For such a popular manufacturer, Blackberry does not release many phones, and generally most devices follow a similar design format. But that doesn’t seem to have done them any harm, and as Blackberry devices have come down in size, they have gone up in popularity with the younger generation of people who value messaging as much as calls for keeping in touch. The BlackBerry is no longer the domain of the business man or road warrior; in fact amongst the young user, teenagers and early twenties, BlackBerry devices are amongst the fastest selling devices, with the Curve 8900 and 8520 selling very well.
Despite the popularity, it wouldn’t make good sense for Blackberry to rest on their laurels, and so just this week they have announced two new handsets in their range, one of which, the BlackBerry 9650, we are going to look at in more detail now.
The 9650 from first glance is clearly a BlackBerry device, offering that tried and tested design that is synonymous with BlackBerry. In fact, the design is almost identical to the recently released BlackBerry 9700, and the 9650, as you can imagine from the model number, is a very close match to the 9700 in specification.
The blackberry 9650 is a quad band GSM handset, offering tri band support for HSDPA. The device is almost a perfect size, fitting nicely in the hand, and well balanced. Dimensions of the 9650 are 112 x 61 x 14mm, and it weighs in at a slightly heavy 136g, but this is by no means a cumbersome device. The display on the Bold 9650 is a high definition screen, measuring in at 2.44 inches, with a pixel resolution of 480 x 360. The TFT display looks much better than the suggested support of 65,000 colours would suggest, and in fact colour presentation generally looks very good. The 9650 has a full QWERTY keyboard, above which are the call send/end keys, a back key, the traditional BlackBerry key, flanking an optical trackpad, which replaces the traditional roller ball found on older BlackBerry devices. This is a good move, as one of the weakest parts in the design of previous devices was in fact the trackball, which over time would stop working as it accumulated dirt and grease.
The BlackBerry 9650 offers an internal memory storage capacity of 512 MB, which can be expanded with the addition of a Micro SD memory card; the Bold 9650 can officially support cards up to 32 GB in size. We’ve already mentioned the built in support on the 9650 for HSDPA, and on top of this the handset also offers WiFi 802.11 b/g, plus Class 10 GPRS and EDGE. It is a major issue for a BlackBerry device to be so well connected, more often than not in the past BlackBerry devices would only offers GPRS, or WiFi. The inclusion of HSDPA into the mix is a welcome addition to the handset specification. A feature that has appeared on many previous devices is GPS, and the Bold 9650 continues the tradition of offering this, along with built in aGPS support. The device ships with BlackBerry Maps pre-installed, and is also compatible with the multi platform Goole Maps.
The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is a solid device, and it probably doesn’t need mentioning that messaging integration on the handset is top class. The handset can be set up easily enough to access your own personal email accounts, and within minutes you will start to receive emails straight to the phone. BlackBerry devices also now offer native support for both Facebook and Twitter, allowing you to receive tweets and status updates directly to the device just as you do for emails, simplifying the ways you can keep in touch with your friends on the move. And of course, the 9650 includes full support for BlackBerry messenger, which allows you to message your friends directly, a major reason the device is so popular with younger people. BlackBerry Messenger is free, and can be used in many countries worldwide, allowing you to swap messages and pictures, for free, using the BlackBerry network.
The BlackBerry Bold 9650 has a good set of media features, offering full music and video playback. The screen may be slightly small for watching long videos such as films, but for short clips it is more than adequate. Video support on the 9650 is well featured, with WMV, MP4, XviD and DivX all included. The music player too supports all the popular digital formats, and performs to an acceptable standard. There is a 3.5mm audio output jack for using your own headphones, and with full Bluetooth support with A2DP, you can also use a compatible wireless stereo headset.
A digital camera is included on the 9650, a 3.2 Megapixel device, with LED Flash and support for image stabilisation. Images taken on the camera are adequate, and can easily be attached to an email or quickly uploaded to the web, thanks to the high speed data support.
The BlackBerry Bold 9650 then, is a solid addition to the BlackBerry range. It offers everything that has come to be associated with BlackBerry devices, solid construction, quick and easy access to Email, and an excellent battery life. The handset will initially be available in Black, although other colours may come through in the future; the handset is expected to release sometime during Q3 2010.
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