The BlackBerry Bold is a line of smartphones developed by Research in Motion. The family was launched in 2008 with the 9000 Model. In 2009 the form factor was shrunk with the 9700 and the Tour 9630. In 2010 RIM released the 9650 and 9780 refresh with OS 6. In 2011 came the 9788 and 9790 along with the current flagship - the 9900/9930 series. The 9900/9930 and 9790 are touchscreen smartphones, released in August and November 2011 and 2012.

The Bold family is known for its distinctive form factor;efficient, finger-friendly QWERTY keyboard, typical BlackBerry messaging capabilities with a distinctive, more premium keyboard than the Curve series. The Bold series is usually more expensive and has more premium materials (e.g. leather, soft touch, carbon fiber, metal) unlike the curve (plastic, glossy), and has much better specs. There are two basic form factors with the Bold line, the original larger size on the 9000 and 9900 Series and the "baby bold" form factor the other models have.

Early series[link]

BlackBerry Bold 9000[link]

BlackBerry Bold 9000

Availability by country	August 4, 2008 (Chile)[1] August 21, 2008 (Canada)[2] November 4, 2008 (U.S.)[3]

Many BlackBerry applications are available on the Bold: Documents To Go and Breakout clone. The Bold also offers new or updated applications for BlackBerry Messenger, WHERE GPS, and Mobi4Biz.^[4]

The BlackBerry Bold has generally been positively reviewed by critics.^{[citation needed]} In 2008 Bonnie Cha of CNET rated the phone as "Excellent" and praised the phone's screen and multimedia capabilities. However, she did not like the bulkiness of the phone, and notes that it has poor web browsing navigation. Among the problems she had with the web navigation were terrible YouTube playback, due to the phone's limited support for video formats; a clunky interface for functions such as bookmarking; and unintuitive browser design in general. However, she mentioned that the bulkiness would be greatly improved by BlackBerry OS 6.0.^[5]

Several technical issues occurred with the Bold 9000:

• On October 10, 2009, UK provider Orange suspended sales of the BlackBerry Bold due to undisclosed software issues.^{[citation needed]}
• March 2, 2008, RIM says they had or still have an overheating problem with the Bold saying in some cases it became too hot to handle. This problem seems to have affected regions in and around Japan only. "BlackBerry Bold devices in other countries are unaffected by this matter."^[6]
• The Bold, the second 3G BlackBerry (first supporting US frequency bands), launched in the U.S. in November 2008, after several snags delayed its release. The Bold went through several revisions before its official launch to ensure it operated properly on AT&T's 3G network and to hammer out software issues.^[6]

BlackBerry Bold 9700[link]

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 (codenamed "Onyx") is a high-end mobile phone data device (smartphone) developed by Research In Motion. While many things including form factor are similar between the two models, here are the difference in the 9700's specifications as follows:^[7]

• Available December 18, 2009
• Wi-Fi calling supported UMA (Carrier dependent)
• Browser - HTML browsing, View Movies/Clips from websites built for mobile streaming, RSS feed support

All the familiar pre-loaded BlackBerry applications are available on the Bold 9700, including but not limited to: WordToGo, PowerPointToGo, BrickBreaker and WordMole. The Bold 9700 also offers BlackBerry Messenger 4.7 but is upgradable to 6.1 in the BlackBerry App World. By upgrading the OS to 6.0, a user also automatically upgrades to higher versions of applications.

BlackBerry Bold 9650[link]

BlackBerry Bold 9650

Carriers	Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless
Availability by country	Sprint Nextel: May 23, 2010[8] Verizon Wireless: June 3, 2010 (Online) June 10, 2010 (Retail Stores)[9]

The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is part of the 9600 device series which takes design cues from both its predecessor, the BlackBerry Tour 9630, as well as its GSM variant, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 & the BlackBerry Bold 9780. Changes from the Tour include built-in Wi-Fi, 512MB of onboard storage, and an optical trackpad instead of the trackball. It utilizes a 528 MHz processor, and has a 3.2 MP camera available as an option. The major difference between the 9700/9780 vs the 9650 is that the 9650 is the World Phone Edition that can use CDMA & GSM networks globally; the 9700/9780 only runs on GSM networks.Sprint Nextel announced that they would be the launch carrier for the Bold 9650 shortly after the device was introduced, releasing the phone on May 23, 2010. Verizon Wireless followed closely, releasing the phone exclusively online on June 3, 2010, followed by its retail stores on June 10, 2010. It was released in Canada the week of April 27, 2010.^[10]

BlackBerry Bold 9780 Series[link]

The BlackBerry Bold 9780 is a high-end mobile phone data device (smartphone) developed by Research In Motion. Released globally in November 2010.^[11] On September 7, 2011 China Mobile and RIM announced a variant known as the Bold 9788. The 9788 variant is identical to the 9700 except that the 9788 uses a Chinese 3G standard known a TD-SCDMA.

The Bold 9780 shares the same form factor as the 9700, and the only notable differences are an improved camera (3.2 MP vs. 5.0 MP) and double the onboard memory of the 9700 (256 MB vs. 512 MB). Both devices are OS 6.0 capable, with the 9780 having OS 6 already installed plus the chrome around the old bold has disappeared.

BlackBerry 7 series[link]

On August 3, 2011^[12] Research in Motion announced their seventh major release of Blackberry OS. It included several major changes such as universal voice search, support for HTML 5, Liquid Graphics and Near field communication. It also has many optimization which improves web and gaming experiences as well as social network integration as well as some layout changes with some new icons. Blackberry OS 7 comes bundled with the premium version of Documents To Go. On January 9, 2012^[13] Research in Motion announced Blackberry OS 7.1 which allows Wi-Fi Tethering, BlackBerry Tag and UMA calling.

Blackberry Bold 9900/9930[link]

Blackberry Bold 9900/9930

Availability by country	August 10, 2011 (Rogers) August 12, 2011 (Vodafone) August 12, 2011 (Bell, Telus) August 15, 2011 (Verizon) August 21, 2011 (Sprint) August 21, 2011 (O2) August 31, 2011 (T-Mobile) September 1, 2011 (Optus) November 3, 2011 (Vodafone) Sept 7, 2011 (SmarTone, 3, China Mobile, Vodafone, CSL) Oct 19, 2011 (WINDMobile) Nov 6, 2011 (AT&T)

The BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 (codenamed internally as "Dakota/Montana", also known as Bold Touch) is the newest Blackberry and is part of the 9000 device series. Introduced in August 2011, it is the first of the Bold line to provide a touchscreen. It marks a return to the form factor of the original 9000 and its popular wide-set physical keyboard.^[14] It takes design cues from both its predecessor, the BlackBerry Tour 9630, as well as its GSM variant, the BlackBerry Bold 9700.^[15]

• Thinnest BlackBerry ever^{[citation needed]}
• Glass Fibre Cover for battery compartment
• NFC technology

The Bold 9900 launched in Thailand in the DTAC 3G Expo on September 3-4th 2011. Soon after, many users are complaining that the phone was not 100% reliable for daily use as it often froze during the use of BBM (BlackBerry Messenger). The browser is also one of the main problem as the touch is not as smooth as RIM advertised. Both issues were promptly resolved through the over-the-air software releases of BBM 6.0 and BlackBerry OS 7.1, respectively.

BlackBerry Bold 9790[link]

Introduced on November 15, 2011,^[16] the BlackBerry Bold 9790 follows the ergonomic of its predecessor, the Bold 9780, with an upgraded 1 GHz processor. The camera does auto focus (as compared to fixed focus of its predecessors), but can only produce VGA quality videos.

Model comparison[link]

Early series[link]

Model		BlackBerry Bold 9000	BlackBerry Bold 9700	BlackBerry Bold 9650	BlackBerry Bold 9780
Announce Date		May 12, 2008[17]	October 21, 2009[18]	April 26, 2010[19]	October 27, 2010[20]
Display		480x320 px 2.8 inch[17]	480x360 px 2.44 inch[18][19][20]
Processor		624 MHz Marvell Tavor PXA930[21]		Qualcomm MSM7600 @ 528 MHz	624 MHz
Memory	Internal storage	1 GB	N/A
	RAM	122MB	256MB	512MB
Inputs		Trackpad, keyboard	Optical trackpad, keyboard
WiFi / Bluetooth		802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP	802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 + A2DP
Compatible Networks		2G GSM and 3G HSPA		2G GSM, 3G CDMA and 3G HSPA	2G GSM and 3G HSPA
Operating system		BlackBerry OS 4 / 5	BlackBerry OS 5 / 6		BlackBerry OS 6
Battery		1500 mAH		1400 mAH	1500 mAH
Weight		136 g (4.8 oz)	122 g (4.3 oz)	136 g (4.8 oz)	122 g (4.3 oz)
Dimensions		114×66×15 mm (4.5×2.6×0.59 in)	109×60×14 mm (4.3×2.4×0.55 in)	112×62×14 mm (4.4×2.4×0.55 in)	109×60×14 mm (4.3×2.4×0.55 in)
Camera		2.0 MP	3.2 MP		5 MP

BlackBerry 7 series[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• BlackBerry
• BlackBerry Bold (Official site)
• [1] (BlackBerry device support)