RIM BlackBerry Bold 9000 Smartphone Review

Research in Motion, or as most of you know them, RIM, begin to release their highly expected 9000 series of Blackberry devices in 2008. This series of smartphones, known as Bold, initially started with the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9000.

BlackBerry 9000 Visuals

Apparently, the “Bold” name comes from the screen itself. It’s a reference to the half VGA (video graphics array) LCD (liquid crystal display), which gives it a resolution of 480x320 pixels displaying 65,000 colors. This device can also record video at this same resolution. Hands on testers report that the name “Bold” is adequate for this device, stating that images on the screen are sharp, clear and bright, and actually quite surprisingly so. Also in the visuals department, the Bold 9000 smartphone also offers media player support for various video formats such as DivX, H.264 and WMV (Windows Media Video).

BlackBerry 9000 Form Factor

The Blackberry 9000 Bold contains dimensions of

• 4.48 inches (114mm) in length
• 2.6 inches (66mm) in width
• 0.59 inches (15mm) in depth
• 4.8 oz (136g) in weight

This means that the 9000 is slightly wider and heavier than RIM’s previous Curve offerings. This also means that even though it’s a good fit for the hand, it may be slightly wider than most casual cell phone users are accustomed to. It also feels thinner than other Blackberry phones. The 9000 also has that iPhone-esque form that is becoming very popular for most modern designs.

BlackBerry 9000 Audio

A large problem with many smartphone designs, including Blackberry types, is the audio quality. From the speaker quality to the audio playback features, this has been a hit and miss category for years. There’s good news for owners and potential owners of the Blackberry 9000. By all accounts, the speaker and speakerphone is actually fuller in sound and not tinny as these types of phones usually are. For multimedia playback, the Blackberry 9000 supports various audio media types such as WMA, MIDI, AAC, WAV and of course, MP3.

BlackBerry 9000 Features

The part everybody is waiting for, the features. Here is a quick rundown:

Network and Data Transfer: The Blackberry 9000 Bold utilizes Wi-Fi: 802.11 types A, B and G and operates on the GSM and UMTS spectrums depending on your location. According to the official specifications these are:

• UMTS: 2100/1900/850 MHz GSM®: 1900/1800/900/850 MHz,
• North America: 850 MHz GSM/GPRS networks
• North America: 1900MHz GSM®/GPRS networks
• Europe/Asia Pacific: 1800MHz GSM/GPRS networks
• Europe/Asia Pacific: 900MHz GSM/GPRS networks

The Blackberry 9000 Bold also operates on the EDGE and HSDPA networks. This means that the Blackberry is definitely a 3G phone. It also utilizes Bluetooth and USB for data transference and also contains a slot for microSD, microSDHC cards. It does not contain infrared, but honestly, who needs it?

Overall Features: Those of you that appreciate a lot of features in your smartphones will not be disappointed in the 9000’s offerings. This being a Blackberry, it stands to reason that it utilizes the Blackberry OS (operating system) version 4.6. It also supports all of the messaging protocols including SMS, EMS and MMS. This also includes all of the necessary email support, POP3, IMAP, SMTP, Lotus and Microsoft Exchange compatibility. For you chat freaks there is also native support for AOL, ICQ, Windows Live and Yahoo!

All in all there are many more features and many more reasons to own this beautiful piece of equipment. Considering its network features, the Blackberry 9000 Bold should be available or made available for any network you may want to activate it on.

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