By Danny Dumas - Categories: Phones, Reviews and First Looks
After months of online speculation, rumor and badly photoshopped innuendo, Research in Motion announced its new BlackBerry Bold today.
RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis stopped by the Wired offices last week and gave us some one-on-one time with an early version of the Bold. It’s, well, kind of awesome. I’m by no means a BlackBerry fanboy, but the Bold has some impressive features.
First off the big news:
- HSDPA: We tried it out in G-Lab HQ and were able to load several graphic-heavy sites quickly with the BlackBerry Bold’s fast 3G data access. A few hiccups occurred when pulling up Wired.com’s front page, but keep in mind this was also a beta unit. Mike assured us they’re still ironing out all the bugs and final units would not have any issues.
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/ compatibility: No n spec, but that’s no biggie. Having nearly unrestricted Wi-Fi access will make this BlackBerry even more useful.
- Half-VGA, 480 x 320 pixel screen: The screen itself is gorgeous, bright and colorful. We watched the seizure-inducing trailer for Speed Racer and it was gorgeous and glitch-free. Too bad we can’t say the same for Speed Racer itself.
- Built-in GPS: Paired with location-based services plus BlackBerry Maps, you’ll also be able to use it while making a phone call. Try that while driving and see if you can avoid crashing your car.
The external speaker is loud, clear and excellent for handsfree use. It’s also passable as an impromptu speaker for playing music or movies. Comparatively, it’s about as powerful as the speakers on an average laptop. Plus there’s now a requisite 3.5mm headset jack so you can plug in standard headphones.
The keys have been reconfigured slightly from previous BlackBerry iterations. Mike pointed out that they now have metal dividers resembling the shape and feel of guitar frets, making touch-typing easier. Interesting, considering most CrackBerry heads I know can already touch-type without a second thought.
The BlackBerry Bold is going to ship preloaded with 1 GB of memory, a 2-MP digicam with a built-in "flash" LED light, and media-management software that can sync with iTunes. For additional storage, you can also plug in a microSD card; the Bold supports cards up to 16GB in capacity. The back panels are removable and will come available in a variety of colors.
While the Bold is not the touchscreen-enabled iPhone killer that has been rumored for the last nine months or so, from what we saw, it’s shaping up to be a solid device with some very cool, forward-thinking features.
The Gadget Lab will get the first working models as soon as they are ready — just before the projected launch date in late June. We’ll have the review up for y’all around then.
(Photos by Jim Merithew / Wired.com)
Hit the jump for more details from the press release.
RIM Introduces the BlackBerry Bold Smartphone
Top of the line BlackBerry smartphone with premium design and unprecedented performance and functionality; targeted at business professionals and power users.
Waterloo, ON – For customers seeking a smartphone that makes a bold statement, Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today introduced the enviable BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphone. Crafted from premium materials, inside and out, that radiate elegance with a dramatic presence, the BlackBerry Bold is designed to give users unprecedented performance and functionality in an intuitive BlackBerry® smartphone. It is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support HSDPA high-speed cellular networks and comes with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi®, as well as a rich set of multimedia capabilities. From its lustrous black finish, satin plated frame and leather-like backing, to its stunning display, to its newly designed and highly refined full-QWERTY* keyboard, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone is a symbol of accomplishment and aspiration.
SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s support for HSDPA and enterprise-grade Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g) are powered by a next-generation 624 MHz mobile processor and 128MB Flash memory that make short work of downloading email attachments, streaming video or rendering web pages. The BlackBerry Bold also comes with 1GB of on-board memory storage and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot**, conveniently accessible from a side door. It comes with the renowned BlackBerry productivity applications, including phone, email, messaging, organizer and browser, and works with thousands of mobile business and lifestyle applications, making it easier than ever to stay connected, productive and entertained. With this new smartphone, users can even talk on the phone while sending and receiving email or accessing the web, and download Word, Excel or PowerPoint files and edit them directly on the handset using the preloaded DataViz® Documents to Go® suite.STUNNING DISPLAY
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with the most vivid and bold display ever introduced on a BlackBerry smartphone. Its color LCD is fused to the undersurface of the lens, making images leap out with stunning definition and clarity. Pictures are vibrant and razor sharp, while videos play smoothly and web pages, documents, presentations and messages snap with exceptional quality and contrast.DESKTOP-STYLE WEB PAGES
With its newly enhanced, high performance browser and high-resolution, ultra-bright display, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone gives users an on-the-go web browsing experience with desktop-style depiction. The trackball mimics a mouse, making it easy to navigate sites in "Page View" or "Column View" or to zoom in on specific parts of a web page, while various emulation settings allow users to choose between the full desktop-style HTML content and layout or the mobile version. Attachments can also now be downloaded from within the browser and there is support for watching streaming videos (RTSP – real-time streaming protocol).RICH MULTIMEDIA
While it is designed to meet the extensive requirements of the business professional during the day, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone also caters to the consumer side of the business person during evenings and weekends. It features a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capability, built-in flash and 5x digital zoom. The enhanced media player can display pictures and slideshows quickly, play movies smoothly in full screen mode, and manage an entire music collection. Audio can be played over the handset’s dual speakers in rich, stereo sound, and when using wired headphones or external speakers, the media player gives the user an equalizer with 11 preset filters – like "Lounge", "Jazz" and "Hip Hop" – that boost or soften audio ranges to create the perfect ambiance.For managing music and video, the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software includes Roxio® Media Manager for BlackBerry® as well as Roxio Photosuite® 9 LE, which makes it easy to enhance pictures and create photo albums on the computer. For users that manage their collection with iTunes®, the new BlackBerry® Media Sync® application provides a simple way to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone. Support for high-speed USB allows all files to be transferred to the smartphone as fast as 10 MB/sec.
POWERFUL WI-FI & GPS
For even broader high-speed network coverage, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone supports the 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi standards, ideal for use in enterprise or campus wireless LAN deployments, over Wi-Fi hotspots and on wireless home networks. A new "Push Button Setup" is included, making it faster for users to sign on to protected wireless networks.Through its integrated GPS, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone can pinpoint its exact location, supporting applications like BlackBerry® Maps and other location-based applications or services. With its improved rendering capabilities, faster download speeds and ability to support simultaneous voice and data, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone even allows users to navigate while on a call.
FIRST CLASS PHONE
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone features a new acoustic design that increases the size of the phone’s audio sweet spot, improving listening quality and clarity. It also comes with numerous premium phone features including Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), Bluetooth® 2.0, with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including car kits that adhere to the Bluetooth Remote SIM Access Profile) and other Bluetooth peripherals. It is a quad-band handset that supports global roaming*** and features dedicated ’send’, ‘end’, and ‘mute’ keys, smart dialing, speed dialing, conference calling and call forwarding. It also features noise cancellation technology that offsets background noise, a powerful speaker phone and support for polyphonic, mp3 and MIDI ring tones.ROBUST EMAIL & MESSAGING
Like all BlackBerry smartphones, the BlackBerry Bold gives users the industry’s leading mobile messaging solution. It works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, which enables advanced security and IT administration within IBM® Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® environments, as well as BlackBerry® Professional Software for small businesses. It also works with BlackBerry® Internet Service, which gives users access to up to 10 work or personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts), and the BlackBerry® Unite! software for SOHO and home users.CONVENIENT ACCESSORIES
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with a variety of accessories including a stereo headset, travel charger, carrying case or sleeve and USB cable. The removable / rechargeable 1500 mHh battery provides multi-hour usage with a target GSM talk time of approximately 5 hours and 13 days of standby. Additional accessories for BlackBerry smartphones, including leather holsters and totes, charging pods, premium earphones, the BlackBerry® Remote Stereo Gateway and Bluetooth headsets, are available through retail outlets or online at: www.shopblackberry.com.AVAILABILITY
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone (model number: 9000) is scheduled be available from wireless carriers around the world beginning this summer.
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