BlackBerry Bold official, beats iPhone to 3G
updated 12:00 am EDT, Mon May 12, 2008
BlackBerry Bold
Research in Motion tonight revealed the BlackBerry Bold, the next generation of its full-size smartphones. The black-and-chrome device is RIM's first to support 3G on GSM networks with HSDPA access, and is also the first to build in a higher-resolution display: at 480x320, the screen is as sharp as today's iPhone. The Bold's interface undergoes an overhaul to match and comes with a new high-contrast "strip" interface as well as a much more powerful web browser, which adds CSS and Javascript for more complex sites as well as built-in streaming video support.
Inside, the Bold is also first among BlackBerries to include both GPS and Wi-Fi in the same device, replacing the need to choose between models to get full navigation as well as short-range, high-speed Internet access. A 2-megapixel camera and an externally accessible microSD card slot carry over from earlier phones, but the Bold is the first to include sizable storage of its own with 1GB of permanent flash memory.
Owners also have an easier way of loading music and other content to the phone through Media Sync, a new app that auto-loads content from iTunes to the Bold's flash memory.
RIM expects the phone (also known as the BlackBerry 9000) to launch worldwide but is expected to make it available first for AT&T, followed by Vodafone and other international carriers. Rogers in the phone maker's home country of Canada is also believed to be offering the Bold when it goes on sale during the summer. A version with 1,700MHz support should also appear to provide the extra speed over T-Mobile's new 3G network. Pricing is expected to hover between $300 and $500 depending on contract lengths.
Sheesh
05/12, 12:56am reply
Oh Look, we beat the iPhone to 3G...but we couldn't come up with a design that doesn't try to look like an iPhone.
Roehlstation
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Bingo
05/12, 01:26am reply
Yep, blackberry wins on being first,...... er well.....
The look is a copy, the resolution is a copy the iFund is a copy,
the keys are.... well.... old. The interface is .... well..... old, The screen is....well....smaller, But Blackberry is .... first to 3G.
Yep, blackberry, .... innovating , er,...... never mind.
:-)
en
Eldernorm
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2007
Rubbish!!
05/12, 01:45am reply
^I notice some Jeremy Clarkson in your reply. Hahah.
I agree with almost everything you said. The only redeeming quality of this piece of kit is that it Has 3G. Which drains battery power, not that quick because the browser is nowhere near as refined as Safari Mobile and harder to navigate with that annoying trackball.
Also, the higher density screen means text looks really small. Sure it makes everything look sharp, but the font smoothing is not as nice as on the iPhone. Which means text is harder to read because they are smaller, and rougher.
Ryan1524
Senior User
Joined: Apr 2003
blackberry 3G since 2006
05/12, 01:58am reply
hate to break it to you guys, but BlackBerry has had 3G since 2006: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/top/blackberry-8707v-first-blackberry-with-builtin-3g-modem-162724.php
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
beats iPhone to 3G?
05/12, 02:06am reply
If it's not going to launch until the summer, how is that beating the iPhone to 3G?
elroth
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2006
What does it beat?
05/12, 05:22am reply
I agree with elroth. I was expecting to read that it is available immediately. Unless it's going to launch in around a month, it may not beat Apple at all. I think you left off the question mark at the end of your headline.
loudpedal
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 1999
$500?!?
05/12, 08:21am reply
$500?!? Fully subsidized? That's gotta be, like, the most expensive phone ever! And it doesn't run Windows CE, which makes it not a very good phone for business.
jimothy
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2000
3G since 2006? Not quite
05/12, 08:37am reply
If you're talking about 3G on any level, that's not entirely true. EVDO is 3G, but that's CDMA, and UMTS doesn't really count. This is the first with HSDPA, so it's "real" 3G on GSM.
Commodus
Mac Elite
Joined: Feb 2002
please...
05/12, 08:55am reply
First, the pricing is questionable, jimothy, and depending on contract length. So $500 may be the unsubsidized amount for all you know (oh, and the iPhone was subsidized at $700, so what's your point).
Second, why don't you all just get a life. You complain that all I do is post c*** and all, but what do we read everytime someone announces a new phone? It's fugly. It's not as easy to use or good looking as an iPhone. It's not innovative. Say ol' c***, every time.
MacNN might as well just copy the posts from one of these threads and paste them at the end of every new phone story to save you the carpal-tunnel from having to re-write it each time.
We get it. It's not an iPhone. Only Apple-designed products are any good.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Re: rubbish
05/12, 08:57am reply
Also, the higher density screen means text looks really small. Sure it makes everything look sharp, but the font smoothing is not as nice as on the iPhone. Which means text is harder to read because they are smaller, and rougher.
Amazing, a new phone not yet released, the first of its model to use the higher resolution screen, and you already know that the font smoothing isn't as nice and the text will be really small. Can you give us insight as to how you know this to be true?
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001