about more than simply how much software you can cram onto your smartphone, but also how much wriggle room it has to function. I’m happy to say that with the Bold 9650, I was able to load up all of the apps I needed, even the ones that I had tearfully cast aside on my 9000 in order to simply function, and still have room leftover for the BlackBerry to do its thing. I haven’t spent much more than a week with devices that had 256 MB, but they mostly made memory a non-issue; at the 512 MB mark, the situation is altogether luxurious. Most future BlackBerrys, including the next GSM Bold and the upcoming 9800 slider will be meeting this standard, though lower-end BlackBerrys, like the Curve 9300 “Kepler” will sit at 256 MB for the time being.

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