You might have heard of the RIM BlackBerry 9000, but RIM has officially named the smartphone the BlackBerry Bold.  In fact, it’s bold in more ways than one.  The gorgeous display makes it very bold, but it also represents a bold shift for the company.  With the release of the Apple iPhone 3G this summer, Apple saw great success and had record breaking sales.  RIM had to bring its A-game to the table with its next smartphone and after looking this thing over, they brought just that.

   (Credit:  BlackBerry.com) 

BlackBerry Bold and Beautiful

An article on cnet.com explained that the device gets its name from its screen.  The Bold features a half-VGA (480×320 pixel resolution) and a 65,000 color display.  During testing, research group participants continually called the screen “bold,” hence the BlackBerry Bold was born.  The Bold is equipped with a stunning display that shows a great video without any pixelation that you typically get.

It’s 4.5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wides, weighing a mere 4.7 ounces, the BlackBerry Bold is as sleek as ever.  This phone also offers a QWERTY keyboard and endless wireless options.  The wireless options include the quad-ban (GSM 850/900/1800/1900), but the best part about this smartphone is the HSPDA/UMTS (850/1900/2100) support.  This is a first for BlackBerry to introduce this support, and is it ever good to have.

Here are some more features that the BlackBerry Bold offers:

• Improved Web browser, option to view pages in full desktop HTML
• Navigate pages with a trackball, which acts like a mouse cursor
•  2-megapixel camera and video recording capabilities (up to 5x zoom)
• Media player supports MP3, WMA, AAC, DivX4, and WMV3 files
• Great speakers with a 3.5mm headphone jack
• Great BlackBerry interface with Dataviz’s Documents to Go suite, for viewing and editing

Get Bold with BlackBerry Bold … in September

Yes that’s right.  AT&T will be the primary provider for the BlackBerry Bold with the expected release to be September 1, 2008.  BlackBerry has always put out great devices and business users have had a special relationship with BlackBerry since they are very user friendly and e-mail access is outstanding.  With the release of the Apple iPhone 3G in early July, it is going to be interesting to see how this might affect BlackBerry sales in September.  Some financial analysts are holding strong for BlackBerry and recommending to buy into the stock now as the prices will rise right up to the release date.  Only time will tell, but until then, we’re going to be bold. 

There are rumors swarming about the mill and we’ve heard the news loud and clear.  The BlackBerry Bold is REAL, and has plans on being released this summer (June) for AT&T.  The other major networks will have access soon after, with talk focusing around the month of September.  An article on Engadget states that they have an estimated figure that the BlackBerry Bold will run for about $300, but they make clear that these prices are not official.

Official Press Release on the BlackBerry BOLD

Waterloo, ON- For customers seeking a smartphone that makes a bold statement, Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today introduced the admirable BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphone. Crafted from premium materials, inside and out, that radiate elegance with a dramatic presence, the BlackBerry Bold is designed to give business professionals and power users unprecedented functionality and performance in an intuitive BlackBerry® smartphone. It is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world and comes with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi®, as well as a rich set of multimedia capabilities. From its lustrous black exterior, satin chrome finished frame and stylish leather-like backplate, to its stunning display, sophisticated user interface and newly designed full-QWERTY* keyboard, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone is a symbol of accomplishment and aspiration.

“The new BlackBerry Bold represents a tremendous step forward in business-grade smartphones and lives up to its name with incredible speed, power and functionality, all wrapped in a beautiful and confident design,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion.

SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s support for tri-band HSDPA and enterprise-grade Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g) networks and its next-generation 624 MHz mobile processor make short work of downloading email attachments, streaming video or rendering web pages. The BlackBerry Bold also includes 128 MB Flash memory plus 1 GB on-board storage memory, as well as and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot** that is conveniently accessible from a side door. It comes with the renowned BlackBerry productivity applications, including phone, email, messaging, organizer and browser, and works with thousands of mobile business and lifestyle applications, making it easier than ever to stay connected, productive and entertained. With this powerful new smartphone, users can even talk on the phone while sending and receiving email or accessing the web, and download Word, Excel or PowerPoint files and edit them directly on the handset using the preloaded DataViz® Documents to Go® suite.

STUNNING DISPLAY
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with the most vivid and bold display ever introduced on a BlackBerry smartphone. Its half-VGA (480×320 resolution) color LCD is fused to the undersurface of the lens, making images leap out with stunning definition and clarity. Pictures are vibrant and razor sharp, while videos play smoothly and web pages, documents, presentations and messages snap with exceptional quality and contrast.

DESKTOP-STYLE WEB PAGES
With its newly enhanced, high performance browser and high-resolution, ultra-bright display, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone gives users an on-the-go web browsing experience with desktop-style depiction. The trackball mimics a mouse, making it easy to navigate sites in “Page View” or “Column View” or to zoom in on specific parts of a web page, while various emulation settings allow users to choose between the full desktop-style HTML content and layout or the mobile version. Attachments can also now be downloaded from within the browser and there is support for watching streaming videos (RTSP - real-time streaming protocol).

RICH MULTIMEDIA
While it is designed to meet the extensive requirements of the business professional during the day, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone also caters to the business person’s consumer side during evenings and weekends. It features a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capability, built-in flash and 5x digital zoom. The enhanced media player can display pictures and slideshows quickly, play movies smoothly in full screen mode, and manage an entire music collection. Audio can be played over the handset’s dual speakers in rich, stereo sound, and when using wired headphones or external speakers, the media player gives the user an equalizer with 11 preset filters - like “Lounge”, “Jazz” and “Hip Hop” - that boost or soften audio ranges to create the perfect ambiance.

For managing music and video, the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software includes Roxio® Media Manager for BlackBerry® as well as Roxio Photosuite® 9 LE, which makes it easy to enhance pictures and create photo albums on the computer. For users that manage their collection with iTunes®, the new BlackBerry® Media Sync application provides a simple way to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone***. Support for High Speed USB 2.0 allows all files to be transferred quickly from a desktop computer to the BlackBerry Bold smartphone.

POWERFUL WI-FI & GPS
For even broader high-speed network coverage, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone supports the 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi standards, ideal for use in enterprise or campus wireless LAN deployments, over Wi-Fi hotspots and on wireless home networks. A new “Push Button Setup” is included, making it faster for users to connect to protected wireless networks that require a sign on process.

Through its integrated GPS, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone can pinpoint its exact location, supporting applications like BlackBerry® Maps and other location-based applications or services. With its improved rendering capabilities, faster download speeds and ability to support simultaneous voice and data, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone even allows users to navigate while on a call.

FIRST CLASS PHONE
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone features a new acoustic design that increases the size of the phone’s audio sweet spot, improving listening quality and clarity. It also comes with numerous premium phone features including Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), Bluetooth® 2.0, with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including car kits that adhere to the Bluetooth Remote SIM Access Profile) and other Bluetooth peripherals. It is a quad-band EDGE and tri-band HSDPA handset that supports global roaming**** and features dedicated ’send’, ‘end’, and ‘mute’ keys, smart dialing, speed dialing, conference calling and call forwarding. It also features noise cancellation technology that offsets background noise, a powerful speaker phone and support for polyphonic, mp3 and MIDI ring tones.

ROBUST EMAIL & MESSAGING
Like all BlackBerry smartphones, the BlackBerry Bold gives users the industry’s leading mobile messaging solution. It works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, which enables advanced security and IT administration within IBM® Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® environments, as well as BlackBerry® Professional Software for small businesses. It also works with BlackBerry® Internet Service, which gives users access to up to 10 work or personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts), and the BlackBerry® Unite! software for SOHO and home users.

CONVENIENT ACCESSORIES
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with a variety of convenient accessories including a stereo headset, travel charger, carrying case or sleeve and USB cable. Users will also be able to personalize their BlackBerry Bold smartphone by purchasing replaceable leather-like backplates that come in a range of colors. The removable / rechargeable 1500 mAhr battery provides multi-hour usage with a target talk time of approximately 5 hours and 13 days standby time.

It’s been run through the rumor mill that the 3G BlackBerry for AT&T will delay its release from June to August because of a “technical glitch.”  Fortune magazine reported on Thursday that the delay in the launch of BlackBerry 8900 is because of concerns of call quality.  And since AT&T is the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. and wants to maintain its valued reputation, therefore it is necessary to fix this problem before any 3G BlackBerry is released. 

iPhone vs. BlackBerry

We all know that the release of the 3G version of the iPhone is expected in the early summer months (analyst say June 9!), so some speculate that AT&T wanted to delay the 3G version of the BlackBerry so they wouldn’t have to deal with competing interests.  But just for fun … who would win this competition?

  VERSUS 

The Smartphone Battle

RIM and Apple are the two major smartphone companies in the U.S.  In June, it is expected that Apple will release an SDK which will be enterprise-friendly and give RIM a run for its money as far as a “corporate smartphone” goes.  RIM already has the corporate-user base that Apple will need to establish once the SDK is released, but it makes me wonder how the delay in the release of the 3G version for BlackBerry (BlackBerry 8900) will affect corporate users.  Will corporate beings give the 3G iPhone a shot once it is established with its SDK?  I am guessing so … this summer should be a tell-all summer as far as corporate smartphone’s go … we just get to sit back and watch the battle.  4 … 3 … 2 … BATTLE!