[kenshaw]

After using it for a day, the touchscreen feels cumbersome to me. It might be because I have big fingers, but it drives me crazy trying to pinch and zoom with it. The screen is too small for a touch screen. The phone would have been much better without it. The form factor is perfect.

My other gripe is no 1080p video recording, which I feel the phone could handle easily, but was excluded. Also putting an inferior camera than the previous Bold is a step backwards and not forwards for a flagship device.

Last for some odd reason it picks and chooses which mp4 files it wants to play. Some of my files it plays, others it says are unsupported formats and the rest it will play the audio only. Yet they are all mp4. I see it does not support mkv though.

[spensa]

Oh boy... guys, some of you are such a bunch of flagrant fanboys it must hurt your little peckers every time someone even makes mention of another brand of phone.

Sorry guys... I wouldn't have bought a Bold 9900 if I wasn't drooling over it in the first place. This is my honest review. Great phone, dated platform... I expect good call quality too, which is why I was looking to jump away from the iPhone 4 again. It's just too bad now I gave up everything else good for good call quality - something you're right, the iPhone should have but doesn't. So the BB it is for me because my number 1 reason for having a cell phone is -> to make phone calls and send/receive text/email. That's it - however, some platforms have a more elegant and visually appealing way of doing these same tasks etc. The BB is great, love the shortcuts and the messaging and call quality. The phone itself looks awesome - more manly and business like. OS7 as a whole? Garbage. I was really hoping since my Bold 9000 and OS 5 it would've picked up... but not really.

FYI, the Bold 9700 I also owned for about a week before dropping it for the iPhone 4 also had **** call quality. The speaker in that thing sounded like it was taken from a Fisher Price toy.

dude, you post on a blackberry forum and what, you expect anything less than people who love their devices? you might as well hit up a resort somewhere in the Caribbeans and try to find a couple of people that want to party with you in the shade.

[menaknow]

I'm still really waiting to hear about the device. lets see some picture/video quality.

lets hear about the touchscreen...browsing capabilities...anything other than "call quality" and then a comparison to iPhone.

You might as well wait for the crackberry review on the official page. This thread is off topic and like most threads lately is has become a attack defend post.

AFAIK, three types of individuals exist on this forum.

1. Members who are objective and realize no phone is perfect for everyone and will have there plus or minus

2. Members who love blackberry, hence why there on this site for blackberry enthusiasts.

3. Members who purchased or considering purchase of a blackberry when really it doesn't fit their needs and are shocked it doesn't compare to the previous/another device they have/had.

OP: I am sorry to say but blackberry it doesn't seem like the bold is for you. I am glad you bought the device and are happy that you have the call quality, but if you primarily use applications and do not like the polish of applications and use, well you might as well return while you still can.

[chris2k5]

dude, you post on a blackberry forum and what, you expect anything less than people who love their devices? you might as well hit up a resort somewhere in the Caribbeans and try to find a couple of people that want to party with you in the shade.

No. We all expect people to be a bit more mature and open minded to others' opinions. There are idiots in here who have never used or could afford an iPhone and have said it is an "iToy".

Shows the ignorance of some of these BB users - iPhone 4 has more premium materials and cost more than their toy like Blackberry Curves/Tours/and Bold.

[chorner]

So the iPhone, according to the OP, does not type as well as the 9900, and the phone's call quality is "absolute garbage". He forgot to mention that battery life is also "garbage".

That said, he preferred the iPhone. Presumably for games and apps and such.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I get a phone mainly for phone calls and then the extras. And to last as long as I do. And to be able to enter and extract info from it accurately and comfortably.

But that's just me...

Actually, the battery life on the iPhone 4 is better. I can go two days on a charge with it, and having 2 Exchange accounts loaded plus WiFi on. The 9900 seems ok so far, and by no means a deal breaker but it is not better as I thought.

Basically to sum up here: I'm disappointed that OS7 seems like what going back to Windows XP is like after enjoying Windows 7.

The only thing really sticking for me is how fast I can get to my messages on the BB versus the bull**** routine of unlocking the iPhone with the top lock button, then swiping the damn screen... then clicking on your messaging app, then into your message. With the BB, unlock and click your shortcut, then your message and you're in. Ok, great.

The rest: the interface design -as another user posted earlier in this thread said who's used iOS5- is horribly ugly and inefficient. Search isn't great, the fact that I have to manually find and enter the url to even add Google as a search engine in the still shoddy browser, the images on the web are horrible compressed (no thanks! full quality please), the Google Maps is HORRID and extremely slow compared to the iPhone,, the email and text applications look like they were pulled from Windows 3.1 and ported to a phone (including the setup routines... horrible) - the list goes on.

For all of you in denial... have you even used an iPhone? I love to say I hate Apple, and I know Apple doesn't run the world... but they have made a solid product that isn't taking over the mobile sector because it's a giant piece of **** boys. Wake up and get off your bandwagon.

That being said... I like my phone to work best as a phone. Unfortunately, what Apple ****ed up on was making the iPhone work great as a phone first and foremost. For that single reason, I'm back to BB with the 9900. Previous to the iPhone 4 I had a 9700 - talk about a giant pile. The things speakers sounded like it was pulled from a Fisher Price toy. I'm glad RIM has at least gotten back to what has made them good - call quality.

My last point: I purchased the iPhone 4 outright, and unlocked from the Apple store for full price last year. I also purchased this Bold 9900 full price - as the above poster mentioned, I bet half of you little kiddies couldn't even afford an iPhone so you just bash it without any experience. I can tell you now -> the Bold 9900 is worth nowhere NEAR the $599 price of admission. More like a $350-$400 device at very most. Build quality is ok, but nowhere near the materials used for the iPhone's. This is fact.

[chorner]

BlackBerry Bold 9900 review

[Statehouse]

chorner thanks for posting that bgr link. pretty decent review.

a few questions for ya..

How is the camera..just to clear that up for those wondering?

How is the web browser?

And will you sell it to me.

[pblakk]

Shows the ignorance of some of these BB users - iPhone 4 has more premium materials and cost more than their toy like Blackberry Curves/Tours/and Bold.

What the heck are you blabbering about? Toy? Materials may be nice, so what? Because the iphone has better materials, the blackberry is a toy? Makes total mature sense! Nice job.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Dx3me]

BlackBerry is EXCELLENT when it comes to communicating (calls/sms/email)... it's not meant to be a gamesconsole...
So I clearly don't understand, why people are always moaning about the lack of apps and games?

If you want games, LOTS of eyecandy and stupid toy apps... go for the iPhone.
If you want a serious phone, without all the unnecessary eyecandt, that actually does what it's meant to be doing --> BlackBerry is what you should be looking for!

* And yes, I DID own an iPhone 3GS some time ago... it wasn't bad, but I just don't like all the extra bull**** that it's loaded with.
I want a phone to act like one... not to show off with, having 100+ nonsense that have nothing to do with communicating.

[symphara]

Last for some odd reason it picks and chooses which mp4 files it wants to play. Some of my files it plays, others it says are unsupported formats and the rest it will play the audio only. Yet they are all mp4. I see it does not support mkv though.

MP4 is a container (so is MKV) and your files may have video/audio streams which are encoded using different codecs, some of which may be supported by the device, while others not.

Here's a detailed explanation: MP4 FAQ - Doom9's Forum

[Bold9930]

BlackBerry Bold 9900 review

LOL, that was ********. So the review attempted to highlight the strengths, but couldn't hold back on comparing it to other devices, yet it was supposed to be a 9900 "review" ...

LOL. Comical.

Oh, and the best part - he doesn't get that the market is divided among consumers and corporations. Not surprising, most of these clowns have never had a real job other than sitting in the parents basement reviewing smartphones.

[chorner]

LOL, that was ********. So the review attempted to highlight the strengths, but couldn't hold back on comparing it to other devices, yet it was supposed to be a 9900 "review" ...

LOL. Comical.

Oh, and the best part - he doesn't get that the market is divided among consumers and corporations. Not surprising, most of these clowns have never had a real job other than sitting in the parents basement reviewing smartphones.

Uhm, buddy. If you don't think it's important to compare phones against other brands you're probably one of those kids sitting in his parents basement yourself truth be told...

In the real world, smart phones are compared to other smart phones. Especially since a lot of companies are giving employees iPhones as business devices now.

Smarten up.

[imcurved]

I can't wait anymore. TMO or Sprint: please release this phone already. From what I've gathered the 9900 produces not-so-great images because of the lack of Auto Focus feature *a good photo editing app should rectify this problem**. It looks very sexy and slim. It doesn't have much app yet. Its browser is a lot faster than the one of OS6. The keyboard is hand-down the best. The sound quality is better than most. The battery life may not be that great depending on what you use it for. The 8 GB internal storage shows up as 6.2 GB (not sure why).

[ADGrant]

The only thing really sticking for me is how fast I can get to my messages on the BB versus the bull**** routine of unlocking the iPhone with the top lock button, then swiping the damn screen... then clicking on your messaging app, then into your message. With the BB, unlock and click your shortcut, then your message and you're in. Ok, great.

The rest: the interface design -as another user posted earlier in this thread said who's used iOS5- is horribly ugly and inefficient.

It may (or may not) be ugly but based on what you yourself said, it isn't inefficient at least for core functionality.

[Frosty_Power]

It's funny how Apple guys say BB OS looks outdated yet the look of iOS has never changed. No wonder why Android users says iOS looks outdated.

If OS7 had been a drastic change, we would have more users complaining on here than not, you cannot make everyone happy. There are things that some like, that would **** off others, and vice versa.

[dredewten85]

Actually, the battery life on the iPhone 4 is better. I can go two days on a charge with it, and having 2 Exchange accounts loaded plus WiFi on. The 9900 seems ok so far, and by no means a deal breaker but it is not better as I thought.

Basically to sum up here: I'm disappointed that OS7 seems like what going back to Windows XP is like after enjoying Windows 7.

The only thing really sticking for me is how fast I can get to my messages on the BB versus the bull**** routine of unlocking the iPhone with the top lock button, then swiping the damn screen... then clicking on your messaging app, then into your message. With the BB, unlock and click your shortcut, then your message and you're in. Ok, great.

The rest: the interface design -as another user posted earlier in this thread said who's used iOS5- is horribly ugly and inefficient. Search isn't great, the fact that I have to manually find and enter the url to even add Google as a search engine in the still shoddy browser, the images on the web are horrible compressed (no thanks! full quality please), the Google Maps is HORRID and extremely slow compared to the iPhone,, the email and text applications look like they were pulled from Windows 3.1 and ported to a phone (including the setup routines... horrible) - the list goes on.

For all of you in denial... have you even used an iPhone? I love to say I hate Apple, and I know Apple doesn't run the world... but they have made a solid product that isn't taking over the mobile sector because it's a giant piece of **** boys. Wake up and get off your bandwagon.

That being said... I like my phone to work best as a phone. Unfortunately, what Apple ****ed up on was making the iPhone work great as a phone first and foremost. For that single reason, I'm back to BB with the 9900. Previous to the iPhone 4 I had a 9700 - talk about a giant pile. The things speakers sounded like it was pulled from a Fisher Price toy. I'm glad RIM has at least gotten back to what has made them good - call quality.

My last point: I purchased the iPhone 4 outright, and unlocked from the Apple store for full price last year. I also purchased this Bold 9900 full price - as the above poster mentioned, I bet half of you little kiddies couldn't even afford an iPhone so you just bash it without any experience. I can tell you now -> the Bold 9900 is worth nowhere NEAR the $599 price of admission. More like a $350-$400 device at very most. Build quality is ok, but nowhere near the materials used for the iPhone's. This is fact.

I have owned an iPhone 3g, 3gs, and a 4. The 3gs in my opinion was one of the worst phones I've had and the 4 is better. However like you said the call quality, the battery (for me), and the whole unlocking and going to the messages and all that was the reason I switched to blackberry. Yes it probably is outdated compared to apple and definitely to andriod, but its the ease of use that makes it the best thing for me, that and not having to call somebody 3-4 times before it goes through. But thanks for telling the good and the bad of the phone, i hate it when people only say how good something is and not mention the downfalls.

[sivan]

You have to accept some compromises with Blackberrys because it's becoming a niche product and RIM doesn't have Apple's scale. To really compete with Apple it would have to first ditch us, or what might be called power users of Blackberrys.

The iPhone is inefficient to work with because it doesn't cater to power users. That said, I think it's fair to expect from RIM to get the basics right--no stalling browsers or flaky video playback. It's childish to continue ranting about games and apps and at the same time demand serious productivity.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kbz1960]

You have to accept some compromises with Blackberrys because it's becoming a niche product and RIM doesn't have Apple's scale. To really compete with Apple it would have to first ditch us, or what might be called power users of Blackberrys.

The iPhone is inefficient to work with because it doesn't cater to power users. That said, I think it's fair to expect from RIM to get the basics right--no stalling browsers or flaky video playback. It's childish to continue ranting about games and apps and at the same time demand serious productivity.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Well get busy and be productive then!

[southlander]

If it's supposed to, then why is it a whole new OS then?

It is not a whole new OS. It is a new VERSION of the same old OS. QNX.. now that will be a whole new OS.

[scubbie]

If it's supposed to, then why is it a whole new OS then? Feature wise there is nothing new really.

Everything that is new is hardware wise, the phone itself is beautiful and the specs have been boosted big time. But no one can say this is a new OS, at least not with a straight face.

The Fact I think is, is that OS7 is not much newer. the reason they couldn't call it an OS6 upgrade is cause the older phones, any of them, do not have the hardware to run OS7. so if they called it a new OS6 everyone would wonder why they do not get it on their older devices.

[southlander]

I have to agree the 9900 is a letdown for me. It really doesn't entice me enough to get rid of my 9700.

Yeah that's the thing. If had one of the latest Bolds then I'd be less committed to getting the 9930. Because although it is certainly faster, has touch, nicer keyboard, etc., it's still a very very similar device.

[Lego Star Wars]

Wish peeps would stop this garbage. This is a BB forum and the reason peeps use this forum is that they love their BB. Go get an Iphone and stop pestering us.

[Xterra2]

I can't stand the iPhone, my wife has the iphone4. I ditched android because i just absolutely got tired of it. Why did I tire of it? I bought an iPad 2 LOL! I just need a phone to handle my work load.... Texting, calling, and picture taking of my family. So I'm down to BB and WM7.5. and I'm dead in love with a qwerty keyboard. 9900 looks like a winner unless WM7.5 is released with a 12 mp shooter. Waiting really sucks....

Get thee WP7.5 Mango, they have devices with a 12mp shooterr,AF of course
And it can shoot in RAW, the htc mozaa for example and the WP7 nokia's N8 equivalent with the best camera on any smarthpme on nokia's hardware and that has a dual core
Nokia is releasing 2 devices,
If u want 12mp get the mago phones, no worry they would be announced on september 1st

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[calaviqpfza4]

Call quality on ANY phone is based purely on the country and carrier you're on. It's a simple as that.

[calaviqpfza4]

You have to accept some compromises with Blackberrys because it's becoming a niche product and RIM doesn't have Apple's scale. To really compete with Apple it would have to first ditch us, or what might be called power users of Blackberrys.

The iPhone is inefficient to work with because it doesn't cater to power users.

Power Users? What's your definition of a power user? Somebody that can post on RIM fan forum's? Those are called fan boys. Please enlighten us to what you're super business productivity tool can do that an iPhone (or any other phone for that matter) can't do... Thanks.