The bad: The BlackBerry Bold 9900's call quality is slightly flawed. It's also very expensive when compared with similar handsets.
The bottom line: BlackBerry enthusiasts will love the BlackBerry Bold 9900, but its high price tag will be a deterrent to many.
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the GSM version of the BlackBerry Bold 9930, and has essentially the same design and features save for a few changes depending on the carrier. The Bold 9900 for T-Mobile lacks the dual-mode GSM/CDMA chipset of the Bold 9930, but it does support T-Mobile's "4G" network. As you might expect, it also includes a few preinstalled T-Mobile applications. The rest of the phone is just as we described in our Bold 9930 review--it boasts a fantastic new design, a great feature set, the latest BlackBerry OS 7, and impressive performance. Unfortunately, T-Mobile has priced the Bold 9900 at a whopping $299.99, and that's after a $50 rebate and two-year agreement.
Design
We won't dwell too much on the design portion of this review, but suffice it to say that the Bold 9900 mirrors the build quality of the Bold 9930. It's a marriage of high-quality plastic and stainless steel curves that results in a sleek and svelte premium handset. It's just as wide as the original BlackBerry Bold, which results in a larger display and roomier keyboard, and the 2.8-inch display is sharper and more vibrant than before. You can read more about its design in our review of the Bold 9930.
We won't dwell too much on the design portion of this review, but suffice it to say that the Bold 9900 mirrors the build quality of the Bold 9930. It's a marriage of high-quality plastic and stainless steel curves that results in a sleek and svelte premium handset. It's just as wide as the original BlackBerry Bold, which results in a larger display and roomier keyboard, and the 2.8-inch display is sharper and more vibrant than before. You can read more about its design in our review of the Bold 9930.
T-Mobile packages the BlackBerry Bold 9900 with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a belt holster, and reference material.
Features
The Bold 9900 ships with BlackBerry OS 7, which doesn't look very different from OS 6, but does carry a lot of improvements under the hood. These include a new Liquid Graphics technology that the company says improves graphics and the responsiveness of the touch screen, a speedier Web browser with HTML 5 video support, augmented-reality apps, 720p HD video, voice-activated universal search, and NFC support. You can read more about OS 7 in our review of the BlackBerry Torch 9810.
The Bold 9900 ships with BlackBerry OS 7, which doesn't look very different from OS 6, but does carry a lot of improvements under the hood. These include a new Liquid Graphics technology that the company says improves graphics and the responsiveness of the touch screen, a speedier Web browser with HTML 5 video support, augmented-reality apps, 720p HD video, voice-activated universal search, and NFC support. You can read more about OS 7 in our review of the BlackBerry Torch 9810.
Many of the Bold 9900's features are the same as the 9930's, so we'll focus on a few software differences in this review. T-Mobile has preinstalled a few apps on the Bold 9900, like the T-Mobile Mall and its own Web2go Web browser. We didn't notice too many differences between the T-Mobile browser and the default BlackBerry one--both loaded pages quickly and efficiently. There are a few menu option differences, but they're essentially the same.
Performance
We tested the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9900 in San Francisco using T-Mobile. Call quality was good, but not without its flaws. On our end, we heard our callers loud and clear, with no audible background noise. Voice quality was a little bit distorted, however.
We tested the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9900 in San Francisco using T-Mobile. Call quality was good, but not without its flaws. On our end, we heard our callers loud and clear, with no audible background noise. Voice quality was a little bit distorted, however.
From:http://reviews.cnet.com
No comments:
Post a Comment