Ninjas are the secret. Props to Boy Genius, who's had a BlackBerry Bold for a month now and just posted a lengthy review over on BGR. His lead paragraph declares the Bold 9000 the "BlackBerry communities [sic] iPhone," and with good reason. While the forthcoming Thunder will catch some eyes as the first touchscreen BlackBerry, the Bold is the one CrackBerry addicts have been jonesing for since it leaked last Fall.
So what does BGR think of the new hardware, new software, and new features found on BB9K? How about a few choice quotes to whet your appetite for the full review? Meantime I'll re-work my own sources (in vain, I'm sure ...) for an early Bold review unit of my own:
- "We said this before, but this really is the screen to beat. It might be
a little too ?contrasty? at times, if you know what we mean, but
overall, it steals the show. It is the most vibrant, color-rich, sharp
screen we've ever seen on a mobile device." - "One major problem with the screen, though? It, like the chrome border
around the device, is made of cheap plastic and scratches incredibly
easily." - "Think of the 9000's keyboard as a cross between the 8800 and the Pearl.
The keys are pretty large in size, a little squishy, but still firm ... The send, BlackBerry, back, and end keys are abnormally large, though.
It's not bad. It's just awkward for some reason. They all work fine,
but we can't figure why RIM decided to make them so big." - "Every BlackBerry users? dream lies in the Bold. 3G data, GPS, and Wi-Fi
make this a hit. Unless you?re really trying not to be found, there's a
good chance the Bold is going to help you stay connected no matter
where you are. A-GPS in the Bold works wonderfully, always getting a
fast and accurate lock on location whenever requested." - "We said this from the start? the 4.6 OS is 99% the same as your current
BlackBerry. Assuming you?re not using an 8700 or something like that.
Little things have been tweaked to make using the device a little
easier and quicker, but for the most part, you?re basically looking at
a skin on the top level." - "It is 100% faster than any other BlackBerry. We just can't understand why this thing isn't really optimized like it should be. Ah! Because the OS is from 1999. That's it."
- "The earlier versions had a browser nowhere near what we've been using,
and we have to say? it's pretty darn good! It's no iPhone, but it
definitely does the job."
Alright, lest I cop BGR's entire review, click on through and read it for yourself. As soon as I have one, I'll get you some video. Meantime all you BlackBerry fanatics can start reading the Internet again - there's some non-iPhone news for you to dive into.