The BlackBerry Bold: ahead of the Curve
Yes, yes, it's another BlackBerry. We all know rather too much about these mobile email devices, with their insistently flickering red light demanding that we pay it immediate attention. It's nothing less than a small but perfectly formed tyrant that keeps you shackled to the office even when you're in the pub.
So is there anything good to say about the latest and very businessy iteration of the BlackBerry, the Bold? Actually, there is. It's the same sort of shape and size of the Curve that many corporate slaves lug about with them, but it's a much nicer device to use. The screen is brighter and has a higher resolution, the interface has had a much-needed facelift, the keypad is great, and the battery life is good, too.
What I like about the BlackBerry above the iPhone or any Windows Mobile-based smartphone is how tightly integrated all its functions are. Someone sent you a Word document? Go straight to it from the email, and it's quick and easy either to read or to edit using the bundled Documents to Go software. Does the document have a link in it? Click on it and you're immediately taken to the browser.
The browser is a vast improvement on previous BlackBerry devices. On the Bold, a webpage loads in a reduced format, which means that (with a bit of peering and reaching for specs if you're middle-aged) you can see pretty much the whole page rather than having to scroll around. One click on the central button — yes, the Bold retains the "pearl" selection button — and you're zoomed into the page and links become active.
Email handling
Email is, of course, the killer application. Mails land on the handheld as soon as they arrive on the server and the flashing red light alerts you to their presence. One downside of the way BlackBerry handles email is that it doesn't allow you to set up rules or folders, so its inbox can become scarily disorganised.
The rugged Qwerty keyboard means you can work up a decent typing speed when thumb-tapping out your replies. I wish the screen were a bit bigger: the keyboard takes up a large proportion of the device, so a long mail means scrolling.
It's not all business stuff. The 2.0 mega-pixel camera, with flash, takes decent pictures that you can upload directly to Facebook via the very good BlackBerry Facebook application. I also installed Twitterberry, the best of all the mobile clients for the microblogging service. I often follow links from friends' tweets, and the tight integration of onboard and third-party applications means this is painless — even pleasurable.
The good battery life also means you might actually use it as a music player: it will sync playlists from iTunes and it will take a microSD memory card, so you can carry music about with you.
Extra frills on this latest BlackBerry include Wi-Fi — so you can jump on to a network rather than do slow downloads over the mobile web — and GPS, which is excellent for when you need to find your way. It is a device that tightly integrates your personal and your working life.
