RIM’s first answer to the iPhone is about to launch in Canada on August 21st. It’s the Blackberry Bold (9000). I know a lot of people have been waiting for this model to launch. Your time has almost come. Personally I don’t see what the big fuss is about because I am a die hard iPhone fanatic. Crackberries just don’t do it for me. My suggestion to those excited about the Bold is to take another look at the iPhone 3G first, but that is just my opinion.
From Rogers.com:
I must admit that the Bold does look cool and is definitely the best Blackberry yet, but I still think they are way behind the iPhone. The best part about it is probably it having wifi. Wifi was huge for the first generation iPhone. Both have 3G capabilities so wifi isn’t such a dominating factor anymore. This Blackberry still has a full QWERTY keyboard which is a definite disadvantage in my opinion. The spinning ball thing or whatever it is to navigate through the menus is a little hokey. The other decent feature it has is the turn by turn GPS. Hopefully we see this for the iPhone 3G sooner rather than later but it is not something that a lot of people will be using religiously. People who don’t know where they are going already have a GPS. The iPhone 3G outperforms the Bold in multimedia experience and web browsing. It isn’t even close. With the enterprise support and 3rd party applications for the iPhone 3G, the only reason I don’t see every business jumping ship would be due to exclusive agreements. Now I think supporting Canadian companies is a great idea, I cannot settle for less than the best.
Originally I thought that the Nokia N95 would be the iPhone’s biggest competitor in Canada. The N95 is a great phone, but it’s launch in Canada was less than a noticeable affair. Rogers should have pushed the N95 but instead they bundled it with their ‘Summer photos’ advertising scheme. I think the iPhone is way better than the N95 too but I still think the N95 should have got more exposure. Another one is the LG Vu. The LG Vu doesn’t even come near the iPhone 3G but I still rarely saw any advertising or mention of it.
I would be interested to at least try out the Blackberry Bold for a week or two, I definitely would not replace my iPhone 3G with it. I wouldn’t replace it even if I had free service and unlimited data.
What are your initial thoughts on the Blackberry Bold?
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August 20th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Yawwn… I’m happy with my iPhone, thank you.
August 20th, 2008 at 6:32 am
There’s a bit of misinformation here… The BB Bold is not really RIM’s “answer” to the iPhone. It’s simply the next generation up from the current BlackBerries, for people who need that physical keyboard.
The first touchscreen BlackBerry is the “Thunder” (or the Storm). Pics here:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/06/10/blackberry-thunder-after-the-storm/
August 20th, 2008 at 6:54 am
This is the phone I was gonna get before the 6GB/$30 was announced. I’m definitely gonna screw around with the display model tomorrow ;)
August 20th, 2008 at 7:30 am
I gave up a BlackBerry Pearl to get my iPhone and granted there are a few features I miss a little bit (video, flash for camera, Windows Live Messenger) but I wouldn’t go back to BlackBerry, no way. Nothing is worth giving this baby up except a new iPhone. Not to mention my BalckBerry was busted within two months, and my ex who got hers the same day as me had to have hers replaced due to complete hardware failure before that even.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:45 am
@ Chris
I know they didn’t specifically make the Bold to compete with the iPhone but I think many people see it being a competitor to the iPhone here in Canada, just my opinion. The Thunder comes out soon, maybe only on Telus, but once it does, it will be more of an ‘answer’.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:45 am
The 9000 shouldn’t be considered an iPhone competitor, but merely a worthwhile alternative. Any BB fan that needs a new handset should go to the Bold and not to an iPhone. They’d be plenty satisfied. If they went to an iPhone all they’d have is headaches. The Bold isn’t innovative but it will be a finished product when it’s released. It probably won’t have any connection problems, synching problems or cracks. It’s improved over the model before it. You buy it and use it for both business and pleasure and that’s it. BlackBerry has been building smartphones for years and it shows. Better to have a boring handset that works properly.
The iPhone is an innovative product to some degree, but the current firmware is basically a beta version that Apple is rushing to finish up. No video recording, no copy/paste, no MMS. I’m certain Apple will fix these problems in time, but BlackBerry users would be crazy to switch over to an iPhone now. Apple has a ways to go before unseating RIM in the enterprise if the consumer base isn’t even satisfied.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:56 am
@ Constable Odo
Very good points
thanks for commenting
August 20th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I was at a rogers dealer and they already had the Bold on Display! I took a pic of it with my iPhone. It was just a dummy phone, not the real thing.
August 20th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
It is $399 for 3 years contract on Blackberry Bold.
The price is always very high for any “new” model Blackberry because usually business users who have tons of money to spend are going to get it.
I think you are comparing apple and orange if you compare iPhone and Bold.
iPhone is not focus for business users.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I was a Best Buy in Richmond Hill tonight
They still had 3 of their initial shipment of 4 Bolds in stock
Not impressed with the feel of the keyboard
My old BB 8830 had a better keyboard
August 24th, 2008 at 2:59 am
@ bmmr
Thanks for the info, looks like the Bold hasn’t taken off like people thought it would.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
One thing that strikes me odd is the screen real estate seems to be smaller than the Curve I had…not a good thing as far as I am concerned. I bought the Curve over the Pearl for that reason and that reason alone.