In the world of mobile telephony it seems the only device standing in the way of Apple's inexorable march towards complete market domination is the BlackBerry.
The two represent divergent philosophies being offered to the user. Ever since Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM) introduced the BlackBerry in 1999, it has sought to stand out from the crowd on retailers' shelves. With its push email, BB messenger and the signature built-for-twiddling-thumbs Qwerty keyboard, BlackBerry always represented a unique design standpoint — and a reluctance to join the touch screen bandwagon.
Apparently the philosophy seemed to have worked well for the Canadians, with the Torch their only full touch screen offering. All other models, including the original Bold, relied on the BlackBerry's unique selling point — the full Qwerty. But, in a pointer as to where the world of handheld devices is headed, the new Bold 9900 now throws in a capacitive touch screen into the mix.
The 9900 is the slimmest BlackBerry yet and, for those who are fans of RIM's chunky, wide designs, perhaps the most stylish as well with its stainless steel frame.
Apart from slimming down their offering from the original Bold, however, the only notable addition to the 9900 is the touch screen — and attendant features needed to drive it, such as a 1.2GHz processor and a tweaked operating system.
Easy to use
As usual, the BlackBerry's keypad is top-notch and perhaps the most ergonomical for typing with two thumbs. The backlight responds to ambient light conditions by brightening up in harsh lights and dimming in softer lights. And in standby the backlights fade out slowly, the keyboard first followed by the navigation keys and then the optical track pad, which, as always with BlackBerries, is a highlight for its ease of use.
The big thing about the 9900, though, is the touch screen. And RIM has excelled here. The screen's speed of response is fast enough to compare with the best on the market and even for die-hard keypad users it gives the option of poking the screen instead of the buttons. Our hunch is that a combination of keypad and touch screen usage, acquired through a few days practice for new owners, will make the 9900 perhaps the fastest of all current mobile devices to use.
As always with BlackBerry, the 5MP camera is passably good and even shoots videos at 720p HD resolution. The memory can be expanded to 32GB, but with the BlackBerry App World still lagging behind even Android, leave alone Apple, you may not find much to fill that space with.
In the final analysis, the Bold 9900 is a sleek and fast new BlackBerry, which provides Qwerty fans the option of an excellently responsive touch screen. If you are a BlackBerry user and want to know what's on the outside without stepping out of the fold, this is your ticket.
