Blackberry Bold 9900

[PMac]

How are folks getting on with this phone? I really want to go back to the QWERTY keyboard.

Looking at Carphone Warehouse they seem to have a good deal on the Vodaphone network.

£36pm, 300 mins, Unlimited text, 500mb. 12 month contract. Phone cost £149.00

Same deal at o2, they want £249.00 for the phone.

Any input would be nice, ta

 

[Adam.]

What does the button on the top in the middle do? Is that the new lock button?

 

[BatFastard]

How are folks getting on with this phone? I really want to go back to the QWERTY keyboard.

Looking at Carphone Warehouse they seem to have a good deal on the Vodaphone network.

£36pm, 300 mins, Unlimited text, 500mb. 12 month contract. Phone cost £149.00

Same deal at o2, they want £249.00 for the phone.

Any input would be nice, ta

Is it Voda or Talk Mobile that runs on Voda?

 

[PMac]

Voda as far as I can see. No mention of Talk Mobile.

 

[BatFastard]

Really tempted to get one, sell my iPhone 4 and get an iPad.

 

[ChrisR]

Really liking mine, does everything I want it do very well so I'm happy.

Button at the top is the screen lock button, same as it was on the old 9000 if I remember rightly.

 

[Jay Payne]

had a look at the dummy phone in a shop near me yesterday. Interesting. it looks and feels much bigger than a 9700 but when compairing them side by side they aint massively different.

Just waiting for my upgrade date to come around and Orange to relase it and i'll get one

 

[PMac]

Picked this up yesterday. It's pretty nice. However, the lack of autofocus means the pictures are poor. Didn't spot this beforehand even though I see it everywhere now.

Hmm..

 

[ChrisR]

Depends what you want a phone for, personally couldn't really care about the camera as bar a few times where it's been handy I don't really use them anyway.

But it's not a good camera on these, so if that matters don't buy one.

 

[Jay Payne]

Would you say/do you know is it any worse than the older BB cameras?

 

[ChrisR]

Well even with autofocus they were never great.

Can't really tell much difference from my old Bold 9000 to be honest, but as said above I rarely used the camera anyway.

 

[Adam.]

Bit of a bump but how are you guys finding these now you've had them more than a few days?

 

[MicKPM]

Bold 9900 - without a doubt the best BB device i've ever owned and i've had a few now over the years.

PRO's
Top quality RIM feel from the device.
Perfect size device.
Screen resolution is bang on and so crisp.
Keyboard feel/feedback is simply quality and on the money
Touch screen is just right and accurate.
Browser that actually works for once!

CON's
Battery life not as good as the 9700 Bolds but way better than the 9800's
The camera isn't great and i can't understand why they didn't give it the Torch's auto-focus unit (The 9800's best feature imo)
Can't hot swap media cards.

I jumped ship from Apple years ago from a 3G and whilst i acknowledge how good the Apple device is (and I do miss some Apps) I will never go from RIM now as the devices are pure class and they do messaging like nothing else out there (fact fan boys, dont hate because Apple didnt come up with it first... like they apparently did with multi-tasking) which for a small business owner who's number one point of contact with customers is email it is a must. You know the minute an email arrives in your inbox as BB's can truely PUSH email and you have useful notifications that show you when an email or message has not only been sent but when its landed in the target inbox and when its been opened... its a very reliable system to barring the most recent outage.

Mick

 

[Jay Payne]

Great feedback Mick. im due an upgrade at the end of this month, torn between this and a 9810 as I like the idea of the bigger screen but still want the keyboard (dont want a full touch device)


Edit: I have a 9700 currently, really like it but want some of the newer features

 

[MicKPM]

The new BBOS will seem a little alien at first and the touch screen interface is really smart but like you, as a long term track pad user, you get stuck in your old ways and don't fully use it straight away... once you do though it really does compliment the decent size full keyboard much better than the 9800 did (I had one and hated it) and you find yourself doing things in half the time. I use mine in conjunction with a Playbook and the package is mint considering its size as its not as cumbersom as the iPad to haul (each to their own on that though).

Still by no means an iPhone killer... that'll never happen from RIM... but a great alternative non the less for those that need true messaging support and a real battery life of more than a day.

 

[Jay Payne]

I felt the keyboard was a little akward to use on the 9800/9810 when playing with the dummy units in the shops. The 9900 does feel lovely but something still tells me the 9810 would suit me better. Dont want to get it and regret it. Never heard a bad thing said about 9900 so far apart from the things you highlighted, and they dont worry me

 

[MicKPM]

I wasnt 100% sure on which of the two ti go with either but the original Torch made me hate it SO much i simply wasnt willing to give the new, 100% touchscreen offering a go so went back to the good old Bold... not once regretted it either (which is more than i can say for my other phone which is the X10i... put simply it's a piece of s**t)

 

[ChrisR]

Bold all the way, I reach for the trackpad everytime though lol.

 

[Jaff.]

living in the stoneage unfortunatley mick! after moving i can honestly say ive missed out on so much by sticking with BB so long!

understand your need for a good RIM tho so i wont pester you to change too much

 

[MicKPM]

How is it "stone age" Jaff? It can do p**n, send and receive calls and do SMS/MMS really well so what else do you need? Don't be an Apple snob because you've jumped ship recently or I'll conduct a drop test with your new shiny toy on Sunday to show you what real build quality is (I know the Bold 9900 can survive this test as I've dropped it several times already and its still alive and unmarked from bouncing off the concrete floors in my workshop: Metal and real composites for the win!) You've made your decision and thats okay for you as it is for many others but not everyone agrees as we have different needs which Apple and HTC simply cannot provide a proper solution for and it was for this reason I dropped Apple in favour of RIM years ago. I'm still tempted for an iP4 as a personal phone but not for my business as I couldn't trust it to do the job. Curiously what exactly have you missed out on by sticking with Blackberry bar Angry Birds and SiRi?

Bare in mind this thread is an Apple free zone as we're talking objectively about the BB Bold 9900 as a device and what it is actually like in the real world so don't say "Apps" are better... we already know the Apple App store is a monster of delight and wonder which is why RIM is starting to roll out the Android App Share from Feb '12 to help combat this but that's another subject.

Fact, the iPhone in all its guises is a great device and without doubt one of the most popular and capable handsets on the market at present but another fact is neither Apple or HTC can do real-time PUSH messaging notification and not just on email - its true even on for example Facebook Apps (if thats your thing). They do it in a fashion by checking for new items on every account or App every 'x' minutes. This may be fine for most people but when you're running a small business (that again, in my case, has its primary point of contact with customers via email from various sources) you NEED to be 100% sure the email is not only received quickly but sent back with the same urgency as the speed in which you deal with these RFI's or "requests for information" is in most cases in business the difference between winning a job and not as it shows professionalism and dedication to the customer/business. It's also very nice to know that your message has not only been "sent" but that it has also been "delivered" to the target mailbox and that it has been "read" (denoted by the "Tick", "D" and "R" in the messaging clients).

Even if I'm balls deep in someones car I can receive and reply to emails, quickly construct quotes based on looked up part numbers/prices from an Excel spreadsheet stored on my web server and if I need something a little bigger for more in depth editing or consultation I've got the Playbook which doesn't simply double up the accounts I access it actually bridges to the network via my Bold 9900 so anything done on that device is actually done via the Bold 9900 and all sent via the BES/BIS service fast, securely and reliably (when its not down).

Mink

 

[Jaff.]

As I said, your needs are different to mine!

Leave my toys alone! Ha

Don't get me wrong bb is capable of doing everything you said but for me who doesn't require emails and Facebook etc. instantly to my phone it's a bit of a mute point. Besides from missing bbm I'm happy the iP does everything I need and it's much quicker doing it. I haven't had it long enough to see if it freezes like my bb's used to.

The app store should be a good enough reason to be happy with the change in itself tbh but to answer your question, the versatility of the iP compared to the bb is second to none. iTunes poops all over bb desktop manager in every aspect, plus it doesnt freeze my computer! The speed of the iP compared to the bb is also something I've missed out on. Being in work I can now have a cheeky glance online and do everything I need rather than wait for the bb to load a page up then decide it does t want to show everything on the page! It's just a better way of doing things. IMO of course.

Nothing against bb of course like I said it suits you, just like it suited me but apple and android have left bb behind IMO, I'd even put the misses' android powered Sony before the bb

Only thing apart from bbm (coz I miss you <3) the bb exells in is battery life, I suspect that has more to do with me using the new phone more

 

[Nickson]

but apple and android have left bb behind IMO

What garbage.

Fancy elaborating as to how you arrived at such a narrow minded, unjustified conclusion?

 

[Revels]

Sales? Market share? Share prices? Design? Software?

Take your pick.

 

[Jay Payne]

Mick/those with a 9900. What is wrong with the camera that everyone moans about? Compaired to the 9700.

I do take a fair few pics with mine

 

[MicKPM]

It isnt a bad camera and it takes some very detailed shots in the daytime but it has no auto-focus which limits the results you get from the CCD. The Torch 9800 had a truely brilliant camera which i found handy for taking pictures which i could use on my website but now i can't and have to take my DSLR in to the workshop. Why they stepped back for the Bold 9900 i dont know but it sucks.

 

[Adam.]

Mick/those with a 9900. What is wrong with the camera that everyone moans about? Compaired to the 9700.

I do take a fair few pics with mine

I had a shot of my mates the other night and its not as bad as folk make out.

 

[MicKPM]

Sales? Market share? Share prices? Design? Software?

Take your pick.

I challenge you to put a Bold 9900 next to an iPhone 4 and find it destroys it in the quality test because i think the iP4 is 2nd in that one. Design and interface/software are all personal tastes but RIM doesn't have to constantly patch its OS because the last update made battery consumption worse or stopped the alarm clock working. As for market share I can kinda see what you're saying Dan because lots of people World wide own them but does that actually make them better; put it another way, if 2,000,000 people jump off a bridge to their death does that make it a cool thing to do or a stupid thing to copy? Subjective.

No denying that Apple revolutionised the mobile phone, specifically the smart phone industry, but i refuse to believe theyre the best thing since sliced bread... now, can we have a dedicated Blackberry section?

 

[Jay Payne]

i use my BB for taking all the pics for our website (apart from the race pics) suppose i'll have to see what its like if i get one. im not a camera buff so as long as its not horrid im sure it will be fine

 

[Jaff.]

What garbage.

Fancy elaborating as to how you arrived at such a narrow minded, unjustified conclusion?

Personal opinion, the IMO gives that away!

How do I come to this conclusion? Having had a bb for the last 2 years, suffering with numerous issues with my storm (granted not the best creation by rim) and getting bored with my torch after 6 months. I can live with a slightly hampered battery life until a new update (something which apple does far more frequently than Rim, thus keeping the phone more up to date)

The way the iPhone works compared to my 2 bb's is superior in almost every way! This is of course my opinion, which I am entitled to having owned devices from both company's. I can safely say I will be sticking with apple for a while now, and I'd even consider an android device over a bb these days! And I used to be a blackberry bumboy