A couple of days ago I got my new BlackBerry Bold. It wasn’t something I put a lot of thought into, my contract was up for renewal with Optus and the phone came free on my plan so I thought – what the heck – why not? I have to say up front I’m more than a little impressed.

Having had a BlackBerry Pearl for the last couple of years I’m familiar with the operating system on the BlackBerry. I’ve grown used to being able to send and receive emails, sync my address book with my iMac, manage my calendar and generally organise my life on my phone. I still use a Day-Timer diary but its no more than an expensive note book now. Everything is on the phone.

So back to the Bold. Having done absolutely no research on this phone outside of confirming it was free, I am discovering new things all the time. And my smile just keeps getting broader.

Wi-Fi network connection

The biggest unexpected bonuses I discovered as soon as I started playing with the phone. Even Before i had slipped my SIM card in I was browsing web sites and collecting email thanks to the phones ability to connect to my office Wi – Fi  network. This alone is an incredible feature that just gets better and better as I use it. It means that while I am within range of my office network, any data calls like email or websites are delivered through my broadband and not via my phone data plan. It’s incredibly fast and I don’t pay the hefty data charges on the phone plan. Even better, it connects automatically! When I get back to the office the phone discovers the network and simply switches over!  I haven’t tested it yet but according to the manual it will also connect to open Wi-Fi hot spots while I’m out of the office. As if I need a reason to spend more time at McDonalds.

Improved Signal strength

For the first time ever, at least for the ten years I have been working from home, I have decent signal strength in my office. This has been the biggest surprise for me as I specifically asked the Optus rep if there would be an improvement on the Pearl and was told a resounding “no”. Signal on the Bold is always at full strength which means I no longer have to drop everything and dash outside to talk with clients and suppliers. A lot more professional and a lot less stressful.

Bigger, Bolder, Better

The Bold is significantly bigger than I expected and I have to stretch a bit to type one handed. I’ll probably switch to two hands for messaging but the full QWERTY keyboard is solid and easy to use and I don’t have to think about the Pearl’s SureType dictionary any more – again a stress saver.

The battery seems to be holding up OK even with the constant fiddling I’ve subjected it to over the last day or two. The screen is huge in comparison to the Pearl and very easy to read. I have pushed up the type size a bit to accommodate my failing eyesight but this still leaves plenty of room to allow messages to be easily read.

I haven’t tested out all the gadgets and applications yet so I’ll probably be posting about this phone again soon. The camera however does seem to take better pics but I don’t use it much anyway.

All in all I must say I’m blown away by this new toy. I haven’t compared it to the iPhone yet. I’ve got a couple of mate using those so it will be interesting to see how they measure up.

Originally posted at Dad is at home