Introduction
A brand new OS, more speed, a facelift and a high-res touchscreen, the latest of the Bold messengers is listening for the roar of the crowd. There's no going back to the old rational and composed self - give it danger, thrills and excitement. The BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 is stronger, faster, better. No ordinary messenger, it's the bearer of good news.
Although on a second thought, a snappy 1.2GHz processor, the new BlackBerry OS 7.0 with Liquid graphics and a super crisp VGA touchscreen are no good news for the competition. Nor is HD video, dual-band Wi-Fi and NFC support. And all that comes on top of the standard BlackBerry package. The solid build quality and corporate grade email and data security go without saying. The sharp precision of the trackpad and a responsive capacitive touchscreen balance each other in a device that's convincingly comfortable to handle. Add a standard-setting QWERTY keyboard, and you have a phone which puts you in charge.Key features:
- Enhanced email and data security
- 2.8" 16M-color TFT touchscreen of VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels)
- QWERTY keyboard
- Quad-band GSM support and quad-band 3G with HSDPA
- Dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity
- NFC capabilities
- GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded, digital compass
- 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera, LED flash
- HD video, 720p@30fps
- 1.2GHz QC8655 processor
- 768MB RAM
- 8GB of inbuilt storage
- BlackBerry OS v7
- Trackpad
- microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
- DivX and XviD video support
- Office document editor
- 3.5 mm audio jack
- Smart dialing
- Compact body and solid build quality
Main disadvantages:
- BlackBerry Internet Service account is a must to enjoy all phone features
- Fixed focus camera of outdated and unintuitive interface
- No video-call camera
- No Flash support
- Non-hot-swappable memory card
- No FM radio
- No haptic feedback
To begin with, the Bold Touch 9900 is bigger than the preceding 9700 Bold series. It's actually more of a return to the BlackBerry 9900 styling, with a larger screen and body. And since this is a touch phone we're talking about, the increased display real estate is welcome. Especially considering that the main competition recently had a major boost in resolution. With BlackBerry and Eseries now on par at VGA, the Bold Touch 9900 gets ahead of the Nokia E6 with 2.8" against 2.44" of screen diagonal.
So much for size. We're eager to see about speed and performance too. RIM did get creative with the finish too this time, but did they cross any kind of line? Our traditional hardware checkup is coming up. Has the Bold Touch 9900 got what it takes to do well? Follow us on the next page as we unbox and inspect the design, display and controls.
Design and construction
The added touchscreen is a major novelty on the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900. But the looks may fool you. It's a typical RIM messenger, conservative elegance and quality in a traditionally understated, professional design.
The front looks almost equally split between the 2.8" touchscreen and the keys (navigation controls and the QWERTY keyboard). The back was a surprise, something we weren't prepared for in a BlackBerry. The smooth edges are cut in comfortable holding shape and the soft rubbery finish gives good grip. It's the actual battery cover that splits our team's opinions.
The fiberglass plate did look a bit out of touch with a supposedly conservative, professional styling. Having the handset around for a good few days helped - it's obviously an acquired taste. But there are still members of our team who find it a lot more questionable than leather. It's an unusual combination. Some will appreciate the bold styling, while others might find it inconsistent with the business messenger image.
We don’t have as many doubts about the brushed metal frame running along the sides of the handset. It can be traced all the way back to the Bold 9000, but looks a lot better on a slim phone like the Bold Touch 9900.
All in all, the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 has the looks to match that newly acquired skill, though obviously some will prefer the old Bold styling.
Excellent keyboard and display
To cast all doubt aside, the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 gives us another great display. It's a 2.8" TFT capacitive touchscreen of VGA resolution. Crisp image at 286ppi and good sensitivity, the lack of haptic feedback is the only thing to complain about.
The sunlight legibility is excellent, to solidify the good impression recent BlackBerry smartphones have made. Viewing angles are about average - there's some contrast loss and color shifting when you look at it from extreme angles, but everything remains legible.
Now, to the next most important thing here - the QWERTY keyboard of the Bold Touch 9900 is very comfortable. The keys, it seems to us, are just the right bit softer than on previous Bold editions. This gives you speed without compromising the press feedback.
The keys are small but ergonomic and carefully sculpted for great tactility and usability - only users with very large hands may have trouble adapting. The only thing to warn against is one of the metal ridges dividing the rows of keys. The second one from the top does not fit firmly in place and bends when pushed. Nothing to stand in the way of comfortable typing but it raises concerns about the overall durability of the keyboard.
Many of the keys (not just the numbers) can be assigned speed dial. There is a dedicated currency symbol key and the usual command shortcuts: * locks the keypad and screen, while # toggles Silent mode on/off. Numbers share keys with some of the letters and you need to press the alt key to use them at times. The good thing is that whenever the context allows it, the switch is automatic.The rest of the controls
There are four controls around a centrally placed trackpad: the typical BlackBerry combo of Call keys, with Menu and Back buttons. Although you now have a touchscreen at your disposal, the trackpad will be quite busy, giving you the needed accuracy in the browser or when handling text.
Large size and solid press, the call and navigation buttons are no trouble to use.
At the top, we find the traditional status LED, proximity sensor and the earpiece.
The left side of the handset is in charge of connectivity, with a 3.5mm audio jack and the standard microUSB port.
The right side of the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 features the volume controls and the single convenience key, set by default to serve the camera. It won’t be long though, we think, before you give it a different job. Portrait is the default orientation for taking pictures with the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900, and a shutter key placed low on the side makes no sense. It’s a fixed focus camera too, no half press button needed, so the trackpad and even the keyboard's enter key do just fine.
A dedicated pause/mute button is placed between the volume Up and Down keys. The Bold Touch 9900 doesn’t have the trademark invisible keys on top. The top-placed Lock button is well visible this time around.The bottom features no controls or ports. The mouthpiece is right inside the keyboard at the front.A 5 megapixel camera lens and a LED flash are the main attraction at the back. Below the battery cover is the loudspeaker grill.The 1230 mAh Li-Po battery is quoted at up to 307 hours of stand-by or 6 hours and 30 minutes of talk time. In real life, the battery lasted about two days of heavy usage. We were constantly connected to Wi-Fi and the 3G network, shooting the usual amount of stills and videos. There was quite a bit of video and music playback and web browsing too, with about 30 minutes of talks.The BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 is the usual solid and credible business handset. Wider and rounder, it doesn’t look as sharp as the previous 97xx generation. There’s a touchscreen in it though and every fraction of an inch counts. The display is bigger at 2.8” and crisper at VGA resolution. All in a slimmer package, so no complaints.
We’re not quite convinced by the fiberglass battery cover but there’s no right and wrong in matters of taste. From an ergonomic point of view, there’s little to criticize. Let’s just say the Convenience key will live up to its name if you don’t use it as a shutter key. The great keyboard is no surprise, the touchscreen looks good and feels right, and nothing beats a trackpad at accuracy-requiring tasks.
BlackBerry OS 7 - trackpad vs. touchscreen
Number 7 is the last upgrade of the OS before the switch to QNX. The OS 7 brings very few new features (NFC and HD video are well worth a mention though) and focus should be on the user experience instead.
The new platform is based on a 1.2 GHz processor and more potent graphics hardware, and it’s exactly the higher system requirements that won’t allow older BlackBerry phones to run the new OS 7.
Here goes our traditional video demo to warm you up.
BlackBerry OS 7 is trying to look like the QNX-based Tablet OS. The UI icons have been updated to mimic the PlayBook, but the rest is pretty much the same - functionality changes are kept to a minimum.
The status area of the homescreen has virtual buttons in a row, allowing you to quickly toggle the cellular, Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth radios. It gives you quick access too to the alarm clock and settings menu.
The first of the app launcher tabs holds all icons. For convenience, you can sort some of your apps to the Favorite tab. The most frequently used apps are auto generated in yet another tab.
There are also Media and Download (for the apps you have downloaded yourself) sections for even more ways of sorting your apps.
So, there is a trackpad and there is a touchscreen. The trackpad is the usual sharp and precise navigation option. But with lots of clickable elements on the screen you need to scroll through all to reach the one you need.
Pretty much everything you see is clickable in BlackBerry OS 7 and works the way it's supposed to. Sure, there are still small elements such as the homescreen Search and Profiles icons, which are easier to access via the trackpad rather than the touchscreen.
The other thing to note is that, unlike the flat iOS layout, the Bold 9900 has a menu button, so usually there are options that are not visible on the screen. You get used to that pretty quickly though so in the end, the Bold Touch 9900 manages to keep both new and returning users happy. Trackpad and touchscreen complete each other in a natural way.
Same ol' music player
RIM have surely refreshed the Music Player icons, but that’s basically all they did. The styling is still pretty conservative, but most of the functionality has been there since BlackBerry OS 5.
There’s quick search of tracks and automatic sorting by artist, album and genre. Custom playlists are also supported.
Album art is on the list of included features too, along with equalizer presets and the single track repeat option.Great video player
With so many better options out there, the Bold Touch 9900 is an easy one to overlook if video-watching is a priority. It would be a mistake. The Bold Touch 9900 does a really great job, so you might want to tick that box on your wish list.
There are the usual playback controls when you hit a key or tap on the screen, along with a dedicated fit/zoom to screen button.
The general performance here is decent, which is probably more than most BlackBerry customers will ever need.
Average audio quality
We put our BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 unit through our traditional audio quality test, but it didn't quite manage to pass it with flying colors. Not that we expected anything knowing its pedigree.
With no resistance applied to the line-out (i.e. the active external amplifier) the Bold Touch 9900 has decent signal-to-noise ratio, dynamic range and stereo crosstalk. The distortion levels are decent and the volume levels are excellent. However, the frequency response is far from optimal with the extreme bass frequencies completely cut-off.
When headphones are connected, the Bold Touch 9900 stereo crosstalk increases dramatically and volume levels drop quite a lot. At least the distortion levels increase quite slightly, which promotes them from average to good.
Very good browser, but no Flash support
The web browser on the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 is one of the best we have seen lately. Despite the smallish display, the browser still does an excellent job and will serve you well. It is fast, responsive, supports multi-touch zooming, text selection, text reflow, mouse cursor, etc. The only thing missing is Flash support.
Multiple tabs are supported and switching between them is pretty easy - just tap on the tabs key at the top right corner. Page rendering is near perfect, displaying almost every page like on a desktop browser.
Other than the missing Flash support, the handset provides probably one of the best user experience in browsing the web despite its smallish display.
Organizer has everything
True to its business ethic, the Bold Touch 9900 has superb time-management capabilities. Its organizer includes a decent set of applications and although some of them are hardly lookers, their usability cannot be called into question.
The calendar has monthly, weekly and daily view modes and lets you easily set up customized events. We have to admit that some event presets would have been useful but sadly the device fails to provide them.
The phone comes with the full version of Quick Office pre-installed allowing it to view all kind of documents (incl. PDF) and edit Word, Excel or Power Point files.
Both are accessed from the clock application and have the standard functionality.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.
BlackBerry App World
To get directions 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.BlackBerry Maps also allows you to send your location to anyone via email or SMS, and that rounds off a decent but certainly not spectacular application.
There are also a Password Keeper app, Voice Recorder, Memos and Tasks app to store your passwords, voice memos, text memos and tasks.
Finally, the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 comes with Facebook and Twitter applications. You also get the native Social Feeds app that gathers all of your Facebook and Twitter updates in one place.
The BlackBerry App World is the RIM application distribution solution. Quite well organized, it accepts payment by credit card or Paypal. Some you can get for free of course.
You can manage your apps on a computer or directly on the device itself.
There's a basic filtering system as well - it allows you to check out the highest rated free and paid applications, as well as the newest releases. In general there's hardly anything to complain about in terms of interface.
The number of applications isn’t as impressive as in the App Store or the Android Market at just over 14500 apps, 3500 games and 12000 themes, and to make it worse only a small fraction of the titles are actually free (though some of the paid apps offer free trials).
BlackBerry Maps also requires a BIS plan
As one would expect nowadays, the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 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. And the only navigation option you get is directions.
Also, addresses that are included in messages are automatically detected and can be displayed on the map at the expense of a few clicks. The map data has also been updated to include more cities. We can still think of at least several apps with more detailed maps, but let's not get too picky here.
Final words
More screen resolution and power than BlackBerry owners know what to do with? Certainly not. It’s more than they’re used to though and that makes the Bold Touch 9900 a very attractive upgrade option.
More touchscreen than the typical business user needs? Negative. Touchscreen and QWERTY work together, not against each other, in the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900.
And just to be clear – we’re not questioning the latest of the Bolds. We’re not playing down its role and potential. We’re simply looking for things that can threaten its relationship with the core user base. Frankly, we can’t find any.
The BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 is not without flaws and RIM are not in denial about the catching up they need to do. What makes it particularly hard is a conservative target audience that they need to be careful not to alienate.
The 1.2GHz processor and more RAM are not just there for the record. The Canadians weren't after a speed boost for its own sake, nor with advanced multimedia or gaming in mind. The goal was uncompromised experience that business users believe they’re entitled to. The HD video recording is a byproduct, one that will be more relevant in the Torch lineup. NFC, on the other hand, more than makes sense in a business phone.
OK, touchscreen has been stretching the definition of strictly business phones. It’s inevitable and there’s no better proof than an old arch-rival. Despite having a rather rough ride into touchscreen, Nokia knew they couldn’t afford to leave the Eseries behind.
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