I was issued my First Blackberry almost 2 years ago by my then Employer. It was a Blackberry 8707v using Zain 3G Network. The device was well built, lacked feature like WIFI and GPS but man did it had me always connected. After using the 8707v i was in love with the Blackberry Devices. Once i left my employer i waited for a while and got myself a Blackberry Bold 9000. RIM’s latest and advanced Blackberry device back in 2008. The Bold was something else, as the name states it was Bold and had a sense of style to it. Fast Forward to march and Bold is showing its Age, due to its low Built-in Memory, i faced lot of crashes and constant reboot. My Life depends on the Blackberry and the problems of the 9000 couldn’t hold me back so i upgraded/downgraded myself to the Blackberry Curve 8900. This device had good specifications WIFI, GPS, 3.2 MP Camera & built-in 256MB of Memory. The only omission was 3G Network. To gain something you have to loose something till Now! RIM released Blackberry Bold 9700. 9700 is the Ferrari of Blackberry Devices.

I could not wait for this device to get released. After waiting for Months and Months, reading up on the 9700 and following it closely (Unofficially) finally the Day came when RIM Announced that 9700 will be available officially.

With my Credit Card in hand and no worry in the world about buying a new device without giving much thought to it or about after effects (like how all of us gadgets freak do) i placed the Order for a new Bold from Handtec. I placed the Order on the 13th of November. Little did i know that ill have to wait for another 4 days, my mistake as it was a Friday and Saturday/Sunday Business in Europe are closed. Handtec shipped my Order on the 16th, Reached Bahrain on the 17th evening. By the time i got to my office on the 18th it was already there waiting for me. Ready to be taken the cover off and fondled with.

Enough of the Back story lets get down to see what the device has to offer.

Hardware & Design:

Bold 9700 is the Best Blackberry, design and specs wise. The phone is not too big and not to small. Fits perfectly in the Hand. Keyboard is awesome (more on KB later). The initial impression that i get when someone sees the phone is how Well Made and elegant it looks. Everything from the Size, Leather Back, Chrome Lining & Specs scream quality.

The dimensions & weight on the Bold 9700 are :

Height:
4.29 inches (109 mm)
Width:
2.36 inches (60 mm)
Depth:
0.56 inches (14.1 mm)
Weight:
4.30 ounces / 122 grams
(including battery)
3.17 ounces / 90 grams
(without battery)

Specifications are :

624MHz Processor
3G Network Support : UMTS: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz, 2100/1700/900 MHz
Trackpad Navigation
256MB Flash Memory
High resolution 480×360 Screen
3.2 MP Camera
Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS (with A-GPS Support)

To read more details about the specifications Head on over to Blackberry Site.

Screen:

The Screen on the 9700 is absolutely Gorgeous. Colors appear vibrant and crisp. The text is quite sharp. The resolution on the Device is 480×360 where as the one on the Bold was 480×320. There are no words to describe how good the screen is. Words don’t do justice. One has to see it to believe it. All those who had a look at the bold 9700 tried their fingers on the screen thinking that its a touch screen. When it didn’t work, they would look up with puppy eyes and ask “No Touch Screen”? No God Damnit, its not a touch screen. Give me my bold back so that i can clean all the Oil your fingers left on the screen and if i see you poking the Bold again ill chop your fingers off.

Keyboard & Trackpad:

I for one loved the Keyboard on the Original Bold. On the 8900 curve that i had the keyboard was ok. The Keys were plastic and had the space in between the rows/columns. I didn’t mind it that much but it was nothing compared to the keyboard on the Original Bold. I had to sacrifice the keyboard to get more onboard memory.

Now with the 9700 i can have the best of both. The keyboard on the 9700 is hands down the Best of all blackberries. The keys are nice and curved. There is no spacing between the keys they are all joined together yet they work well. Each key has a slight bump. That enables you to not go and punch in many of them at the same time. Its like RIM had a look in our brain and see how we type on a keyboard. When your thumbs touch on the keys, that little bump signals the brain that this is it, don’t move any further. This is the key that you want to press. Sounds Far Fetched? well i swear that is how it works with me.

I can type comfortable without errors. Moving from the Original Bold to the curve was a bit of a learning curve, since my thumbs & brain was so used to the rubber keys all together without any space but as soon as i moved to the 9700 it was like riding a bicycle it just came back to me and i was typing at a rate of million keys per minute.

Also on the Bold 9700 RIM decided to replace the trackball with a trackpad. The first blackberry to come out with a trackpad was a 8520 curve. An adopted child to Blackberry Curve Family.

After using the trackpad for few minutes, there is no chance in hell anyone would want to go back to the Trackball or the Wheel. Movement is nice and smooth. The trackpad is quite responsive. i have left the sensitivity settings on default but one can go under Screen/Keyboard to change how the pad should respond. Alas, no more of stuck Trackball or maintenance that was associated with trackball. With the trackpad i can take over the world. (Pun intended!)

OS:

Bold 9700 ships with Os 5.0. I got the unlocked and unbranded version from the Handtec and it came with 5.0.0.341. OS5.0 makes a whole lot of difference. The Operating System itself is quite fast. It has quite a lot of changes under the hood. OS5.0 can be taken as OSX Snow Leopard. Few changes on top and whole lot more under the Hood. One thing i like is that now i can set individual alerts for per contact basis. e.g. For Contact A i can have special ringtone as well as a special sms alert.

Overall OS5.0 is a huge improvement from the Old OS 4 days. It brings with it a lot of changes. To Write about all of them will itself take days however Here is the Link to Boy Genius Report doing a write up on OS5.0. Its a must read for all Blackberry users and fans.

Battery:

Bold 9700 comes with 1500 mAh Battery same as the Original Bold 9000. According to RIM 1500 mAh is enough to provide you with 6 Hours of Talk time and standby of up-to 21 Days and 17 Days for GSM and UMTS respectively.

I have no idea what RIM did this time but Battery Life has improved significantly. On my Original Bold i had to recharge my Battery every Day. If i would remove the Bold from charge at 8am by maximum 6-7pm i would be down to Yellow and by 9:30 or so the dreaded Red Battery would come on along with the Red Led light of death. I had to keep a separate charger in Car and in the Office.

However this is not the case with the 9700. I believe RIM called in some help from Planet Mars or Pluto to help them out with battery life this Time. I can easily go a day and half on moderate usage. During a test i had my Blackberry Unplugged at 8am sharp and continued using it normally. Made some calls, checked Emails, messaged friends, tweeted a bit. Same day in the Night i put my BB in the standby mode without plugging it in to Charge. How Long you think it took the 9700 to show me the Red Battery Sign? The Next day at 10 i got the Red Battery sign and plugged it back in to charge. That’s a good 38 Hours give or take a few. This was all on 3G and Edge Signal. It switches automatically to Edge when 3G signal is weak. On my 8900 i would get a day worth of juice on single Charge.

In the Battery life department 9700 beats the crap out of 9000 and 8900 and still has life left to show them both the middle finger in the end.

Phone:

9700 headset is Loud. In in the Busy street or car with rolled down windows driving at 200 Kmph (Dont drive at that speed its crazy) you can hear the other person Loud and clear. The Microphone on the 9700 is quite good. Walking down the busy street with lot of noise in the background My test subject said they could hear me very Well.

The Vibration function on the 9700 is absolutely crazy. In my pocket when it vibrates it shakes entire bones and entire little blood cells in my Body. It is kinda like carrying a vibrator in your pocket. No joke. Everytime it vibrates it reminds me of the commercial Embedded Below.

Ending Credits & Conclusion:

If you have been waiting for the Perfect Blackberry to buy, wait no more. There are 2 reasons for it.

1. There is no such thing as perfect in the Gadget World. There will always be something new on the Horizon.

2. Bold 9700 is by far the best Blackberry i have used.

I have fallen in love with the Blackberry Bold 9700. I can see myself using this for a very Long time. If 9000 and 8900 were to get married and have a kid it would be 9700. It combines the Best of the Both Blackberries and Give it to you all in a nice affordable, sleek and sexy Package.

Get this one guys, You wont be disappointed. Some More pictures are embedded in the slideshow Below or they can be accessed to On my Flickr Page.

Hope this was informative for you and helped you in making a decision whether to get the 9700 or not. If you have any questions just leave them in the comment below.

Image Gallery

Have a good one guys.

Cheers