As previously reported by the guys over at Mobile Ninja’s, the Blackberry Bold 9700 now has an upgrade available. The upgrade takes to OS to 5.0.0.351.

Download it Here

Both versions of this theme have been updated with the spacebar shortcut to open QuickLaunch. A big thank you to TeritaM at berryhotchicks for testing this to make sure it works.

Red Queen Bottom Dock for OS 5.0 with QuickLaunch Shortcut
Red Queen Weather Only for OS 5.0 with QuickLaunch Shortcut

*Note* You must have QuickLaunch installed for this shortcut to work.

Blackberry 9520 Storm II is not only a great communication gadget but it acquires some really wonderful multimedia features. Blackberry Mobiles have all the high end attributes that set it to give a tough competition to all its competitors. On the other hand, the 9700 has an amazing track pad which is used for easy navigation and scrolling of web pages. Blackberry 9700 has QWERTY keypad for easy and fast inputting of letters and texts while in the case of Blackberry 9520 Storm II, it is entirely touch screen and does not have any keypad. One can operate the handset either by fingers or by stylus.

Camera

Blackberry 9700

1. Blackberry 9700 acquires 3.15 mega pixels camera which support the resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. It has additional options like auto focus, image stabilization and autofocus so that the users can capture the focused photo from the camera.
2. The camera feature of Blackberry 9520 Storm II acquires all the same qualities as in the previous device, the only difference between them is that it has Geo tagging feature. Geo tagging feature enables the users to capture the images by using different geo graphic locations.

Audio and Video Features

• Presence of track pad in Blackberry 9700 makes the navigation and accessing multimedia applications easy. There is a central D – pad which is used to operate all the major features and functions.
•  Audio player is really good and it supports almost all the major formats like MP3, WMA and AAC. It also has nice video player which produce good sound from its speakers.
• One can attach the headset in the audio jack which provides really outstanding voice quality.

Blackberry 9520 Storm II

9520 is a fully touch screen phone and all the functions are very easy to operate either through fingers or stylus. There are several shortcut buttons for direct access to the applications. The video player supports the formats like MP4, H.264, WMV and 3 GP. Watching a video on such a big screen offers an interesting experience to the users.

Perkembangan telpon seluler tahun 2009 agaknya masih sangat dipengaruhi oleh BlackBerry, meskipun ada juga sedikit pengaruh dari Nokia. Lihat saja sekarang ini hampir semua produsen ponsel mengeluarkan ponsel bergaya BlackBerry dan Nokia. Gaya BlackBerry yang khas adalah ponsel candybar dengan keyboard QWERTY, layar lebar, dan ada trackball sebagai tombol navigasi. Sedang Nokia, hanya seri E71/E63 yang banyak ditiru oleh produsen lain, terutama lokal. Lalu bagaimana tren tahun 2010 nanti?

BlackBerry Bold 9700 (Onyx)

Sepertinya tahun 2009 ini adalah tahun kejayaan BlackBerry. Betapa tidak? Hampir semua ponsel, meniru total tampilan berbagai seri BlackBerry, terutama yang model full-QWERTY seperti Curve 83xx, Javelin 89xx, Bold 9xxx, dan Storm 95xx. Sekilas, terutama ponsel-ponsel lokal, tidak dapat dibedakan dari BlackBerry tulen. Susunan tombolnya, trackball-nya, sampai pada aksesorisnya dibuat semirip mungkin dengan BlackBerry yang lagi menjadi dambaan banyak pemakai.

Meskipun hanya tiruan, tetapi ponsel-ponsel lokal tersebut cukup diterima pasar, karena dianggap dapat menaikkan derajad kewibawaan pemiliknya. Bahkan di antara pemilik tersebut berani membanggakan bahwa ponselnya lebih canggih dibanding BlackBerry sungguhan. Mengapa? Karena bisa diisi dua kartu sekaligus dan on bersama-sama, ada radionya, dan bahkan ada televisinya. Hingga saat ini, belum ada BlackBerry asli yang memiliki kemampuan seperti itu.

Belum lagi kemampuan bersosialisasi secara digital, ponsel-ponsel yang dikenal dengan ponsel Cina ini juga menyediakan aplikasi Facebook, chatting melalui Yahoo Messenger (tidak mungkin melalui BlackBerry Messenger), dan browsing ke dunia maya melalui Opera Mini yang juga sudah sangat terkenal itu.

Kepuasan pemakai ponsel yang mirip-mirip semakin sempurna ketika mereka membeli dompet untuk menyimpan ponselnya, yang sebenarnya dirancang untuk ponsel aslinya, baik untuk BlackBerry maupun Nokia. Tetapi karena bentuk ponselnya sama persis, maka ketika dimasukkan ke dompet atau pelindungnya, juga pas banget. Nah dari luar sudah tampak seperti seorang BlackBerry maniak betulan. Sudah barang tentu dengan biaya yang jauh lebih murah dibanding dengan harga ponsel-ponsel aslinya.

Senjata Baru BlackBerry

Pihak RIM selaku penyedia ponsel dan sekaligus layanan BlackBerry tentu tidak tinggal diam. Mereka tetap ingin menjadi trendsetter, tanpa mau ribut-ribut di pengadilan, apalagi di negara-negara yang sistem hukumnya masih memprihatinkan, seperti di negara-negara berkembang itu. RIM lebih memilih cara yang lebih jitu, yaitu dengan memasarkan produk-produk berkualitas sesuai dengan segmen pasarnya.

Beberapa bulan terakhir ini, RIM melalui berbagai operator di Indonesia telah mengedarkan seri 8520 Gemini dengan harga terjangkau, di bawah Rp4 juta. Meskipun ditujukan untuk para pemakai pemula BlackBerry, tetapi Gemini sudah mendukung perubahan baru, yaitu penggunaan trackpad sebagai pengganti trackball yang dikabarkan mudah kotor dan punya risiko macet. Padahal trackball merupakan alat navigasi utama, jadi kalau sampai macet, boleh dikata BlackBerry tidak dapat digunakan lagi. Dengan trackpad, risiko macet ini hampir tidak ada. Agaknya pihak RIM mulai meninggalkan trackball, karena semua seri yang baru, sekarang ini mengandalkan trackpad.

Di segmen atas, BlackBerry akan segera mengenalkan kelas wahidnya, yaitu BlackBerry 9700 dengan nama Onyx. Harga resmi belum diketahui, tetapi yang jelas lebih mahal dibanding seri-seri lain yang sudah ada. Tetapi di luar operator, seri yang masih keluarga Bold ini dapat ditebus dengan harga sekitar Rp7.250.000.

Kemampuan yang diperbaiki dibanding Bold 9000 antara lain adalah layarnya yang memiliki resolusi 480×360 (Bold 480×320). Sedang luasnya justru lebih sempit, karena hanya 2,44 inci (Bold 2,6 inci). Dimensi Onyx sedikit lebih ramping, karena berukuran 109 x 60 x 14 mm (Bold 114 x 66 x 14 mm). Kamera Onyx lebih baik, karena sudah 3,2 MP (Bold 2 MP). Memori juga sudah dua kali lipat Bold, yaitu 256 MB untuk RAM, flash, dan on-board. Dari bentuk  masih mirip-mirip Bold, bahkan prosesor, masih sama-sama mengandalkan 624 MHz.

Kelebihan utama Onyx adalah digunakannya sistem operasi terbaru, yaitu BlackBerry 5.0, menggantikan sistem operasi lama yang dipasang di Bold, yaitu 4.60. Dari segi tampilan, memang jauh lebih bagus. Hal ini disebabkan karena resolusi yang lebih rapat, padahal layarnya lebih sempit, sehingga memang tampak lebih baik dibanding sistem operasi 4.60 yang menjadi nyawa Bold. Hanya sayang, dari segi kinerja, terutama kecepatan, sistem versi 5.0 jauh lebih lambat dibanding dengan versi 4.60.

Dari sini, para pecinta BlackBerry sangat mengharapkan segera ada perbaikan melalui sistem baru, seperti yang selama ini dilakukan oleh RIM. Perbaikan sistem dilakukan melalui penyediaan update yang dapat diunduh melalui berbagai situs, baik dari situs resmi RIM maupun dari situs-situs lainnya. Pengguna BlackBerry dapat mengupdate sendiri sistem operasinya dengan program Desktop Manager bawaan BlackBerry, maupun program-program buatan pihak ketiga seperti Master Control Program.

Storm 2

Di segmen layar sentuh, BlackBerry juga mengenalkan seri baru Storm, yaitu Storm 9520 dan 9550 yang merupakan perbaikan dari Storm 9500. Ada beberapa perbaikan yang dilakukan oleh RIM, di antaranya adalah dipasangnya koneksi Wi-Fi. Aneh memang di seri lama tidak ada kemampuan ini. Selain itu, memori sudah sama dengan Onyx, yang semuanya 256 MB, jadi hampir dua kali dari pendahulunya. Bahkan untuk memori on-boardnya sudah 2GB (Onyx cuma 256 MB dan Storm 9500 1 GB).

Perbaikan lain yang mudah dirasakan adalah kepekaan sentuhan, karena pada versi lama hanya mengandalkan 1 bantalan, sedang pada seri baru ini sudah mengandalkan 4 bantalan. Oleh karenanya, kini pemakai Storm 2 dapat mengetik lebih cepat pada layar sentuhnya. Memang bila dibanding iPhone yang memang jagoan di bidang layar sentuh, Storm 2 masih kalah, namun paling tidak, dibanding versi terdahulu, Storm 2 sudah jauh lebih baik.

Pesaing Baru

Kedua seri andalan BlackBerry di penghujung tahun 2009 ini, yaitu Onyx 9700 dan Storm 9520/9550, agaknya akan mendapat sambutan hangat dari para pecinta BlackBerry. Ini ditunjukkan dengan maraknya peredaran kedua seri tersebut di pasar yang jauh lebih cepat dibanding dengan jalur operator. Demikian juga dengan seri low-end Gemini 8520 dengan harga yang setara dengan ponsel-ponsel pintar lainnya, sudah lebih dulu membanjiri pasar.

Namun RIM sebagai pemegang paten BlackBerry tetap tidak dapat tidur nyenyak, karena ponsel Cina sudah mulai muncul dengan wajah serupa, bahkan namanya pun berbunyi sama, yaitu Onic. Sudah tentu harganya jauh lebih murah, meskipun kemampuan konektivitas dan integrasi antaraplikasi BlackBerry bakal sulit tertandingi, paling tidak untuk jangka waktu beberapa bulan ke depan.

Selain itu, IMO, salah satu ponsel lokal, sudah mengenalkan program chatting antarponsel IMO, persis seperti layaknya BlackBerry Messenger yang hanya dapat dinikmati para pemilik BlackBerry. Ini tentu membawa rasa kebanggaan sendiri bagi para IMO-ers, karena mereka sekarang sudah semakin mirip dengan BlackBerry-ans. Meskipun demikian, para petinggi BlackBerry tidak pernah merasa diri mereka sebagai buaya yang sedang menghadapi ponsel lokal sekelas cicak. RIM tetap waspada bahwa mereka harus tetap menjaga kualitas dan layanan. Itulah sebabnya diperkirakan pada tahun 2010 nanti, bakal ada sekitar 13 seri BlackBerry baru membanjiri pasar. Asli semua.

Memang akhirnya petuah nenek moyang bahwa kalau mencari jodoh, jangan hanya melihat wajah dan tubuh, juga berlaku bagi Anda yang mencari ponsel. Jangan hanya melihat wajah dan bodi saja, karena sebenarnya yang lebih Anda perlukan pada waktu lama adalah hatinya, kalau ponsel, kemampuan yang ada di dalamnya. Karena toh faktanya, bodi ponsel, termasuk BlackBerry, mudah diganti-ganti. (Wing Wahyu Winarno, http://buku-bb.ubik.net)

Here it is! My first theme for the 9700/OS 5.  I did have to change the wallpaper on the home screen since last night but I will provide the original one below.

Theme includes;

- User customizable icons
- User customizable font (except the menu/dialog font)
- Hidden Today w/ up to 7 entries (Bottom Dock only)
- Transitions from home screen to app screen & vice vera.
- Transitions to & from menu on app screen.

 Previews & Wallpapers

OS 5.0 Red Queen Blank Weather

OS 5.0 Red Queen Bottom Dock w/ Hidden Today

This theme should work with any 8900 or 9630 running OS 5.0 

C’est déjà compliqué de ne pas craquer et d’acheter le nouveau Blackberry Bold 9700, mais si en plus ColorWave (société qui propose déjà la customisation de vos écouteurs Beats) permet de personnaliser le dernier smartphone de chez RIM, ça devient carrément de la torture. Chaque partie peut être remplacée par un cache coloré sur mesure soit par ColorWave, soit par vous même directement si vous pensez pouvoir replacer le trackpad correctement, pour un résultat unique.

Alors oui, les milliers de combinaisons possibles sont très moches pour la plupart, mais avoir la puissance d’un Bold dans un design de Curve aux couleurs de son blog (par exemple hein), ça vous rend un geek heureux.

Plus d’infos sur la personnalisation du Blackberry Bold 9700 si vous cliquez ici (environ 105 euros pour la personnalisation seule, et 565 euros pour le téléphone + la personnalisation)

Via

Domani sarà pubblicata una prova confronto tra le funzionalità d’uso del nuovo BB Bold 9700 e del BB Storm2 con particolare riferimento (per quest’ultimo) alle prestazioni riscontrate sull’ Iphone 3Gs.
Il risultato vedrá la netta affermazione del 9700 che surclassa il fratellone di casa RIM.
La cosa più incredibile e spesso poco dichiarata ? La leggerezza ! Il 9700 é una piuma con una batteria da 48h di s.by e oltre 7h di conversazione in modalità 3G.

Happyness !
See you later

i woke up this morning at around 7am due to loud music! i ate some breakfast and watched abit of t, (heres the good stuff ) postamn arrived arund 8:30am and i answered the door to see him holding a box, i thought it might have been my new ipod dock which i had ordered from Apple but instead it was my phone bill! all 380 pages of it! WHAT A WASTE OF PAPER! had to pay £18 to have the bill, took t to my room so my parents didntsee it opened it up, it includes every detail of what i have used my phone for, every phone call and text message, when it was sent, everything! 38,000 text messages! i suppose it was my birthday so i went abit crazy texting but i couldnt have used 38,000 tet messages, so while im at cllege tomorrow im going to have to visit Tmobile and see on there screen what is going on because i really dont no what to do! ay ideas? if your interested i have a blackberry 8900 which includes unlimited data so that cant be the issue! NOT HAPPY!

Hi BB Users,

Blackberry Onyx just launched in several country including Indonesia.  There respond of market is positive as we know there are improvements in technology at Blackberry Bold 9700/ Onyx. What is the new features at Blackberry Onyx ?

Available Features Blackberry Onyx 9700

• Trackpad navigation
• Bright, hi-resolution screen
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• 3G technology
• Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® enabled
• 256MB flash memory
• 3.2 MP digital camera with
  video camera
• Multimedia player
• Wireless email
• Organizer
• Browser
• Phone
• SMS/MMS
• MicroSD card reader
• Learn more about the features available on BlackBerry® smartphones

Size and Weight

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)

Battery & Battery Life

• Battery: 1500 mAh removable/rechargeable cryptographic Lithium cell
• Talk Time: Up to 6 hours (GSM and UMTS)
• Standby Time: Up to 21 days/504 hours (GSM), Up to 17 days/408 hours (UMTS)
• Music Playback Time: Up to 38 hours

Display

• High resolution 480×360 pixel
  color display
• Transmissive TFT LCD
• Supports over 65,000 colors
• 2.44″ (diagonally measured)

Camera & Video Recording

• 3.2 MP Camera
• Auto Focus, Image Stabilization
• Flash
• 2X digital zoom
• Video camera recording:
  Normal Mode (480 x 352 pixel),
  MMS Mode (176 x 144 pixel)
• Learn more about camera and video recording

Maps & GPS

• Includes BlackBerry Maps
• Integrated GPS with A-GPS
• Learn more about BlackBerry Maps and GPS

Data Input & Navigation

• 35 key backlit QWERTY keyboard
• Dedicated Keys: Send, End, VAD (User Customizable), Camera (User Customizable), 2 x Volume/Zoom
• Trackpad – Located on front face of device, ESC Key to the right, Menu to the left
• Intuitive icons and menus

Voice Input & Output

• Integrated speaker and microphone
• Hands-free headset capable
• Bluetooth headset capable
• Integrated Hands-Free Speakerphone
• Rating for hearing aids (PDF): M3, T3 (in cellular bands only)

Media Player

• Video format support: XviD partially supported, H.263, H.264, WMV3, MPEG4, Sorenson Spark & On2 VP6 (Flash support)
• Audio format support: .3gp, MP3, WMA9 (.wma/.asf), WMA9 Pro / WMA 10, MIDI, AMR-NB, Professional AAC/AAC+/eAAC+
• Learn more about the BlackBerry smartphone media player
• Learn more about BlackBerry® Media Sync

Ringtones & Notifications

• Tone, vibrate, on-screen or LED indicator
• Notification options are user configurable
• 32 Polyphonic Ringtones – MIDI, SP-MDI, MP3, WAV
• Learn more about ringtones

Bluetooth

• Bluetooth® v2.1
• Mono/Stereo Headset
• Handsfree
• Serial Port Profile
• Bluetooth Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP)
• Bluetooth SIM Access Profile supported
• Learn more about Bluetooth

Security

• Password protection
• Screen lock
• Sleep mode
• Optional support for S/MIME
• Learn more about BlackBerry security

Wi-Fi

• 802.11 b/g
• UMA support
• Wi-Fi Alliance Certifications: WPA, WPA2, WMM, WMM Power Save, Wi-Fi Protected Setup, Cisco CCX
• Learn more about Wi-Fi

Wireless Networks

• 3G (HSDPA) compatible
• UMTS: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz (Bands 1,2,5/6), 2100/1700/900 MHz (Bands 1,4,8)
• GSM: 1900/1800/900/850 MHz
• Quad-band support: GSM 850; GSM
• Learn more about wireless networks

Source : Blackberry website

Ronen over at BerryReview spotted the new NY Times BlackBerry application is now available for download for free from their site. Previously the NY Times had only offered a home screen launcher which led to their web site. The new application allows for offline reading, but sadly it’s only supported on the BlackBerry Tour, Storm 1, Bold, and Curve 8900. Go check it out

Via:crackberry

As anticapated the balckberry bold 9700 is now available to all att for $199.99 with a 2-year contract and a $100 mail and rebate go check it out.

For all of you att customers who are hating on those tmo folk well you are in luck cause att is now shipping out there bold 9700 and let me tell you it is one of the best blackberry from my opinion so if you can upgrade or just can’t wait go pick it up.

Seems the good folks over at Boy Genius have caught shot of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is its AT&T clothing. Said to be already available to business customers, stores have received stock of the handset already. Destined for a November 22nd release, itll be interesting to see if a few people are able to grab one early. The AT&T 9700 sports the same specs as its Rogers branded sibling. Looks like this one is making the rounds. With several options to choose from, what service will you pick?

For the Avid Berry os updater, AT&T has released their os 5.0.0.296 for the Bold 9700. Seems that os comes in behind Rogers 5.0.0.321 and T-Mobiles 5.0.0.344. RIM itself is at 5.0.0.351 with the 9700 os, so I’m not exactly sure what the AT&T version will bring.

Having been on sale in other countries for almost two weeks, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 has finally made it to American soil. Now available from T-Mobile, the Bold 9700 is the first BlackBerry to have AWS 3G. Other features include a HVGA+ display, 3.2 megapixel camera, optical trackpad, and support for HotSpot @Home and Visual Voicemail, but anyone keeping tabs on Waterloo’s latest surely knows those specs by now. So how much will the Bold 9700 set you back? $199.99 on a 2-year contract (Even More) or $449.99 outright via Even More Plus with the option to finance the device at $22 per month over 20 months

The much hyped and anticipated BlackBerry Bold 9700 is now available for purchase from T-Mobile USA, albeit with the wrong device shown on the site. It’s been a long wait, but we have finally made it. Ringing up at $199.99 on contract (even more) and $449.99 out right (even more plus) this is the in the running to be the most coveted device of 2009. Both purchase options give you the choice of splitting the price into monthly payments which will undoubtedly ease the burden on subscribers pockets. Both require an initial down payment will an additional 3 monthly payments on contract pricing, and a stretch of 20 payments on prepay.  I foresee shortages on this one, so strike while the berry is new.

Update: T-Mobile has updated their website to reflect the proper image of the Bold 9700.

For all of you guys who can’t wait to get the bold on t-mobile then wallmart is giving away a $100.00 gift card when you buy a new blackberry there is a catch. You get your gift card in 4 to 6 weeks in the mail basiclly you get your $100 back. I say its worth it you are really paying $99 instead of $199 so go check it out.

Aparentemente , las tiendas ATT ya recibieron las formas para ordenar para equipos que venderan en navidades….y que aparecio???? el 9700!!!! Los precios que aparecen en el listado es el precio que ATT le paga por 4 a 5 unidades a RIM, lo que significa que ATT le paga mas o menos 100.00 por unidad.

Si ATT recibio las formas para ordenar de el 9700, ellos podrian lanzar el 9700 el mismo dia en que T-Mobile lo lanzara que seria en NOV 16…..el proximo lunes?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Escuche que es normal que las tiendas al detal reciban nuevos equipos tan tarde como el mismo dia de lanzamiento. El 16 seria una fecha factible, pero no sabremos hasta el lunes.

Good news!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace Out!!!!!

Anyone looking for the hottest T-Mobile-powered BlackBerry experience that money can buy need only wait a few dozen hours now, because the carrier has just revealed that it’ll be launching the latest rendition of the Bold — the 9700 — on Monday, November 16 for $200 on contract. Your hard-earned cash reels in T-Mobile’s very first 3G BlackBerry underpinned by a 3.2 megapixel camera and 480 x 360 display, beating AT&T’s launch by a solid six days. Enjoy, folks.

Early today I saw an article about rumored pricing on the bold 9700 for tmobile. Rumor is that it might be
• $199.99 with a new 2 year agreement • $449.99 with no contract, or an installment plan of 20 $22.50 monthly payments on the “Even More Plus Plan”
So I’m thinking most of you would get it with the 2 year plan but if not some of you guys can wait for the rumored white bold for att. I willb keep you posted on this.

RIM’s Blackberry Bold 9700 is an attractive mobile phone with subtle white colored casing and a large color screen complete with a full QWERTY keyboard. Blackberry 9700 Bold is a business-oriented smart phone which offers a complete email solution and other good lineaments.

Blackberry 9700 Bold

1. You can send and receive email directly plus the phone supports instant messages service that allows the users to communicate with their contacts. You can send, receive, forward & edit text messaging and picture multimedia messages by using this 3G smart phone. Blackberry Bold 9700
2. Besides, the phone is integrating a document viewer feature that supports word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF file formats. Blackberry OS; 5.0 and 624 MHz processor are another noticeable features of the Blackberry Bold 9700. Here you can find other practicable features of the phone which I have described below.

At a Glimpse:

• Its screen is good at 2.44 inches TFT type with premium screen clarity and a 480 x 320 pixel screen resolution that displays 65k colors. The touch-sensitive optical trackpad is also loaded.
• It’s having good 256MB of flash memory and an expandable up to 8GB memory card slot option is also available. Additionally, it does have 2 GB card. A rechargeable battery will provide approximately 6 hours of talk time and around 408 hours of standby time.
• The Blackberry Bold 9700 is incorporated with fabulous 3.15 mega pixels camera with 2048×1536 pixels resolution, autofocus, LED flash, image stabilization and many other video-recording capabilities.
• You will never lost your way as this advanced 3G smart phone offers a built-in global positioning system supported by A-GPS with Blackberry maps that provides the users step by step directions to their destination.
• The phone is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack. Users will never get bored as there is media player that supports many good music formats. It does have downloadable polyphonic and MP3 ringtones.

This 3G HSDPA mobile phone is furnished with GPRS, EDGE technologies and WLAN Wi-Fi plus a USB and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP are also merged.  HTML browser delivers the high-speed browsing facility to its users. The phone embeds a quad band technology that covers GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900 networks with HSDPA 850/1900/2100.

The Blackberry 9700 Bold mobile phone is available on networks : Blackberry 9700 Orange and Blackberry 9700 Vodafone.

Got my hands on the new Telus Blackberry 9700 on the new HSPA+. All I can say is the device is great but the speeds on the new network suck! I spent all day doing speed tests and comparing the HSPA+ speeds to a Telus Blackberry 8830 on the CDMA network. What I found is that the CDMA phone beats the HSPA+ phone on most speed tests I run. Also the coverage of the phone is not great. Took the phone to a lake and the CDMA phone had one bar and the HSPA+ phone had no single.

I spent two hours on the phone with Telus which was telling me that there is no issues with the network  and that the speed tests that I was running are not accurate.  All I was doing is having a CDMA phone and a HSPA+ phone running beside each other and racing them on page loads. Also did a couple of speed tests at mobilespeedtest.com. Basically the Telus guy was telling me that the network is faster but you won’t see the speed until you use apps like Telus TV and Telus Radio. Which is silly but all in all this was a Telus paid support tech. Basically the tech said there is no fault with the network or the provisioning of the phone.

If you are thinking of switching to the new Telus Network, I would suggest to hold off for a bit. I know the network has only been released to the public for 5 days, but still you would think the network speeds would be faster.

Here are some lousy pictures of the device…

I recently messed up my Blackberry Bold 9000 while trying to install a screen on it (something i’ll explain later), but it was good timing, because it allowed me to pick up a Bold 9700.

After a few days of playing around with it, I’m ready to post my little review about it. I’m not going to post about whats been already out there already, but I will let you know what I like and dislike about the new Bold. Lets dive right in with the bad.

Dislikes:

[Trackpad feeling cheap]
This list wont be long at all. The first thing I noticed is the trackpad feels a little flimsy, or cheaply made. Sometimes when I use it, it snaps or cracks. I havent figured out why it does this yet, because its hard to tell when it will do this. Its nothing big, but when it does snap, it makes you wonder whats going on. Note: the picture depicting the trackpad is that of an 8520. I couldnt find one of the Bold.

[Removal of Shortcuts]
I like many blackberry users out there, use shortcuts to help navigate. I’ve been using shortcuts since the Blackberry 950. It was an easy way for me to get to links instead of fumbling over the trackball, and it allows me to unclutter my home screen by hiding the icons I don’t need. I keep the ones I have to navigate with the trackball on screen. Over the years, there’s been shortcuts that have been removed. The first was [C]ompose. It took a while to get used to not having that shortcut, but was easily fixed by going to the [A]ddress book to first, choosing the contacting, and composing from there. With the Bold 9000 came the removal of the ala[r]m shortcut. Granted it was just moved into the clock, but I wanted to be able to press R from the home screen to set my alarm, not go into the clock app, then pressing r. Now, with the Bold 9700, they took out Pro[f]ile. I now have to keep the icon on screen and navigate to it in order to adjust my profile. I can still hold down # to go in and out of vibrate, but sometimes I want silent. I still find myself pressing F from time to time. Soon we will learn to live with out it…..

or do we ?

It has just come to my attention an app called Super QWERTY::

http://crackberry.com/super-qwerty-one-key-access-all-applications

It looks like the app allows you to assign new shortcuts. I have yet to try it, but I see potential for this puppy. First thing I’m going to do is to bring back the Pro[f]ile shortcut. I’ll report back on what I think of the app later when I actually get it and play around with it.

Likes:

[Vibrating and ringing at the same time]
Gone are the days where your Blackberry would vibrate a few times first before sounding off and ringing. Gone are the days where you would have to download a separate program in order to make your Blackberry vibrate AND ring at the same time. Gone are those days. Now, with 5.0, we welcome the days where this comes as an option while updating/editing a profile.

[Camera]
The new 3.2mp camera is a great improvement from the one the 9000 had. Not much to say about it except it’s much much better.

That’s all I have for now. I’ll play around with the phone some more, and I’ll come back and report anything else I don’t like about the phone.

-Mike

As the popular brand Blackberry Mobile has been always in news for its business oriented mobile phones so traditionally BlackBerry Bold 9700 is one of its latest phone. It has been made powerful by BlackBerry® 5 Operating System and many business and other features. Let’s talk about the features and specifications it brings along with.

Blackberry 9700 Bold

Looks

BlackBerry 9700 Bold is a traditional non touchscreen smartphone so many of us have been waiting for. It is a solid bar design 3G smartphone with subtle black coloured casing. Integrating 120 grams weight, it measures 109 x 60 x 14 mm. The phone comprises 2.6 inches TFT screen that can display 65,000 colours with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels. There is no touchscreen instead it has got full QWERTY keyboard and Touch Sensitive Trackball Navigation control to scroll through menus & features.

Blackberry 9700 vs Blackberry 9000 Bold

Specifications

The 3.1 megapixel camera has been offered to the device which comes supported by LED Flash, Auto Focus, Image Stabiliser, Camera Settings and video recording capabilities. Multiple messaging services known as Text Messaging, Multimedia Messaging, Instant Messaging and Email are the communication facilities provided by this smartphone.

256 of internal storage, 2GB included and a hot swappable microSD card slot supporting up to 16 GB provide you great versatility in order of music files and other kind of storage management. For web browsing purpose, users can opt HTML browser and BlackBerry Bold 9700 is bestowed with GPS navigation system as well with A-GPS support

The smartphone also offers document viewing capabilities that will enable you to view documents in formats including Microsoft word, PowerPoint, Excel & PDF. 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE connectivity technologies. As well as wireless Bluetooth and USB cabled connection can be used for data transferring data while using the phone. MP3, WMA & AAC+ music files and DivX/WMV/XviD/3gp video files are acceptable via the music player and video player. Apart from these, not to forget the battery backup of the phone that allows approximately 5 hours talk time and 500 Hours standby time.