New toy – Blackberry Bold

The short review… "It’s not a toy,
its the best blackberry I have ever owned, combining rock solid performance
with a lust factor that should scare iPhone users (and I am an iPhone user)".

The longer review….

Upon returning to Belfast two days ago,
my blackberry bold was waiting for me.  I won’t say where it came
from (without their permission), but it was a very kind and gracious gift,
one that I will not forget.   Considering I was quite tired, I ignored
it as I unpacked and tried to come back to life.  After a couple of
hours, I activated the bold, added my sim and retired my tried and tested
blackberry curve.

Form factor:  The feel of the bold
is excellent.  I prefer the keyboard of the curve (the bold reminds
me of the 8800 keyboard) but overall it just feels solid and strong.  I
have used the blackberry storm and the touchscreen keyboard just is not
on a par with a tactile interface.  If I need to hammer out long work
emails on a tiny unit, I need buttons.    The stand-by button
is the usual (holding down the mute key for a second) but on the negative
it takes just too long to enter stand-by mode.  The screen is fantastic.
 Absolutely fantastic.  Only beaten by the iPhone.  

Platform:  The platform interface
is as excellent as you would expect from blackberry.  Mail.just.works.
 The browser is a fantastic improvement on the previous models.  The
GPS software with maps works exceptionally well (quicker then the iPhone)
and also highlights your direction aswell as location (iPhone only location).
 BES/BIS accounts working in a few minutes, and with the later version
of blackberry enterprise server, now all my details (including preferences,
call list history) were transferred to my unit OTA.

Battery:  I have only charged it
once since I got home.  enough said really.

The bold is a massive step in hand-held
progression for blackberry, both in interface and software.  This
is an area blackberry were really losing ground on, both to WMD and iPhone.
 It also manages to retain its strengths of usability,  ruggedness
and battery life learned over years of unit evolution.   This unit
will hold extreme geek lust factor.  More so then the storm, which
so far seems like a "we want to be an iPhone but can’t" offering.
 

I will still take both my iPhone and
my blackberry with me when I travel, but I could easily live with just
the bold.  Of course, when iPhone support for Domino is released,
I will be able to easily live with either.