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"A reviewer that used the iPhone before buying the Bold" on by morningrise11
Pros: GPS, screen, keyboard, loud speakers
Cons: Battery life is terrible. Browser could use work.
Summary: There are some reviewers that are jumping to compare this to the iPhone. I have the feeling that some haven't used the Bold before writing their review. I switched from the iPhone (from the original but used 3G phone a lot as well). I haven't regretted the decision (yet?)...
Update: I turned off Wi-Fi on my Bold. The battery life has increased by about 200%. Now I can easily go through 2 days on normal use without charging. I would like to keep Wi-Fi on but its not reasonable to do so. Truth is, that with 3G, I don't really need wi-fi since I don't use the Bold for heavy browsing or video streaming too often.
The Bold does everything that I wanted my iPhone to do. MMS, copy/paste, true push email/IM, video camera, a GOOD, LOUD speakerphone and GPS. That is what I needed out of my phone and the Bold delivered where the iPhone fell short.
However, the Bold does lack in plenty places where the iPhone shines. First thing to come to mind is the browser. Safari is simply perfect. While the Bold's browser could use some work. If you only browse sparingly (like I do) the Bold is just fine.
Same goes with the media player on the Bold. The iPhone is better for heavy users of video, music and photos. Personally, I don't do that too much. I may have only watched video on my iPhone a dozen times in the year I was using it. I only need an iPod for the gym and photos are mostly just the ones I take on the phone itself. So the Bold works for me here just fine. I used the music player at the gym without any issues. I was able to navigate my music easily and sound quality is on par from what I was getting with the iPhone. Without headphones plugged in the Bold's speakers were significantly louder than the iPhone was. This goes with speakerphone on calls and ringtones.
Video is as crisp as it is on the iPhone. Iphone has the bigger screen of course. Youtube is available on the Bold as well.
As far as apps go, all I have installed is IM+, Gtalk, Facebook, ESPN, CNBC and NY Times. As far as choices go the iPhone wins with the app store. As far as having actual productive applications I'd go with the Bold. Simply because I'm always connected to IM and can get push messages.
If you need a phone that is used mostly for messaging (email, IM, SMS, MMS) then I'd be hard pressed to not go with the Bold. If you want the bells and whistles (superb multimedia, safari, plethora of games) then the iPhone is best suited for you.
A big negative with the Bold is the battery life. I charge it every night. From 8 to 5 I'm rarely using it. May send a few messages but that is all. It mostly stays in standby. BUT my office is shady with service and the phone is constantly going from no service to some service. This may affect battery life. In the evening I'm making more calls and messaging a lot more. I'm also using the media player for 30 mins to 1 hour a day. The Bold needs to be charged every night. My iPhone easily rattled off 2-3 days without an issue and some lighter usage.
In the end, for me, the Bold does everything I NEED to do and does it perfectly. It also does everything I WANT to do just fine but not as well as the iPhone does. Meanwhile, the iPhone is unable to do a lot of the things I need from my phone.
Updated on Nov 17, 2008
Updated on Jan 29, 2009My review seemed to help a lot of people so I wanted to update everyone on how my BOLD experiance has been.
It has been pretty much flawless. The phone is do everything that I need it to do and I am having no issues with it. It works great for my daily usage which is mostly text/IM/email.
As I said in my first review, I don't use the browser much. If I was a heavy browser, I would have issues with it. After using Safari for over a year, the Blackberry Browser just fails in comparasion. On its own, it gets the job done. Typically, I use it to get the phone number or address of someplace. A Google search for that take about a minute. Nothing to complain about. It just isn't logical for heavy browsing.
I use Google maps often since I don't want to pay for GPS. It works like a charm.
Apps that I use are: CNBC, ESPN, Facebook and Reuters news. All work flawlessly. However, I am disappointed with the Facebook app compared to the versatile Facebook app for the iPhone.
Updated on Jan 29, 2009I'll add another update since I can only have 1000 characters at a time:
As for multimedia: I rarely use YouTube but when I do it works cleanly. Pictures come out sharp since the phone has a flash included. I use the music player for about an hour a day at the gym. It is quick and easy. Getting songs loaded onto it is a breeze as well, just drag and drop.
Issues that I have is that AIM will cut out when service is poor. I mentioned in my first review that service in my office is bad. For some reason, I've been getting 2-3 bars now with few problems. With the Iphone I was getting 0 or 1 bar. I know that what phone you have should not affect service so take from that what you will.
Other than that the phone rarely freezes and when it does it needs a battery pull. This happens once a week. I also rarely experiance any lag.
All in all, I'm still impressed with the Bold. I want to thank everyone for reading and I hope this helps. -
"I actually own one." on by big99gt
Pros: Great screen, great battery life, its not a windows mobile device. Love the music player and there are ways around a blackberry data plan.
Cons: None really. Its pretty big but that gives more room for buttons and the large screen.
Summary: Unlike most of the people on here bashing this phone. I own one! I hated my DUO and my Blackjack 2, I can't stand windows mobile devices and the poor battery life that comes with them, I also dislike the fact that all of my windows devices didn't make very good phones. And why is it that none of the employees at the local AT&T stores use iPhones? And why do the people that work with all these phones dislike it so much? I've tried 5 different phones lately in my search for the one that does everything I want it to do and the Bold is the only phone I've EVER owned that I would pay to have repaired or replaced. I'm done searching, I found the best device for me. Sorry I can't give an uninformed review of other devices that I've never owned, but I guess that I'm just not like everyone else. The Bold has a large vibrant screen, easy to use well placed keyboard, the clearest loudest speaker of any phone I've used. NO ITUNES to deal with and you can use the browsers with a regular AT&T data plan ( $15 a month for unlimited data). It also comes with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, so after you drag and drop your music onto your installed micro SD memory card, all you have to do is plug in your headphones and go. I'm sick of music phones that don't have a headphone jack or USB cable, whats the point? I've tried the LG VU and I wasn't impressed (I couldn't text with it to save my life). So I guess I'm saying that I don't like touch screens. The point of all this is that I feel that the Bold is the best phone I've ever ownwed and I won't be switching ant time soon.
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"Best smart phone I've owned" on by cpetry
Pros: Fast processor (StrongARM 624MHz w/FULL MMX)
Blackberry Operating System (stable, fast, etc)
QWERTY Keyboard is fantastic
HD Screen (it looks great!)
Expandable Memory (for music, videos, etc)
A2DP Support (Stereo Music)Cons: No Touchscreen? (That's about the only feature it needs now.. it has everything else)
Summary: I've owned an iPhone for 2 years, and the iPhone 3G for 6 months or so. I got sick of not being able to do simple operations, such as cut-paste, forwarding sms, and ironically stereo bluetooth.
This phone has a fast processor, faster than the iPhone, with full MMX, which makes it an amazing multimedia smartphone. I can play music, through my stereo bluetooth headset, in the background, and multitask on the device, such as browse the web, text, use instant messenger, etc.
It has expandable memory, which an iPod, iPhone, etc, doesn't have.
I was rebooting my iPhone due to memory leaks daily, I haven't had to do that with RIM's OS yet.. It just works, period.
Another point - you can add insurance to this device, if you buy a glass iPhone, you're on your own should something happen to it.
E-mail on this device is true push email, with no delays, ever, it works, same with the MMS, and SMS functions.
I can share my ring tones via bluetooth to other devices that support it.
This device supports so much, I just can't list it all.
The only thing it doesn't have it a touchscreen, and it doesn't really need it, because everything is indexed, all you have to do is press F, and you can search. You can search your music, a web page, etc, and it's instant. It also supports type selection, which is faster than anything you can do with a touchscreen. -
"Much Better than Expected! Great Phone" on by ClarkWells
Pros: Screen, Keyboard, New Operating System, Video Streaming, Viewing of Full web Pages, Editing and viewing of .DOC, .XLS, .PPT. Saving of documents in a email attachment for later use, GPS is fantastic, Bluetooth tethering.
Cons: A little bit larger than i am used to, But still not as big as i thought it was going to be!
Summary: This is my 3rd blackberry (7130, Curve, Bold) and i must say i can't get over how nice it is. I am a dedicated "Fanboy" to RIM but in the past i have been so dedicated because of the "Seamless" email and enterprise server integration, along with the traditional and QWERTY keyboards that RIM usually has.
This blackberry has reestablished my love for RIM. I really have new reason to love Blackberry. With this model i no longer have to place all of my love on email integration and keyboards, I have now been intoduced to a truly beautiful smartphone experience. I mean this thing is gorgeous. The new BB OS is just beautiful to look at and is very intuitive.
The upgraded BB Browser is a much welcomed addition. The ability to use it to look at full web pages (although it still falls short of the iPhone) is very much improved and i think that it will be sufficient for the average user. If you are looking for more browsing enhancements, just download Opera MINI and you are off and running in seconds viewing web pages like you would on your computer.
The ability to play YouTube and other videos on-line is just awesome. with the great 3G and Wifi you get on this thing, you will find that you can stream youtube videos within seconds. It is very nice.
The 3G has worked very well for me so far. I have had no problems and it loads pages very very fast. I have had EDGE on all of my previous phones and must say that 3G is worlds ahead of EDGE.
Google Maps has been awesome. When you use Google Maps it uses the phones GPS to "Pinpoint" your location. It has been extremely accurate for me. I got on Google maps and went outside and stood next to my basketball goal that i could see on Google maps and then had it refresh my location and it was Absolutely spot-on. the screen says " Accurate within 3 meters" but it was more like 1 meter for me. I Really love this feature. no more "Your position within 1500 meters" for me!!!
Bluetooth has been great so far to! I have an ASUS EEE PC and i am using my bluetooth to tether my BB Bold and my Laptop together to use my bolds 3G internet to use the internet on my laptop and it has worked flawlessly!
The Calendar is also much improved! Although they haven't gone "Above and Beyond" with the calendar, it is much nicer than on previous models. It also is working seamlessly with Google Sync to sync my phones calendar to my Google Calendar. Cant ask for more!
The New BB desktop software is much nicer also. It will sync my music, videos, and pictures quickly to my device and will also allow custom ring tones. All the while keeping my phone numbers, emails and everything in SYNC with outlook like i have come to depend on.
Overall this phone is incredible. I really just cant get over the sharpness of the screen. The durable feel of the device itself, The new gorgeous Operating System, and all of the new features that i am really not used to in a Blackberry. I wouldn't trade this phone for any other!!!!!!!!! GO buy one now! -
"Best Blackberry yet" on by chall8
Pros: Form factor, keyboard, display, fast internet, e-mail, GPS
Cons: Browser could use work.
Summary: First off, given the phone I upgraded from (Blackberry 8700), it's amusing to me that so many are complaining about the Bold's size. For me it couldn't feel any better in my hand, so I think this is just a personal preference thing. A few months ago I had considered upgrading to the Curve, but it just felt too small. I also looked at the iPhone (a few times as I waited for the Bold to release), and while it's a beautiful phone it just felt a little too thin. Again a lot of this is just personal preference, but for a phone with a full keyboard I think the Bold is the perfect size.
Under the hood, the Bold's OS really isn't that different than my 2.5 year old 8700. Same menu structures, typical BB intuitive commands where you want them; but everything just looks a lot "snazzier". If you're a current BB user you won't necessarily be wowed, but you'll appreciate the cleaner look.
The display really is quite amazing. Email is still king. I haven't hooked up the GPS with a service yet (am deciding between Telnav ($10 per month through AT&T) or Garmin which has a one-time $99 program specifically for Blackberries).
The Internet is quite a bit quicker, too. If Web surfing is what you're really looking for in a mobile device then I'd probably consider an iPhone or other device. But for what I do on the Internet (catch up on news/sports when I have downtime such as when waiting in an airport, in a hotel, or maybe having lunch) the Bold is more than adequate (on a scale of 1-10, while I'd give my old 8700 a 5 or 6 I'd give the Bold a 7 or 8). The browser could still use some work, but again it's a step up from where I came from so I'm not complaining too much.
In summary, I've very pleased with the upgrade and think the Bold will serve me well for the next couple of years until the next generation is out.
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