The BlackBerry Bold Touch could be considered the “next generation” of the popular BlackBerry Bold line. It is the first BlackBerry to combine the most popular BlackBerry design feature (a fixed keyboard) with touch screen technology. If you follow BlackBerry product releases you will know that the first touch screen (the Storm) was not popular with BlackBerry users as most existing customers like having a full qwerty keyboard, which is really where BlackBerry built their customer base. Learning from that, the BlackBerry Torch featured a slide out keyboard below the touch screen, and could be considered a hybred. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 Touch could be considered the first true blackberry to integrate touch screen techology and really does take the Bold series to another level. Prior to this phone it was difficult to see where the Bold series was heading following the release of the Torch, and of course keeping an eye on developments in the Andorid world. The 9900 is clearly the answer, running the latest BlackBerry OS7 operating system. The Touch 990o is a little larger than the bold 9800 measuring 115 x 66 x 10.5 mm. That is a full 6mm taller and wider than the 9800 and an extra 3.5mm thick. However, crammed into that chasis is of course a full Liquid Graphics touch screen (640 x 480 pixels) offering 720p HD video playback, 8GB intarnal storage with 768 MB RAM and an SD slot expandable to 32 GB. It has a faster processor running at 1.2GHz processor. HTML 5 is supported, making video playback from Web pages more reliable. The 5 Mega Pixel camera has also received an upgrade featuring a better (faster) shutter speed.
Features
- Operating System: BlackBerry OS7
- Connectivity / Data:
- 2G GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
- 3G HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 / 800, HSDPA 900 / 1700 / 2100
- Data – 3G HSUPA 5.76Mbps, HSDPA 14.4Mbps
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, dual-band
- Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
- Micro USB V2
- Storage 8GB Internal, Micro SD expandable to 32GB
- Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM (BlackBerry Messanger)
- Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 640 x 480 pixels, 2.8 inches (~286 ppi pixel density)
- Browser: HTML (HTML5 Support)
- CPU: 1.2 GHz QC 8655 processor
- Memory: 768 MB RAM
- Interface: Full Qwerty, Optical Track Pad, Touch Screen
- Camera: 5 MP, 2592×1944 pixels, LED flash, Image Stabilisation, Face Recognition and Geo Tagging
- Audio / Ring Tone: MP3 ringtones, Loud Speaker, 3.5mm standard audio jack, vibration alert
- GPS supported with BlackBerry Maps available
- Battery Life:
- StandBy Up to 307 hours on 2G and 3G
- Talk Time up to 6 hours 30 mins on 2G and 5 hours 50 mins on 3G
- Music play up to 50 hours
Form Factor
The Bold Touch 9900 is larger than other handsets in the bold series measuring 115mm long x 66mm wide x 10.5 mm deep. However, weighing in at 103 grams with the battery it is not actually any heavier.
Pros
The Bold Touch 9900 really does represent the future of BlackBerry. If you value a mechanical Qwerty Keyboard (as anyone needing to send a serious number of emails on the move will do) then this is an ideal handset, combining the ease of use and build quality BlackBerry is renouned for with the convenience of the latest touch screen technology, and of course BlackBerrys latest operating system. The Bold really does continue BlackBerry’s tradition of making serious business oriented phones.
Cons
It is a little bigger than the existing Bold range so is not quite so pocket sized, but still smaller than many rival smart phones. Practically speaking It does not add any new functionality / application over and above the older Bold 9800.
Summary
This is a great handset combining the best of BlackBerry values (high build quality and practicality) with the latest touch screen technology. The Bold Touch 9900 is probably the best “all rounder” on the market at the moment, being suitable for leisure use whilst remaining at its heart a powerful business oriented product.
Video Review
For this phone we chose a review from the USA, which although mentioning US networks is the same handset that is on sale in the UK.