RIM announced their full touchscreen lineup on August 3 that included three new device lines (five devices given that two of the forms have CDMA and GSM models). RIM sent me one of each form factor to test out last week and I can say without a doubt that these are the BEST BlackBerry smartphones ever released and if you are a BlackBerry user then you will want to upgrade to one of these models when they come to your carrier. Yes, QNX is the future of RIM smartphone, but I doubt we will see an expansive lineup of them until later in 2012 so don’t think QNX phones should impact your decision too much. Check out my other post to see several reasons why you should still consider one of these new devices.
Let me begin this review of the Verizon Wireless Bold 9930, Sprint Torch 9850, and AT&T 9810 by making sure you understand I am not currently a BlackBerry user and have only had a couple of them in my personal collection over the last few years. After checking out these three new BlackBerry devices the probability of me picking up a Bold 9900 on either Verizon or T-Mobile is very high at the moment for several reasons that I will discuss in the Bold 9900 section of this review.
Make sure to check out my image gallery of the three models, some photos taken with the phones, and a few screenshots of BB OS 7. I also included a video walkthrough of each device in this post. One convenient thing about these three new BlackBerry devices is that they each are different enough in form factor to appeal to different end users so choosing one is not too difficult. Carrier availability also limits the Torch 9810 to just AT&T customers so that helps with your decision as well.
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Three form factor approach and appeal
These five new models come in three different form factors so it should be fairly easy for you to decide which is best for you as you look at your needs and usage patterns. The Bold 9930/9900 is focused on the traditional BlackBerry user with a front facing QWERTY keyboard and smaller display than the others. The Torch 9850/9860 is an all touch interface device that blows away the garbage that was the Storm line and I don’t blame RIM for moving away from that brand. I do think they should have come up with a different name though as a completely different form factor has the same Torch branding. Both of these lines come in GSM and CDMA variants so we may see these on most carriers in the US at some time.
The Torch 9810 is the update to the original Torch with the slide-up display revealing a full QWERTY keyboard so you get a smaller QWERTY keyboard than the Bold with a larger display. This device is only available as a GSM model and likely just available from AT&T in the U.S.
These are the common specifications across all three lines of new devices:
- 1.2 GHz single core processor
- Liquid Graphics technology for fluid animations, instant response times, and stunning graphics
- 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording (Bold has EDoF lens)
- 8GB onboard storage with microSD card support up to 32GB
- 768 MB RAM (something like 256MB is used for GPU)
- 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1
- A-GPS receiver
- Optical trackpad, promixity sensor, accelerometer, compass
- BB OS 7 that provides voice-activated universal search, new web browser, huge collection of pre-installed apps, and much more
One of the slickest pieces of software that uses the augmented reality functionality of these devices is Wikitude. It is a BBM connected app so you can connect it with BBM and your friends. After you launch the app you point the camera at the world around you and people on various services located physically around you will have updates appearing right on your viewfinder. Thus you can find fellow users of Twitter, Flickr, BBM Chat, YouTube, LastFm, and more.
There is no support currently in the devices for WiFi hotspot functionality and that is a real shame since I know business people use this or use a MiFi. You can easily tether via USB though and I did that a few times with my MacBook Pro and the Bold 9930. I read that BB OS 7 supports this and imagine it is a carrier issue. Don’t forget that you can also tether these to a PlayBook through the BlackBerry Bridge.
Let’s take a look in detail at each device and then you can read more about my thoughts on BlackBerry App World and RIM on the last page.
Verizon Wireless RIM BlackBerry Bold 9930
Each of the three devices has specifications that are different to match their form factor. The Bold 9930 has the following specifications specific to this device:
- 2.8 inch capacitive touch display at 640×480 pixels (287 ppi)
- Extended depth of focus camera, no autofocus
- 1230 mAh battery
- About 200 MB available for application storage
Specs do not mean everything on a phone so make sure to check the device out before writing it off due to no dual-core processor. The rather low amount of application storage is disappointing, but as I discuss on page 3 of this article available apps are limited and I don’t think they are that important on a mobile phone. The battery in this device is smaller than previous Bold models, but I was still able to go a long full day of heavy usage so the OS must be helping with battery management.
All of these new BB OS 7 phones come with full versions of Documents To Go Premium edition, BlackBerry Balance integration (lets IT departments help you manage personal and business options), BlackBerry Protect, BBM 6, and more.
Walk around the hardware
If you want a device with the BEST physical QWERTY keyboard ever made then run down to your local Verizon Wireless store and order the BlackBerry Bold 9930 right now! The Bold 9930 can be purchased for $249.99 with 2-year contract or $509.99 with no contract. As I show a bit in my video, I can FLY on this keyboard even after just a few days of use. It is perfectly sized, has excellent feedback, has keys that are designed with good spacing and angles, and is just a sheer joy to use. With a keyboard like this you want to just start messaging everyone you know.
The 2.8 inch display is gorgeous and it is so nice to use a display where you can’t see the pixels. All of my phones now have these super high resolution screens and my tablets are starting to look dated with slightly fuzzy text.
The Bold is framed in metal and is the thinnest BB smartphone to date at just 10.5mm thick. You will find metal buttons for the camera, volume, and mute on the right side with a microUSB port and headphone jack on the left side. The lock button is on the top while a plastic area is on the bottom where the docking connections can be found. The back houses the camera and flash with a cool carbon fiber looking back cover hiding the battery, microSD card slot, and overseas SIM card for world phone capability.
The back cover houses the NFC chip and as you can read in CrackBerry.com’s 9300 review it is available in the wireless connection settings on some devices. It is NOT available yet on the Verizon Bold 9930 and RIM stated that they are working with carriers to enable NFC on these devices. I am sure it will come in the future and am not too worried about it yet since I have no need for NFC at the moment. It is nice to see RIM thinking forward a bit though and I hope to see NFC rolled out and implemented in more places in the future.
The Bold 9930 feels FANTASTIC in your hand and I just could not put it down. The keyboard is a joy to use with all white backlighting and key color and a design that shows RIM is the leader in physical QWERTY keyboards.
Performance, software, and daily usage
After turning on the Bold 9930 I started tapping on the display and found the interface to be extremely fluid and the touch responsiveness to rival that of iOS and WP7. It is so much faster than any BlackBerry experience I have had before and even though many things look similar to BB OS 6, this is a fun device to use with performance that doesn’t leave you frustrated or waiting at all.
I’ve had music streaming, Facebook and Twitter updates going, email being pushed, BBM active, and more without any kind of lag or slowdown in the experience. As you can see in my video I did have a pause in performance when I had several apps open and then tried launching the music player. Keep in mind that some powerful apps were running, like Wikitude, along with BBM and other messaging services. The task switcher works well and everything will be familiar to long-time BB users with updates in icons, how you mange your home screen panels, and some changes in menu items. Check out the CrackBerry.com post on battery life of the 9900 and you can see it is quite good.
In typical Verizon fashion they did include some bloatware on the device with V CAST Music, V CAST Videos, V CAST Song ID, VZ Navigator, and VZWTones, but I just ignored them and did not access any of these apps or services. I like that Amazon MP3 is provided, but it doesn’t seem to let me access music stored on the Amazon server so it only lets you make purchases so seems a bit limited. Podcast support is great and very useful to a podast listener like myself. Facebook and Twitter apps are included and these updated clients work well, including the pull down to refresh function in Twitter.
Overall, I really enjoyed the Bold 9930 and if I do end up getting one of these three devices, this will definitely be the model for me. The keyboard is so dang good I might buy it just for the keyboard and BBM service 
