Blackberry Bold 9700 deals & review

In a word or two

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is a pocket-friendly version of its predecessor with a few upgrades all of its own.

The Design

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 looks good – it is smaller and lighter than the BlackBerry Bold 9000 phone and fits comfortably into your one hand. The screen and keyboard have not suffered for being smaller and the phone is still easy to use and navigate. The 2.4 inch screen is high resolution and displays images, web pages and videos clearly and seamlessly. The keyboard is QWERTY and offers nicely spaced keys.

The design is sleek with a black case framed with a shiny band around its slightly curved corners. There are four main buttons on the front – call, menu, back and call end/power. In the middle of these buttons is the newly added trackpad, which replaces the traditional BlackBerry trackball – the BlackBerry Curve 8520 was the first RIM phone to have a trackpad. The touch-sensitive pad looks modern and means you can simply slide your finger over it to choose icons and select menus – then press the trackpad to select an option.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 also has a couple of convenience keys on its sides which you can program to open an application you like, giving you instant access to some of your favourite features.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 Specifications

Run on the BlackBerry Operating System 5.0, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 has clearer icons and more vibrant colours, making it easy to navigate. The BlackBerry Storm 2 also runs on the 5.0 OS.

Crafted for business use, the Bold 9700 has some useful features to keep you in control. You can access the internet quickly and with Wi-Fi support you can also tap into hotspots when you are on the move. The phone has a document editor so you can open, amend and save Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files from your phone. And with email, you are only a Send button away from keeping colleagues informed of document changes.

You will also get a lot of enjoyment from your BlackBerry Bold 9700. You have access to the BlackBerry App World for downloading various applications and customising your phone. The music player lets you listen to music as you type, text and browse – and you will be alerted of incoming calls and messages. You can also sync your songs on iTunes or Windows Media Player and the phone comes with Amazon MP3 Store pre-loaded for easy downloads.

Like the BlackBerry Curve 8900, the Bold 9700 comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera which features autofocus, flash, 2x zoom and a video camera. You can take some decent pictures with the phone and upload them to social networking sites or forward them to friends via picture messaging or email.

Considerations

Apart from its more compact size, a faster internal processor and more RAM, the 9700 phone is similar to its predecessor.

Verdict

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 packs a lot of fun and practical features into its relatively small size, making it a great addition to the BlackBerry smartphone range.