Smartphone Reviews » Blackberry

Blackberry Bold 9000

VInayak — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:59:14 +0000

RIM’s Blackberry series of smartphones is almost legendary now. If the Curve redefined design and the Storm 2 redefined features, then Bold redefines attitude. Packed with full features of the Blackberry, a full QWERTY and a wide screen, the phone is an absolute blessing for Blackberry fans. The Bold might not be the greatest or the most stylish Blackberry phone but it is definitely the best phone from the RIM stable till date.

Verdict:

If you are an absolute fan of the Blackberry you should have had this in your pocket by now.

Design and Display:

Now the design was the issue of a minor battle within the team. The fans felt the design was fantastic, probably the best patent Blackberry design till date whereas the cynics felt the design was outdated when compared to the Storm or the Curve. Well, no verdict on the design then, let’s just get the facts right. The design is typically suit and tie, a bit bigger and wider than the curve but comfortable on the hands. Tucking the Bold into the pocket could be a tough bet though. The smartphone is best held in the hand. The screen is another huge improvement-it’s huge; it’s rich in texture and high on pixels. The all plastic body weighs 133 Gms and comes with a faux leather backside; all adding to the style.

The extra size is not wasted – the comfortable full QWERTY is no less than a blessing. The Blackberry OS plays wonderfully under the expert guidance of the trackball. The left side of the Bold features one of the loudspeaker grills, the 3.5mm standard audio jack, convenience key and the standard miniUSB port. The right side of the BlackBerry Bold has another loudspeaker grill, the volume rocker and the other convenience key.

Overall, the Bold looks very gifted and seems to be the perfect Blackberry till date.

Camera:

We didn’t expect an executive to go about clicking pictures of his colleagues in a meeting. So, a fairly basic 2 MP camera is provided with a LED flash. Additional features like white balance, color effects and image stabilization are supposed to make the camera more interesting but you simply can’t hold your own in a world of 8 MP camera smartphones. Nothing much to comment here.

Multimedia:

The music player is again fairly basic but is sufficiently equipped to handle everyday listening. The player comes with sort enabled by artist, album and genre and search through by gradual typing. Playlists and album art complete the set of features. The audio quality though is the surprise package and is definitely impressive keeping in mind the Blackberry background. And just when you have started enjoying the experience you realize: no equalizers!!

The video player is again excellent when compared to the peers at RIM. The high resolution screen is a nice way to watch movies, especially since MP4, WMV, XVid and DivX all are supported.

And when we found the image gallery impressive, we knew RIM finally had a R&D team in place.

Internet, messaging and Organizer:

Now we come to the interesting part. The Bold performs brilliantly in this section but wasn’t this expected? The Bold comes with every known type of connectivity, right from Bluetooth to 3G. The browser is vastly improved and the trackball navigation is simply fantastic. Use it to zoom, pan and navigate through web pages. The high resolution screen is aptly supported by the Blackberry OS and the browser in rendering the web pages in high resolution.

Email is almost synonymous with Blackberry. Do we need say more? For formality- the customizable email is probably the best in the business. However, the web mail is only supported for Blackberry Internet Service.

The Bold comes with excellent organizing skills. Integrated with the calendar and the office suite, the smartphone is Blackberry at its best.

Full Specifications:
Display: 2.6 inch TFT capacitive screen with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels and support for 65K colors.
Dimensions: 114 x 66 x 14 mm.
Weight: 133 Gms.
Camera: Main camera – 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, white balance, color effects and image stabilization.
Secondary camera – No.
Audio: Music player with support for MP3/eAAC+/WAV/WMA9.
Video: DivX/WMV/XviD/3gp.
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, IM, Push Email.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, microUSB, Wi-Fi.
Internet: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, HSUPA, Web Browser.
Games: Built-in and downloadable.
Memory: 128 MB internal with support for microSD unto 8 GB.
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh with talk time of 5 hours and standby of 310 hours.
Extras:
* Full QWERTY keypad.
* Photocall.
* Trackball Navigation.
* Organizer complete with Calendar, a task list, a memo pad, a voice recorder, a calculator.
* Built in speaker and 3.5 mm headphone jack.
* A-GPS with Blackberry Maps.
* Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF).

Blackberry Storm 2 9550

VInayak — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:32:44 +0000

As we all know, Storm, RIM’s attempt to launch the Blackberry in the touch screen world was not very successful. Though the phone was initially well received, eventual cropping up of bugs and glitches saw the phone lose its rankings briskly. The Storm, launched now in its second avatar is an attempt by RIM to rectify the flaws of the original. The Storm 2 does everything that the Storm did; only it does it much better. The phone still has to catch up with its contemporaries, i.e., Samsung Omnia 2 and or the HC Touch Pro2. But RIM’s attempt at snatching a piece of the touch screen pie is definitely commendable.

Verdict:

If you a die hard Blackberry addict, then this phone should be your calling. Otherwise, a little bit of patience will get you the soon to be released Omnia 2 or the Motorola Droid which definitely seem better.

Design and Display:

The Storm 2 sports the exact same looks as its predecessor, well, almost. Closer inspection reveals subtle changes which have been introduced-like the tinted chrome ring around the edges replacing the silver one and additional controls on the side. But overall, the package is almost the same. The storm 2 still weighs around 160 Gms and sports a large 3.2 inch touch screen display. For further information on the design, check out the review of the Blackberry Storm here.

So why a Storm 2 then? Let’s have a look at what has really changed. Newer controls have been added to the side – on the left, a customizable convenience key on the left and a volume rocker and a second shortcut key on the right. But all this is only eye candy. SurePress Technology, which manages the touch screen, has been revamped to make it sharper and more sensitive to touch. The mechanical suspension system has been replaced by an electric one which sends out an impulse to simulate a click. SureType sure does it for the Storm2.

Another advantage is now you can work just the way you do with the computer keyboard. Capitalization can be achieved by pressing the shift key and a letter key. Copy and paste is now multi touch supported and the interface is better animated featuring transitioning applications and menus.

Camera:

Improved though not new, the 3.2 MP Camera now features flash, geotagging capabilities, image stabilization, and the standard camera tools. The picture quality is better than expected for both still images and video as well.

A secondary video call camera is yet to find its place in the phone.

Multimedia:
The music and video player is pretty much the same as was featured in the Storm and comes with support for almost all file formats. The player features the standard functions like search, playlists and full screen mode for video.
Read the complete features here in the Blackberry Storm Review.

Internet, Email and GPS:

Connectivity has never been an issue with Blackberry phones and the Storm2 is no different. We also have Wi-Fi now. Yay! The only hitch being surfing the waves once you are launched. The Blackberry Browser could do with some up gradation.

Email support is just as legendary and supports all formats in addition to the Push email. As for messaging, in addition to the Blackberry Messenger, the phone also comes with preloaded clients IM for Windows Live, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, and AIM.

The GPS passed all our tests of finding locations and roads. The supporting app provides voice guided instructions in addition to the graphical display of the maps.

Full Specifications:
Display: 3.2 inch TFT capacitive screen with a resolution of 360 x 480 pixels and support for 65K colors.
Dimensions: 112.5 x 62.2 x 13.9 mm.
Weight: 155 Gms.
Camera: Main camera – 3.2 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, geotagging capabilities, image stabilization, and the standard camera tools.
Secondary camera – No.
Audio: Music player with support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, AMR.
Video: WMV, MP4, 3GP, H.264.
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging with preinstalled clients for popular messaging clients.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, miniUSB,Wi-Fi.
Internet: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Blackberry Browser.
Games: Built-in and downloadable.
Memory: 2GB internal with support for microSD unto 32 GB.
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh with talk time of 5.5 hours and standby of 270 hours.
Extras:
* Enhanced SureType technology.
* Virtual Full QWERTY keypad.
* Voice memo.
* Organizer complete with Calendar, a task list, a memo pad, a voice recorder, a calculator.
* DataWiz Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF).
* Threaded message view.
* Voice dial.
* Accelerometer.
* Direct links for popular social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
* Direct download of apps and songs from Blackberry Store.
* Visual voicemail.

Blackberry Tour 9630

VInayak — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:54:03 +0000

Every time you feel that RIM has launched its best blackberry, the engineers at RIM come up with a better product. The Blackberry Tour is probably the best Blackberry version launched till date with features that are bound to make a mark on the user. Like most of the Blackberry phones, the Tour comes with an overhauled and advanced Blackberry OS, full QWERTY keypad and a high resolution screen. The design is polished and more sophisticated than the earlier models, though still maintaining the “Blackberry Look”. So what makes the tour different than its predecessors, you ask? It’s the design and the added features. The phone is a delightful combination of two of RIM most popular phones, the Bold and the Curve. The lack f Wi-Fi maybe disheartening but now the phone comes with full 3G support and works with both GSM and CDMA networks.
This phone is a must for any serious business user who wants to be constantly on the go while still being in touch with his work.

The basics:

Design and display:
The Blackberry Tour comes in a breathtaking glossy black case with a body similar to that of the blackberry bold and the curves of that of Blackberry Curve. A comfortable grip and a curvy smooth body make the Tour absolutely delectable. The phone weighs 130gms, a bit smaller than the Bold but at the same time a tad heavier than the curve. Although packed in a shiny black exterior surrounded by a smooth aluminum rim, the phone surprisingly is not at al prone to fingerprints.
The wide 2.4 inch screen occupies the top of the phone with the familiar navigation buttons below: the trackball, the menu keys and the call buttons. Below the navigation keys is the full QWERTY keypad with a key feel that is quiet but comfortable and tactile. The overall design of the phone is cool on the eyes and comfortable for the fingers.

The other control buttons for sound, camera and the USB jack are placed at the side of the handset.
The navigation is smooth on the Blackberry OS which is at its best on the Tour.

Multimedia:
Camera:
The phone comes with decent multimedia capabilities which just about manage to meet the expectations of the users. But then the Blackberry is a business phone and not a multimedia phone, so no complains here. The decent 3.2 MP camera is capable of handling both still images and video and produces good quality results. Complete with auto focus, zoom and a great LED flash, the camera matches up or is rather better than some of the other phones in its category.
A video call camera though is found lacking but the other features mange to overshadow this lacking

Media player:
Transfer you favorite music, create play lists and enjoy your music on the phone with its integrated music player that supports all the popular formats. The media player can also play your favorite videos in almost every available format like MPEG4, DivX, XviD, H263 and WMV. The built in speaker is again a surprise from RIM which is capable of reproducing crisp and clear sounds.

The phone comes with the welcome 3.5 mm jack which can be used to plug in your favorite headphones or external speakers while playing media. The phone can be compatible with the Rhapsody internet music player from where tracks can be easily downloaded for an affordable fee.

Organizer and Email:
What is a PDA phone without an efficient organizer? The Tour comes with an excellent organizer that lets you plan your days and appointments in advance. The organizer lets you sync the calendar with the enterprise calendar as well.

The tour lives up to Blackberry’s legendary email support with compatibility for:
1.   web mail with POP and IMAP account support.
2.   Blackberry enterprise server for Microsoft exchange, Novell GroupWise and lotus domino server.
3.   Push mail feature.
The phone is also compatible with most of the instant messaging clients like Google talk, yahoo messenger and aim.

Specifications:
Display: 2.4-inch TFT wide screen with support for 65k colors.
Dimensions: 112 x 62 x 14.2 mm.
Weight: 130gms.
Camera: Main camera – 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, auto focus, LED flash.
Second camera – No.
Audio: media player with support for MP3/AAC/AAC+/WMA.
Video: video player with support for DivX/XviD/MPEG4/WMV.
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, mini USB.
Internet: EDGE, GPRS, HSCSD, 3G, HTML Browser.
Games: Built-in and downloadable.
Memory: 256 MB internal with support for microSD up to 8 GB
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh with stand by up to 336 hours and talktime up to 5 hours.
Extras:
* Blackberry OS.
* GPS with A-GPS support.
* Document reader/editor.
* Organizer.
* Document editor for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF.
* Blackberry Maps.
* Voice memo.
* Geo tagging.
* 3.5 mm headphone jack.
* GSM and CDMA compatible.
* FM Stereo.

Blackberry 8900 Curve Javelin

VInayak — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:23:31 +0000

RIM have steadily been changing the face of their flagship Blackberry mobile phones to match today’s custom designed phones. With the 8900, RIM have come up with a unique combination of power packed into the slim and curvaceous body of the phone. Throw out that brick once called the Blackberry and welcome the Curve with a full QWERTY keypad, brilliant screen and full email features.

The Basics:

Design and Display:

For the features it packs in, the Javelin comes with just 110gms of weight on it. But the highlight of the design is the curvaceous compact body with a glossy exterior and a chrome finish. The phone comes with a full QWERTY keypad, with keys that are comfortably placed and a trackball that ensures effortless navigation. The keypad also has a backlight that flares up in dull environments.

The 2.4 inch high resolution TFT screen supports 65k colors.

Multimedia:

The phone comes with a 3.2 MP camera that is capable of capturing both still images and video. The camera comes with standard features like a LED flash and auto focus to get the best images even in adverse environments.

The Javelin is not just a music phone but is also meant for entertainment. Now you can enjoy your favorite music on the built in media player. The high resolution wide screen makes the movie watch experience a pleasure with the player that supports formats like MPEG4, DivX, XviD, H263 and WMV.

Organizer and Email:

As with all blackberry phones, the phone comes with a great organizer which is as good as your own valet, who takes care of your schedule and all your appointments.

Again, the email is extraordinary and lives up to the blackberry legendary status as a perfect mail machine.

It supports every form of email such as:

1. Push email.

2. Blackberry enterprise server for Microsoft exchange and lotus domino server.

3. Existing enterprise email account.

4. Web email.

Specifications:

Display: 2.4-inch TFT wide screen with support for 65k colors.

Dimensions: 109 x 60 x 13.5 mm.

Weight: 110gms.

Camera: Main camera – 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, auto focus, LED flash, image stabilization.

Second camera – No.

Audio: MP3/AAC/AAC+/WMA, FM Stereo.

Video: DivX/XviD/MPEG4/WMV.

Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging.

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, A2DP, mini USB, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g.

Internet: EDGE, GPRS, HSCSD, HTML Browser.

Games: Built-in and downloadable.

Memory: 256 MB internal with support for microSD up to 16 GB

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh.

Extras: Blackberry OS, Document reader/editor, Organizer, SureType software, Blackberry Maps, GPS.