Can't go wrong with the Bold 2....

Alright let me just say off the bat that as a former Bold 9000 user I've been looking forward to the new Bold 2 for months since pictures were leaked on the internet. Since I get my phones through my company I've had the phone since Nov. 18 when it was released on AT&T's network for Premier people. Unfortunately my friend decided that after playing around with my phone they wanted one so I bought them an unlocked one.



The new Bold 9700 is a sleek phone - no doubt about it. RIM apparently has decided though to somewhat standardize their phones' look a direction that bothers me to a great extent. One of the things I loved about the Bold was that it was different - you saw any other phone and then you saw the Bold - and you thought "Wow that phone IS bold!!" Size I couldn't care less about - as long as it looked good and worked awesomely what else matters? And the Bold 9000 fit those well. So when I got the new 9700 and I compared it to my coworker's Tour (for Verizon) I was quite surprised at how similar they were. It's actually somewhat hard to tell them apart (the 9700 is a bit smaller and also has the trackpad). Just an observation....



Alright - to the review:



Pros:



Trackpad - this is definitely a most welcome upgrade. RIM outdid themselves on this part - I thought the trackball was good this trackpad is great! The older Bold's trackball was great as long as you kept dirt and dust out of it. Which turned out to be somewhat difficult since there was a depression surrounding the trackball and so if too much dust or dirt got in the ball needed to be replaced. Also if you used it too much the ball would lose its grip and become less responsive also - once again - needing to be replaced. Both those problems are now gone with this new trackpad. For former trackball users it may take a little use to get to know it but once you do trust me - you'll never go back.



Speaker - the speakers on the Bold are nothing less than stunning. My friend has an IPhone and my speakers for playing music and speakerphone blow his out of this century. Not only can they get very loud but they also are quite clear and crisp for the volume you can put them to. And if that wasn't good enough RIM includes AudioBoost - for when you hook your Bold up to your car or stereo system which bumps the output sound even higher. Excellent....



OS - the new BlackBerry 5 OS which comes preloaded on the phone is a major improvement over the 4.6 version in most other phones. It's snappier and quite more responsive.



Camera - RIM upgraded the camera from a 2 MP in the older Bold to a 3.2 MP in the Bold 9700. The pictures that the phone takes are quite good even in poor light conditions. Of course if you try to take pictures in the club with it - prepare to be somewhat disappointed. Ha. But for regular everyday camera uses that "quick shot" the Bold 9700 actually takes decent pictures. Nice for when you forget to bring that digital camera with you.



There's a couple other pros I can think of but they're more along the lines of business users or based on networks (you could get 3G speeds on AT&T's network since the first Bold - T-Mobile just got their first 3G BlackBerry with this phone). If you're interested in them drop me a comment and I'll get back to you.



Now for the cons:



Battery - battery life is still somewhat bad although it definitely is an improvement over the older Bold. I normally use Pandora - an App that plays Internet Radio trust me this should be one of the first apps you download it's free - the other is Google Maps also free - anyway back to the review so I normally use Pandora and I can get about 6 hours out of the battery with small breaks in-between receiving phone calls. So in normal use you could probably get about a day out of the battery which isn't terrible but also is somewhat worse than comparable phones out there.



Hardware - this is probably my biggest negative I had. Normally when they say upgrade you would think they would put better hardware in the thing right?? Well think again. With the exception of the upgraded camera and trackpad there is NO difference in hardware between this and the older Bold.

Zero.

Nada.

I would've liked some upgraded hardware in the phone. But again - this is just my thing. You may not care.



My last negative is more hit and miss - some people have been reporting that BlackBerry Maps - the app that RIM ships with the phone for navigation doesn't work on the 9700. Myself included. This appears to be at random but it just irks me. It may be dependent on the network you're on. Fortunately there's a workaround - get Google Maps.





So - overall the phone is a nice update. It works takes nice pictures looks sleek and can be used as your new boombox when you want to blast "What is Love?" by Haddaway. (Kidding on the last one) I would completely recommend this phone even with some of its faults since they don't really take away from the experience with the phone.



I'll update this review from time to time as I continue to use this so if there's any questions please feel free to ask.More detail ...

Great smart phone for the price!!

Pros:

*Great screen resolution

*Awesome keyboard very easy to type. Much better than the Blackberry Curve. Similar to the BOLD.

*Phone reception is very good no issues at all. I think I get a stronger 3G signal than my IPhone 3G

*As far as Data I use this phone with WI-FI only and it has a great inbuilt tool that always asks which way you want to connect to the net. I can also set certain applications to use WI-FI by default so I done have to worry about accidentally using the data service. The WI-FI connectivity is great.

*Web browser is one of the best I have used. The IPhone browser is obviously better because of the screen size and the touch user interface. But the S60 browser is far better than the windows mobile or blackberry browsers. It even executes flash pages YouTube mobile and many other flash oriented website.

*The email capabilities are amazing Very easy to set up. I was able to access exchange email (via push) and Gmail without any issues at all. Nokia has some sort of trial email application http://email.nokia.com which works amazing well. I am able to use Gmail with push capability. That's something even the IPhone can't do yet. However this service is in beta and may be costly down the road. It rendered HTML emails perfectly.

*Attachments were easy to open and view. However quick office requires a 19.00 update to open the new MS Office 2007 file formats.

*I use Google for calendaring and contacts. Thanks to Google enabling Microsoft ActiveSync technology for its calendar and contacts applications I am able to sync real time. http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=147951

*As far listening to music the phone works quite well. It is obviously not even close to the I-Phone. If media is your primary requirement this particular model will be slightly disappointing. However I was able to transfer play list from I-tunes to the Nokia Music Desktop software and Sync the play lists with the phone (http://www.mattshelton.net/2008/05/23/itunes-playlist-export ) . The external speakers on the phone produce a crisp sound better than the external speakers of the IPhone but not as good as the Blackberry Bold. Via headphones the sound was quite good. I was able to browse the music by play list Artist Album etc. I would say the music playback capability was as good as the blackberries with media Sync.

*I have not tried the video playback capabilities.

*The camera on the phone is quite adequate and it has a flash that is amazingly bright. Be sure not flash someone in the eye as its blinding at a close range. I was able to take pictures and email as attachments and MMS them to my contacts without any issues. I felt the picture quality was as good as the IPhone. With the added bonus of a flash. The Video capability was decent and worked well. Nothing to write home about but a cool feature to have.

*Files on OVI. Yes it is possible to install a desktop application called Files on OVI and access desktop files via the phone. It works well and setup was a breeze. Cool feature to have. But I did notice my desktop acting slightly slow and decided to uninstall it. But this is most likely a unique issue related to my desktop.

*The battery life was better than average no issues at all with heavy use. Three times better than the IPhone 3G

*It has an App store which is interesting and shows a lot of potential. I found many useful apps for free. (Nibmuzz Bloomberg etc)



Cons:

*The lack of the side volume toggle is annoying. Mostly when trying to adjust the volume while listing to music and when trying to turn off the ringer when the phone is in the pocket.

*The User Interface is a little dated and does not feel very user friendly. The menu system is extensive but a little annoying at times as it requires multiple clicks to get simple things done.

*No USB data cable memory card or out of the box compatibility for MS Office 2007 files formats. These upgrades cost me $46.00 (8GB Micro SDHC).





This is a great phone for the price. I am a smart phone power user and have used Blackberries IPhone and Windows mobile. I love what this phone can do out of the box. It is really a little gem. I would highly recommend this phone to anyone who does not want to sign or extend their contracts and does not need IPod like media capabilities. The lack of a volume toggle is not a deal breaker in my books. The rubberized plastic exterior is great and has a slight grip to it. I can't imagine how uncomfortable the Nokia E71 must feel in the hand with its metal exterior. Metal sounds cool and fancy but its slippery and gets cold. Hope this review helps!!





More detail ...

E71 truly spoiled me

I upgraded from a Nokia E71 (which was an unbelievable upgrade from my previous experiences with Blackberry) and for some reason I was expecting that same leap from the E71 to E72. However I soon realized after using my E72 for the past couple days that the E71 did in fact spoil me. The E72 is still no doubt an amazing phone -- along with the E71 and other top Nokias it's still in its own little league above the Blackberries and other smartphones -- but I'll admit I was slightly let down.

If you are looking to buy a Nokia (or any phone) I'd definitely recommend the E72. If you are a huge Nokia fan then fine upgrade. If you're happy with your E71....then I'd really think about it (or at least get your hands on one in person). The E72 is much faster the camera's awesome and it's still a beautiful phone. BUT you should know a couple things:



-The construction is not quite as top-notch as the E71. It's a little lighter with some metal replaced for a sort of heavy hardened plastic. I've heard of the battery panel being loose but I haven't run into the problem. Mine was made in China while my E71 was made in Finland although it seems there can always be problems no matter where it's made.

-The optical pad is a nice touch (it takes some getting used to) and occasionally it can misinterpret your choice to click to the side for a sliding movement. But overall I'm getting used to it (and if you really don't like it you can always switch it off).

-I do notice the slightest high pitched buzz when the volume is turned up and the sound coming from the other end of the call is on the loud side. The E71 never had this problem. I take it the speakers were either downgraded or because of the extra plastic there's some sort of vibration (could just be my model). UPDATE: Seems the speaker just needed some "breaking in" (strange I know). This problem in no longer present. However still not the best volume in speakerphone mode.



***Overall I'd say if you're looking at the E72 compared to any top smartphone this is an excellent choice***

IF you're looking at the E72 and E71 side by side it is THEN that you start to notice the little details that I mentioned above. True there are a few more plastic pieces than the E71 but when I think about the Blackberries and iPhones you're never going to get the same quality you got with the E71 and the E72 is just a notch below that.

E72 is a 4.5 star phone. E71 will always be the best phone I've ever owned.More detail ...

Blackberry Rim 8520

I gave it a four because when I first got it it took me time to see and get used to the keys because they are kind-of small. If you want bigger buttons get 8330 my sister has one wish I could switch with hers but mine is newer and no tracking ball which I really like to.. about this phone. Its sleek and easy to navigate..Before I had this one I had the 8120 ah--big difference the charge on 8520 last longer and takes a little time to charge up but its worth it. Also the keys I wished lighted up a bit brighter BUT like I said once you have it after a few days you get used to it. My one problem with as I am thinking off the top of my head ..is there are not enough apps to go with or themes made for this model.

I am a geek for that but as of now I have been able to download a few off my blackberry 8120 to my 8520.

Also checking around i was able to get a few more themes that are just awesome. The 2gb memory card that comes with it I took out and put in my 4gb from my 8120 in it. I read somewhere it can go to 16gb and pretty soon it will go 34gb...its in the works now.

I will say the quality in web browsing is GREAT and I have had no problems with dropped calls lost signal or getting frustrated with where are the keys for texting; all the numbers are on the left side..feels weird but after a day or so it works better than my other blkberry which was the 8120.

Also there's a dictionary to while your texting a firewall..it is just way better than I expected. If I go all over I apologize I am giving you want I can tell you about this product as I'm writing I'm having a flashback...lol.

Now if your a geek like me with apps there aren't that many games for this Rim..I am waiting for new apps to become more available for my phone for some reason 8320 has the most..kind-of peeves me at times wen I am looking around as to adding to my phone but..this phone is pretty easy compared to my 8120. If you want to know anything else ask..I will answer.More detail ...

Rough Around the Edges but Huge Potential

Review Updated June 1 2010



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Design & Hardware

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[CONSTRUCTION]: The surface of the N900 is a smooth black matte finish. The build material is aluminum steel and rubber/plastic. The N900 easily fits in a pocket being smaller than the N810 but noticeably thicker than most phones. The four front components are the status light proximity sensor ambient light sensor and VGA camera. There is a consumer infrared port (universal remote) wrist strap option stylus and kickstand. The removable back contains the main camera SIM battery and microSDHC slot. Removal requires some strength but it's reassuring knowing it won't fall off.



[KEYBOARD]: The keyboard is side-sliding with a smooth springless mechanism providing a solid feel. The keyboard is three-row localized and backlit with rubberized key surfaces. The keys are more difficult to use than devices with rounded keys but are still easier than virtual keyboards. While reaching speeds of 35-40 WPM is realistic extended use is rather tiring. It is possible connect a USB or Bluetooth keyboard gamepad mouse and even a Wii Remote.



[TV-OUT]: There is 480i resolution TV-out which uses an included 3.5mm jack with 4 rings. These are ground audio left and right and composite video. Useful for watching movies playing games or doing work that requires a big screen.



[SCREEN]: The 16 million color 800x480 pixel display is incredible. It is pressure-sensitive 15:9 aspect and transflective making the screen easier to see in direct light. It uses a surprisingly responsive resistive touch screen allowing use with gloves fingernails or a stylus. The ambient light sensor adjusts the brightness automatically. Lack of multi-touch means cumbersome "swirling" gestures in some software but is generally not a huge issue.



[CAMERAS]: The main camera is a 5MP Carl Zeiss the same as the Nokia N97. It comes with a sliding shutter to protect the recessed lens. There is also a front-facing 640x480 webcam. The camera interface is the same as the S60. The image quality is sharp skin tones are vivid and there is very little if any chromatic aberration at the edges. The camera uses the accelerometer when photographing so the photo viewer can show the picture "up" however the N900 is held. Take a portrait picture and view it landscape and it'll be small. Turn the device and it'll fill the screen. There are the following modes: Automatic Macro Portrait Landscape Action and Auto video. The camera can take 848×480 resolution video at 25 fps. The video quality is crisp recording at an impressive 3000 kb/s but the framerate usually drops to 20fps and the audio has a noticeable metallic tone. The camera also works with Adobe Flash.



[CPU]: The CPU is an ARM-based TI OMAP 3430 600MHz clocked at 500MHz but can be overclocked. Some users of the Maemo forums have managed to push it up to 1.2GHz. This allows improved performance with high resolution media gaming/emulators and web browsing among many others. Overclocking requires downloading a modified kernel with the desired speed. They are generally made available in 50Mhz steps such as 800MHz and 850MHz. Then simply run fiasco-image-update on the download. While overclocking would normally reduce battery life most kernels also provide underclocks for idle which allows the N900 to use significantly less power when not in use the net result often being EXTENDED battery life. According to Nokia overclocking does void the warranty. Since the N900 does not have any active cooling the heat created by overclocking could significantly shorten the N900's life if pushed too much. N900 units are unique each will overclock differently. So far though the series does seem to overclock extremely well.



[BATTERY]: The battery is a 1320mAh Nokia BL-5J 22% smaller than the BP-4L. A full battery with unoptimized settings allows about 5-9 hours of continuous talk time 5 hours of music or a few hours of 3G. 3G/3.5G drains the battery faster than Wi-Fi. Lowering brightness removing desktop widgets and disabling GPS Wi-Fi Bluetooth and 3G easily triples battery life. Charging is through microUSB which takes about 4-5 hours for an empty battery. An issue with the USB port breaking off has been acknowledged by Nokia as a design oversight they advise care should be taken while plugging/unplugging devices to mitigate this problem. The "complete cycle" method some people use is for calibrating multicell laptop batteries but the N900 only has a single cell battery so it's pointless and marginally harmful to do complete discharge cycles as there's nothing to calibrate.



[INTERNAL MEMORY]: The N900 has two memory chips. The first is a 32GB eMMC: 768MB of 'virtual memory' (swap) 2GB for settings and software (ext3 /home) the last ~26GB (MyDocs) is for your files only (software not allowed). The second chip is 256MB of NAND memory (RAM) used for bootloader kernel and rootfs twice that of the N810. Optionally several gigabytes are used for the localized offline Ovi Maps useful in areas without data coverage.



[EXPANDABLE MEMORY]: The N900 has a hot-swappable microSDHC slot under the rear panel. It supports microSDHC cards up to 32GB of any class. The included cable can connect the N900 to a computer for easy transfer of files by allowing the N900 to act as a hard drive though only "MyDocs" is accessible.



[GPS & MAPS]: The GPS is a real GPS and has the addition of assisted GPS. The cold fix time with data is about 10-40 seconds with accuracy as good as the Nokia N97. Pre-loaded Ovi Maps are available so a data connection is not required. GPS usually works fine offline if slow but due to a bug can fail as the map engine may ask for a connection even when the maptiles are loaded. Ovi Maps uses the GPS to show local weather information. Navigation and mapping with Ovi Maps is free but there is no turn-by-turn voice navigation. The low 1.0 version is due to it being the first Maemo release of Ovi maps explaining the lack of features it has compared to the 3.0 version available on Symbian. Some omissions being the inability to save routes and inability to look up a contact's address.



[FM TRANSMITTER]: The integrated FM transmitter puts audio from the device into radio frequency so you can tune a radio to that frequency and play N900 media wirelessly. It works as advertised but must be very close to the receiving radio.



[RADIOS]: The signal strength of the N900's 3G radio is weak. It is possible to turn off the cellular radio without disabling Wi-Fi/Bluetooth by going into offline mode and then manually enabling either. The N900 can use another phone as a 3G modem over Bluetooth but setup is complicated. Bluetooth DUN and PAN modes are supported via community software. Advanced WLAN security like different kinds of EAP (EAP-PEAP EAP-MSCHAPv2 etc.) different ciphers (RSA 3DES SHA etc.) and "authority certificates" (algorithms like X.509 SHA1RSA) are all supported. With Bluetooth DUN tethering is supported.



[AUDIO]: The built-in stereo speakers are loud but lacking in bass. They make an acceptable portable radio. Bluetooth headphones work great. The audio quality of the 3.5mm jack is loud and slightly more "forward" sounding than the more "laid back" or "polite" sound of other smartphones but without the response peaks valleys or ripples that so often mar the critical 1000 Hz. region. Audio sounds more "present" than with similar devices. The included earphones have a somewhat dirty signal. Higher frequencies hiss losing details and the brightness and dynamic volume are shallow lacking weight and depth. The earphone wires feel like they will become loose over time.



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Application Software

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[SCREEN ORIENTATION]: Most software and the main N900 interface only work in landscape mode. The only time it can be switched to portrait mode is when making or receive a phone call. Rotating the phone into portrait mode opens the keypad automatically after a delay. As of PR 1.2 portrait mode is available for the web browser by default. Emails Contacts App and File mangers and PDF reader now all support portrait mode but you must press Ctrl+Shift+R every time to enable it. Third party software orientation is at the discretion of the software developer.



[WEB BROWSER]: The overall web experience is amazing perhaps the best available in a device this size. The web browser is MicroB and supports full Adobe Flash video and applets providing a very fast full web experience. Tapping zooms and centers where tapped. Making a circular motion zooms gradually. Moving a finger off the left of the screen produces a mouse arrow for websites requiring this operation. The Flash version is 9.4. Flash 10.1 was originally planned for Q1 2010 but the Head of Maemo Operations Mountain View has stated that it is never coming to the N900 only to future MeeGo devices. Many Flash games play fine but the keyboard can be iffy. Unfortunately some Flash applets still run after closing the browser and drain the battery. The simplest fix is to reboot. MicroB is based on Firefox which uses Gecko Webkit browsers are also freely available.



[COPY AND PASTE]: Copy and pasting text is allowed in all menus and textboxes.



[SOCIAL NETWORKING]: The N900 comes with utilities for using Twitter and Facebook. Social presence is a global service once connected the contact list is updated realtime there's no need to launch 'Contacts'. IM support for MSN ICQ AIM Yahoo IRC and more is also available through Pidgin. Video calls can be made over IP using Google Talk. Email supports Mail for Exchange (including 2003) and IMAP/POP3. Nokia/Ovi Messaging provides PUSH email for up to 10 simultaneous accounts including webmail and keeps the accounts separate. Skype calls can be made using 3G.



[PRODUCTIVITY]: Included is Documents To Go a suite of apps for opening MS Office documents. There's a free version that only opens Office files and a pay version for creating and editing Office files. Full versions of AbiWord and OpenOffice are freely available as well.



[MEDIA PLAYER]: The media player works but can be picky. Included are some 720p trailers showing the N900's speed and amazing screen. Codec support is unclear and experimenting with "mostly supported" media can be a stuttering mess. The media player is okay for music but could use some polishing the lack of an equalizer was a surprising omission for example. There are also free community media players like VLC available.



[PHONE]: As a phone the N900 has some significant shortcomings. By default there are only two modifiable profiles however new profiles may be created with a free tool called Tweakr. The rotational start of the phone interface takes several moments. There's no way to filter or organize the call log and call duration is not recorded. There's no speed dial functionality and it's not possible to send an SMS or access device settings from the phone screen. The poor proximity sensor opens random screens while in your pocket and there's no per-contact ringtone support. On the positive side the call quality and signal strength are excellent. MMS is not officially supported but community software fMMS allows its functionality.



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Operating System

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[INTERFACE]: The OS interface is polished and fluid. You can sweep 360 degrees through four desktops filled with your choice of widgets shortcuts and wallpaper easily zooming in and out of open applications. The interface is usually quick and responsive but can stutter. When a dialog opens the application behind it blurs like frosted glass. All context menus are pop-ups dismissed by pressing outside the menu.



[MULTITASKING]: Multitasking is phenomenal. You can run every application with no sign of slowing. Taskswitching is thumbnailed showing what each program is. The active program's window shrinks so all open programs are visible at once. Then any window may be closed using the X in the corner in any order.



[TECHNICAL]: The default N900 OS is Maemo 5. Maemo was started in 2005 by Nokia being based on Debian. Future Maemo releases will be merged with Intel's Moblin OS creating MeeGo. Nokia originally planned to support the N900 with MeeGo but since has stated that only a Community Supported release will be available for the N900. Maemo supports over-the-air updates and all software is available freely through user defined software repositories. Apt-get also works great. With Maemo there is no app approval process. The platform is open and free promoting a strong Maemo community and developer network. The current amount of Maemo software is quite limited compared to other platforms but growing especially due to the Ovi store offering commercial software. Maemo 5 has some backwards compatibility with Maemo 4.1 software but it is fairly limited. As of June 2010 there are about 330 Maemo applications available although judging the total amount of Maemo software is difficult as it does not have a single distribution channel.



[ALTERNATIVES]: The N900 does not require signed kernels which means alternative systems may be installed like Mer Nitdroid MeeGo and Debian. Images may be booted on a card or flash memory like multi-booting on a desktop.



[SHELL]: Out of box there is a true linux shell with root access. You can install sshfs and mount shares from a server or even insert a kernel module. Characters missing from the keyboard are accessed with Fn+Ctrl. BusyBox with nano and vi are bundled by default.



[DEVELOPMENT]: Maemo offers a POSIX environment allowing use as a UNIX system with native software. Useful for *NIX developers since it opens a lot of possibilities. There are a number of different languages available and more to come. GUI development is done using standard Linux toolkits GTK and Qt. Python is also available. The N900's implementation of Python is not dumbed down GUIs can be created with popular toolkits like PyGTK and PyQt. Important since there are many developers that already know how to write N900 applications even if they don't realize it yet.



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Drawbacks & Issues

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No official MMS support. Doesn't work on AT&T's 3G network. No magnetometer (digital compass). No 802.11n. No handwriting recognition. No USB-OTG. No voice dialing. No global kinetic scrolling. Lack of multi-touch. Lack of portrait mode software. Scrolling can be jerky. Kickstand is wobbly with only one position. Mail for Exchange doesn't support Google's Active Sync. Lack of software especially commercial due to the new OS. Various minor GUI issues that need refining. Various other issues not directly related to the device like spotty Ovi/Nokia support Nokia launch issues and quality control issues.



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Conclusion

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People are saying the N900 is not a Nokia Internet Tablet anymore and it's just a smartphone but when you use it you really feel like you're using a device that is more than a smartphone. If you understand the limitations as mentioned above can deal with the growing pains as software matures and value the advantages the N900 offers you'll be really happy with the N900.More detail ...