Looking At the Competition: The Blackberry Bold

[Jason Dunn]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1226685185.usr1.jpg" align="left" /></p><p>Being so heavily Windows Mobile-centric, I find it interesting when I can get my hands on devices from companies that compete with Windows Mobile. I had an opportunity to play with a RIM <a href="http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrybold/" target="_blank">Blackberry Bold</a> earlier this week, and was extremely impressed with the hardware. I thought it might be useful to share what I thought was good about the Bold, if for no other reason than to point out to anyone from Microsoft, HTC, etc. reading this site that Windows Mobile devices are lacking somewhat in the area that the Bold inhabits.</p><p>The 2.66 inch, 320 x 480 screen was simply gorgeous - very crisp, with great contrast. It made everything look excellent - I think the Blackberry OS, for all its faults, gets many things right on the home screen - the indicator icons on Windows Mobile are huge in comparison, so even by making them smaller, things look sharper and more organized on the Blackberry home screen. The keyboard felt really good, although I thought the width of the device was a bit much - it's closer to the Motorola Q9h in width, while I prefer the more slender Blackjack II. Not a deal-breaker though, I'd put up with the extra width to get that screen. Device thickness and weight were reasonable.</p><p>Performance was very snappy - apps just flew, screens appeared and vanished quickly. I've always felt that other Blackberry models had a nice home screen, but looked like pagers once you dug a layer deeper, but the Bold has a pretty good second level as well. Video playback was very impressive as well - there was a Speed Racer sample clip that looked amazing, the best I've seen on a mobile device in a long time. The media player software was pretty weak though - it was a combination of VCR-like buttons and a DOS-like directory listing of videos. I'm spoiled by how fun and easy media browsing is on my Zune, and everything else pales in comparison. <MORE /></p><p>I could only sigh as I heard my friend explain that he leaves WiFi turned on all the time, and still gets 2-3 days of heavy use out of it, because the WiFi is smart enough to stay in a super low power mode until it detects he comes home, then it connects WiFi and uses that rather than 3G. When he leaves the house, it seamlessly moves back to 3G. Now that's smart software! There were certainly parts of the software that screamed "I used to be wireless pager software!", but RIM has done a pretty good job sprucing up the look and feel of the operating system.</p><p>Oh yeah, it didn't have a high-gloss back that attracted smudges (are you listening HTC?). It really is a great hardware design. I'm sure if I spent a week using it I'd see more flaws in the software and hardware, but I have to say that as first impressions go, the Bold makes a good one - and first impressions are generally what sell phones to the public. I can't think of any Windows Mobile device that comes close to matching the Bold in terms of hardware, and that's really unfortunate.</p><p>I'm convinced that HTC in particular is so fixated on beating Apple in the touch game, that even though they don't have a great touch-friendly operating system to work with (Windows Mobile Professional is still far too stylus-based), they're ignoring the popular consumer market that RIM is making big inroads into now. When I hear a 25-year old female friend gush about how much she loves her new Blackberry Curve, a device I'd always perceived as a business device, I know there's a missing piece in Microsoft's consumer strategy - a very big piece. RIM has somehow pivoted with their product strategy just enough to allow the carriers to heavily promote Blackberry devices as being consumer devices, and based mostly on nice hardware design, consumers are buying Blackberry devices in big numbers. Microsoft and their hardware partners have to come up with a solution to this problem - and a good start would be a device that competes head-on with the Blackberry Bold and wins.</p><p><em>Jason Dunn owns and operates <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/" target="_blank">Thoughts Media Inc.</a>, a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys <a href="http://photos.jasondunn.com/" target="_blank">photography</a>, mobile devices, <a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/" target="_blank">blogging</a>, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He has a thing for high-resolution screens.<br /></em></p>

[fredtskunke]

Jason,

How does the Bold compare to the Ipaq 910?

[crimsonsky]

Long time Windows Mobile user here, but I have surrendered to a Blackberry Curve. I'm now using my T-Mobile Wing purely as a PDA and my Curve as my daily driver device.

The BB OS is just so much faster and the keyboard on the Curve is a true joy - much better than the slide-out keyboard on my Wing. Nice little features - automatic capitalisation of sentence beginnings, automatically capitalising the letter I when used as the 1st person singular pronoun, double space adds a period (just like the iPhone), automatic adding of periods and @ signs in URLs and email address, etc. Simple little things that really make it so easy to do email and web browsing on the BB. The BB browser is at LEAST as good as PIE and Opera Mini on the BB is outstanding.

Where Windows Mobile has the BB OS beat is applications and there are quite a few apps that I use under Windows Mobile that have no equivalent on the BB or poor relations (Phatnotes and Pocket Bible in particular). But as a mobile communications device, the BB is hard to beat.

The Bold is basically the Curve on steroids (higher resolution screen, faster processor, more memory). If T-Mobile carried it, I would have opted for it instead of the Curve, but the Curve suits my needs just fine.

The Storm looks way promising and with its tactile feedback may actually be an iPhone contender to take seriously. I'm not a huge fan of touch screen devices (I use the stylus on my Wing) mainly because of the smearing and fingerprints that get all over the screen, but I suspect that this doesn't bother most folks! The biggest problem with the Storm is lack of WiFi since apparently Verizon doesn't believe in equipping its phones with it. If the Storm ever makes it to T-Mobile, I'm sure it'll gain both WiFi and UMA which would make the device infinitely more useable to those folks who rack up the phone minutes (calls started on WiFi don't count against your wireless minutes).

I think that between the BB and the iPhone, Windows Mobile is being seriously challenged and Microsoft really needs to take a hard look at how WM develops if it's going to continue to be a viable contender.

[Craig Horlacher]

Your point is great Jason!

I have a BB Curve 8330 for work. I had a Treo 755p before that. I didn't like the treo at all - freezing while connecting all the time, and I hate the palm os interface.

I didn't expect much more if anything with the Curve but I do like the Curve much more than the Treo. I'm not a thumbpad fan but I like the one on the Curve better than the Treo. I also do like the speed and reliability of the Curve. I also think it's easier to use than the Treo or WinMo. The battery life of the Curve is off the hook!!! It can go a week, I think I usually charge it twice a week. I've never had a rechargable PDA/phone with battery life like this.

For me right now, it comes down to applications. Nothing out there will run the WinMobile apps I know and love like WinMo! So I guess Microsoft should really thank people like WebIS (PocketInformant and FlexMail), DeveloperOne (CodeWallet), Laridian (PocketBible), SPB (SPB Backup), Resco (Explorer, PhotoViewer), and Softmaker (Office 2008) and so many other companies that make, what I think, is the best mobile software for any platform! They are the ones who have made Windows Mobile devices useful.

I also need to send a shout out to the people at Opera for making once sick mobile browser!

Anyway, as these companies (like Web IS) start porting to other OS's, MS better watch out.

[alex_kac]

We got a customer with a Storm in our private beta group and he's not so happy with it. He's thinking of going back to the Bold. He said its quite slow and lags a lot. I'm sure most of it is just 1.0 touch screen software and it will get taken care of.

But yeah, the Bold seems to me like a really nice device.

[ssschmidt]

I recently added a line to my AT&T account so I could get a bold. I had it for a day, and then returned it.

The screen was extremely sharp. Beautiful. But whether it was an issue of font size, or the screen's contrast (or a combination of the two), the device was causing me headaches.

The keyboard was awesome, much better than the AT&T Tilt (which I have).

I am currently using the I-phone 3g, and I do not have near the problem with eyestrain. I also didn't observe it with my Tilt. Maybe I'm just getting old.

The main reason that I had picked up the bold was because PI has a black berry version. But I never even got that far. So, I'm back waiting for the I-phone version of PI.

Never the less, the phone was a good fit for the hand, keyboard was great, and was very fast.

[OKCrew]

I'm of the opposite camp... I have a BB Curve for work and before that an 8820. I hate the BB OS. I have become pretty adept at it but still hate it. In all honesty, some of my dislike is the "lockdown" by my employers BES security.

I much prefer my own WinMo devices. If only my employer would support exchange push.

Alex... unfortunately my employer will not allow any 3rd party BB apps and I am in PI withdrawl after many, many years of use.

[SomeAudioGuy]

Pretty much yup.
I still really like WinMo's flexibility, but it can be a really frustrating phone experience (still no easy voice dialing? REALLY!?!?).

My wife is a perfect example. She's used a Palm Treo, Moto Q, and 6700. She's hated all of them. We just picked up a BB Curve, and she's flippin out over it. It's the first device I haven't needed to explain how everything worked, and after only a couple days she had already found out how to load and use all of the BB/Google apps. On her own.

WinMo is still the best computer like experience, but they've fallen WAY behind in general useablity. It's kinda sad really. I remember when I was on the opposite side of this argument between Palm OS and WM2003SE...

[chrissyboy6969]

Jason

"I'm spoiled by how fun and easy media browsing is on my Zune, and everything else pales in comparison."

Yeah but what about Windows Mobile, I am in a dilema, I want to return to Windows Mobile from the iPhone but media integration is so poor, I take it you agree thats why you use the Zune. Also the Blackberry Bold's browser is awful, so slow to use even over WiFi, have you found the same?

[Jason Dunn]

Yeah but what about Windows Mobile, I am in a dilema, I want to return to Windows Mobile from the iPhone but media integration is so poor, I take it you agree thats why you use the Zune.

Yes, that's correct - when I want to watch videos or listen to music, I use my Zune. For phone/PIM/email/everything else, I use my Samsung Blackjack II. The two-device combination works for me.

Also the Blackberry Bold's browser is awful, so slow to use even over WiFi, have you found the same?

I didn't test the browser actually, so I have no opinion about it.

[crimsonsky]

I recently added a line to my AT&T account so I could get a bold. I had it for a day, and then returned it. The screen was extremely sharp. Beautiful. But whether it was an issue of font size, or the screen's contrast (or a combination of the two), the device was causing me headaches.

***long quote trimmed by mod JD***

Funny, the first time I got a Curve was in August when I was visiting my son in Texas. I picked it up at the T-Mobile store, played with it for a full day and returned it the next day. My two main gripes were that it couldn't render HTML emails and the lack of a decent office suite to read and edit Word docs. I actually liked just about everything else about the device, but these two issues were show-stoppers for me and why I returned it.

Not long after returning home to Virginia, T-Mobile made the update to OS 4.5 available, which OS addressed both of my gripes. So a couple weeks ago, I reordered it (and at $150 cheaper than when I first got it!), loaded OS 4.5 and I've been pretty much a happy camper ever since.

PI on the BB is still a non-starter as far as I'm concerned, which is a same because I've been using it on my Windows Mobile devices for years. On my Curve, anyway, it's really slow and hard to control (I want to go to a certain date and it doesn't, scrolling through dates is very slow, etc). I know Alex and the PI crew are working diligently on improving it and I really want it to evolve to at least a useable state so I can use it on my BB. I'm sure that point will arrive sooner rather than later.

[pjerry220]

I am a longtime fan of WMobile HP Ipaq's. I have always loved the flexibility of WMobile with many apps to choose from. We went to the Blackberry Curve as a corporate solution for mobile email and scheduling. Now I am a big BB fan even though good apps are few and far between.

[superrrguy]

My friends a nut and has been using a Bold for over a month. I'm not sure if he got it from HTC directly or Rogers in Canada but it says AT&T on it.

Let me say from just looking at it, it's quite impressive. I like the faux leather back. I can't think of any WinMo device that looks this "professional".

Overall he loves this thing. He's had all the WinMo devices back to the Jam and had the iPhone for a while.

Some things that weren't mentioned. Some may be obvious.

Good:
Push Email
I'm sick of paying for hosted exchange. I don't even like Outlook. Having everything sync up like magic is great but instant search is not so instant. What's the free version of a push solution for WinMo? Hotmail Live, Xpress Mail, System 7? They're all weak. Setting an imap account to 15 minutes is easy, but the pocket inbox doesn't even tell you when the last connection was for POP/IMAP. Sometimes I hit Send/Receive and a bunch if emails come in from hours ago.

Google Sync
Google's Sync for the BB syncs the calendar directly to the BB calendar. RTM does the same to tasks. No need to sync to Outlook 1st.

Bad:
BB browser is painfully slow. We're both on AT&T (I have a Tilt). Any mobile formated page I load comes in a good minute before his. Opera Mini is about a 20-30 second difference in favor of WinMo

SMS:
It's not threaded and major pain in the but to use after have any threaded sms solution.

BB Bold or Storm or iPhone, it doesn't matter. I think I'm just giving up on WinMo.

[Pony99CA]

What's the free version of a push solution for WinMo? Hotmail Live, Xpress Mail, System 7? They're all weak.
Have you tried Mail2Web (http://mail2web.com/)? I don't need push, so I haven't tried it, but I've heard some people use it and like it.

Steve

[jimtravis]

Jason
Yeah but what about Windows Mobile, I am in a dilema, I want to return to Windows Mobile from the iPhone but media integration is so poor, I take it you agree thats why you use the Zune.

My favorite media player for mobile devices is CorePlayer. IMO, it is the best video player in any mobile device, and is relatively inexpensive. In default mode, it produces an excellent picture, and has a plethora of adjustments for those so inclined. The best thing about CorePlayer is its ability to play most current Codecs without the timely conversion required for most other players. Copy the video files in their native formats to an SD card, and chances are CorePlayer will play them natively without a problem. It also does a nice job streaming video from NAS' via WiFi. I use CorePlayer on a 4" VGA HP210 with excellent results, and it also plays well on a PPC2003SE Toshiba e830 which also has a VGA screen. Best video player I have used on any mobile device, bar none. I don't use the WM devices for music much, but Windows Media Player seems to work fine for music on the few occasions I have played music on it.

I do like the Zune also, but all the required time-consuming video conversion gets old quickly for me.

[ssschmidt]

Have you tried Mail2Web (http://mail2web.com/)? I don't need push, so I haven't tried it, but I've heard some people use it and like it.

Steve

Mail2web push is quite good. It uses ActiveStink, so if you are already hooked up to an exchange server via AS, you wouldn't get any benefit from it.

The free service allows you to sync all your PIM info, and get true push mail. You also get free outlook web access for desktop interface.

They do have paid plans as well, that would interface with Outlook.

[treynolds]

One doesn't need to be a 25 year-old female either:

My wife is 56 and has struggled with every PDA I've ever tried to get her to use, Palm, Pocket PC, whatever. But she's gushing about how she'd like a Blackberry.

They must be doing SOMETHING right, and as your story indicates, SOMETHING is A LOT.

Tony

[Pony99CA]

My wife is 56 and has struggled with every PDA I've ever tried to get her to use, Palm, Pocket PC, whatever. But she's gushing about how she'd like a Blackberry.
But has she used one, or is she just watching their commercials and thinking it looks easy? The former would be an informed decision, the latter could just be succumbing to hype.

I think Apple's new iPhone App Store commercials look great, for example. I'd like some of those apps on Windows Mobile (especially the one that "listens" to the radio and tells you what the song is). But that doesn't mean I'm going to get an iPhone (even if Verizon carried them) -- I love my Motorola Q9m's keyboard, and hooking it up with the Celio Redfly is even better.

Steve