RIM Introduces the Blackberry Bold 9900/9930

Posted on 28. Jul, 2011 by Ruddy [archives]

RIM recently announced the future release of the Blackberry Bold 9900 and 9930 for CDMA and GSM technologies, respectively. The new devices are sporting the latest Blackberry OS 7, which introduces an impressive list of features. Additionally, the new Bold will come along with much needed hardware upgrades that have been available in competitive devices for quite some time. Like the Blackberry Torch, both Bolds will feature a capacitive touch screen along with the trackpads and QWERTY keyboards we love from previous generations. Let’s look at some of the features introduced and how they stand against competitors:

• NFC (Near Field Communication) Technology – NFC is a feature that’s been popping up in the past year with several phones and is rumored to be a part of the next iPhone iteration. NFC allows for devices to communicate with other NFC enabled devices – think using your phone during checkout at the supermarket by placing it close to the NFC enabled pad at the register and quickly paying for your items.
• Capacitive Touch Screen – Although the capacitive touch screen was introduced with last year’s Torch, we feel it’s good to mention that the Bold will carry one as well. This screen will allow for gesture support such as pinching and zooming. The touch screen should complement the Bold keyboard (which we love) very well.
• 720P HD Recording – Most Android phones and the current iPhone 4 have the ability to record HD videos; this did not exist in previous Blackberries. The new Bolds will finally be capable to record videos in HD glory.
• Dual Band Wi-Fi – Wi-Fi connections are available in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Dual Band connections are great because we can use the 5 GHz for streaming media such as videos and music (hefty traffic) and the 2.4 GHz for web browsing and email.
• Liquid Graphics™ – Blackberry OS 7 features a graphics engine which will boost performance for web browsing, picture and video quality, and graphics intensive games. This is a huge leap for Blackberries (since they were never considered media power devices), and should put them in the spotlight.
• Augmented Reality – This feature will work closely with the Bold’s built-in compass, allowing use of apps like the ones we see in iPhones. Imagine opening an app which launches the device’s camera and can then display information regarding the environment that surrounds you. Point the Bold to the Empire State Building and receive information regarding its address, height, date of construction, etc. All this is possible with Augmented Reality.
• Accelerometer, Magnetometer, and Proximity Sensor – These three built-in devices are all about giving the Bold the ability to sense the world around it, make it aware of how it’s being held. The Accelerometer can tell the Bold if it’s standing, lying flat, or even turned sideways – like the iPhone, we can now turn the Bold on its side and the images viewed will rotate as well. The Magnetometer is a fancy word for Compass – if you open a compass app on the Bold, it will point north if facing north and south if facing south. The Proximity Sensor is a much awaited feature – the Bold can now detect when our faces are close to the screen when talking and disable touch and keyboard commands. This will avoid those accidental key entries we do with our faces causing a call to end.

Check out the video below!

Posted on 28. Jul, 2011 by Ruddy[archives]