The 9900 the best BlackBerry there is

(Readers take note: This is for the BlackBerry fans. iPhone and Android users may move on to the next article.)

RESEARCH in Motion's (RIM) latest version of the Bold, the 9900, is going to make a real (and dare I say lasting) impression on even the most jaded BlackBerry fan.

In the wake of bad news to have hit the Canadian company in recent months, whether in the form of poor financial results, sinking global market share or growing sentiment that the BlackBerry operating system is seriously lagging behind the competition and is in desperate need of a major overhaul, RIM finally unveiled the latest of its Bold series in mid-August.

Engadget calls it the "emboldened" Bold, while cnet.com's Crave calls it "the best Bold handset BlackBerry has ever made". Coupled with high-end, stately looks and a svelte frame, the phone looks like a throwback to to 2008's Bold 9000 at first glance, but pick it up and the differences are suddenly noticeable.

The screen is now touch-capable, a first for the Bold family, and gone is the leatherette back that has defined the Bold series for years, which is now replaced by a "slab of composite weave".

Ask any BlackBerry loyalist what they love most about their handset and they will say its the keyboard. It's a well-known fact that RIM places a lot of emphasis on building the most ergonomic keyboards in the world, and it certainly has delivered in this aspect.

Numerous reviews conclude that the Bold 9900's keyboard may well be the best physical keyboard ever found on a phone the handset's wider body allowing for a more spacious keyboard, with larger keys that are substantially raised above the surface. Having held a friend's 9900 he just brought back from the UK, they are a pleasure to use.

The specs have improved considerably too, with a 1.2GHz processor, a five-megapixel camera and a 640x480 pixel resolution screen. While Engadget's review says "it's hard to get too excited about stepping up to VGA in 2011", cram it into a 2.8-inch display and the result is really sharp and smooth graphics.

The one and only thing that can really be considered a disappointment is the operating system. Ignore Blackberry's marketing hype about its latest BlackBerry 7 OS it is pure silver lining for the company's executives who are desperate to make a real impact in a market increasingly filled with more powerful, more desirable mainstream phones.

You will still find the monotonous, unintuitive scroll-down menus found in previous versions of the OS, and hence the disclaimer at the top. BlackBerry fans or loyalists won't find this a problem, unless they're sick and tired of the interface and want something slicker and more stylish elements that are prevalent in most modern mobile operating systems.

Many were expecting the gesture-heavy interface used in the PlayBook, the company's flagship tablet, which reviewers have mostly come to love but sadly is not implemented in the Bold. The phone would have been a so much more refined product, and at least wouldn't feel so outdated compared to other current operating systems had it been equipped with the QNX OS, which powers the PlayBook.

Nonetheless it is still worth noting, in the words of cnet's Crave, that "at the end of the day the Bold's design is more evolutionary than revolutionary." Despite having a price that doesn't quite justify its performance (when compared to the competition), the phone is the definition of what a BlackBerry is today and is RIM's best offering this year, which should be enough for hardcore fans to pay the price.

The Brunei Times