BlackBerry Bold 9000

There we go folks, it's a BlackBerry grand slam at the arena and we're set for another ride with RIM's finest. We guess this here Berry is neither Curve-hot nor Storm-inventive but it's Bold enough to say little and do much. Even without being the latest or greatest of RIM devices, the Bold 9000 is clearly the pinnacle of what BlackBerry stands for.

BlackBerry Bold 9000 official photos

Moreover, the Bold 9000 is hardly a groundbreaking device outside the BlackBerry world but to Berry buffs it may be about as good as a mobile phone gets. Sporting flawless connectivity, a magnificent screen and one of the most comfortable QWERTY keyboards we have seen, the Bold 9000 is at the very least a great business gadget. Well then, it's business as usual on our end too so the BlackBerry Bold better get ready for one of our out-and-out reviews.

Key features:

• 2.6" 65K-color TFT landscape display with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels
• Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard
• Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA
• Wi-Fi and built-in GPS and BlackBerry maps preloaded
• 2 megapixel camera, LED flash
• 624 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM
• BlackBerry OS v4.6
• Responsive trackball navigation
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 8GB)
• Excellent build quality
• DivX and XviD video support
• Good web browser
• Office document editor
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Nice audio quality
• Smart dialing

Main disadvantages:

• No email support without BlackBerry Internet Service account
• Mediocre camera
• No FM radio
• The web browser is unstable when browsing through Wi-Fi
• No video-call camera

As we mentioned, the BlackBerry Bold 9000 doesn't pack ridiculously high-end multimedia or other fancy gimmicks to make a big splash outside the BlackBerry realm. Yet it does combine all the features that the brand loyals were dreaming to see on a RIM handset for quite a while.

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 at ours

GPS and Wi-Fi rarely coexist on BlackBerry handsets but the Bold is not the first ever anyway. The screen is not the greatest feat in terms of resolution either but it sure is a sight to savor. That Berries have always been among the standard-setters in QWERTY keyboards goes without saying. So, is it all about having both 3G and WLAN on a single BlackBerry phone?

Could be, but there must be more to it. So, starting on the next page we'll unbox and spin the BlackBerry Bold 9000 for you. We'll press them buttons and flip that trackball and hope the handset lives up to its name.

We've seen fuller boxes

BlackBerry Bold 9000 comes in a retail package, which would have passed as decent had we not seen the Storm's extra gear. We don't get it why the business flagship didn't receive the same treatment at its touch sibling.

What the Bold lacks compared to the Storm is the 8GB microSD card (replaced by 1GB), the microUSB cable and the clever dual DC charger that can take both American and European connector.

The retail package of the Bold is not much of a treat

The Bold comes with a nice leather carrying pouch but, unlike the Storm, omits a cloth for polishing the screen. A handsfree is also included but it's one-piece, so alternative earphones on the same remote is not an option. At least this time RIM have included some extra custom-fit ear buds so you can pick the right ones for you.

Finally, you get a CD with some arguably useful PC software and the usual paperwork.

BlackBerry Bold 9000 360-degree spin

At 114 x 66 x 14 mm, the BlackBerry Bold 9000 sure is a handful. It is visibly wider and slightly taller than the Curve 8900, which we found to be just the right compact size. Squeezing the Bold in a pocket is certainly harder but thanks to its relatively slim waistline not impossible. Yet this might be a fair price to pay for the larger display and the roomier keyboard.

The weight of 133 grams is also something to be considered. It is barely acceptable considering there is no metal used on the body of the device. On the other hand, the solid weight in your palm implies class and sophistication.

Design and construction

We guess there are enough people out there who think the number of keys on a QWERTY messenger is on the verge of good taste. But hey, since the Curve the distinct BlackBerry charm is no longer a euphemism for big bland and corporate. So, let's see how the BlackBerry Bold 9000 fares. We need not forget though that the Bold precedes both the Storm and the Curve 8900, so the different design choices are understandable.

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 has its own approach to styling but is definitely something you won't mind being seen with. The glossy black front is pretty pleasing and the faux leather at the back doesn't look offensive as we feared having seen it on official shots only.

If there is anything wrong with the design it would be the profile of the Bold, which is by no means as sharp and neat as the Curve 8900. The wide and erratic line of the chrome frame on the left take out some of the appeal and the extra few millimeters of thickness don't help too much either - nor does the fact that the chrome-like frame is actually plastic.

The other part of the Bold we are not particularly fond of is the top of the device, which is nowhere near the Curve 8900 and its stealthy buttons masked under the surface.

The front panel of the BlackBerry Bold 9000 is pretty standard for the class. The QWERTY keyboard and the landscape display atop are pretty much set in concrete. We'll get back to those two elements a little later as they do deserve their own quality testing time.

The other things to note up front are the status LED and the earpiece at the top, as well as the control and navigation pad in the middle. Built around the company trademark trackball it contains four amply sized and solid keys.

Earpiece and status LED at the top

The trackball itself is the usual impressive performer that handles great and responds sweetly to every flick of the thumb - jumping items on screen and in menus with just the pace and bounce that you would expect. And in case you think otherwise - its speed can be configured to suit you better. The controls around it (Call, End, Menu and Back) provide nice press feedback and will raise no usability issues.

The trackball and the keys around it are a pleasure to use

The left side of the Bold 9000 features one of the loudspeaker grills, the 3.5mm standard audio jack and the standard miniUSB port (as opposed to the microUSB variety found on the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and Storm 9500).

Here are also the left convenience key (assigned by default to voice-commands) and the microSD card slot, with the latter hidden under a stylish plastic lid.

It's pretty crowded on the left

Unfortunately, this particular microSD card slot is one of the greatest usability letdowns in the handset. It is so poorly designed that we doubt anyone at RIM ever got to actually test it. The card sinks too deep and ejecting it is quite a hassle. But even if you do manage to have it pop out you stand no bloody chance of taking it all the way out smoothly. We guess the plastic lid is a major part of the problem: it looks quite stylish but hinders usability big time. It's fixed to the case on both ends and thus impossible to get out of the way for a secure grip on the deeply buried memory card.

To make matters worse the BlackBerry Bold 9000 couldn't deal with a 16GB microSD card. In fact it could barely handle an 8GB, starting to lag so much that working with it was barely possible.

On the other hand user reports all over the internet suggest that the Bold 9000 has no problem handling the 16GB cards just as RIM claim. We therefore suppose that what we are experiencing is a unit-specific problem, unlikely to appear elsewhere.

Moving on to the right side of the BlackBerry Bold 9000, we come upon another loudspeaker grill, the volume rocker and the other convenience key. By default it is set to launch the camera but you can assign whatever function feels more appropriate. By the way, both convenience keys are fully programmable.

The volume rocker and a convenience key on the right

At the base of each of the sides are the two connectors for the desktop charging dock that you can purchase separately.

The top of the BlackBerry Bold features the Mute key. As we already mentioned it has hardly anything to do with the sleek seamless top of the Curve 8900.

The mute key on top the Bold • the BlackBerry Curve 8900 top side is a lot more attractive

The bottom of the BlackBerry Bold 9000 sports the mic, lanyard eyelet and the back cover release button.

The battery cover is easily removed

The back panel of the BlackBerry Bold 9000 is covered with faux leather. Much like the Nokia Xpress-on covers you can replace the rear panel with quite an assortment offered by both RIM and 3rd party manufacturers. Frankly though, most of the alternatives seem pretty tacky to our taste.

We did notice that the battery cover of the Bold 9000 actually consists of two sheets, the leather simply coating regular plastic. This makes it a pretty thick rear panel and we can't help but wonder if the handset wouldn't have been better with a slimmer waistline and a regular back panel.

In terms of features, the back hosts the 2 megapixel fixed focus camera lens and the LED flash. Their performance will be discussed in detail towards the end of the review but you'd better not set your hopes too high.

A 2 megapixel camera and a LED flash is all the Bold has been treated to

The impressive 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery lies under the battery cover. Strangely, only kept the handset powered for two-three days of extensive usage - we expected to get at least a week out of it.

The battery is quite impressive indeed

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 is well put together and has enough appeal to carry the role of the best featured messenger in the company portfolio. We won't grudge the all-plastic case and the faux chrome accents - after all, the 8900 Curve is all made of plastic too.

The Bold is obviously short of the Curve finesse all right, but has a better keypad - it's its sheer size that makes typing a breeze.

The best thing to say about the faux leather at the rear is that it definitely isn't a deal breaker. Some users may cheer the exchangeable covers as well.

Never mind the extra width, the BlackBerry Bold 9000 handles pretty nicely and, even if QWERTY implies two-handed operation, single-hand use is fairly comfortable too.

The BlackBerry Bold handles well for its size

Display - 2.6 inches of pure quality

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 is equipped with a 2.6" TFT display of HVGA resolution (320 x 480 pixels). That's a 3:2 aspect ratio, as opposed to the 4:3 format of the Curve 8900.

Our recent BlackBerry reviews made us quite fond of the excellent displays used on these devices and the Bold makes no exception to the rule. It has a fabulously bright and vibrant display, stacking easily among the best in business.

Sunlight legibility is another of the display's strengths. The colors are almost perfectly retained when the display is exposed to direct sun and usability isn't hurt one bit.

The display won our appreciation

The other asset of the display is orientation. Landscape displays are way more natural to work with and the only reason they are so rarely used is to save space. Well the Bold took its share of nagging about size, now it is time for the praise.

All in all, the Bold display is excellent, probably the best we have seen on a BlackBerry. It loses to the Curve in terms of pixel density but the size and brightness of this unit are enough to make it the better option.

Keyboard is excellent

Finally, we get to the full QWERTY keyboard. Using a four-row layout, it is one of the best keyboards we have ever set a thumb on. Most certainly it grabs the award in the bar-shaped QWERTY phones category and by quite a margin at that.

The numpad is accommodated on the left, numbers sharing bed with some of the letters. Toggling between the two is automatic when the context allows it or manual via the Alt key in all other cases.

Now that's a keyboard we like to type on

Except for the space bar all keys are of the same size and are incredibly tactile. Their size might seem inadequate to HTC Touch Pro users but their irregularly etched shape helps imennsly. The shape in question makes the keys feel perfectly spaced, and typing speed is great.

We have to once again admit RIM know how to make a good keyboard, and the Bold 9000 certainly is one of their best efforts. Of course, part of the reason is that there is more space available due to the greater width of the phone, but the individual keys design is also very well thought of.

BlackBerry OS v4.6

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 runs on the proprietary BlackBerry OS v4.6, just as the Curve 8900 which we recently reviewed. The homescreen and the main menu have neat and simple, yet very appealing icons. On top of that, the main menu and the standby screen can be customized beyond recognition and look even more attractive.

The UI is hardly breaking news

Unfortunately, there are tons of text-only submenus, which get on your way quite more frequently than one mightprefer. Some nice graphics there couldn't possibly have cost RIM too much and it's a pity they spared themselves the effort.

It gets pretty ugly deep inside

Some might argue we are just too picky here as the Bold 9000 target audience is the one least likely to be impressed by the eye-candy. That would be a point there, we guess, but this shortcoming is still worth noting (and hopefully fixed in upcoming editions of BlackBerry OS). After all you won't notice menus like that on Nokia E71, for instance.

Anyone who has ever held a BlackBerry handset before will find their way around the Bold menu structure pretty easily but newcomers will need some time getting used to it. A nice example here would be the file manager, which is quite illogically located in the media submenus.

Not that big a deal though, and everyone is likely to get familiar with the landscape in a couple of days.

The homescreen is pretty well organized with 6 (by default) shortcut buttons placed at the bottom and all status icons at the top. The profiles can also be accessed straight from here, as well as two other features that you choose to assign to the convenience keys.

The default homescreen can be customized beyond recognition

The menu navigation of the BlackBerry Bold is somewhat different from what most competitors have to offer. Most other brands use soft-key based navigation where the available options for every menu item or feature are assigned to the context keys below the display.

With RIM devices the menu key is in charge of all the contextual options that and it's really a new experience if you're used to the soft key labels keeping all options in sight.

The BlackBerry Bold has almost flawless performance with very little lagging experienced throughout the review. The Storm had it much worse with submenus often taking their time to open.

However we did experience some system instability here as well - the BlackBerry Bold crashed several times on us while we were browsing over a Wi-Fi connection. Luckily no other part of the interface outside the browser seemed to cause such peculiar behavior.

In general the BlackBerry OS doesn't have too many shortcomings. The target audience isn't likely to hold the dreary looks of the deeper menu levels against their provider and the unusual options navigation is in fact traditional for the brand and is only new to us, outsiders of the CrackBerry circle.

The performance is what matters here and the Bold delivers on that excellently. With a faster-paced CPU that the BlackBerry Curve 8900 the Bold's response is more than adequate so this here QWERTY fella won't be discriminated based on its UI.

Phonebook is still text-only

The phonebook is one part of the interface of the BlackBerry Bold 9000 that won't get a wow for its looks. Being as basic as they get they remind us of older Windows Mobile versions but at least thanks to the virtually unlimited capacity and good organization it gets the job done. Still a new paintjob would have been welcomed and some extra functionality not completely inappropriate.

The contacts get listed alphabetically by first, last name or company in one of those black and white lists that we warned you about. You can search a contact by gradually typing the desired name like on almost any other phone, only this time it's much faster and easier with the QWERTY keyboard.

The phonebook isn't much of a looker

You can put your contacts in one of two groups - personal and business and then filter your phonebook by that criteria. One contact can belong to both groups so no possible problems here.

The BlackBerry Bold allows separating your business and personal contacts

Editing a contact gives you a vast number of fields which are organized in several sub-groups. You can also replicate some of the fields (those that you are going to need to anyway) as many times as you like.

Editing a contact gives you a lot of fields

Telephony comes with smart dial

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 did OK in its main duty - making calls. We didn't experience any problems with reception, or in-call sound quality.

While that might be expected and doesn't bring any bonus points, the Smart dialing is certainly a great asset. With the QWERTY keyboard at hand you may never want to use your phonebook for dialing numbers again.

The Smart dialing does a wonderful job

All you need to do is punch a few keys on the homescreen and the names that have the typed letters will appear on the screen instantly. You can then select them with the trackball and initiate a call - it doesn't get any simpler than that, does it?

Another worthy telephony feature is the Voice dialing which gets activated by pressing the left convenience key by default.

Unfortunately, the BlackBerry Bold 9000 failed to impress in our traditional loudspeaker test, producing only an average score. Unless you want to end up missing a call or two, it might be a better idea to keep the Bold within reach. It's worth noting though that the quality of the sound when using the speakerphone was really pleasing.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
Nokia E63	64.6	62.1	69.0	Below Average
BlackBerry Bold 9000	70.0	66.6	68.9	Good
Nokia E71	68.0	66.5	76.2	Good
BlackBerry Curve 8900	75.7	66.6	75.3	Good
Samsung M8800 Pixon	75.7	69.6	82.1	Very Good
HTC Touch HD	77.7	73.7	76.7	Excellent

Messaging is just fine

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 handles messaging pretty nicely as probably expected. It has support for all common types of messages - SMS, MMS and email. It also has the BlackBerry Messenger and Google Talk IM clients preinstalled.

BlackBerry OS has a fairly simple and easy to use organization of the messaging department and all messages are composed through a common editor.There is a counter at the top indicating the remaining characters to 160, and another one showing the number of parts the message will break down to for sending.

There is nothing special about the messaging

Emailing also has a remarkable set of customizable options, probably one of the best in business. However just out-of-the-box you can only set up BlackBerry Internet Service email accounts on the Bold. This means that without a proper Blackberry service plan, the handset is just a plain no-email device since you need to have that before you go setting up any other email accounts.

That's definitely a drawback in our books as there are quite a lot of carriers globally that do not support BIS yet. But then again, you would hardly be buying a Blackberry device if you don't intend to use the Blackberry services.

Music player lacks some extras

Conservative looks and borderline passable functionality is what the BlackBerry Bold 9000 music player is about. The business background of the device is the most probable reason for this and most users wouldn't have expected any different anyway.

The music player sorts the music library automatically by artist, album and genre and you can search your tracks by gradual typing. You can also create your own playlists in no time.

No equalizers for the music player this time

Album art is also supported, but unlike the Curve, this time your are left without the equalizer presets. The other thing we aren't particularly happy about is the fact that there is no Track Repeat option. The only way to make the handset repeat a particular track is to add it to a new playlist and than select repeat. But this probably seems like hairsplitting to most users.

Quite naturally, the player can also be minimized to play in background. You can then go back to it via the task manager or through the main menu. There's no indication of the currently playing song on the home screen.

Excellent audio quality again

The audio quality of the BlackBerry Bold 9000 is almost identical to the one of the Curve 8900. This again comes to confirm that RIM know what they are doing when it comes to audio quality. Both of those devices might be a tad worse than the Storm but still have remarkable audio quality, performing well in every aspect of our test.

The Bold 9000 has cut-off bass frequencies as evident from the graph below. This comes to explain the disturbing corresponding number in the table too. This might have been done on purpose to conceal a potential weakness of the supplied headphones. However, with a 3.5mm standard audio jack on board you can easily replace them with almost any pair of headphones.

The rest of the readings are excellent with noise levels, dynamic range and stereo crosstalk particularly impressive. The distortions are also kept well within standards. All in all, you will be enjoying some great sound with BlackBerry Bold 9000. Business or not - a pat on the back is due where it is due.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
BlackBerry Bold 9000	+0.20, -3.87	-87.6	86.1	0.0056	0.023	-85.8
BlackBerry Curve 8900	+0.20, -3.87	-89.4	89.6	0.011	0.025	-88.9
BlackBerry Storm 9500	+0.09, -0.39	-87.6	89.5	0.025	0.048	-85.8
Nokia E63	+2.63, -2.38	-75.0	75.3	0.018	0.102	-74.9
Nokia E71	+0.74, -1.26	-74.5	74.7	0.016	0.097	-75.8
HTC Touch Pro	+0.35, -1.12	-85.3	87.9	0.027	0.267	-86.3
Apple iPod Touch 2G	+0.04, -0.05	-91.4	91.5	0.0027	0.012	-90.0

BlackBerry Bold 900 frequency response compared to Curve 8900 and Storm 9500

You can find more info about the testing procedure and more results

The video player is great

Watching videos on the BlackBerry Bold 9000 is a really nice experience. The large landscape screen and its great picture quality are a great start and the good variety of supported codecs makes it all the better.

The video player usually works in fullscreen with the virtual buttons only appearing upon a key press.

The best part about the Bold video player is that it comes with DivX and XviD support unlike its supposedly multimedia-oriented Storm sibling. MP4 and WMV support are also on board of course but we guess they won't be needed as much.

Watching a video on the Bold is a nice experience indeed

The DivX and XviD support is only partial and this became quite evident as we tried playing various videos. The Bold played successfully only about 3/4 of the videos with the rest displaying no video but only sound.

So in most cases you will only need to upload the video to your Bold and start the player - no converting necessary. Now add the good picture quality and the landscape screen and you got your self a pretty good deal indeed.

Gallery is fine

The image gallery of the BlackBerry Bold is identical to the one found on the Curve 8900.

It has standard functionality including thumbnail and list view of the images. We are particularly happy with the 100% zoom shortcut available in the menu when looking at a single picture. It gives you a quick and easy way to review photos in the finest detail possible. Further zoom steps are also available but why would anyone really need them?

The gallery offers list and grid view modes

Quite naturally the photos can only be browsed in landscape mode. You can alternate photos without returning to the gallery view but you have to enter the menu for that purpose so it's arguably too convenient. It's still better than nothing though.

Looking at a single picture • Zooming in

Overall, picture browsing is decently fast and the zooming also seemed the fastest we have seen on a BlackBerry. Not that this is too hard as the Storm and the Curve were hardly inspiring but the Bold is actually pretty decent.

Yet another basic camera

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 is equipped with a 2 megapixel fixed focus camera and a LED flash. This is the worst performer on paper among them recent BlackBerries so we weren't really full of hope about it. And even though we expected nothing of it the Bold performed so bad that it managed to disappoint us.

The camera interface is as basic as it gets but we have to admit that compared to the Curve 8900 and the Storm it is a step forward. You can now set the viewfinder to occupy only the central part of the screen, making proper framing actually possible, unlike the just mentioned handsets.

The BlackBerry camera interface is uninspiring at best

The camera options however are still pretty uncomfortable to access as there are no shortcuts on the screen meaning that you have to dig in the menu. Not that there are too many settings you can apply but still.

The best part of the camera is undoubtedly the image-geotagging, which allows you to automatically record your location in the images EXIF data.

The few other offered settings are: white balance, color effects and image stabilization. There is also the obligatory picture size and quality.

At least the image quality of the Bold isn't too bad. It is about average for the 2 megapixel league, which however in turn makes it completely obsolete in the times where 8 megapixel cameraphones are available for the same price as the Bold.

The amount of resolved detail is somewhat low but this might be due to the aggressive noise reduction applied, which eradicates all fine detail and gives the photos a distinct watercolor painting look.

Contrast seems pretty low too and the dynamic range is hardly impressive. The color balance is generally a miss rather than a hit, although the phone manages to get them correctly on some of the photos.

Here go several samples so you can judge the image quality yourselves.

BlackBerry Bold 9000 camera samples

Truth be told, imaging is far from being the BlackBerry Bold 9000 element. It might only do the trick if you use it to take contacts photos but than again it's all about the target audience. And the one of the Bold will hardly be too impressed by an umpteen megapixel shooter at the back of their business tool.

Video recording is also a letdown

Now the 2 megapixel camera didn't promise much so its low performance wasn't too great of a problem. The video recorder however claims to be able to provide videos of HVGA resolution and that left us intrigued.

The camcorder brought another disapoinment

As it turned out the 480 x 320 pixel count is achieved through the magic of digital interpolation, leaving the user with nothing but disastrously pixilated videos. Only good for sending through MMS the videos have neither the frame rate nor the resolution to make them watchable on a computer (or even YouTube).

Videos are captured in 3GP format and if you still fancy them, you can apply various color effects on them. The LED flash can also be set to work as a video light. We doubt that anyone will take video recording with the Bold seriously though.

Connectivity: Third time is a charm

The first two Blackberries we reviewed failed to convince in this area but luckily the Bold 9000 got it right. It's got all the connectivity the users might need and manages it pretty nicely too.

The quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support secures global roaming and the 3G with HSDPA gives you the extra speed. The Wi-Fi is also present with a nice and easily customizable Wi-Fi manager taking care of all the connections. Bluetooth with A2DP support comes to complete the list of wireless connectivity options.

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 is also equipped with a standard miniUSB port that is used both for connecting to a computer and for charging. Once connected, you can sync your data with the mobile phone including your iTunes collection, save for the files that have DRM. You can even use the handset for tethering as a modem.

Finally, you have the option to use your microSD memory card slot for transferring data. The high transfer rates however are negated by the immensely uncomfortable card slot.

The trackball takes the web browser a level up

The web browser of BlackBerry Bold 9000 is certainly one of the best we have seen among non-touch phones. A great combination of nice software, quick-QWERTY input and precise trackball navigation adding up to a combo that is hard to match.

The zoom is of course user configurable, even if not as easily as on the touch-enabled Storm. Panning is great thanks to the trackball and the virtual mouse cursor. You just push it towards the border of the page, et voila.

Page rendering is near perfect displaying almost every page like on a computer. The high resolution display is another welcome bonus here, as it allows more content to fit on the screen.

The web browser is among our favorites

By default pages are opened to fit the width of the phone with the virtual cursor taking the shape of a magnifier. You than just click on the part you would like to read and it gets zoomed in to fill the screen. A press on the back key and you are back to the fit-to-width view. Repeat until done.

In fact the only bad part about the web browser of the BlackBerry Bold 9000 is the lack of proper Flash support.

Other than that, the handset provides great user experience when browsing the web, comparable only to the optical joystick-enabled Samsung handsets. Its inability to show Flash content however might tip the scales in favor of the competitors, like Nokia E71 for instance.

Excellent organizing skills

True to its BlackBerry nature, the Bold 9000 has superb time-managing capabilities. Its organizer includes a good set of applications and although some of them are not quite the lookers, their usability is on a very decent level.

The calendar has monthly, weekly and daily view modes and allows easily customized events to be set up. We have to admit that some event presets would have been useful but unluckily the device fails to provide them.

Setting up an appointment in the calendar

Mobile office is also very well geared, with preinstalled applications able to open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Furthermore, document editing is also supported right out of the box, unlike some competing phones. Unfortunately, there is no PDF viewer preinstalled so potential users will have to get one themselves.

Editing of documents is also supported out of the box

The organizer package also includes a calculator with a built-in unit-converter as well as voice recorder and a Notes application. A handy To-do manager allows you to set-up and organize your upcoming tasks.

The calculator has a built-in unit converter • Recording a voice memo on the Bold

The alarm application has only one alarm slot and thus fails to impress. It's quick to turn on but most of its settings can only be adjusted from the settings menu. There you can change the tone, snooze interval and the volume as well as the vibration intensity.

Setting up an alarm

Finally the BlackBerry Bold 9000 comes with a stopwatch and a timer. Both are accessed from the clock application and have the usual functionality.

The stopwatch and the timer

The clock also offers a bedside mode that turns off the status LED (unless you set it otherwise) and displays a large clock on the screen.

There are some games too

The BlackBerry BlackBerry Bold 900 has the same games as its 8900 Curve sibling - as many as five titles are preinstalled on the handset.

The first two titles include a version of the all too popular Bricks game and Word Mole, where you have to compose words with the letters given on the board. We did find Word Mole quite amusing as it offers various bonuses and extra levels.

BrickBreaker and Word Mole games

The new games include Texas Hold'em King 2 which, as the name suggests, is a mobile version of the popular card game. The other two games are Sudoku and the Klondike solitaire. There's hardly anything to explain here as both of them are familiar enough.

The other three games

GPS navi double

Just as the tradition goes, BlackBerry Bold 9000 is equipped with a built-in GPS receiver and comes with A-GPS support. For navigation you get BlackBerry Maps preinstalled. Unfortunately it is yet another application that only works with a BlackBerry internet plan activated. This means that voice-guided navigation is out of the question for the ones that buy it SIM free and then use it with their regular plan.

BlackBerry Maps provides basic map functionality plus voice-guided navigation. You can enter an address straight from your phonebook and you can also save your favorite spots so you don't have to type them every time.

The BlackBerry Maps also allow you to send your location to anyone via email or SMS, and that rounds off a decent but certainly not spectacular application.

Final words

At the end of this review we can confirm our initial observation. The BlackBerry Bold 9000 comes to crown the company efforts in the recent years, coming as close as possible to the ultimate business tool.

The handset offers a remarkable display, a great keyboard and an unsurpassed among the family connectivity. We highly doubt that there will be something more that a BlackBerry fan could want, except for maybe the more compact body of the Curve.

BlackBerry Curve 8900

Outside the BlackBerry world the Bold faces somewhat stronger competition. The Nokia E71 matches its connectivity, still offers a great screen and keyboard and costs about 50 percent less. And it's more compact. In addition it offers a larger choice of 3rd party apps and more stable OS than the Bold.

Nokia E71

Windows Mobile QWERTY devices such as the Samsung i780, Palm Treo Pro and HP 910c are also having an edge over the Bold for offering a much greater variety of 3rd party applications to choose from - those devices have a more competitive price, as well. While there certainly are a number of apps for the BlackBerry too, they are merely a drop in the bucket compared to the software available for WinMo.

Samsung i780, Palm Treo Pro and HP 910c

Besides, the BlackBerry world is not so hospitable to strangers. There is only point in getting the Bold if you are planning to bet the BlackBerry Internet service, which might be another deal breaker to some.

And even with all those remarks in mind the BlackBerry Bold is still worth a look when you are shopping for your next business handset.