With RIM’s soon-to-be flagship device, the Blackberry Thunder, still on the horizon, many of the RIM faithful are waiting with baited breath for the Blackberry Bold, a non-touchscreen handset with a revamped graphical interface and a powerhouse processor. If some of you were wondering how the Bold would stack up with a touchscreen soon to come, you should know that the Bold isn’t shy and reserved — reviews have shown the Blackberry Bold is a fighter, and plans on staying for some time.

If you’re curious as to why I’m taking the time to focus on a non-touchscreen handset (as I have a soft spot in my heart for touchscreen flavors), it is important to remember that touchscreen handsets are far from solidified in the market. Many still prefer tactile buttons and keys; if that wasn’t the case, there wouldn’t be touchscreen handsets still toting physical buttons in addition to touchscreen interfaces.

RIM’s Blackberrys are a shining example of why sturdily-built tactile handsets will always have a niche in the handset market. The business community needs consistency, functionality, and durability, what with all the miles they log on their Crackberrys. Enter stage left, the Blackberry Bold.

The Boy Genius Report, nortorious for landing exclusive peeks at unreleased handsets, was able to test drive the Blackberry Bold for a month, and overall, the impressions were goodl. If you would really like a comprehensive review, click over to read detailed analysis.

The people testing out the Blackberry Bold found that the screen is brilliant and vivid, but scratch-prone, that the battery life is acceptable, that the trackball (like on other Blackberrys) is quirky, and that the updated GUI is just that — not a new OS but basically a skin. The Bold’s browser is competitive, especially coupled with the 3G network and Wi-Fi. The keyboard is definitely a selling point along with the messenger. Updates to applications are good. The Bold’s speakers are a step up from other BlackBerrys, and call quality is also improved.

Essentially the Blackberry Bold has a lot of strong features that will definitely make it a must-have for many current Blackberry users, but there are some design flaws. With a screen protector and a charger handy, you should really get some serious mileage out of the Bold once it becomes available to consumers.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 9:50 pm under Uncategorized.

Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
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