For those of us who know and care, the Blackberry Bold is out today in Australia at Optus stores.
I rang this morning and asked if the Optusworld store close to work had any Bolds in stock, and what do you know, they did! So I drove down and picked one up I am going to miss my Curve, but boy do I love the Bold! Only one gripe - I don't particularly like the trackball. It feels... different, and its harder to use than the one on the Curve. Hope this is only temporary however
The Australian without-contract price from Optusworld is steep at AUD $950, but I wanted a new toy to play with this weekend, so I forked it out!
An interesting side note is that the Optus Bolds are unbranded, that is, there is no carrier stamp on the bottom or back of the device. The OS also has no obvious branding, which is a good thing... because I'm with Telstra LOL!
Lucky U. I will be waiting a month for mine (thats if I can manage to wait that long). If I get one now it will cost me $237 to get out of my contract but it wont cost anything in a month.
Congrats! Thanks for the preliminary feedback...please send us more feedback after a few days of use...looking forward to some first-hand info on the "official" release version...
Congratulations on your new Bold, I wish it was me. I hope it is all that you thought it would be, and more. The pics look great, in your hand it looks so small and compact.
Congrats and thanks for showing the pics, cute kid in the background hehehe!! Im a mom always notice the little ones. anyway, the other post was saying how great the trackball was I guess it just depends huh? oh well glad you got one hope you continue to like it!!
Haha, you're very observant sarfrazfamily... and that pic is a bit cut off, the picture in the frame is actually of all three of my kids but only one got captured and immortalized on Crackberry! LOL
As the day wears on (9 hours with the Bold now) I am getting used to the trackball, but again, its not as easy to use as the curve...
I am also a big fan of the new OS, I know a lot of people say its just a pig with lipstick, but the updated UI with the old fashioned blackberry OS functionality is great.
One of the majorly promoted features is that you can be on a call and receiving/sending data - this is fantastic for IM programs and email... its very cool being able to MSN chat while on a business call... not that anyone would do that of course *looks around innocently*
Grrrr.. I've spent 2 days messing around with Optus!
I called them Wednesday morning (the 20th) on the business line and asked if the Bold was actually released. They said it was but it was already sold out and I'd have to wait until the following Wednesday. He also said they had no details on any pricing except for the $79 plan with $10 per month handset payment. However.. this was only for business customers with an ABN.
Then.. I called up again on the personal line to see if it was available for non-business customers. The chick knew nothing about the Bold.. she had a look through her e-mails and she said there was one saying it was released today but that was it.
The next day I called up again and they told me the same story, so I asked to be put through to the store at Pitt st mall. They told me the same story.. that they received an e-mail but didn't have anything yet.
Grrrr.. I've spent 2 days messing around with Optus!
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I'm so angry now after hearing that you actually got one!! >:-(
Sorry to anger you, orionstarcross. I was actually quite suprised when I called and they (Optus World Garden City - Mt Gravatt in Brisbane) said they had them in stock. Even more so when I went to the store and they DID actually have them in stock! LOL
I waded into the discussions earlier about the 3G issues that some carriers are having with the Bold. I found yesterday that it is possible to "lock" the Bold to 3G or 2G only, depending on your needs. Hopefully once this becomes more widely known, it will help alleviate some of the problems for people whose Bolds are currently switching between 2G and 3G regularly for no reason.
Yes, there is no external or obvious internal branding at all. Additionally, whereas older Blackberry devices would show the carrier logo on startup, the Bold doesn't seem to, at least, this one doesn't.
I was real interested in the Bold before I saw the unit itself.
I'm going to stick with my 8330 for one primary reason; the keypad.
The numbers on the Bold are harder to see, and I want every advantage of sight and tactile touch when driving/dialing, or for dialing in general.
That was a key reason I'll never have anything like the iphone, thunder, etc.. I can dial my Curve without ever looking down. And if I do look at the keys, with my eyesight, I need every advantage I can get...