Great communication devicepretty good pocket computer
NOTE: This review is long and detailed especially relevant for heavy users of Google services.
This is my second Blackberry obtained from T-mobile at an upgrade discount (soon to be possible through AMZN). My first Blackberry was the T-mobile Curve offering (my review on the 8320 may prove helpful to provide context for this review and for first time smart phone buyers). Last time I purchased a phone I was just looking for a really high quality phone and the 8320 certainly delivered. However over time I gradually used more and more smart phone features until by 2009 I was totally hooked. While the 8320 was great as a phone its limited memory and sluggish processor made it painful to use for certain apps - and impossible to use for more than a handful of apps.
So this time around my goal was to get a smart phone that made good sense for my current desired usage. Here were my requirements:
Keep costs down
Great phone (sound quality speakerphone quick dialing coverage vibrate options international use etc.)
Alternative reception if needed (WiFi UMA or femtocell)
Great e-mail (must handle Gmail well)
Sync contacts/calendar with Google and otherwise works seamlessly well with Google
Works seamlessly with other cloud apps I use heavily (Evernote Dropbox etc.)
Media player with 3.5mm jack
Camera of high enough quality to use in conjunction with Evernote OCR
Easy to use (configuration speed of device shortcuts etc.)
Popular model with many accessories available
Long battery life
Enough memory so I don't have to manage it
Feels good in hand
Able to charge by putting in a cradle
Tethering possible (Bluetooth preferred)
Optional but nice:
Great browser
Maps
Turn by Turn navigation (free preferred)
The 9700 with T-mobile strongly delivers on most of my requirements and surpasses the 8320 in almost every respect by a wide margin. One by one:
Costs: Was able to keep my grandfathered T-mobile Blackberry contract for 40/month for voice (1000 anytime unlimited nights/weekends) and 20/month for unlimited data (but no text/SMS). Our family also has the hotspot home service for an additional 10/month to provide an unlimited domestic calling home line. And a 12% AAA discount off the bill - so this is far less expensive than we could get for these services than from any other carrier. On the other hand for users who require few voice minutes heavy data no tethering and no home phone iPhone with AT&T could be only slightly higher in cost.
Phone: Terrific - just as good as 8320 which was also great. I find the phone quality I experience to be better than using an average phone with a land line (cordless or corded). The speakerphone and internal phone is of higher quality but lower volume - so may be more difficult to hear in very noisy conditions though ear buds or headsets can be used in such circumstances. The alternative UMA reception works just as well on 9700 as it did on the 8320. The quality of the speakerphone is so good that I often use it for music if I'm not in reach of my earphones - while of course not as good as what you get over a high quality headset it is the best speaker quality I've heard from a cell phone - and I thought the 8320 was good.
E-mail Google apps: Built in Email function is great but is not geared for IMAP Gmail so I downloaded the Google Mobile App and then the individual components Gmail Sync and Maps. Gmail and Maps are outstanding Sync is adequate. The search by voice feature of Google Mobile App is amazingly useful in so many ways I could write a couple pages just about this one feature (watch what happens when you do voice searches for "Phillies" or "Black Widow" or "3+11" . . .). By using Gmail I give up push E-mail (it checks every 20 minutes or if I force it to with "refresh") but is otherwise better - including the ability to search g-mail very quickly. None of this is any different from the 8320 - except that everything is much quicker - and I can use Maps without having to reboot the phone to get memory back. The Google Reader icon merely invokes the Blackberry browser with Google Reader RSS - and it is so tiny that it is unusable. I did figure out that I could use Google Reader reasonably well with the BOLT browser (which I had to download and then set to 3x Large font rendering). I also use Google Voice to replace T-mobile's voice mail and it works great though you have to wait a few minutes for voice mails and their transcriptions to show up on your phone. Of course all of these things work way better on Android and the iPhone but with the exception of Google Reader they are plenty good enough on the Blackberry.
Other Cloud Apps: Unfortunately Blackberry is harder to develop for than the iPhone (and probably Android too) partly because Blackberry has so many models (too many IMHO). The result is that Evernote for the iPhone is fantastic while it is passable on the 9700 and downright primitive on the 8320. The screen is bigger and the browser is better and faster on the 9700 (OS 5) than it was on 8320 (OS 4.5) and this accounts for why I'm actually beginning to use Evernote do search within the app and it brings up the notes with that term in the browser - you have to wait 5-10 seconds but it works. On the 8320 this was too slow to be workable. Dropbox doesn't even have a client yet for Blackberry. Roboform has a primitive Blackberry client that doesn't sync wirelessly - I have to manually copy over my passcards every once in a while. Blackberry is a major platform so I am assuming these apps get better over time but they will always trail the iPhone.
Media Player - the media player functions (mp3 pictures video voice notes etc.) works just as well as it did with the 8320 - there's probably been some changes but I didn't notice them. However the Pandora app runs much better on the 9700 than the 8320 due likely to some combination of 3G coverage and a faster processor. On the 8320 the application paused often in weak coverage areas and had a tendency to stop in the middle of a song and skip to the next on occasion.
Camera quality - I am a huge fan of Evernote but the 8320 camera was not able to take pictures of regular size text that could be recognized as text by Evernote's OCR. The 9700 camera specs are better and this proved out with Evernote in my initial tests. I found that with bright light and a distance of at least 11 inches away I could take pictures of restaurant menus and Evernote was able to index most words in the picture. So I will have access to the menus of all of our favorite restaurants through Evernote once I take pictures of them all. This could also be done with business cards wine bottles white boards . . .
Ease of Use - This is where Blackberry's fall flat. It took me many many hours of fiddling to master the use of the 8320. While most of this knowledge transferred over to the 9700 it still took many hours to set up the phone as I downloaded apps set preferences etc. The iPhone is obviously much better in this regard and for a heavy Google services user like myself so is Android from everything I've read. The menus of preferences were moderately better laid out than the 8320 which helped some. But here are some of the issues: The Apps store experience is frustrating (i.e. Quickpull is an app that worked for 8320 and appeared on the 9700 app store so I installed it but it froze up my system - why does this appear at all if it hasn't been updated yet for the 9700?). Installing apps is slow and requiring rebooting. Some apps are NOT in the app store (Google mobile app Bolt etc.). The profiles system for setting alert preferences is powerful and a bit easier to use than the 8320 but still complicated. The initial layout of icons on the phone screen was so cumbersome that I spent quite a while rearranging them so I could more easily find what I was looking for. On the bright side there are many handy shortcuts available on Blackberries. I especially like having each letter assignable to a speed dial so I use the first letter of last names for home phone speed dials and the first letter of first names for cell phone speed dials. As you learn the shortcuts the phone becomes very fast to use far faster than a computer for some things.
Popularity - Blackberries in general are among the most popular smart phone brands and 9700s in particular appear to be a big hit. Within months there will be a flood of accessories but the phone is so new that there's not too much yet. Many apps have not yet been updated for the 9700 or the OS 5.0.0.330 which powers the phone. However it is harder to write Blackberry apps so I am expecting iPhone to always have better and more up-to-date apps and probably Android as well as that platform matures.
Battery/Memory - Battery life is amazingly good - I have been unable to use more than 30% of the battery in one day despite a lot of fiddling syncs in the background Pandora use etc. There is enough memory for apps that I don't have to worry about it any more. This is a vast improvement over the 8320 which was a pocket computer in theory but in actual practice memory limited to less than a dozen apps and required constant fiddling to manage memory if you used it like that. However as application developers start increasing the size of apps it's easy for me to imagine 256MB of memory getting to be a problem a year or two from now . . .
Phone in Hand - The 9700 is the perfect size for my larger-than-average adult male hand. The 8320 was very slippery and I kept dropping it until I bought a Seido protective cover. It was already thick and the cover made it thicker so that I didn't like holding it for long phone calls. The 9700 is only thinner by a few mm yet it is much less fatiguing to hold and it is not slippery so I will probably not use a protective covering. There are a few very minor things I like less than the 8320 though: The right convenience key is so low on the phone that I have to contort my thumb to reach it. This is especially problematic when using the autofocus feature of the camera to focus on a specific distance - which uses that key. The battery cover and micro SD cards are both a pain to take off. Both require using two thumbs to push away from your body with a lot of pressure. The manual does not explain this - took lots of trial/error and online googling to figure this out.
Cradle - I bought the Blackberry Charging Pod for Blackberry Bold 2. I dock the phone each night and while charging it goes into bedside mode which is a customizable alarm clock (which gives you options to turn off every kind of alerting if you want including phone rings). Assuming you buy the dock you won't need an alarm clock any more.
Tethering - It's a bit cumbersome to set up but I had done it on the 8320 before so knew how. It works - and it is much faster than the 8320 likely mostly due to 3G. I did not do speed tests but some who have claim to be getting 3G speeds (which are 10x-20x faster than the EDGE tethering that happened on the 8320). I don't plan to use this feature much - only while traveling and no WiFi is near. I am hoping people don't heavily use this feature because if they do T-mobile will be forced to stop allowing it or maybe charge for it. But having this as a backup internet connection (especially traveling) is a huge plus for me.
Browser - The 9700 Blackberry Browser is significantly better than the 8320 browser partly due to more screen real estate (in pixels) and the faster processor. Disabling images makes it even faster. I didn't try to analyze what all the changes are but I do know that I can now use Evernote where as it way too cumbersome to use Evernote with the 8320. Less busy web sites are now usable. But the browser is still nowhere close to what you get on an iPhone or Android device. I downloaded BOLT and it seems better for single column sites where I really need to reflow text such as Google Reader. But clearly something better is possible. Opera Mini 5 is in Beta and is getting reviews so that may be available in a few months. But the big leap will likely happen with the webkit-based browser that was acquired a few months ago and is likely to be incorporated with Blackberries by the end of 2010. Based on what I've seen in the week I've played with my 9700 I'll likely only use the browser for certain specific things like Evernote and Google Reader or the results of a Google Voice Search - but avoid general browsing as much as possible.
Maps and Voice Navigation - I tested the Maps App for a few minutes and it did the job quite well when outdoors. Note that GPS can be used not only in Map apps but also in many other applications such as weather search geotagging pictures etc. and all this comes in handy. To get high quality voice navigation you'll generally need to pay $10/month which is much more than I'm willing to pay. If I'm walking then voiceless navigation is good enough and if I'm driving I'll use my Garmin Nuvi - which I would want to do anyway as it has a much bigger screen and is much easier to use while driving. I would use such a feature if I had it - and I'm sure users of Android 2.0 devices such as the Verizon Droid will greatly appreciate it. But this was not a critical feature for me.
Summary:
The Blackberry 9700 with T-mobile is a great phone and communication device that is also a pretty good pocket computer all in an attractive easy to hold and use form factor - all at a very reasonable monthly plan cost for the heavy phone and data user. It is a huge improvement over the 83xx series in almost every respect. The only significant disadvantages compared with other smartphones are a barely usable browser a cumbersome setup for third-party apps and the general complication of customizing the device. For those who value a browser and ease of use above all and are willing to pay for it the iPhone is better - but for those who want a great smartphone on a budget - this is a great choice.
UPDATE (1 month later): After owning/using the 9700 for a week I wrote the above review. I intentionally said little about the the keyboard screen and trackpad because I felt these kinds of things may take getting used to so I didn't want to be too hasty to judge. I now have enough data to comment:
Screen: The screen is very high resolution which means that it is very easy to read text in 8pt type. Unfortunately this sometimes means the browser or certain apps decide that they can cram more text in at 5pt or 6pt type which requires that I use my reading glasses - those with better eyes than mine may appreciate cramming in more text with a smaller font. Pictures are crisp and vibrant. The backlight brightness is extremely bright - too bright for night in fact. I do have the "Automatically Dim Backlight" feature enabled which dims the 9700 automatically at night and I have screen brightness set to the minimum setting of 10. It is still too bright to me for use in a room with no light on. Furthermore the unit occasionally has an abrupt change of brightness - getting brighter all of a sudden for a few seconds or just staying that way. It is impossible for me to know if my unit has a defective light sensor or this is an O/S issue - I've read that others are experiencing similar issues so perhaps it's the O/S and it will be fixed some day with one of the O/S updates. Another brightness issue is that the difference between maximum brightness and minimum brightness is pretty narrow. I never have viewing problems in even the brightest sunlight so it's the lowest brightness setting which I think is not low enough.
Keyboard: I do not use the Blackberry extensively for typing - The rare e-mail I write or reply to is usually less than 10 words and I don't use text messaging in any form. So it took a while for me to conclude that the keyboard is slower for me than the 83xx keyboard which had spacing between the keys. I actually timed myself and found I did around 30 WPM (words per minute) with the 83xx and 25 WPM with the 9700. If I try typing faster (say 30 WPM) I hit several double keys per minute which needs correcting and ends up lower than 25 WPM. So the result is I purposely type slower and more cautiously to avoid hitting two keys simultaneously. For the way I use a Blackberry this is not a big problem - I use the keyboard mostly for things like speed dial quickly looking up a contact navigating the menus etc. and there is no speed hit that I can notice for that. But for those with big hands who type a lot the Bold 9000 is going to be faster and probably the 83xx series as well. Note that my fingers/hands are slightly larger than normal for an adult male.
Trackpad: Most people rave about how great trackpads are on Blackberries but for me it's a mixed bag. I find it to be sometimes jumpy with applications that require frequent moving around - particularly with the game Ka-Glom which I tried both on the 8320 and the 9700. I have better control on the 8320 and can score significantly higher as a result. Also any form of moisture on your fingers - sweat water lotion etc. can have in impact on the responsiveness. Nevertheless I find it easier to use than the old trackball style when my thumbs are dry and I'm using a typical app - it is easier to use a light touch to move just a tiny bit and it is very easy to swipe it all the way to one side or to the top/bottom. The trackpad is harder to accidentally press than a trackball. And it is quiet. Overall I prefer the trackpad because it is yet one more little thing that reduces the weight/bulk of the unit and is much less likely to go bad than the trackballs on all older devices.
Update 2/14/10: Battery life is possible to kill if you get too adventurous with your phone. I have found three ways to kill it so far: Themes heavy syncing and tethering. The theme I tried for a week caused sluggish performance and battery to deplete twice as fast. Tethering caused me to go all the way through the battery in less than 6 hours while using an EEE PC constantly during that time. Syncing is not a big deal if you just have two or three apps syncing every 2 hours or so but some apps will sync every few minutes if you let them and if you have a few of these running the battery can drain quickly and the phone becomes sluggish during syncs. If you keep things simple on your phone you'll have no problems - just use one of the preloaded themes don't tether much and sparingly set up syncs.
Changed Summary/Conclusion: Overall my conclusion about this device has changed slightly over the past month so I here's a rewrite of the Summary incorporating my extensive testing of the physical features:
Summary: The Blackberry 9700 with T-mobile is a great phone and communication device that is also a pretty good pocket computer all in a slim light attractive and easy to hold and use form factor - all at a very reasonable monthly plan cost for the heavy phone and data user. It is a huge improvement over the 83xx series in terms of speed memory and connectivity options. However the keyboard is slower for me to use than the 8320. For me this tradeoff is worthwhile as it is no longer a noticeable lump in my shirt or pants pocket and does not fatigue my hand on a long phone call.
The only significant disadvantages (compared with other smartphone brands) are a barely usable browser a cumbersome setup for third-party apps and the general complication of customizing the device. For those who value a browser and ease of use above all and are willing to pay for it the iPhone and certain Android-based phones (such as Google's Nexus One) is better - but for those who want a great smartphone on a budget - this is a great choice.
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