BlackBerry Bold 9700 preview

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is a slightly evolved form of its bigger brother, the Bold 9000, but will it be able to outdo its popular predecessor? We got a hands-on look at the device to get a first impression.

Thankfully, the 9700 keeps the large Qwerty styling of the original Bold, although the keyboard is ever so slightly - and necessarily - smaller, because the 9700 is a significantly dinkier device. The contours of the 9000’s buttons remain though, along with that reassuring on-contact click.

The fact that the 9000 will remain available after its successor has been released virtually amounts to an admission that some will prefer its marginally beefier keyboard, but there’s really not a great deal in it. Resulting form factor changes alone will make the sacrifice worth it for some at any rate.

While obviously still not tiny, the 9700 is compact and solid, in stark contrast to the 9000, with its slightly hollow feel that tells you there’s at least a small air pocket nestling behind its battery cover.

Instead of using a rollerball, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 uses a trackpad as its central navigation button. Although it’s very small, we found it to be impressively responsive, letting you dash around the menus and App World with ease.

The fact that it’s also a clickable button didn’t seem to hold it back in user experience terms either. It’s the only part of the phone that’s succumbed to the touchscreen revolution, which will doubtless cause a sigh of relief in some of you.

Next to the track pad are a few distinctly clicky old school buttons that deal with the back function, menu access and the call and call end features. These are just like those seen in many previous BlackBerrys, so no surprises there.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 uses the latest Blackberry OS 5.0, which will seem very familiar if you’ve already tried out any of the recent RIM phones. It revolves around a home screen laid out with a few icons links for basic features like messaging and contacts along the bottom, and a full scrollable menu that’s accessed with a tap on one of the soft keys.

Navigating the menus was faultlessly slick, no doubt thanks to the robust CPU, and the track pad  performed impressively well. It only requires the lightest of touches, and while it may take a while for BlackBerry trackball fans to adjust, we think it’s a good alternative - one that probably won’t suffer from so much wear either, with a bit of luck.

The 2.44-inch screen is a bit of a step down from the 2.6-inch example used in the Bold 9000, but the Bold 9700’s actually has a slightly higher resolution display - 480x360 pixels. This is a lot of pixels for a relatively small screen - at least in smartphone terms - but there’s a pay-off in pixel density terms. The screen’s bright and very sharp.

Although we wouldn’t normally consider BlackBerrys particularly video-friendly devices, the demo wildlife video we got to check out on the Bold 9700 looked great, with impressive detail and colour on show. Video skills like these are one element of convergence with the non-business mobile market that few will rue.

Other highlights include a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot that claims it’ll be future-proof, with 32GB SDHC card compatibility on its feature list.

There’s no doubt that the BlackBerry Bold 9700 looks like a capable phone- the question is whether you should choose it over the Bold 9000.

If the claimed battery life figures turn out to be on the money - 6 hours talk time, or over two weeks on standby, is the official line - then our vote may well swing towards the 9700. If not, then it looks like the decision may end up a less objective case of personal, partly aesthetic, preference.

• BlackBerry Bold 9700 specs, info and prices