BlackBerry Bold: smart-looking look smartphone

You are here: Home > News > Mobile Phones > BlackBerry Bold: smart-looking look smartphone

BlackBerry Bold: smart-looking look smartphone

News Categories

News Archive

RSS Feed

By Peter White (Wednesday, 19th November 2008)

Stuck in its push email niche with the business users, RIM has never been seen as a trailblazer for new-look smartphones. But this year it is making a serious push into the consumer sector, and against all expectations, has produced devices that reflect the face of the new handset - complete with integrated web services and blistering download speeds.

Handset makers are increasingly looking to advanced integration of popular web services with their devices, to enhance the user experience and differentiate themselves from more generic webphones. And this is putting even more pressure on the manufacturers to soup up the power of their products, to support applications like YouTube video at top speeds.

In a series of tests run by CNET's US online laboratory, RIM's Bold scored highly, and the Storm, currently being marketed heavily in the UK by exclusive partner Vodafone, should have similar qualities, plus a touchscreen. The tests ran a full length movie, TV episode and audio track on five high end phones - the iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Bold, Samsung Instinct, LG Dare and the HTC/T-Mobile G1. All were equipped with a 4GB MicroSD except the 8GB iPhone and all were running on 3G networks.

The Bold, which is also available in the UK from Vodafone and is RIM's first 3G handset, blew away the competition on download speeds, performing at 13.9Mbps for the movie and 9.59Mbps for audio. The G1 came in second, with ratings of 5.99Mbps and 5.08Mbps; iPhone was third with 5Mbps and 2.79Mbps; the Dare performed at 1.49Mbps and 1.31Mbps; and the Instinct scored 0.79Mbps and 0.74Mbps.

On the integrated web apps front, social networking services are taking the lead in working with smartphone makers, and RIM is the latest conquest. 3 Mobile/Hutchison has gone as far as to set up a subsidiary, INQ, to work with software organizations like Facebook and YouTube to create optimized handsets, and RIM is keen to make web-based friends to strengthen its strategy of making the smartphone into the hub for the user's 'four screen' internet (cellphone, fixed-line, PC and television).

First off, the BlackBerry maker has worked with social networking giant MySpace on an integrated version of its software, which promises the same sort of instant-response, push-based service that is familiar to business users of BlackBerry email.

The MySpace system will push social content, supporting a full messaging interface, real time status and mood updates, camera integration and optimized photo management, plus notification of new MySpace events like message and friend requests. In addition, MySpace will launch a new community page for BlackBerry users, offering access to content, videos, games, ringtones, skins and related features.

However, even the Bold and Storm may be outperformed by the latest phone to emerge from the Taiwanese device community, which is seeking to expand from low end handsets into the branded, high performance market, in the footsteps of role model HTC. ASUS has shown off a smartphone, the P565, which it says has the most powerful processor in the world at 800MHz - the average in high end handsets is 500MHz. The product also features the Glide touch-driven user interface and runs Windows Mobile, with the Office Mobile suite of apps. It is geared to business users and aims to take on RIM's more traditional BlackBerry base.