BlackBerry Bold beats iPhone to 3G
Amid swirling rumors about the impending
announcement of a 3G iPhone, Research in Motion today introduced its slickest,
speediest, most powerful, and most connected BlackBerry to date: the BlackBerry
Bold 9000.
Equipped with support for tri-band HSDPA and quad-band EDGE (which means that
it will support the highest-speed GSM-family data networks wherever they are
available worldwide), 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth, and both assisted
and autonomous GPS, the Bold could prove a formidable challenger to Apple's
next-gen iPhone on connectivity alone.
It even looks a bit iPhone-esque, with its glassy display area, generally flat
profile, and rounded corners. Still, the Bold comes configured with a hardware
QWERTY keyboard, and it retains the general dimensions of its predecessors,
so it's much shorter and somewhat thicker than the iPhone.
The Bold's removable back is covered in black leatherette, and you'll be able
to personalize the device by buying replacement backs in different colors (blue,
brown, green, gray, and red).
The redesigned keyboard has guitar-inspired frets--thin metal strips--between
each row. The keys themselves are sculpted to help users avoid fingertip slippage.
The device also carries a 2-megapixel camera capable of up to 5X digital zoom.
Fast CPU, High-Res Display
The Bold's 624-MHz StrongARM processor with full MMX (multimedia extensions)
is the most powerful CPU on a handheld to date (the BlackBerry Curve, in contrast,
uses a 312-MHz chip without MMX). The Bold's extra power enables the device
to handle full-motion video on its 480-by-320-pixel, 65,000-plus-color display
(that resolution is double the Curve's at basically the same screen size): In
a demo at PC World's offices last week, video clips on the Bold looked smooth
and exceptionally sharp.
Of course, little commercial video content is available as yet for non-Apple
media players. Further, the Bold's screen is diminutive compared to the current
iPhone's roomy 3.5-inch display, and it isn't a touch screen. (RIM president
and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis simply smiled when we asked about reports that the
company is working on a touch-screen BlackBerry).
But since the Bold's smaller display holds the same number of pixels as the
current iPhone's, images look much higher-res on it than on its competitor.
The Bold's 1GB of on-board secure memory (on top of its 128MB of flash) will
appeal to BlackBerry's core enterprise community, providing storage for items
that companies would rather not make available for transport on a micro SD card.
But users who want to carry their music and video libraries on their handsets
will be able to do so via micro SD.
Carriers will determine pricing, and RIM had no details on which U.S. carrier
will introduce the Bold (though AT&T, with the largest HSDPA network in
the United States, seems a likelier candidate than
T-Mobile, which has just begun to roll out 3G service stateside). RIM said
that it expects the Bold to be shipping worldwide this summer.
» posted by abennett
PC World
Symantec Backup Exec 12 and Backup Exec System Recovery 8 deliver industry leading Windows data protection and system recovery. Download this whitepaper to find out the top reasons to upgrade and how to get continuous data protection and complete system recovery.
Data and system loss — from a hard drive failure, malicious attack, natural disaster, or simple human error — can happen anytime. Don’t leave your business vulnerable. Make sure you have a secure recovery strategy in place. Symantec's latest backup and system recovery technology can efficiently restore critical applications, individual emails and documents and even restore your entire system in minutes in the event of a loss.
Businesses face a growing challenge to ensure that the IT environment is properly protected. Backup Exec 12 integrates with other applications in the Symantec family of products, to complement your current data protection strategy, keep your data securely backed up and make it recoverable when you need it most.
Enterprise 2.0 Implementation
By Aaron C. Newman, Jeremy Thomas
Published by McGraw-Hill
Learn more!
Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services
By Zach Seils, Joel Christner
Published by Cisco Press
Learn more!
So, if RIM beat Apple to a
So, if RIM beat Apple to a 3g phone, why is the bold still not out for public purchase yet?Hm, makes me think that there is a miscommunication from RIM revolving their new Blackberry Bold, and completely forgetting that there is some carriers that already have a better product already available.
Personally, I say to hell with the Bold. If it's anything like the Curve, I really could care less. I've been through at least 13 Curves in no less than 14 months, so really RIM needs to really rethink their product quality. Let RIM have their phone.
Both phones are excellent
Both phones are excellent choices, but Rim is losing not only because they don’t have pricing available for the phone, they don’t have a product release date.I, like many others, have been reading about both of these phones for months. While my initial decision was to go with the Blackberry as it has some of the features that iPhone is lacking (cut and paste, MMS, video recording, voice dialing…), my decision is starting to sway due to impatience and frustration.
Rim rushed to the press in May to announce the Bold in what seems to be an attempt to beat Apple to the 3g punch. But, to date, has not locked down a release date. Apple may have released the information about the 3g iPhone 1 month later, but during that release, Steve Jobs said the iPhone would be released on July 11th and lo and behold on July 11th, there was a tangible product, while in short supply, but nonetheless available.
Based on the latest information on the rumor-mill the Bold will be released in September. Giving Apple a 3 month head start. So who trumped who. Earlier press release or earlier release date?
I don’t find pricing to be a deterrent, but lack of a product is becoming one.