BlackBerry Bold 9930

The word bold is probably the best word to describe the line of phones BlackBerry have released under this name as RIM have definitely taken the task of producing some great phones. This time around with the BlackBerry Bold 9930, RIM has not come up with a completely new set but has taken some ideas from previous devices that have graced the smartphone industry.

Design
Mention the BlackBerry Bold to anyone and what comes to mind is the phone appearing a bit rounded and thick but this phone is elegant to the core. Although there is the same QWERTY keyboard but the trackball is now replaced by an optical trackpad. The trackpad has capacitive buttons sitting on its sides. The buttons are separated from the keyboard by a curving piece of chrome. At just 10.55mm thick this is definitely much different from the previous Bold models as it’s now leaning towards class rather than the chubbiness it was known for. On the top of the phone you will find the lock button while on the left is where the standard audio jack and micro-USB port are located. Meanwhile, on the right of the BlackBerry Bold 9930 are the other buttons like the volume rocker which also comes with a mute button in between while the trademark Convenience Key which is a little further down. As always, it turns on the 5MP camera by default. However, we are disappointed to find out that the camera does not come with auto-focus support but rather what we get is a fixed focused one. The keyboard is very inviting and you would definitely want to test the backlit keyboard the moment you set your eyes upon it. It’s one of the best physical keyboards out there because of its wider and curved keys that making typing heavenly. The touchscreen that comes with the BlackBerry Bold 9930 is now bigger with a 2.8 inch VGA display. This means web browsing feels smoother than before.

Features
Although the CPU specs are the same as its siblings in Torch, but it does a fantastic job. Everything and anything you do work super smooth and fast. The BlackBerry Bold 9930 comes with a 1.2GHz processor which is absolutely mind blowing for this phone, but not awesome when compared to other phones in the market. It comes with a 768MB RAM as well to give better performance.

The BlackBerry OS 7 sadly isn’t the best out there as when compared with previous versions, it’s really nothing refreshingly new.  The fact that everything is faster given the CPU speed is a good thing but the OS when compared with Android is still a bit out of date. RIM needs to start somewhere and the menu driven system could be the way to move forward with their OS.  As always, with the email app, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 as every other BlackBerry phone does not fail to impress with its push email support. There is not much to say about the organizer apps on this phone as there are not very different from before. The Calendar app allows stuff to be brought in from Gmail as well as Facebook. Adding to that, these appointments have their own color codes making them easier to differentiate.  The Clock app allows for alarms to be set from within it and at the same time also allows us to use the stopwatch and timer from there itself. What’s cool is the bedside mode, the clock is constantly displayed and at the same time all incoming calls and messages don’t pop up until you ‘wake up’. Productivity is the name of the game with this OS, it’s however still lacking in terms of style.

The BlackBerry Bold 9930 is given a 2.8 inch LCD screen which is not big enough by present standards but at least it’s a tat bigger than previous BlackBerry Bold models. Besides, it now has an increased resolution of 640 x 480 which turns up to 287dpi once you do the math. It is a decent display with great color reproduction and rather astounding viewing angles. It’s also bright enough to withstand the might of the sun.

With the BlackBerry Bold 9930, the camera is split from the flash as the 5MP sensor is on the upper-right of the phone while the LED flash is on the upper-left side. Therefore, this resulted in pictures with shadows on the right-edge for any pictures from a close-range. But then again, this is an EDoF sensor, which means, macro shots are something you want to avoid as it’s impossible to get good shots with that sensor. However, pictures taken from a suitable range are not too shabby although a bit washed out. Colors sadly are muted while the balance is also leaning towards the warm side. Meanwhile, video can be captured at 720p. Recordings were sharp although the jiggle distortion was there to see. Yet again, RIM doesn’t give you a front facing camera, which means bad news for couples who want to video chat.

Web browsing seems to be taken to a new level by the recent array of phones released by RIM. The same applies to BlackBerry Bold 9930, the WebKit based web browser that comes with this phone has been remade to provide much faster web browsing and the CPU definitely chips in too. You can browse the web page even without it loaded completely which gives you that millisecond advantage over your friends.  Flash support which would have been a great addition is still missing but overall the phone gives you such a responsive feel you tend to forget all that.

The performance of this phone is also put to test and we were happy with the call quality as voices were clear on either end. The speakerphone also performed well, so there was not many complains there. Signal strength was also impressive. The 1230 mAh battery may not be competing for any honors in its department but it’s more than enough for the BlackBerry Bold 9930. With constant use, we were able to go one day with some charge still left on the phone.

Pros and Cons
The keyboard on the BlackBerry Bold 9930 is just awesome. Its CPU makes it super responsive giving you a great web browsing experience too.

The OS just like many other BlackBerry phones still needs some work. Photo quality could have been better too.

Conclusion
RIM is definitely trying to recapture market share with the recent array of phones it has released. The BlackBerry Bold 9930 will help achieve that to some extent.