Right, a pretty overdue Blackberry Bold review which has been probably done to death but I'm finally comfortable in writing a review after using it for several weeks and given time for problems to crop up.
I'll keep it more based on personal experience rather than the Bold's features which have been overdone already.
Pros: * Amazing screen, crystal clear and probably the best screen on a mobile phone at this point in time
* A lot more responsive with the faster processor than the Curve and the extra memory seems to help with running more programs at once (especially IM applications which hung constantly on my Curve).
* Camera is clearer than the Curve although technically the same.
* Rock stable (see proviso in Cons later) and has not crashed for more than 2 weeks
* Great connectivity options with Wifi, 3G, EDGE and GPRS.
* Call quality has improved on the Curve
* Speaker quality is also decent now so you can actually listen to music without headphones (not great but hey, sometimes you just want some background music and not have crappy tinny sound coming out).
* Price has dropped from initial estimates during the offer period it was in the low RM2000s and now it's in RM2499 from Celcom though I believe there are some discounts available for new accounts. Makes it more compelling to go for the Bold instead of the initial estimate of RM2800.
* Looks extremely sexy
* Updating the OS took a lot shorter (maybe about 15 minutes instead of the half or hour or more on the Curve).
* In my opinion the best Blackberry out at the moment
Cons: * The OS (version 4.6.0.126) is pretty flaky out of the box which crashed repeatedly, had immense battery issues (certain days it would die within one afternoon), and constant 'hangs'. This OS is shipped by default in both Celcom and Maxis Bolds. This to me was a very bad thing as it gave people a bad impression of the Bold especially since it's only a minority of users who know how to upgrade their BB OSes. Staff from the telcos also seemed to be generally oblivious to this. Upgrading to the current 162 build (which is not even available from Celcom/Maxis' website but a third party site (crackberry.com) solved all these issues.
* Battery life is slightly worse than the Curve with 3G on. On light use, with 3G on it can last about 2 days without charge but on regular use it would fall flat in about a day or so. It will definitely last the day and it's still decent considering the power packed in the device. Running the media player is also extremely battery consuming.
* Browsing experience has improved with better support in displaying websites in its intended nature but still sluggish in loading as compared to the Iphone despite the 3G speed. Still decent enough for general usage but it's not too fun to use.
* Media functions have improved but still not as intuitive as the Iphone's. Also codec support is still not all-encompassing with divx files being a hit or miss. In most cases you would still need to do encoding conversions. Processor still not powerful enough for full sized DivX/Xvid videos. This may be just a hardware limitation on phones in general at this point in time rather than a flaw.
* Default Headset quality was poor with a tinny sound on music though it was comfortable on the ears.
* Youtube does NOT work on Celcom's network. Unsure about Maxis' network but unless you are going through wifi, Youtube is confirmed as non-working. Celcom is working on a resolution and they are not the only telco experiencing this problem. This is a Network issue rather than a Bold problem but really disappointed me as I really wanted to youtube while I was waiting for things.
* For some reason I didn't really like the leather at the back as I was also afraid of scratching it with my fingernails and kinda became sticky with my sweaty hands a lot faster ;P Minor quibble.
ConclusionsThe Bold is a gorgeous device and I absolutely love it. However if you were looking for a lifestyle device, then the phone will probably disappoint in this regard when compared to the IPhone though it has done a decent job at it.
It has covered all the previous weaknesses of the Curve and improved on it but there is still room for improvement on its Media functions.
Also the Telcos should be more proactive about updating their OS versions on their phones or at least inform people of this option. People expect their phones to work out of the box and mind you that most people will not update their OS versions so their experience is impaired on what is essentially a great phone.
Source:
http://www.soleenstrategies.com/myblackberryworld/ (in which i co-author)
