Customer Reviews

BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone (T-Mobile)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

NOTE: This review is long and detailed, especially relevant for heavy users of Google services.

This is my second Blackberry, obtained from T-mobile at an upgrade discount (now possible through Amazon). My first Blackberry was the T-mobile Curve offering (my review on the 8320 may prove helpful to provide context for this review and for first time smart phone buyers). Last time I purchased a phone, I was just looking for a really high quality phone, and the 8320 certainly delivered. However, over time I gradually used more and more smart phone features until by 2009 I was totally hooked. While the 8320 was great as a phone, its limited memory and sluggish processor made it painful to use for certain apps - and impossible to use for more than a handful of apps.

So this time around my goal was to get a smart phone that made good sense for my current desired usage. Here were my requirements:

Keep costs down
Great phone (sound quality, speakerphone, quick dialing, coverage, vibrate options, international use, etc.)
Alternative reception if needed (WiFi UMA or femtocell)
Great e-mail (must handle Gmail well)
Sync contacts/calendar with Google and otherwise works seamlessly well with Google
Works seamlessly with other cloud apps I use heavily (Evernote, Dropbox, etc.)
Media player with 3.5mm jack
Camera of high enough quality to use in conjunction with Evernote OCR
Easy to use (configuration, speed of device, shortcuts, etc.)
Popular model with many accessories available
Long battery life
Enough memory so I don't have to manage it
Feels good in hand
Able to charge by putting in a cradle
Tethering possible (Bluetooth preferred)
Reliable

Optional but nice:

Great browser
Maps
Turn by Turn navigation (free preferred)

Other sections at the end of this review:

Screen
Keyboard
Trackpad
Battery Life
Summary

The 9700 with T-mobile strongly delivers on most of my requirements, and surpasses the 8320 in almost every respect by a wide margin. One by one:

Costs: Was able to keep my grandfathered T-mobile Blackberry contract for 40/month for voice (1000 anytime, unlimited nights/weekends) and 20/month for unlimited data (but no text/SMS). Our family also has the hotspot home service for an additional 10/month to provide an unlimited domestic calling home line. And a 12% AAA discount off the bill - so this is far less expensive than we could get for these services than from any other carrier. On the other hand, for users who require few voice minutes, heavy data, no tethering, and no home phone, iPhone with AT&T could be only slightly higher in cost (and perhaps even competitive for light data users given the new June 2010 ATT 15/month 200MB/month plan option)

Phone: Terrific - just as good as 8320 which was also great. I find the phone quality I experience to be better than using an average phone with a land line (cordless or corded). The speakerphone and internal phone is of higher quality but lower volume - so may be more difficult to hear in very noisy conditions, though ear buds or headsets can be used in such circumstances. The alternative UMA reception works just as well on 9700 as it did on the 8320. The quality of the speakerphone is so good that I often use it for music if I'm not in reach of my earphones - while of course not as good as what you get over a high quality headset, it is the best speaker quality I've heard from a cell phone - and I thought the 8320 was good.

E-mail, Google apps: Built in Email function is great but is not geared for IMAP Gmail so I downloaded the Google Mobile App and then the individual components Gmail, Sync, and Maps. Gmail and Maps are outstanding, Sync is adequate. The search by voice feature of Google Mobile App is amazingly useful in so many ways I could write a couple pages just about this one feature (watch what happens when you do voice searches for "Phillies" or "Black Widow" or "3+11" . . .). By using Gmail I give up push E-mail (it checks every 20 minutes or if I force it to with "refresh") but is otherwise better - including the ability to search g-mail very quickly. None of this is any different from the 8320 - except that everything is much quicker - and I can use Maps without having to reboot the phone to get memory back. The Google Reader icon merely invokes the Blackberry browser with Google Reader RSS - and it is so tiny that it is unusable. I did figure out that I could use Google Reader reasonably well with the BOLT browser (which I had to download and then set to 3x Large font rendering). I also use Google Voice to replace T-mobile's voice mail and it works great, though you have to wait a few minutes for voice mails and their transcriptions to show up on your phone. Of course, all of these things work way better on Android and the iPhone, but with the exception of Google Reader, they are plenty good enough on the Blackberry.

Other Cloud Apps: Unfortunately, Blackberry is harder to develop for than the iPhone (and probably Android too), partly because Blackberry has so many models (too many, IMHO). The result is that Evernote for the iPhone is fantastic while it is passable on the 9700 and downright primitive on the 8320. The screen is bigger and the browser is better and faster on the 9700 (OS 5) than it was on 8320 (OS 4.5), and this accounts for why I'm actually beginning to use Evernote do search within the app and it brings up the notes with that term in the browser - you have to wait 5-10 seconds but it works. On the 8320 this was too slow to be workable. Dropbox does not have a client for Blackberry but is expected to release one by the end of 2010. Roboform has a primitive Blackberry client that doesn't sync wirelessly - I have to manually copy over my passcards every once in a while. Blackberry is a major platform so I am assuming these apps get better over time, but they will always trail the iPhone.

Media Player - the media player functions (mp3, pictures, video, voice notes, etc.) works just as well as it did with the 8320 - there's probably been some changes but I didn't notice them. However, the Pandora app runs much better on the 9700 than the 8320 due likely to some combination of 3G coverage and a faster processor. On the 8320, the application paused often in weak coverage areas and had a tendency to stop in the middle of a song and skip to the next on occasion.

Camera quality - I am a huge fan of Evernote but the 8320 camera was not able to take pictures of regular size text that could be recognized as text by Evernote's OCR. The 9700 camera specs are better and this proved out with Evernote in my initial tests. I found that with bright light and a distance of at least 11 inches away, I could take pictures of restaurant menus and Evernote was able to index most words in the picture. So I will have access to the menus of all of our favorite restaurants through Evernote once I take pictures of them all. This could also be done with business cards, wine bottles, white boards . . .

Ease of Use - This is where Blackberry's fall flat. It took me many many hours of fiddling to master the use of the 8320. While most of this knowledge transferred over to the 9700, it still took many hours to set up the phone as I downloaded apps, set preferences, etc. The iPhone is obviously much better in this regard, and for a heavy Google services user like myself, so is Android, from everything I've read. The menus of preferences were moderately better laid out than the 8320, which helped some. But here are some of the issues:

1) The Apps store experience is frustrating (i.e. Quickpull is an app that worked for 8320 and appeared on the 9700 app store so I installed it but it froze up my system - why does this appear at all if it hasn't been updated yet for the 9700?). Installing apps is slow and requires rebooting. Some apps are NOT in the app store (Google mobile app, Bolt, etc.).

2) The profiles system for setting alert preferences is powerful, and a bit easier to use than the 8320, but still complicated.

3) The initial layout of icons on the phone screen was so cumbersome (including many links to useless apps promoted by T-mobile) that I spent quite a while rearranging them so I could more easily find what I was looking for.

On the bright side, there are many handy shortcuts available on Blackberries. I especially like having each letter assignable to a speed dial, so I use the first letter of last names for home phone speed dials, and the first letter of first names for cell phone speed dials. As you learn the shortcuts, the phone becomes very fast to use, far faster than a computer for some things.

Popularity - Blackberries in general are among the most popular smart phone brands and 9700s in particular appear to be a big hit. Within months there will be a flood of accessories but the phone is so new that there's not too much yet. Many apps have not yet been updated for the 9700 or the OS 5.0.0.330 which powers the phone. However, it is harder to write Blackberry apps, so I am expecting iPhone to always have better and more up-to-date apps, and probably Android as well as that platform matures.

Battery/Memory - Battery life is amazingly good - I have been unable to use more than 30% of the battery in one day despite a lot of fiddling, syncs in the background, Pandora use, etc. There is enough memory for apps that I don't have to worry about it any more. This is a vast improvement over the 8320, which was a pocket computer in theory but in actual practice memory limited to less than a dozen apps, and required constant fiddling to manage memory if you used it like that. However, as application developers start increasing the size of apps, it's easy for me to imagine 256MB of memory getting to be a problem a year or two from now . . .

Phone in Hand - The 9700 is the perfect size for my larger-than-average adult male hand. The 8320 was very slippery and I kept dropping it until I bought a Seido protective cover. It was already thick and the cover made it thicker, so that I didn't like holding it for long phone calls. The 9700 is only thinner by a few mm, yet it is much less fatiguing to hold, and it is not slippery so I will probably not use a protective covering. There are a few very minor things I like less than the 8320, though: The right convenience key is so low on the phone that I have to contort my thumb to reach it. This is especially problematic when using the autofocus feature of the camera to focus on a specific distance - which uses that key. The battery cover and micro SD cards are both a pain to take off. Both require using two thumbs to push away from your body with a lot of pressure. The manual does not explain this - took lots of trial/error and online googling to figure this out.

Cradle - I bought the Blackberry Charging Pod for Blackberry Bold 2. I dock the phone each night and while charging it goes into bedside mode, which is a customizable alarm clock (which gives you options to turn off every kind of alerting if you want, including phone rings). Assuming you buy the dock, you won't need an alarm clock any more.

Tethering - It's a bit cumbersome to set up but I had done it on the 8320 before so knew how. It works - and it is much faster than the 8320, likely mostly due to 3G. I did not do speed tests but some who have claim to be getting 3G speeds (which are 10x-20x faster than the EDGE tethering that happened on the 8320). I don't plan to use this feature much - only while traveling and no WiFi is near. I am hoping people don't heavily use this feature because if they do, T-mobile will be forced to stop allowing it or maybe charge for it. But having this as a backup internet connection (especially traveling) is a huge plus for me.

Reliable (NEW SECTION added June 8, 2010) - My previous model, the BB 8300, was very reliable. It froze up twice in 2 years and never had a dropped call. The BB 9700 has not been reliable for me. I am about to start my 3rd unit after 2 units developed defects. I just decided to start insuring the phone at $5.99/month. I've have also occasionally experienced dropped UMA calls, during the handoff from UMA to 3g or EDGE - but this part has supposedly been solved by the OS update that came out in June 2010. Here are the details:

2/26/10: Around mid February (2 months after I purchased the 9700), my external speaker began to go. At first I (incorrectly) thought it was glitch in the profiles settings but then it went out for 20 hours straight. After thorough testing I found that the internal phone speaker and headsets still worked fine - but the phone did not ring for incoming calls and I could not play music without a headset. I called T-mobile. After 15 minutes of troubleshooting and verifying that the phone was not water damaged, a replacement phone was authorized. I had to pay $9.95 for shipping, but otherwise no cost to me. I received the replacement phone yesterday, made sure it worked, and shipped my old phone back today. T-mobile customer service was terrific for this incident and in every other instance I've contacted them over the past 2 years.

6/8/10: In early May I began to experience random crashes and reboots. The first few times it it happened I kept thinking it was likely due to some new app I had installed. But in the past week it started happening more often, until yesterday when the 9700 no longer booted at all. So once again I had to get a replacement unit from T-mobile. Once again T-mobile was very responsive, and this time waived the $10 shipping fee. The service was great but having 2 defective units in 6 months is getting to be a real chore - especially this time as the phone won't boot so I can't back it up.

Browser - The 9700 Blackberry Browser is significantly better than the 8320 browser, partly due to more screen real estate (in pixels) and the faster processor. Disabling images makes it even faster. I didn't try to analyze what all the changes are, but I do know that I can now use Evernote, where as it way too cumbersome to use Evernote with the 8320. Less busy web sites are now usable. But the browser is still nowhere close to what you get on an iPhone or Android device. I downloaded BOLT and it seems better for single column sites where I really need to reflow text, such as Google Reader. But clearly something better is possible. Opera Mini 5 is in Beta and is getting reviews so that may be available in a few months. But the big leap will likely happen with the webkit-based browser that was acquired a few months ago and is likely to be incorporated with Blackberries by the end of 2010. Based on what I've seen in the week I've played with my 9700, I'll likely only use the browser for certain specific things like Evernote and Google Reader or the results of a Google Voice Search - but avoid general browsing as much as possible.

Maps and Voice Navigation - I tested the Maps App for a few minutes and it did the job quite well when outdoors. Note that GPS can be used not only in Map apps but also in many other applications such as weather, search, geotagging pictures, etc. and all this comes in handy. To get high quality voice navigation you'll generally need to pay $10/month, which is much more than I'm willing to pay. If I'm walking, then voiceless navigation is good enough, and if I'm driving I'll use my Garmin Nuvi - which I would want to do anyway as it has a much bigger screen and is much easier to use while driving. I would use such a feature if I had it - and I'm sure users of Android 2.0 devices such as the Verizon Droid will greatly appreciate it. But this was not a critical feature for me.

Summary:

The Blackberry 9700 with T-mobile is a great phone and communication device that is also a pretty good pocket computer, all in an attractive, easy to hold and use form factor - all at a very reasonable monthly plan cost for the heavy phone and data user. It is a huge improvement over the 83xx series in almost every respect. The only significant disadvantages compared with other smartphones are a barely usable browser, a cumbersome setup for third-party apps, and the general complication of customizing the device. For those who value a browser and ease of use above all and are willing to pay for it, the iPhone is better - but for those who want a great smartphone on a budget - this is a great choice.

UPDATE 1/20/2010: After owning/using the 9700 for a week, I wrote the above review. I intentionally said little about the the keyboard, screen, and trackpad because I felt these kinds of things may take getting used to, so I didn't want to be too hasty to judge. I now have enough data to comment:

Screen: The screen is very high resolution which means that it is very easy to read text in 8pt type. Unfortunately, this sometimes means the browser or certain apps decide that they can cram more text in at 5pt or 6pt type, which requires that I use my reading glasses - those with better eyes than mine may appreciate cramming in more text with a smaller font. Pictures are crisp and vibrant. The backlight brightness is extremely bright - too bright for night in fact. I do have the "Automatically Dim Backlight" feature enabled which dims the 9700 automatically at night and I have screen brightness set to the minimum setting of 10. It is still too bright to me for use in a room with no light on. Furthermore, the unit occasionally has an abrupt change of brightness - getting brighter all of a sudden for a few seconds or just staying that way. It is impossible for me to know if my unit has a defective light sensor or this is an O/S issue - I've read that others are experiencing similar issues so perhaps it's the O/S and it will be fixed some day with one of the O/S updates. Another brightness issue is that the difference between maximum brightness and minimum brightness is pretty narrow. I never have viewing problems in even the brightest sunlight so it's the lowest brightness setting which I think is not low enough.

Keyboard: I do not use the Blackberry extensively for typing - The rare e-mail I write or reply to is usually less than 10 words, and I don't use text messaging in any form. So it took a while for me to conclude that the keyboard is slower for me than the 83xx keyboard, which had spacing between the keys. I actually timed myself and found I did around 30 WPM (words per minute) with the 83xx and 25 WPM with the 9700. If I try typing faster (say, 30 WPM), I hit several double keys per minute which needs correcting and ends up lower than 25 WPM. So the result is I purposely type slower and more cautiously to avoid hitting two keys simultaneously. For the way I use a Blackberry, this is not a big problem - I use the keyboard mostly for things like speed dial, quickly looking up a contact, navigating the menus, etc. and there is no speed hit that I can notice for that. But for those with big hands who type a lot, the Bold 9000 is going to be faster, and probably the 83xx series as well. Note that my fingers/hands are slightly larger than normal for an adult male.

Trackpad: Most people rave about how great trackpads are on Blackberries but for me it's a mixed bag. I find it to be sometimes jumpy with applications that require frequent moving around - particularly with the game Ka-Glom, which I tried both on the 8320 and the 9700. I have better control on the 8320 and can score significantly higher as a result. Also, any form of moisture on your fingers - sweat, water, lotion, etc. can have an impact on the responsiveness. Nevertheless, I find it easier to use than the old trackball style when my thumbs are dry and I'm using a typical app - it is easier to use a light touch to move just a tiny bit, and it is very easy to swipe it all the way to one side or to the top/bottom. The trackpad is harder to accidentally press than a trackball. And it is quiet. Overall, I prefer the trackpad because it is yet one more little thing that reduces the weight/bulk of the unit and is much less likely to go bad than the trackballs on all older devices.

Update 2/14/10: Battery life is possible to kill if you get too adventurous with your phone. I have found 4 ways to kill it so far: Themes, heavy syncing, tethering, and upgrading the O/S. The theme I tried for a week caused sluggish performance and battery to deplete twice as fast. Bluetooth tethering caused me to go all the way through the battery in less than 6 hours while using an tethered EEE PC constantly during that time. Syncing is not a big deal if you just have two or three apps syncing every 2 hours or so, but some apps will sync every few minutes if you let them and if you have a few of these running the battery can drain quickly and the phone becomes sluggish during syncs. And while I haven't experimented with a different OS version myself, I have read that the 5.0.0.330 Blackberry OS that comes with the T-mobile 9700 is the most battery efficient OS ever - later versions are all less battery efficient. If you keep things simple on your phone you'll have great battery life - just use one of the preloaded themes, don't tether much, sparingly set up syncs, and don't upgrade away from OS 5.0.0.330 that T-mobile ships with the 9700 model.

Changed Summary/Conclusion: Overall, my conclusion about this device has changed slightly over time, so I here's a rewrite of the Summary incorporating my extensive testing of the physical features:

Summary: The Blackberry 9700 with T-mobile is a great phone and communication device that is also a pretty good pocket computer, all in a slim, light, attractive, and easy to hold and use form factor - all at a very reasonable monthly plan cost for the heavy phone and data user. It is a huge improvement over the 83xx series in terms of speed, memory, and connectivity options. However, the keyboard is slower for me to use than the 8320. For me this tradeoff is worthwhile, as it is no longer a noticeable lump in my shirt or pants pocket and does not fatigue my hand on a long phone call.

I've had to return 2 defective units in 6 months, compared with none for the 8320 in 2 years.

The only significant disadvantages (compared with other smartphone brands) are a barely usable browser, a cumbersome setup for third-party apps, and the general complication of customizing the device. For those who value a browser and ease of use above all and are willing to pay for it, the iPhone and perhaps certain Android-based phones (such as Google's Nexus One) are better - but for those who want a great smartphone on a budget - getting the Blackberry Bold 9700 with T-mobile service is a great choice.

Length:: 2:16 Mins

I've been a long time AT&T costumer. I thought I could live without having an actual keyboard when it comes to texting, but after a week without my Sidekick Keyboard - I decided to ditch my Samsung Eternity for the Blackberry Bold 9700.

I was hesitant about purchasing this smart phone because I was never a fan of Blackberry's (RIMM). I had a BB during their initial boom in the early part of the new millennium. However, the poor browser, poor cell phone network, lackluster screen color, non desirable keyboard, awful battery life, whack OS, & lack of T9 predictive text just couldn't win me over.

After I realized that I couldn't text on a touch screen phone, unless it was the iPhone. I decided that I must have a cell phone device with an actual qwerty keyboard, if I expect to survive my text message & email addiction.

I picked up the Blackberry 9700 with my corporate discount and walked away with a nice high end phone at a very reasonable price. I have to say that I really enjoy the web browser on the new BB. You can zoom in & out with ease. I thought no browser could compare to the iPod Safari besides the Android G1, but after getting this device - I can safely say that this browser is also one of the best. Its right behind the safari and G1. Prior models were confined to small screens, thirty-five dollar internet only data plans, and no ability to zoom in or out. You were subjected to a small screen and reading small text till your eyes was squinting like grandmas.

Pros:
3G
New Optical Trackpad (Over the old Trackball)
Big vibrant screen
Threaded Text Messaging
3.5 MM headjack
New OS (Runs a bit quicker without the lag time)
Decent call quality
Excellent new broswer
Mini SD up to 32GB
Use your songs as ringers
Wi-Fi
Personal Email (Up to 10 accounts can be added)
IM
Themes
App Store
My Favs
Full HTML Web Browser (Sometimes)
Excellent Multimedia Player (Accepts every format possible)
Includes 2 chargers (Wall Charger & USB charger)
Includes ear phones and carry case

Cons:
For long time BB users, this device is really just a cosmetic upgrade with a new OS (Flashier Icons)
Micro USB (No more Mini USB)
Video & Camera (3.2 Megapixel as oppose to 8.0)
Cheap plastic rubber casing

Non RIMM Consumer Changes Mind!

For anyone who has wanted a BB but held off on getting one and want an entry level Blackberry at a decent price - this is the model to get. Everything about it is an upgrade. The device is basically the BB Bold with a different casing. The battery life could still use some more juice. With excessive email checking & non stop texting, the phone usually needs a charge after a day and a half of usage (Sometimes i can go a charge for 2 days before a charge so thats not bad). I did set the brightness of the phone to the lowest brightness available and it has lasted for a little over 2 days with no charge needed. Even on the lowest brightness, the screen is still very bright, sharp, & crisp. And i still do unlimited texting & web browsing. However, AT&T doesn't offer the best mobile minute plans on earth & their data plan is probably one of themost expensive around. They are fully aware that their signal is one of the best & in doing so, make up for it by charging their non-friendly services at non-friendly prices, which usually doesn't offers an abundant amount of minutes, unlimited data, internet, email, text etc will end up costing you a lot!

I pay under seventy bucks a month for a decent amount of mins & unlimited everything else. My friend has a similar plan on Verizon, its not unlimited, and her bill is always over a hundred each month.

Postscript, February 2012: T-Mobile lets me use a lot of free communications tools. While Apple and AT&T and Verizon Wireless limit the communications applications you can use, T-Mobile does not, and on its Blackberrys you can use both 3G and UMA to make calls and connect to the internet, UMA being a way to use GSM telephony over WiFi at WiFi speeds - this device lets you "tether", as well, using your mobile phone as a wireless broadband modem for your laptop or PC. UMA lets me call back to the US over WiFi from abroad as well, for free (!), so for me, this is a totally gorgeous combo. It turns the Blackberry from a cellphone with internet into communications central. It isn't just Skype, either. I am one of the lucky owners of a Google Voice number, still an invite-only affair, and that works brilliantly too, on the BB 9700. Google has a native Blackberry application available, and so everything you can do in Google Voice on a PC using a browser can be done in the Google Voice app, including downloading, playing and forwarding Google voicemail. Works even over the slower EDGE network, Google Voice gives you all the follow-me-calling, caller screening and centralized voicemail functionality those of us who worked for large corporations are used to.

Why is this important? Blackberry does not censor what you can install on your phone, T-Mobile lets you make calls on your 3G handset using their networks, like Google and Skype, and Google provides a plethora of useful communications and professional tools.
--------------
Here is my original review, from December 2009:
I can't say the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is pretty - it looks to me like a cheapie, bits of chrome and leather on a plastic casing, with a "keyboard" whose keys can only be operated by a kid. Blackberry used to make more fashionable phones.

But then, as they say in the world of motor vehicles, we get under the hood. This thing (in the version that T-Mobile sells) has: WiFi (a.k.a. wireless networking), 3G, GPS (free) and: UMA! This is too cool.

I am going to assume you're well familiar with the jargon by now, except perhaps for UMA. UMA, or Unlicensed Mobile Access, is a technology that lets you use a wireless Ethernet (WiFi, in common parlance) network for voice calls, using an otherwise standard GSM cellphone. It's been around for a while, and I've used the service for several years, but what excited me so much is that the Blackberry is the first phone T-Mobile offers that has both 3G and UMA. The terms I am using - 3G, EDGE, GPRS, UMA, all belong in the European GSM technical cellular standard, the same system that is used by T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless, in this country, a system that is in use in over 90% of the world. Verizon and Sprint are using an American developed technology called CDMA, which is, to all intents and purposes, dead outside the USA. American wireline companies, back when, had no option but to use this technology when cellular telephony was introduced, for very valid legal and regulatory reasons, but Verizon, Sprint and Nextel did not switch to GSM when they could, while other North American carriers did, and so their CDMA phones are unusable on anybody else's networks (with exception of a few specially designed hybrid handsets, which are effectively two cellphones in one, using two different carriers). A GSM phone you can buy anywhere, and use anywhere, provided it is a modern quadband phone, and it is "unlocked" (or "no-line", as it is called in parts of Asia) - all GSM phones can be.

But back to Blackberry's new Bold 9700, which I just began using. There is a lot wrong with it - the keys are too small, the display is too small, Blackberry has been trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole. I understand they want to get as close to a "regular" cellular phone form factor as they can, while retaining Blackberry's PDA features, but they have gone too far, IMO. It is functional and usable, but a pain. The old Blackberry 6230 I got in 2004 is the smallest form factor that is comfortable to use as a PDA.

But there is a lot right with the Bold 9700, much more so than there is wrong. For one thing, I live somewhere with little cell service, so UMA, for me, is the ideal solution - when I get home my UMA phones automagically switch to my wireless network, and then I receive and make my calls using that. Additionally, calls made over WiFi do not count toward your airtime minutes, all calls within the United States are effectively completely free of charge. I can't tell you how wonderful this is - T-Mobile (the only carrier in the United States that offers UMA) charges a flat rate across my account to put UMA on all lines - and "Hotspot service" is available at most MacDonalds and Starbucks outlets in the US, too. The only problem was that the choice of handsets was limited, and no handset was available that offered 3G as well as UMA. They do exist - an LG phone available in Europe has UMA, but that is enabled only when you buy the phone from Orange in the UK or France.

Enter the new Blackberry. It has 3G and UMA, and more besides, like WiFi and GPS, something I have gotten used to as I have been using the Nokia 6110 Navigator 3G phone for this purpose since 2007. GPS shouldn't be in cars, it should be right in your hand, and go where you go. We stopped buying carphones, too, nobody in their right mind would have a phone locked to their vehicle, right? As I had not seen the magic "3G" indicator on the screen of one of my cellphones in the US, I drove out towards Fredericksburg after receiving and setting up the Blackberry 9700 I just bought. Much to my surprise, I got a good 3G signal on T-Mobile's network much closer to home than I expected - at the local Giant store, which sits in a nearby shopping center built only two years ago. That is actually on the edge of the semi-rural area I live in, where cellular service is spotty at best. And it is quite a bit farther from Fredericksburg than I had expected.

What is important about 3G? As many teenagers and students already know, you can have reasonable speed internet, voice and your primary life databases all in one device. There really is no longer a need (depending on where you live) to have anything "wired" any more. Especially a device like the Blackberry, coupled with a technologically savvy phone company like T-Mobile, gives you everything.

The device itself has 3G internet as well as WiFi internet, and it can, in T-Mobile's version, be used as a digital modem for your laptop or desktop computer - something called "tethering". Having a separate data card for your laptop is completely obsolete - using Google Voice, you can even have a secondary phone ring when the primary does, so you don't have to break your data connection when a call comes in. The cost of the second line is only $10 per month, good if you do a lot of talking as well as a lot of internetting at the same time. Having said that, with your laptop connected to the internet using a 3G connection on a 3G phone, you would be able to use Skype for voice communications, and need not bother with the phone in that respect.

Now, I gotta talk to you about GPS. You know the GPS units we've been getting for the car - standalone GPS, maps loaded on the device, etc. And then there is the GPS mobile phone companies are trying to sell us, which actually isn't GPS at all, but just a clever application that uses the GPS chip that has to, by law, built into a cellphone in the US, these days. Its sole purpose is to let the emergency services know where you are when you make a 911 call.

Unlike "true" GPS, this method relies on the phone using the chip to figure out your location, then downloading local maps, provided yours is a wireless broadband phone - 3G or EV-DO. That's fraught with problems - if you lose your network connection your GPS is dead, I've just experienced that with the LG phone I was trying out, whose GPS application spend most of its time not working, when it cannot get a data connection in the rural area that I live in. When I leave the house, where it uses my WiFi connection, it dies as soon as I am halfway down my driveway.

So: if you want a phone with GPS, you're best off getting one that can function as a standalone GPS unit. Like the Nokia 6110 Navigator I picked up in the Philippines in 2007 (they weren't sold in the US), which has a complete GPS unit, with Route 66 navigation software, and preloaded maps, those that are not included with the phone you can buy and download from Route 66. The Nokia (its successor is the Nokia 5800, which Nokia does sell in the US, but the 5800, too, uses instant download mapping) does the "on the fly" GPS as well, where you can access free maps from Nokia itself. Nokia does let you download maps to your PC using the Ovi Map downloader, but once you have them on your handset you have to buy a subscription if you want to use navigation with them.

I will be trying out RIM's own application, Blackberry Maps, which comes with the 9700, and which, from a quick peek, uses the on-the-fly download principle, but has a cache you can set the size of. I am hoping that cache will retain maps after they have been downloaded, obviating the need for 3G where there is none. At least this application comes with the phone for free, and can use WiFi as well as 3G and EDGE. With T-Mobile's Hotspot service, you could stop in at a Starbucks or McDonalds, I suppose, and download local maps using their free WiFi. Something I had gotten used to with my Nokia, using an external Bluetooth GPS antenna, the 9700 can do too. Using a GPS antenna built into the handset in a car, where the metal prevents the GPS antenna from functioning properly, is a headache - the external antenna you can park on the dash, against the windshield, its rechargeable battery will easily last a day or so, and the phone does not have to power its built in antenna. I am using Nokia's LD-3W antenna, which set me back $100, a couple of years ago. Holux M-1000 32 Channel Wireless Bluetooth GPS Receiver is a cheaper version, that works in the same fashion, providing a Bluetooth serial port.

For the moment, that is really all I can tell you, not having used this unit extensively. I have moved all of my email addresses to the Blackberry, although final storage of my email happens on one of my laptops, but it is very convenient to have the mobile alert me to all emails, and being able to weed out the spam directly from the phone. I've tried to get rid of all of the links and applications I don't need, loaded a very few apps that are central to my life: Tivo, Maps, Google Voice, Google Maps (just because I like seeing a picture of my house from satellite ;), synchronization is now set to go to Yahoo rather than Outlook (which means you can sync your life even when you're nowhere near your laptop or PC) - Yahoo and Blackberry both use Intellisync to synchronize PDA data, if you want to know why it is Yahoo and not Microsoft's Live attempt at gathering even more marketing data from you.

I am genuinely not interested in running a million apps on my PDA. Its primary function is that of a phone (Blackberry's Bluetooth audio implementation is a cut above the rest, by the way), I run applications on my travel laptop, a tiny 10.5" Acer. Having GPS, calendar, address book and a secure document available is part of what I must have, even the Tivo app I do not need, I can log into my Tivo from my laptop using the Blackberry as a data modem. This is not a religion for me, it is a tool...

This phone is simply fantastic. If you are considering a smartphone, there are many factors to consider and you need to take time to decide what is important to you. Do you want to use it to play games, or run nifty applications? Do you need great battery life? Is WiFi or GPS important? Will you be traveling and need access to a variety of cellular networks?

My first foray into smartphones was a Samsung Moment, which I returned. You will find Android phone users spend a lot of time figuring out how to maximize battery life: many people run widgets that let them turn on and off WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth in order to get extra time before the battery dies. Placing calls with an Android phone involves multiple steps, which I thought took too much time.

The Bold 9700 performs the main functions I need extremely well. Some highlights:

1. Calls are easy to make and receive. I can pick up the phone and press one speed dial key and the call is made. Or I can enter a few letters of a contact's name and the phone finds the match. Making a call is much faster on this phone than on an Android phone.

2. Battery life is terrific. I never worry about turning off GPS, WiFi, or Bluetooth. They run all the time. With full use of the phone - voice, messaging, streaming music - I can use the device for about 36 hours.

3. Messaging is great. Emails, SMS texts, chats on various services, ie Blackberry Messenger and Gmail, are all simple to use.

4. Google integration. I use and share Google calendars, and they're automatically synced.

5. Great international performance. I took this phone to Haiti after the earthquake, and used it to talk, chat, text, send back pictures... it worked flawlessly. (Go to the Blackberry website and look up the specs - I think it worked so well because it seems to support about every cellular band there is!)

6. Polish. There are a lot of little things that show how well developed this phone is. For example, if the phone is ringing in the holster and you pull it out, it stops ringing. A silence key on top of the device is accessible through the holster. The keyboard is terrific, the screen is terrific. There's a message indicator light. It's got a great camera. At home, it routes calls automatically over my router.

Negatives? The web browser is pretty terrible. It's very slow. Free alternatives, like Opera, are available, but the BlackBerry is not nearly as good a web browser as the iPhone, Palm Pre, or an Android phone. There is also a lack of applications that are available on the iPhone. You won't be able to AutoTune your voice with this phone, or play an Ocarina.

I would recommend the Bold 9700 to anyone who needs a device that first and foremost works great as a phone and handles email, texts, instant messaging, and calendars very well. It may not browse the web or play games as well as some other phones, but at the end of the day, my phone still has plenty of battery power and is keeping me in touch - just what a phone is supposed to do.

The Blackberry Bold 9700 is a great new Blackberry with speed that I have yet to see on any model out there. Before this model my favorite was the Blackberry 8900 which lacked 3g capabilities and thus was a little tedious at times. The 9700 truly has everything that you will ever want out of a Blackberry:

* 480x360 High Resolution Screen
* Touch Sensitive Track PAD Which is FANTASTIC (the track ball on previous models was always a problem)
* A new upgraded CPU which makes this device SCREAM with speed.
* 3G and EDGE Cellular Service
* Wi-Fi (Which can be used for UMA on T-MOBILE - allowing you to use your internet connection to make/receive calls and email, etc).
* 3.2 MP Camera with Auto Focus, Image Stabilization and a LED Flash.
* A new operating system - Version 5.0.x to be specific.
* Includes a 2gb Micro SD Card for storage of Music, Images, Videos, and Applications.
* Super clear speaker both in the handset and as a speakerphone. Loud and Clear... (Note, the previous bold had stereo speakers, this one does not)
* Micro USB Charging (Industry standard - previous bold had mini-usb)
* Elegant design with leather embossed battery cover

If you are looking to find a negative here then you will not...I have used these devices ever since the first one was introduced in the mid/late nineties and I can say will full confidence that it is the BEST BLACKBERRY I have ever used.

All of that being said...my only gripe is with T-Mobiles lack of 3G coverage, at the moment. I sincerely hope that with a superb device like this that they will invest in their network and improve it quickly....

Please ask me any and all questions via the comments system and I will answer them as best as I can.

PS: Quick Note: I have a leather holster for my 8900 - the 9700 fits in it perfectly.

The 9700 Bold is a wonderful e-mail machine, especially if you have multiple accounts to manage. The web browser stinks. I use an iPhone for anything more than casual checks on news sites. When carefully managed, battery life is great. RIM has finally recognized that us Mac users carrys BBs. The new Mac desktop application works well. Check it out here. [...]

The Bold's camera was a surprise to me. It is excellent. Within a few feet the flash is OK, the color is fine and the focus is much better than any other smartphone I have seen.

While not its forte, the Bold does well connecting to the social media like Twitter and Facebook.

In short, if you are an e-mail person, the Bold is your best choice, If you are a web browser, get an iPhone.

The main reason I moved from the 8900 (which I loved) to the 8900 was for the better battery life. I am hard on my battery. Plus, my husband had one, and I could not let him have a newer BlackBerry than me :)
First off, yes the batter is better. My 8900 and 8320 before that couldn't last a day - I am a super heavy user, email, twitter, multiple apps, streaming music over bluetooth most of my day. Add in to that I work inside a building, not that close to the outside, so signal can be weak at times. My 9700 can last a whole day without a charge, no problem.
The keypad and optical touchpad are different than the 8900. It took a little time to get used to, as changing to any new device does. My husband complains the touchpad is too sensitive, however I have found that it works great for me, now that I am used to it.
The OS is great. I had OS 5 on my 8900, but it seems to be smoother on the 9700, I guess it was built for 5.0. I listen to music on it all the time, but I am not into watching video, tv, or movies on anything smaller than my 50 some inch flat screen.

The buttons and holes on the side have moved around, so now I can charge my 9700 while it is in the case, which is nice. Although I find myself searching for the buttons and connections, I think they are in much better places on the 9700. There is no awkward hand potions when holding and charging as there was on the 8900.
I am used to the button to get the back off of the 8900, so just pushing and pulling on the 9700 was a little daunting at first.
I guess my biggest gripe is the micro sd card is a little hard to get out.
Overall, this is the BlackBerry to have.

I'm switching from the flip...for 5 years I've used a bb with 2 letters per key..I was ready to switch to this one, because I want the 3g for web...I also like the larger screen vs. the convenience of carrying the smaller ones....this is a great machine...a little computer is what it is. I also saw that this has new software and my other would run so slowly, while it processed...so far, day 2 this seems pretty fast in terms of operating system. loading web had some issues yesterday, but tmobile said that's was due to it being 1st day and too much activity..today has been smooth.

The buttons on this feel more substantial (bigger/better) vs. the 8900... If you're looking for a great phone, and e-mail is your focus, there's no beating this blackberry on Tmobile..Only thing I'd improve is web browser, but gets the job done and I think they'll upgrade soon too...btw, haven't tried the visual voicemail yet, but that's new on this one too (just like the iphone I imagine on that)

Alright, let me just say off the bat that as a former Bold 9000 user, I've been looking forward to the new Bold 2 for months since pictures were leaked on the internet. Since I get my phones through my company, I've had the phone since last Wednesday, when it was released on AT&T's network for Premier people.

The new Bold 9700 is a sleek phone - no doubt about it. RIM apparently has decided, though, to somewhat standardize their phones' look, a direction that bothers me to a great extent. One of the things I loved about the Bold was that it was different - you saw any other phone, and then you saw the Bold - and you thought "Wow, that phone IS bold!!" Size I couldn't care less about - as long as it looked good, and worked awesomely, what else matters? And the Bold 9000 fit those well. So when I got the new 9700, and I compared it to my coworker's Tour (for Verizon), I was quite surprised at how similar they were. You can barely tell them apart (the 9700 is a bit smaller, and also has the trackpad). Just an observation....

Alright - to the review:

Pros:

Trackpad - this is definitely a most welcome upgrade. RIM outdid themselves on this part - I thought the trackball was good, this trackpad is great! The older Bold's trackball was great, as long as you kept dirt and dust out of it. Which turned out to be somewhat difficult, since there was a depression surrounding the trackball, and so if too much dust or dirt got in, the ball needed to be replaced. Also, if you used it too much, the ball would lose its grip, and become less responsive, also - once again - needing to be replaced. Both those problems are now gone with this new trackpad. For former trackball users, it may take a little use to get to know it, but once you do, trust me - you'll never go back.

Speaker - the speakers on the Bold are nothing less than stunning. My friend has an IPhone, and my speakers for playing music and speakerphone blow his out of this century. Not only can they get very loud, but they also are quite clear and crisp, for the volume you can put them to. And, if that wasn't good enough, RIM includes AudioBoost - for when you hook your Bold up to your car or stereo system, which bumps the output sound even higher. Excellent....

OS - the new BlackBerry 5 OS, which comes preloaded on the phone, is a major improvement over the 4.6 version in most other phones. It's snappier, and quite more responsive.

Camera - RIM upgraded the camera from a 2 MP in the older Bold to a 3.2 MP in the Bold 9700. The pictures that the phone takes are quite good, even in poor light conditions. Of course, if you try to take pictures in the club with it - prepare to be somewhat disappointed. Ha. But for regular, everyday camera uses, that "quick shot", the Bold 9700 actually takes decent pictures. Nice for when you forget to bring that digital camera with you.

There's a couple other pros I can think of, but they're more along the lines of business users, or based on networks (you could get 3G speeds on AT&T's network since the first Bold - T-Mobile just got their first 3G BlackBerry with this phone). If you're interested in them, drop me a comment, and I'll get back to you.

Now, for the cons:

Battery - battery life is still somewhat bad, although it definitely is an improvement over the older Bold. I normally use Pandora - an App that plays Internet Radio, trust me, this should be one of the first apps you download, it's free - the other is Google Maps, also free - anyway, back to the review, so I normally use Pandora, and I can get about 6 hours out of the battery, with small breaks in-between receiving phone calls. So, in normal use, you could probably get about a day out of the battery, which isn't terrible, but also is somewhat worse than comparable phones out there.

Hardware - this is probably my biggest negative I had. Normally, when they say upgrade, you would think they would put better hardware in the thing, right?? Well, think again. With the exception of the upgraded camera and trackpad, there is NO difference in hardware between this and the older Bold.
Zero.
Nada.
I would've liked some upgraded hardware in the phone. But again - this is just my thing. You may not care.

My last negative is more hit and miss - some people have been reporting that BlackBerry Maps - the app that RIM ships with the phone for navigation, doesn't work on the 9700. Myself included. This appears to be at random, but it just irks me. Fortunately, there's a workaround - get Google Maps.

So - overall, the phone is a nice update. It works, takes nice pictures, looks sleek, and can be used as your new boombox when you want to blast "What is Love?" by Haddaway. (Kidding on the last one) I would completely recommend this phone, even with some of its faults, since they don't really take away from the experience with the phone.

I'll update this review from time to time, as I continue to use this, so if there's any questions, please feel free to ask.

I really enjoy using this phone. The operating system is smooth, the trackpad is so easy to use and is a great upgrade from the trackball. The phone has a VERY high resolution screen and fits perfectly in your hand. IT has an extremely slick design and is sexy enough to show off. Whether you are a business user or consumer, this phone is for you unless you NEED a touch screen. If you need a touchscreen I would try out the STORM 2...if is much improved over the first and very fun to use. The Bold 9700 is the perfect upgrade from the first and perfect for first time smartphone buyers and previous owners of smartphones.