You may be
familiar with the iconic look of a Blackberry, and the Bold 9900 fits that
standard appearance you might have in mind. But that is where the similarities
with this and any predecessor Blackberry stop.
It still has the quality feel of a Blackberry, and the great audio in a
call of the Blackberry smart phones I have used. It still has a flash for the
camera or video camera built in. It has all the standard buttons for navigation
in calls or internet, texting, etc. Then again, it is a new phone, so just what
sets it apart from other Blackberry phones?
First, it has one
of the most natural feeling and responsive keyboards of any Blackberry I have
used or tried out in a store. The 9900
is a bit wider and flatter than the previous Bold 9700 at 4.53 x 2.60 x 0.41
inches. That extra bit of width gives
just enough extra room for the keyboard that it really feels larger than the
older Bold 9700.
The screen size
is 2.8 inches with screen resolution of 640x480 and has a capacitive touch
screen included. The screen is fully visible outdoors, but is not the absolute
clearest Blackberry screen I have seen for outside uses.
The touch screen
is integrated with the standard touch track pad, and for most applications,
this is seamless. Use one, use the other; it is up to you what you are
comfortable with. One application that is still a bit of a chore for me is the
web browser. It seems like the touch
screen wants to be used for that, and trying to use the track pad just confuses
things. It may be that there is just a learning curve for touch pad
applications. And since this is my first touch screen smart phone, I definitely
need practice.
The phone is
shipped with RIM Operating System version 7. For the most part, this is version
6 with touch added. There are other things I need to get more used to that may
come easier to those more familiar with touch screens. For example, earlier I noticed that my
standard group of 6 most frequent used apps had disappeared and the screen was
displaying either all apps at once, or none.
I finally discovered that at some point I had inadvertently touched and
dragged the display which caused the size to adjust making the line of six
disappear. It turns out you can drag the border to adjust to 6, 12, or whatever
you want to include on your most used home screen apps. You can also manage
panels included on your home screen, selecting all, favorites, media, downloads
or frequently used apps.
My version of the
phone is for T- Mobile and is their version of 4G. I will not comment on this further since
there doesn’t seem to be any industry standard as to what 4G means to any one
carrier. All I can say is that presently it says 4G.
The phone also
has the usual Wi-Fi connectivity which is extremely easy to maneuver. Bluetooth is equally fast. I had been a bit
concerned if I would remember how to set up Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on a new phone,
but it is painless.
There is one
drawback at this point as far as the usually included and standard T-Mobile
Wi-Fi calling feature. This has been
included on all Blackberry phones in the T-Mobile network before, and utilizes
UMA protocol to enable you to make calls over Wi-Fi either at home, or in
places that have no network signal. As
the 9900 is currently configured, there is no Wi-Fi calling. T-Mobile suggests that at some unknown future
point, there will be a software upgrade to include UMA and Wi-Fi calling.
One other thing
that you may want to know is that there is only one convenience key, located on
the right. This may or may not matter to
you, but that is the case. For me, I never knew what to do with the second one
anyway.
Otherwise, the
buttons are very sleek feeling and recessed against the chrome outer rim of the
phone.
There is now a 5
megapixel camera with a high definition video camera with image stabilization,
digital zoom and some special effects.
Among the
preloaded apps, many of which I do not use and have since deleted, RIM now
includes Documents to Go at no additional cost.
This includes Word, Excel and Power Point.
Generally, after
a bit more use I am still pleased overall with the performance of my new Bold
9900, but I have a few things to point out to the potential consumer.
In calls, I find
that in the usual places I have made calls before, the Bold 9900 seems to be
more stable than its predecessor Bold 9700 with the same carrier. I am not sure
if this is due to slightly better coverage on 4G, but it easier to hear and has
fewer signal drops as you walk around in concrete lined buildings than with the
9700.
That being said,
it comes down to the battery life being good for you. With my Bold 9900 loaded with
the same basic apps my 9700 had, the battery may not be the best. I know what
the specs say (see below), but the 9700 was running me about a 10% drop per
12-14 hours of use in battery life. For the 9900, I am now about 6 hours
through the day, and it has already dropped to 89%. Maybe the faster processer is more of a drain
on the system? Increased speed has a price.
Related to that,
the battery recharge time seems relatively quick. I ran my batter down to 9%,
and after the phone reminded me to charge it soon, I plugged it in and was
surprised that it reached full recharge in around 3 hours.
Waking the phone
up is pretty fast since it bypasses the carrier splash, and opens to the home
screen. Also, a change is that when you wake the phone, the screen stays dark
unless you hit a key. This might save a bit of battery life. The network
connects much faster than in the previous version Bold 9700.
Also, a bonus of
the faster processor comes to light when you do a reboot or do a battery pull.
I used to dread rebooting and having to wait for the system to reload. It
seemed like it took forever with the Bold 9700. With the Bold 9900 the system
reloads in 90 seconds from battery in to splash screen.
The battery at
1230 mAH is a bit weak when it comes to all the increased speed of the
processor in this version of the Bold. For best results, use the included
charger to recharge the battery. The older ones still work in a pinch, but may
not charge to 100%.
Speaking
of batteries, there is a higher capacity 1500 mAH battery in the works. Currently, there are websites that claim to
sell a 1500 battery for the Bold 9900. Problem is that they say it also fits
the previous Bold and half dozen other Blackberry smart phones, and that is
highly unlikely. Trust the source of any battery upgrade you make. This is a
very thin phone and takes a thinner battery than the previous Bold.
Other Specs follow:
Expandable memory: Up to 32 GB uSD
card(optional)
1230 mAh removable/rechargeable lithium-ion
battery
GSM Talk Time: up to 6.3 hours
GSM Standby Time: up to 12.8 days
UMTS Talk Time: up to up to 5.9 hours
UMTS Standby Time: up to 12.8 days
Audio Playback Time: up to 50 hours
Video Playback Time: up to 7.4 hours
3.5mm stereo headset capable
Integrated hands-free speakerphone
Wi-Fi: 802.11 2.4 GHz b/g/n, 5GHz a/n
Wi-Fi® access to BlackBerry® Enterprise
Server
Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry® Internet Bundle
Direct IP web browsing over Wi-Fi
Integrated GPS
Includes BlackBerry® Maps
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