AT&T just announced the availability date for the new BlackBerry Bold. If you’re an avid BlackBerry user, this is happy news. I currently use the BlackBerry Curve and have been quite jealous of the 3G speeds and the beautiful browsing experience of the 3G Apple iPhones. That said, I still prefer a full non-virtual keyboard and the better Enterprise integration of my email and address book. With the introduction of the BlackBerry Bold, at least one of my high priority items are being addressed (3G speeds).
As a road warrior, among all the features, I’m most excited about the new speed benefits from the 3G support and the beefed up processor. The processor is about twice as fast as the previous generation phones (e.g. Curve, Pearl, etc.) so the screen should be more responsive to navigation and load times should decrease for applications. 3G speed will play into anything you do which requires real-time connectivity (browsing, IM chatting, etc.) The higher resolution should also help with access to better fonts for readability.
There are plenty of reviews out there comparing it to the iPhone and previous generations of BlackBerry’s. If and when I get my hands on one, I’ll post an in depth review based on real-world experience as a road warrior. It won’t cover the lab tests of "academic" reviewers, but it will do a better job of covering real-world usage in airports and various cities :-)
I’ve copied the press release, but no need to read it unless you’re interested in hearing from the AT&T marketing machine.
AT&T Customers to Enter a ‘Bold’ New Wireless World
Waterloo, Ontario — AT&T customers will be entering a bold new wireless world with the launch of the BlackBerry® Bold™, a breakthrough 3G BlackBerry® smartphone that operates on the nation’s fastest 3G network and is the first to support HSDPA networks around the world, including in Japan and Korea. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Research In Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM; TSX:RIM) announced today that the highly anticipated BlackBerry Bold smartphone will be available in the United States for as low as $299.99¹ on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in AT&T retail stores nationwide, through www.att.com and select national retailers, as well as through AT&T’s business-to-business sales teams.
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone, which is being introduced in the United States only for AT&T customers, can be used in the most countries abroad, including more than 60 with 3G networks. AT&T is the world’s leading provider of BlackBerry services.
Bold Design
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s design and performance live up to its name. The elegant smartphone features a lustrous black exterior, satin chrome-finished frame and stylish, leatherette backplate with a stunning half-VGA (480 x 320 at 217 ppi) color display for eye-popping visuals and a newly designed full QWERTY keyboard for exceptionally fast and easy typing. On the inside, the BlackBerry Bold features built-in GPS and Wi-Fi®, a powerful new 624 MHz mobile processor that provides impressive performance, more storage memory than ever before — 1 GB on board and up to 16 GB via its microSD/SDHC expansion slot — and a rich set of multimedia capabilities, including an advanced media player for music, videos and photos and a 2 megapixel camera with built-in flash, zoom and video recording, as well as an optimized Web-browsing experience with desktop-style depiction.
"The BlackBerry Bold is the best BlackBerry smartphone ever, backed by the nation’s fastest 3G network and the hands-down best international coverage of any carrier," said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility. "The BlackBerry Bold is the complete package, providing customers with an absolutely outstanding mobile experience whether doing e-mail, browsing the Web, viewing streaming video or simply making a phone call. And it is being introduced in the U.S. only from AT&T."
Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO at Research In Motion, said: "The development of the BlackBerry Bold smartphone was an ambitious undertaking, and we focused intensely on the things that are most important to mobile customers when developing this best-in-class smartphone for HSDPA networks around the world. The BlackBerry Bold exudes quality in everything from its stunning display sharpness and incredible keyboard to its premium phone performance and sophisticated software applications. It provides an extraordinary mobile communications and multimedia experience, and we are very proud to introduce this breakthrough smartphone in the United States together with AT&T."
