There’s no question that Blackberry mobiles phones are among the very best smartphones, and with the Blackberry Bold 9700 (the successor to the 9700, acclaimed in mobile phone reviews), they’ve made some significant improvements.
It’s much sleeker than its parent, and that’s not a bad thing. It has kept some aspects from the 9700, but it’s smaller, fits a little more easily in the hand, and is decidedly lighter.
The QWERTY keyboard is very similar to other Bolds, but then there’s little that could have been done to make it better. This is a little smaller, but still an absolute pleasure to use, and only likely to be problematic for those with large fingers.
Handset maker RIM has brought the trackpad that has been used elsewhere to the Bold 9700, unlike the trackball of previous models. It is much superior for navigating, giving the user a much better and smoother experience.
Although the screen is a little larger than the 9700, the increase is only slight – indeed, barely noticeable – and smaller than many competitors. The processor is snappy, utilising the Blackberry 5.0 OS, so browsing is a pleasure, with none of the lag associated with older models.
The camera is much improved, and the 3.2 megapixels offer very crisp pictures, although the Bold 9700 only has 2x digital zoom, instead of the previous 3x, but it’s hard to tell the difference.
Blackberry mobiles phones have never been ones to have all the latest bells and whistles. But they do what they do very well, and this is one of the best yet.
