BlackBerry Bold reviewed, scratched

Boy Genius has landed a BlackBerry Bold -- RIM's big, splashy push into the brave new world of HSDPA -- in production hardware trim, and it looks like the rougher users out there might need a quick lesson in fragile handling if they want to get in on the action when it launches around the world in the next few weeks. The screen is said to be absolutely beautiful (as it should be at 480 x 320), and there's a much improved browser to take advantage of that extra real estate; unfortunately, the whole package apparently scratches up with ridiculous ease, so it's anybody's guess just how long you'll be able to actually see the screen before it's awash in damage. Just remember: keys in one pocket, BlackBerry in the other. Interested parties would do themselves a favor by clicking through to the full review -- the cat knows his BlackBerrys, and he's really gone to town this time around.

[Eric M. @ Jul 15th 2008 11:45AM]

Or you can buy a screen protector and a case for it.

[Prey521 @ Jul 15th 2008 2:20PM]

Please, stop with the common sense.

[Quix @ Jul 15th 2008 6:32PM]

Wait, so when the iPhone was announced, all the haters could talk about was its sure-to-be-scratchable screen. It later proved to be nearly impervious to scratches. But Blackberry comes out with a device with a mar-ready screen and all you have to say is "get a screen protector?" Seriously???

The astroturfing on this site is reaching epic proportions

Vote me down, Apple haters and RIM shills!

[gad get @ Jul 15th 2008 8:55PM]

I guess they took more than one cue from Apple products: it has a beautiful, glossy, black and chrome style body (like the iPhone, though I think it actually looks better than the iPhone), and scratches easily (apparently) like the iPod Nano (although having spent some time with a couple 3rd gen. iPod Nanos, I highly doubt it gets that "used" look as quickly as Apple's fingerprint/scratch magnet).

[Corey S. @ Jul 16th 2008 10:55AM]

Oh please. Get over your iObsession. I enjoy my Apple products, yes, but to call any device with chrome and black an iClone is just nonsensical. If it had an Apple somewhere on it, then maybe it'd be a clone. The original Model-T was black, therefore all black cars are Model-T clones!!

[Sarig @ Jul 15th 2008 11:45AM]

Read link is dead :(

[engadgetier @ Jul 15th 2008 11:46AM]

STFU!

[Eric M. @ Jul 15th 2008 11:47AM]

Meh. I was going to tell you to F off, but you're just an Apple fanboy and troll.

[foodstamp81 @ Jul 15th 2008 11:53AM]

yea can't get on either

[Kris @ Jul 15th 2008 11:53AM]

All BlackBerry devices can copy and paste.... just saying...

[Cirian75 @ Jul 15th 2008 11:54AM]

Candidate for my most likely next phone to replace my BB 8800

[jason @ Jul 15th 2008 11:56AM]

yeah bgr sucks ... half the time it doesnt work

[engadgetier @ Jul 15th 2008 11:56AM]

@Kris

All computers copy and paste, whats your point?

[engadgetier @ Jul 15th 2008 11:59AM]

That sucks it scratches easily. It looks pretty nice

[HeYo @ Jul 15th 2008 11:59AM]

Thats just a soft fix.

A Bold will never have a touchscreen. Just saying...

[BobY @ Jul 15th 2008 12:01PM]

BGR does suck. It's hilarious when the guy publicly posts rants going after Giz though. He titles posts such as, "You don't want it with the kid," or "the champ is here." I think he listens to too much Jadakiss. He reminds me of like a high-school lunch argument the way he fights over the internet with other blogs about release dates and he said, she said. Blackberry is dying a slow death, fall stock price, fall!!!

[Paul @ Jul 15th 2008 1:13PM]

Agreed. The last two rants caused me to replace BGR with Giz in my daily blog reading. His wannabe hip-hop self is just sad. 'Course, now that I wrote this, I'm going to have to watch my back so I don't get "capped."

[Za @ Jul 15th 2008 3:25PM]

Blackberry makes some pretty kickass products...I don't see them going extinct anytime soon. Perhaps you've never actually experienced a business environment? In the vast majority of workplaces, the Blackberry reigns supreme.

[Bryan @ Jul 15th 2008 11:34PM]

Sorry BGR doesn't cover Apple like you need it to.

[initialxy @ Jul 15th 2008 12:04PM]

hold on, who puts blackberry in pocket with keys? don't we put them in holders hanging down the belt?

[boby @ Jul 15th 2008 12:10PM]

Suit pants pockets are kind of tight. Don't they keep their keys in their man-purses?

[Lein @ Jul 15th 2008 12:14PM]

You mean "mini-briefcase."

[initialxy @ Jul 15th 2008 12:21PM]

i mean something like this...
http://www.ascenddistribution.com/shareimage/CBLA8800LC01_4.jpg

i don't really know how to call it.

[Tony @ Jul 15th 2008 12:44PM]

Holsters. They are called holsters, and they are quite useful when you don't have enough pockets but need to carry your cell phone around. Although, you will look like a douche.

[Jonny @ Jul 15th 2008 12:17PM]

Ok why can't I get on BoyG? what's up with the site?

[Jonny @ Jul 15th 2008 12:18PM]

the site is still dead....grrr

[vudean @ Jul 15th 2008 12:25PM]

the point is... iPhone's can't, and because of that, they are extremely hobbles, especially for serious business emailing uses.

[gad get @ Jul 15th 2008 9:01PM]

I-- what?

[Jim @ Jul 15th 2008 12:26PM]

Hope RIM has got the Bold right as it will be put up against the hype king of 3G devices. Looks evolutionary to me and that may not be enough :-(

[vudean @ Jul 15th 2008 12:25PM]

sorry, hobbleD

[Anonymouser @ Jul 15th 2008 12:27PM]

My brother has had a Bold for months now *cough RIM employee* and scratching has not been an issue at all. I don't know where your source is getting this from. One occurrence of being careless?

[BigE @ Jul 15th 2008 12:28PM]

EPIC FAIL! I really just wanted to say that. You BB zealots do it all the time on the iphone posts, even when the claim couldn't be further from the truth (at least not according to Apple's rapid market growth and total sales). I hope the new BBs kick some ass so Apple will be forced to do what we all both sides -- the dark one and the stupid one -- know they are fully capable of doing, namely, making a kick ass device that rocks all handsets the world over (and that has copy and paste, video, sling mobile, voice activated turn-by-turn gps, and document creation, of course).

P.S. I challenge any of you BB fanatics to a speed typing duel! You will fail, epically.....

[gb @ Jul 15th 2008 12:43PM]

Want to make it interesting? Let's do it one-handed and blindfolded (to simulate the experience of driving a car and replying to an email). You will die epically. Or sadly.

[Prey521 @ Jul 15th 2008 2:23PM]

How old are you....14?

[BigE @ Jul 15th 2008 3:46PM]

Square, way to think for yourself there kiddo.

Wouldn't you know, an absolutely absurd, albeit comical, comment by Bg gets highly ranked. This despite the fact that his (or her) argument boils down to one of "I can text faster on a bb than you can on an iphone were we were to do so while driving and taking our eyes completely off the road!" Best of all, a sheer majority of smartphone users spend a sheer majority of their time not texting while they drive. After all, they're smarter than you numbskulls. Thus, if that's the best Bg and the rest of you Crackberry folks can muster - an argument at the extremely irrelevant- you've failed, EPICALLY!!!!

[BigE @ Jul 15th 2008 4:33PM]

I'm home alone alright. In my nice new york city apartment, waiting for my cushy Big Law firm job to start in the Fall. Without doing all the math for you, that makes me just a tad older than 14. Not that that even matters, seeing as many 14 year olds are, from the looks of things, smarter and more informed about the topic at hand than you are. As I said in my earlier post, bring on the cut and past, if only to shut you bb drones up already. I say take away all of those straws that you and your fellow dimwits keep pulling at, and watch in glee bb addicts scramble to justify owning a sub sub par device. Banter amongst yourselves - im out.

[gb @ Jul 15th 2008 4:39PM]

I hope your lawyer skills are better than your "re-typing two letters without transposing them" skills (its gb not bg you knucklehead). Must be typing on an iPhone again :)

[BigE @ Jul 15th 2008 5:11PM]

gb,

Try a comma or at the least a semi-colon at the end of your first post and then come talk to me.

[anonymouspimp @ Jul 15th 2008 6:11PM]

HAH

No way in hell you are a lawyer. Is that seriously the first job that came to your mind when trying to make yourself sound smart?

I am not a lawyer, but I work with a lot of them. And none of them have an iPhone. I don't know if that will change now with Exchange and 3G... but I highly doubt it since BB and Samsung are so dominant in the business world.

Nice try. Next time say you are a mechanical engineer or something. Then people will excuse your shit typing skills and think you know what you are talking about. But a cushy New York "Big Law" firm lawyer? ROFL. What do you do? sort their mail?

[Jubei @ Jul 15th 2008 12:33PM]

Cheap plastic chrome.. LOL.. Cheap plastic screen. Unlike the iPhone screen which is made with a micro dusting of diamond dust on optical quality glass. 480x360 on such a small screen with really ugly 80's style icon must look really cool I guess.

[SouthEastBeast @ Jul 15th 2008 12:37PM]

Hey newf*g... stfu. These are two different markets. I would love to see a CEO trying to get work done with an iPhone. Heh. (*presses backspace 25 times*) maybe they'll have one for personal use but it won't cut if for work. Touch screen soft keys = hobby, real keys = work. However..... iPhone-esque hardware + slide out keyboard + android OS = secks?

[gad get @ Jul 15th 2008 9:06PM]

"We can safely say that this is the best screen we’ve ever seen on a mobile device. Hands down." --From BGR

iPhone lovers, eat your collective hearts out!

[Jubei @ Jul 15th 2008 9:35PM]

@gad get

Yes, from now on, I think the motion picture industry must comply to the highest quality standard in optical technology. All optical lens producers and the industry in general needs to switch to cheap easy to scratch plastics for all their optics. According to you and that reviewer, clear cheap plastic, has better quality than diamond enforced optical quality lenses. Next up analog FM is the wave of the future. I really hope that feature is shipping immediately with this cheap plastic device.

[gad get @ Jul 16th 2008 6:08AM]

@ Jubei

Can you seriously state that having spent your good money on an expensive little smartphone, you're just gonna hope the screen's tough enough to avoid scratches on its own? I don't think so-- unless it's the iPhone, which you would prefer not to cover the screen of, since it hopefully won't need it, and because if you did, it would probably make the touch screen less responsive. So you might as well not be spending the extra money for a fancy, super durable (NOT invincible) screen, and just spend a dollar or two on a cheap piece of sticky-backed durable plastic (which can be easily and cheaply replaced if damaged) that achieves the same thing... or do you think theyd be kind enough not to charge you for a diamond micro-particle encrusted screen?

[Jubei @ Jul 16th 2008 11:12AM]

@gad

"I don't think so-- unless it's the iPhone, which you would prefer not to cover the screen of, since it hopefully won't need it, and because if you did, it would probably make the touch screen less responsive."

This your biggest mistake. Making assumptions about a product in which you have no clue whatsoever on its performance. Its really easy to not make a fool of oneself. Simply avoid stating things that you believe is fact in your own mind. If you stop doing that, you won't be looked upon as the court jester in this little world of ours. Read your quote above again and think about it. Try to understand why such a statement from you is so funny, one has to shake their head in disbelief that you actually believe its true.

[Michael @ Jul 15th 2008 12:31PM]

Good stuff, but didn't see alot on multimedia unless I missed it. I want a BOLD or Thunder, don't know which.

[Davey @ Jul 15th 2008 12:34PM]

Why don't they make a glass screen?

[dashiel @ Jul 15th 2008 12:37PM]

are f'n kidding me

Thanks to 1500mAh battery and a crap load of engineering on RIM’s part, they’ve finally got it nailed down. 300-500 emails a day, one hour of web surfing over 3G, Wi-Fi usually turned on, Bluetooth turned off, JiveTalk connected, and around one hour of phone calling (we don’t really use the BlackBerry as a phone)

that's considered good battery life? RIM is done. they'll survive a bit longer because they're entrenched in enterprise, but they're going to find it increasingly tough to compete with apple. RIM was a fantastic little e-mail device that glommed on average phone features. as they continue to try and compete with mobile computing space they're going to fall further and further behind.

at some point they will realize they can't compete with an OS that's doing things it was never designed to do and will pull a palm. they'll license an OS or try to build one in-house, but it will be a lot harder than their engineers tell management. there will be massive compatibility issues and delays that make vista look timely. their market share will shrink as smart phones replace regular phones in the consumer space, investors will bail, profits will fall, they will start to lose engineers and upper management.

eventually microsoft will purchase them after their sidekick-based initiative fails in yet another attempt to make a viable windows based phone OS. blackberry will then twist in the wind for a few more years, get re-branded, get moved to a new re-organized mobile division of microsoft, get relegated to a bastard-branch, have the engineers from that team absorbed in to the next mobile attempt and have all blackberry related issues moved to a small team of india-based support staff to handle the few remaining corporate customers.

[Verx @ Jul 15th 2008 1:00PM]

you're such a moron. go back to worshiping your apple shrine.

[Sarig @ Jul 15th 2008 1:17PM]

That sort of use will kill any cell phone. Try another rant.