| Blackberry Bold 9700 User Review... | | | | From whatever old phones you have, copy all |
| | | | | contacts to a sim. Now insert that sim in your Berry, |
| A Stunningly Good Package - You WILL Become An | | | | and copy contacts from sim to phone. Of course, you |
| Addict | | | | will now have a contacts list that is an abomination in |
| By: Peter Haydon | | | | the sight of the holy, but hold fast, and shortly |
| It looks extremely smart, the display is knock-em-dead | | | | thereafter the list will be reflected on Google. On your |
| bright and sharp. | | | | Google contacts page, make a check against all |
| It feels very solidly constructed, giving an instant | | | | entries with the same name, click to merge, edit out |
| impression of high quality. | | | | the disused numbers, and a little miracle happens. Your |
| It does it all. 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, autofocus | | | | phone will be updated with a contacts list with all your |
| camera - this is the first Blackberry with everything. | | | | info for a person as one entry; numbers, email and |
| Add in the most famous and best established mobile | | | | postal addresses. Sweet as a nut. |
| email service and there is nothing else to come close. | | | | It has all the expected smart phone functions, there's |
| It sets up very easily. WiFi connection is brilliantly simple, | | | | no point me trolling through them. Suffice it say that |
| and when you've done that the phone will always | | | | everything on the Blackberry Bold 9700 has worked |
| access the internet by WiFi whenever your defined | | | | perfectly for me, and it all works fast. There's no delay |
| network is within range. You can define many | | | | in opening applications, I've had no hang-ups, no |
| networks, I don't know the limit, and when the phone | | | | crashes, no unfortunate occurences. |
| sees one you've defined it connects to it. | | | | AGAINST: |
| Setting up the Blackberry push email service is a | | | | The price. Does a phone really cost more to make |
| doddle, and you can do it on the phone itself or on | | | | than a laptop computer? |
| your mobile provider's web site. You just have to | | | | The keypad can feel a little cramped to start with, |
| supply the phone's IMEI and Blackberry pin to create | | | | especially if you have podgy fingers and bite your nails, |
| the account, and then you tell it which email accounts | | | | so stop being a cannibal. Like I can talk! I have found |
| to access. All it needs for each account is the email | | | | that the more I concentrate on typing correctly the |
| address and password, that's it, no more to do. After | | | | more mistakes I make. The best way is to do it Star |
| that the Blackberry service scoops up all your emails | | | | Wars style; just go at it and let the force guide you. It |
| and zapps them out to the phone. This is not just a | | | | will feel like you're hitting two or three keys at once, |
| case of copying emails to the phone, that's easy, this is | | | | but will actually be very accurate, and the (good) spell |
| a fully synched service, so if you delete an email on | | | | checker will soon sort out any errors. |
| the phone it is also deleted from the email account. | | | | You will instantly want to protect it the best way |
| You can set up a default address from which all your | | | | possible, so you will be right back on Amazon looking |
| replies appear to come, or you can choose with each | | | | for the perfect case. A leather Blackberry wallet is |
| reply you send. Blackberry have been doing this for | | | | included, but it does not offer any protection to the top |
| many years, and it all works very well indeed. | | | | of the phone, and the phone has to be withdrawn |
| Please note that subscription to Blackberry Internet | | | | from it to be used, necessitating the use of both hands. |
| Service (BIS)is required for full email functionality, all the | | | | The good thing about all Blackberry OEM cases is that |
| major UK networks offer plans inclusive of BIS. | | | | they have a little magnet built-in that puts the phone |
| The GPS function works the best I have seen in a | | | | into a power-saving mode, but it can still receive calls |
| phone, enabling me to get fixes to within 3 metres | | | | and data. Obviously the best way to protect your |
| even when indoors, if close to a window. The supplied | | | | phone it to leave it in a drawer at home, after that |
| Blackberry Maps software is effective but looks | | | | you're in the land of compromise between protection |
| crude, Google Maps is a much better package and | | | | and utility. I think I've settled on an OtterBox Commuter |
| integrates perfectly. When (if?) Google's free | | | | Case for Blackberry Bold 9700 as possibly the best |
| turn-by-turn voice navigation is launched in the UK the | | | | compromise. It looks cool and has a fine |
| Blackberry Bold 9700 will be a perfect platform | | | | Leninist-industrial feel to it, but as for drop-testing it onto |
| because the speaker can easily be heard above road | | | | concrete, I'll wait for someone else's results. |
| noise. | | | | SMS conversations are presented in a thread format, |
| The speaker is easily, far and away, by a country mile, | | | | and there is no option to change that. Traditionally, |
| the best I have come across in a phone, making | | | | when you sent a text message it was gone from |
| hands-free calls very convenient. It is entirely feasible | | | | your sight forever, unless you wanted to delve around |
| to listen to a few groovy tunes on it; sing out Mama, | | | | in the Sent folder. With this phone, the text you typed |
| but give that sandwich a miss. | | | | remains, and replies appear underneath in a Twitter-like |
| I have mentioned the excellent integration with email, | | | | way until you delete the whole thread. If you like that |
| and I have set it up on accounts with Virgin, TalkTalk, | | | | style it's probably great, but I wish I could go back to |
| and Google. When you sync it with Google you also a | | | | just having a text inbox. |
| get a brilliant link with Google Calendar, and that really is | | | | The charging connection is micro-USB, and it is tight, |
| a gold-plated feature. Make entries on your calendar | | | | very tight. Sooner or later that socket is going to pull |
| using a PC, and your phone calendar is automatically | | | | away from the circuit board, I'm sure of that. To avert |
| updated, the reverse is also true. Sure, an Android | | | | that hazard, on each bottom corner of the phone |
| phone will do the Google synch thing, but it won't | | | | there is a contact such that the phone can be dropped |
| match the 9700 on other features and sheer class, | | | | into a Blackberry Bold 9700 Charging Pod (Silver). This |
| and it will always look a teenager's phone. | | | | is a quality item, but you will have to take your Berry |
| As our phones have become the cameras in our | | | | out of its case to use it. |
| pockets, it may be worth mentioning that the | | | | The supplied browser is sub-standard. It works, just, |
| Blackberry Bold 9700 has a good one, producing | | | | and there are a number of free alternatives such as |
| excellent images. The LED flash is inevitably weak, but | | | | Bolt and Opera Mini, but if web browsing is your main |
| daylight shots compare very well with those from my | | | | use for a smart phone then the Blackberry Bold 9700 |
| previous phone, an SE CyberShot. It is only a 3.2MP | | | | may disappoint. |
| unit, but anyone who has much experience of digital | | | | CONCLUSION: |
| cameras knows that pixel count is not the sole | | | | Every feature of the Blackberry Bold 9700 appears to |
| measure of picture quality. As a phone camera, it is | | | | have been thought through by intelligent people, I |
| more than good enough. | | | | cannot say how pleased I am with it. |
| Did I say you can make phone calls with it? How | | | | As in all things, personal taste applies. If a touch-screen |
| boring, but I feel I should mention it syncs very nicely | | | | does it for you, then the Blackberry Bold 9700 will not |
| with your Google contacts list, and editing contacts is | | | | be a good friend in your pocket. But if you want a |
| so much easier on a computer screen. If, over many | | | | very functional phone delivering unrivalled |
| years and many generations of phones, your contacts | | | | communications facilities this could be the one for you. |
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| each with a different number, that is highly resolvable. | | | | |