Gavin waxed lyrical about his first two weeks with the HTC HD2 on Monday and so I thought I should write up my experiences with the BlackBerry Bold 9700 after a fortnight using it day in and day out. The devices could not be any different in terms of form factor, usability and software, but they ultimately perform similar tasks. The thing is that they do it in very different ways which is why the Bold suits my usage better.
The online technical press is largely besotted with the new touch screen devices hitting the market and the iPhone and HD2 have garnered millions of words discussing every facet of the devices and related software, and users are also highly enthusiastic about this new type of smartphone. This is great for the industry and bodes well for the future, but all of this attention ignores the quiet revolution which is happening in the background. To say it is happening in the background is of course wrong, but you would believe that to be true the moment you hit the smartphone web.
There is a myth that the BlackBerry market share is only large because businesses buy them for their employees. Historically that was true, but over the past 18 months more and more consumers are buying BlackBerry’s to manage their personal lives and to communicate with others. I know five people at work who own personal BlackBerry’s and only two who own iPhones- when I ask what they think of them they are more than enthusiastic about the experience. Every one of them owns a Curve 8520 which I guess is down to the price, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are carrying BlackBerry’s.
When I ask people who work for the network operators the general response is that they are asked about BlackBerry phones more than any other. I did a very small poll around my local phone shops and I received the same response at O2, Vodafone and T-Mobile. These are not business users buying them; they are normal people off the street who want to communicate with their friends via Twitter, Facebook and the like. Big screens are great, but it seems that there are many people who feel like me and prefer the keyboard, long battery life and no nonsense approach of the BlackBerry platform. It may not be exciting, it may not turn heads, but it works and this is what traditional feature phones users want above all else.
Anyway, time to talk about the Bold. Over the past two weeks I have just used the Bold as I did my previous BlackBerry’s, but with one crucial difference. I am not worrying about the trackball, I am not worrying about a lack of memory and I can just get on with what I need to do. Work has been tremendously stressful of late and the BlackBerry has taken a back seat in terms of the attention it gets, yet it is at the forefront of what I need to do each day. Constant calendar changes, urgent email responses and countless calls are just part of the day and all of these functions are what the Bold is best at. Battery life is never a concern, voice quality is always good in the car, on a conference call in a meeting room or anywhere else and the stability has been 100%.
The Bold 9700 has nothing missing in terms of practicality and is an example of how a smartphone should be built for those who just want to get on and do things. Entertainment is not too bad either with good quality audio and exceptional video playback. However, I still use the iPhone for videos because of the larger screen. The camera is way better than previous BlackBerry efforts and ideal for capturing special moments such as when my son, Tom, got a player of the match award at a recent football match. Sharing photos and videos is also extremely easy by pressing the menu and then choosing the desired platform.
It is ironic that I have little to say about the Bold 9700 and yet at the same time rate it so highly. I am not going to get all emotional about it and proclaim it to be the best phone ever, but will gladly say that it is the best smartphone I have used to date and the first one that ticks almost every box for my needs.
Funny you say that your colleagues mostly are buying blackberries. I am observing the opposite effect here in Australia. All my medical colleagues are buying iphones- 2 in the last week alone, over 20 over the last 6 months. I don’t know whether it’s marketing, the hospital system(as in email is not such a big deal for us), or word of mouth (blackberries are very poorly marketed here, you’d be hard pressed to even know the 9700 is out).
I agree with you though many people need the stability and battery life of the blackberry. Overall the big loser is once again Windows Mobile. I haven’t seen anyone in the last 6 months with a current WinMo phone, I wonder if the HD2 will change that.
Shaun, couldn’t agree more with your summary. I’ve had my 9700 a week and it’s impressing me with the speed it does everything. No-nonsense, does what it says on the tin, should have got a BB ages ago instead of sticking with Windows Mobile.