The voice of the BlackBerry community.
When we first posted impressions of the BlackBerry Curve 9700, we asked BlackBerry Cool readers what they would like to know about the device. We have taken some time to post more pictures of this device, and answer some of your questions.
Click through to read more about the BlackBerrry Bold 9700
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is the latest update to the Bold series and it’s all the specs you would expect from a Bold device, slightly upgraded and in a smaller form factor. Like many of the devices we have been seeing from RIM lately, it is a hybrid device, combining the power of the Bold with the design of a Curve 8900.
The Bold 9700 from T-Mobile ships with OS 5.0.0.330, which is a welcomed update to the device. What is less positive about the launch is that the device doesn’t ship with the latest version of BlackBerry Messenger. The T-Mobile Bold 9700 ships with BlackBerry Messenger version 4.7.0 rather than 5.0 (this is based on the device I’m holding in my hand). Ideally, T-Mobile and RIM would have at least had a warning message of some sort that tells users where they can get the latest version of BBM.
Click through for more impressions, pictures and video of the Bold 9700
RIM have officially announced the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and it’s one of the best devices in their product line. Of course, everyone is excited about the BlackBerry Storm 2, but they serve very different markets. The Storm 2 is a device for the consumer market, while the 9700 would be better suited for enterprise.
The official press releases for the Bold 9700 from Rogers and AT&T, included pricing for the device and they differ slightly in their promotional offerings. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 will be available from Rogers in the coming weeks for $299.99 on a three-year voice and data activation with a minimum monthly service plan of $45.
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 will also be available from AT&T but for only $199.99 (pay $299.99 and receive $100 mail-in-rebate).
T-Mobile and Bell have not announced what they will be selling the device for but it’s likely to be around the same price as AT&T and Rogers. The question is whether they will force users to mail in their rebate, or offer an entirely different promotion.
Now this is how you handle a launch. Carriers across North America have coordinated and announced the BlackBerry Bold 9700. This is going to be the best BlackBerry of 2009, hands down. The Bold 9700 is the updated version of the Bold 9000 and it is everything you loved about the first Bold, but packaged in a tighter form factor.
The carriers that have announced the device include Rogers, Bell, AT&T and T-Mobile.
Recently, T-Mobile USA had to admit that they lost personal data belonging to Sidekick customers and only a small fraction of it could be recovered. The news resulted in damaging PR for the carrier, as well as tangible financial losses as they offered customers a $100 customer appreciation card, in addition to a free month of data service.
This news, while it did not affect BlackBerry users, leaves us wondering just how secure is our data? A BlackBerry can store your data, back it up to a computer, or connect to a server such as Rackspace, which can offer Microsoft Exchange storing and restoring of your data. App World adds a new dimension to our data storage as we now have a plethora of applications taking control of our data storage and restoration as well.
As applications become increasingly popular, with data being increasingly stored on the cloud, we are trusting these organizations to keep our personal data safe.
When speaking with Jasmine Noel of Ptak, Noel and Associates, it became very apparent that there doesn’t seem to be any standards associated with data storage and restoration. While carriers and third parties are increasingly taking control of our data, there is very little in the way of ensuring that your data is in good hands. It all comes down to trust, but that simply isn’t enough.
Getting a best practices and standards system could really address this issue but it isn’t easy. We want to know that if we are entrusting our data to a company, that they can be relied on to restore said data. When the Microsoft Danger servers that were charged with restoring Sidekick data failed, we found out there was no backup system in place and that the data resided on the cloud, with little ability to be restored. We could have avoided this with more transparency.
We want IT professionals to get together and understand what their back up and restore capabilities are. Do they test their processes internally? Can we see the results?
Now, some will take the opinion “if it’s important, you should never trust anyone else to hold it for you.” This is a solid argument but it’s not conducive to growing the industry. Consumers and enterprise should both be able to trust their service providers to hold data for them without having to have a redundant storage process. It’s this trust that is going to propel the smartphone industry forward, but service providers need to earn that trust.
So I put the question to you: Do you trust third parties to be able to restore your data? What proof do you have that they deserve this trust?
The good folks at Cellfservices unlocked a T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8520 for us. If you’re looking for a cheap way to unlock your device, you can get some decent deals on their site. Here are some of the prices:
AT&T Blackberry – $6.97
Rogers Blackberry – $6.97
Fido Blackberry – $6.97
T-mobile Blackberry – $6.97
Verizon Blackberry – $12.97
Telus Storm/Tour Blackberry – $37.97
Bell Storm/Tour Blackberry -$37.97
Sprint Blackberry Tour – $37.97
Non-North American Blackberry – $37.97
These promos will be on until next week Monday.Â
So if you’re traveling for the holidays, it makes sense to unlock your BlackBerry. You will recover the cost by avoiding roaming fees very quickly.
Al Sacco of CIO.com got an email from T-Mobile USA’s PR firm that contained a marketing image of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 as well as some previously unknown details. The image came before an embargo was signed so he decided to publish.
According to the PR firm:
“The BlackBerry ‘Onyx’ sports a premium experience and design with a high-gloss black finish and leather grain detail on the back. Boasting features such as high-speed 3G Web browsing, Wi-Fi calling, visual voicemail and support for corporate and personal e-mail options, the ‘Onyx’ will satisfy all your on-the-go needs. Also the phone comes preloaded with mobile applications from BlackBerry App World, including Amazon MP3 store for quick and easy music downloads and TeleNav GPS Navigator for turn-by-turn directions.”
It seems we’ll be getting an official announcement about this device early November. Rumor has it that the T-Mobile version of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 will come with slightly different specs. The T-Mobile version is rumored to have the same battery as the Curve 8900/Storm/Tour, while the AT&T version will come with the Bold 9000 battery. Also, the processor is rumored to be different as well.
It’s great to see App World coming preloaded with the device, and I’m hoping this will be standard on all future BlackBerry devices.
The Amazon MP3 store is interesting but I’m more interested in getting the 7Digital application. It was supposed to be available this summer but I’ve yet to see it available for download.
[Via]
While it’s not the first time we’ve seen the BlackBerry Curve go on sale for free with a contract, it may be the first time a carrier has partnered with a BlackBerry app to give them away.
Slacker has partnered with all the major carriers to discount the Curve to free with a new contract or a contract extension.
See the Slacker page for more details about a free BlackBerry Curve from Slacker.
[Hat tip @nanpalmero]
The T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8520 is incredibly cheap at Wal-Mart. For only $48.88, on a two year, you get a high-powered smartphone that looks really slick. The device is also available in the T-Mobile Store for $129.99, but I can’t imagine why someone wouldn’t just go to Wal-Mart.
Now, a lot of you are probably saying “but it doesn’t come with GPS.” Well this goes back to something we’ve said several times on BlackBerry Cool: you may not love every device from RIM, but there is always a device for you.
The demographic that will be picking up a Curve 8520, is likely someone new to the smartphone market, and not quite used to email on a phone, but loves to text message. This phone will be perfect for this individual.
Check out our review of the prerelease device, and we’ll have the official review up shortly.
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Rogers have just announced the debut of their HSPA+ network in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). This is incredible news for mobile Internet users, as they can now get access to speeds roughly equivalent to 3.75G with a mobile Internet stick.
From a BlackBerry perspective, this isn’t immediately pressing news. Back when Rogers announced their 3G network, called HSDPA and announced April 2nd, 2007, it took RIM around a year and a half to release a BlackBerry that was capable of taking advantage of the network: the BlackBerry Bold.
From the Press Release: “Rogers has begun the Canada-wide deployment of the 21 Megabits per second (Mbps) high-speed HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Plus) wireless network, following the successful expansion and doubling of speed of its high-speed network to 7.2 Mbps last year. Starting in August, Rogers will progressively increase wireless network download speeds up to 21 Mbps in the Greater Toronto Area, and expand quickly over the coming months to other cities across the country.”
The question is: will RIM even bother to make a device that utilizes the HSPA+ network? Currently, 3G seems to satisfy the needs of the market. We know that RIM has plans to make LTE compatible BlackBerry devices, which could mean we’ll skip HSPA all together.
What applications do we envision with an HSPA+ enabled device?
[Special thanks goes out to RogersDude69]
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