RIM said "hello" to the iPhone this morning when it introduced the long-anticipated BlackBerry 9000, also known as the BlackBerry Bold. Aside from its dashing good looks, the Bold has tweaks under the hood that not only improve upon past BlackBerry offerings, but ensure that it stays a step ahead of the competition. For now, anyway.
The Bold is RIM's first BlackBerry to support tri-band HSDPA (3G) networks, which complements its built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The half-VGA screen features 480x320 resolution, which is twice the resolution of the most recent BlackBerry Curve. The Bold, of course, continues with RIM's commitment to the "real" QWERTY keyboard along with a trackball located just under the screen. The built-in 2MP camera has video recording capabilities, built-in camera flash that is common on BlackBerry devices, and 5x digital zoom.
Software-wise, the company revamped its menu icons to look a little more cutting edge, and the phone also boasts "desktop-style web pages." Users can choose to navigate through websites either with the full, desktop-style HTML pages or mobile-formatted versions. RIM also says that it has enhanced the Bold's media player to play video smoothly in fullscreen mode and manage a user's full music collection.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that RIM has taken a few design tips from the iPhone this time around. The Bold's all-black enclosure with a chrome border, combined with the high-contrast screen make it indeed a very, er, bold-looking new BlackBerry. Physically, the resemblance is striking:
Of course, the iPhone currently lacks many of the features that the Bold has—namely 3G capabilities, integrated GPS, Bluetooth that actually works with something besides a Bluetooth headset, video recording capabilities, and camera zoom. However, many of these features are expected to be announced soon at WWDC for the next-gen iPhone. At the very least, a 3G iPhone is all but guaranteed, and GPS is widely-rumored to be included. And, of course, the iPhone already offers desktop-style web browsing in addition to a giant multi-touch screen that the Bold doesn't have.
On its own, however, the Bold is still a very attractive option for those in business who are married to things like the BlackBerry's handling of corporate e-mail and the non-touchscreen keyboard that many BlackBerry enthusiasts still love. On the flip side, Apple said at its SDK Roadmap event in February that the iPhone 2.0 software will introduce "real" Exchange support, push e-mail, and other enterprise features that it currently lacks, possibly bringing it up to speed with the BlackBerry in that regard.
Unfortunately for RIM, the Bold is not yet commercially available. The company says that it will be widely available this summer, and told CNet that it expects the price to be somewhere around $300-400. If it were available today, RIM might be able to capture more sales than it will after the next-gen iPhone is released. By then (whenever that may be), the two may be roughly on par in terms of features once again.
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