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Go Bag: The BlackBerry Bold

By crooky | October 13, 2008

In part three of my four-part series of what’s in my “Go Bag”, I want to talk about my first week with the BlackBerry Bold and some common misconceptions about the device. I’ll start by saying that I’ve always been a fan of BlackBerries and if you want to read why I recommend the device over a Windows-based smartphone or an iPhone, you can read my previous article on the subject. [READ] I chose the BlackBerry Bold last week because after six months on a touchscreen device, I was jonesing for a real keyboard and something that didn’t crash three times a day. I got my phone from Rogers (the only mobile company that supports the Bold in Canada) for $299 with a contract. This is down from $399 just a month ago. This brings it down to the same price as the iPhone 3G 16GB on a contract.

I’ve been using the device for a week and here’s my take on it:

1. It’s faster than any previous BlackBerry I’ve owned. I’ve owned three BlackBerry devices previously and this one is very speedy thanks to its 624 MHz processor. While occasionally my old BlackBerry would get keyboard lag while typing, this one is lightning fast and does spell-check on the fly.

2. The web browser is slow but not as bad as everyone says. Yes, the web browser on the Bold is slower than the iPhone’s. It is a significant improvement over the WAP browser that previous generations of BlackBerries have endured. Aside from the speed, don’t believe anyone who tells you that the interface or the way the BlackBerry Bold displays websites is worse than the iPhone. Here’s my proof:

The top picture is a screen capture from my iPod Touch (Jailbroken and running all the software that the iPhone runs) from the Safari browser looking at my website. The bottom picture is a screen capture from the web browser on my Bold looking at the same site. Only minor differences. [sarcasm]The Bold browser lets you zoom into webpages just like the iPhone only you have to (gasp!) use the trackball instead of your meaty digits! Shame on you BlackBerry![/sarcasm] One thing the BlackBerry does (out of the box) that the iPhone doesn’t – run Java. I still can’t believe that Apple can’t get their act together on that front.

3. The screen on the Bold is gorgeous. As you may have heard, it’s the same number of pixels as the iPhone but it’s crammed into a smaller screen. It’s a beautiful display with rich colours. Another nice feature? It automatically adjusts the screen brightness to the ambient light in whatever environment you’re in.

4. Calls are clear as a bell. The calls I get on my Bold are way clearer than they ever were on my HTC Touch. People can rarely tell I’m on a cellphone. Mind you, I also switched from Bell Canada to Rogers Wireless so that might have something to do with it.

5. If the last BlackBerry you owned had the scrollwheel (mine did) – don’t be afraid. The trackball is not a step in the wrong direction. It’s a good design feature. I also take issue with the people saying that the trackball glows so bright that it hurts the eyes in the dark. Bullshit.

6. Connecting to a WiFi network with the Bold is not intuitive but once you figure it out, it’s not bad. A tip for new users – don’t use the wizard to connect to WiFi networks. It will ask you to do something weird like get into the Router and add a PIN. Just do it “manually”, choose PSK for the encryption method and enter the passkey for your WiFi hotspot of choice. Also remember to go into the options for your browser and choose “Hotspot Browser” for your Default Browser when using the WiFi connection. I’ve seen some help posts on the forums that say “just turn off your radio so that you don’t use up your 3G data” but that’s just plain stupid – you can’t receive calls when your radio is off. Just launch your browser, click the BlackBerry button, choose Options>General Properties and choose Hotspot Browser for your default browser. Don’t forget to save and turn WiFi on. You can surf the web without eating up your dataplan and make calls at the same time.

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I’m still exploring everything you can do with the Bold so I may write more on it later but overall, I maintain that any BlackBerry is a better solution for consultants and other business users than the iPhone.

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Topics: Business of Consulting, Technology |

One Response to “Go Bag: The BlackBerry Bold”

  1. Anamilia Says:
    October 14th, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    I agree! The browser is not at all bad but one one must know all about all the updates.

    http://www.safaribrowserwindows.com

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