O2 have released details of an eco rating system for mobile phones, part of their Think Big strategy that they hope will put them at the forefront of sustainable business ideas.

The scheme is based on information that O2 have used internally for a while now, and is worked in conjunction with a host of major names from mobile phone manufacturing, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, HTC, LG, Samsung and Palm, who account for 93% of the range offered by O2. Noticeable by their absence are Apple and BlackBerry.

O2 found in a recent survey of their customers that as well as information on phone specifications, web access, battery performance, etc, 44% of customers were also interested in things like carbon performance, how ethical suppliers are, use of complex chemicals in phone manufacture and so on. By using the Eco Rating system, O2 hope that it will help customers make a more informed choice with their next phone purchase.

Of the current range of handsets offered by O2, the Sony Ericsson Elm came top, with an eco rating of 4.3 out of 5. The Elm is part of the Sony Ericsson Greenheart range of devices, so no surprise to see it at the top of the list. The focus of the Greenheart devices is to show that eco friendly phones do not have to be low spec, budget devices. Hopefully other manufacturers will also be encouraged in their use of recyclable, sustainable materials.

The BlackBerry brand has significantly grown in popularity over the last 12 months with the youth market. These days it is not uncommon to see what was once the preserve of the business user being handled by teenagers, as they take advantage of the advanced BlackBerry messaging capabilities to keep in touch with their friends. Two devices really helped kick start this trend, and they were the BlackBerry Curve 8520 and the BlackBerry Curve 8900.

There is now a new updated Curve handset, the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300, and we are going to take a detailed look at this new device to see what new features it delivers.

One of the more obvious upgrades to the previous Curve handsets is hinted at in the naming of the new device, and that is the inclusion of 3G data technology on the new Curve 9300. This is a real bonus for many BlackBerry users, and the lack of 3G was really hurting BlackBerry's competitiveness in the smartphone market, given that 3G is very common on even many budget phones these days. The 3G support is backed up by the inclusion of both Class 10 GPRS and EDGE, should you happen to stray from 3G coverage. The Curve 3G also delivers WiFi, so if you happen to be in the coverage of a local WiFi hotspot, you can connect your device for web browsing and file downloading, as well as utilising your home WLAN setup.

Design wise the new 3G Curve is like many other Blackberry handsets before it. The handset offers a 2.4 inch TFT display, supporting up to 65,000 colours and with a QVGA pixel resolution. Underneath the main screen are the familiar BlackBerry navigation and menu access keys, flanking either side the increasingly popular optical trackpad. The move to trackpad has removed one of the key weaknesses of previous blackberry handsets, the old trackball, which was liable to stop working over a period of time as it accumulated dirt and grease from fingers. Underneath the main display is a full, four row QWERTY keyboard, and although the keys may seem small and hard to use, the keys are designed in such a way that it should be comfortable for almost all hand sizes.

The new BlackBerry 9300 will come with the latest BlackBerry OS pre-installed, OS 6.0, which offers an improved user experience and delivers a really slick user interface, and also includes the latest version of the BlackBerry web browser, which renders web pages better than before, and really takes advantage of the improved data speeds available.

BlackBerry handsets have always been capable media devices, and the Curve 9300 is no slouch in this department either, offering support for a wide range of media formats for music and video, including MP3, eAAC+, WAV, FLAC, MP4, H.263 and H.264. The handset has a set of dedicated music keys, and there is a 3.5mm audio jack for use with any third party headset, plus the device includes Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, which allows you to use a stereo Bluetooth headset with the phone too. A camera is included on the phone, nothing special to note though, just a standard point n shoot 2.0 Megapixel camera, with video recording option.

The new BlackBerry will be available in Black and Red colour choices initially, although given the recent popularity of white BlackBerry phones, I wouldn’t bet against a white version of the 9300 appearing in the near future. Social networking is an important part of a mobile device, and with native applications available for both Twitter and Facebook, the BlackBerry is well setup for keeping in touch with your friends on the move. The handset also has a full GPS receiver built in, as well as offering aGPS support, which will allow you to tag your Tweets with your location if you wish, as well as utilise services such as Foursquare and Gowalla which can send out updates based on your current location.

In the whole of this review we have yet to mention email. It is almost a given that any BlackBerry device is going to offer an excellent mobile email experience, and the Curve carries the BlackBerry tradition as well. Setting up a BlackBerry email account is a very simple procedure, all of the networks have dedicated websites, so you can set up your email either online, or via the device.

Overall the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 is a significant improvement over previous Curve handsets, whilst at the same time retaining all that was good in the previous models, and as such the Curve 3G 9300 should prove to be a very popular upgrade indeed.

In the smartphone market, BlackBerry hold a very unique position. The range of handsets are limited, but the popularity of the BlackBerry brand cannot be doubted. Once the domain of the Road Warrior salesman and busy mobile executive, RIM have expanded the appeal of their BlackBerry handsets so that the brand is amongst the fastest growing in the ultra competitive teen/youth/student market.

Recently RIM announced a new BlackBerry device, the BlackBerry Torch 9800, a feature packed mobile handset that offers a strong suite of options across the board. We're going to take a more detailed look at what this handset will have to offer.

The BlackBerry Torch is one of the first handsets to have the new BlackBerry OS 6.0 pre-installed. The new OS is designed to give BlackBerry handsets a broader appeal, with a slick user interface that should compete well with offerings from other competitor manufacturers. The main focus of a BlackBerry device has always been, and continues to be, all about accessing email on the move. To this end BlackBerry handsets invariably come with a comfortable, easy to use full QWERTY keyboard, and the Torch also offers this. The design of the handset is such that the keypad is hidden away under the main display; when needed, the keypad slides out from device, to sit neatly underneath the main display. The reason the keypad slides away is not just to keep the size of the phone down, but also because the Torch has a full TFT touchscreen, giving the option of being able to enter data via the onscreen keyboard, too.

The display itself is a TFT touchscreen, with a pixel resolution of 360 x 480 pixels, and measuring a decent 3.2 inches. The main navigation key on the 9800 is similar to that seen on other recent BlackBerry handsets, a comfortable to use optical trackpad. The 9800 Torch is quite a hefty beast, in mobile phone terms, weighing in a a noticeable 161g, and measuring up at 111 x 62 x 15mm.

The way we communicate these days means a modern smartphone has to offer more than just easy access to email on the move. Whilst email is still an important communications tool, the usage of social networking sites has rocketed in recent months. Thankfully the 9800 Torch is no slouch in this area, with good native apps for both Twitter and Facebook available, which allow you to have status updates and notifications pushed out to your handset in an instant, so you will always be up to date with the information shared by your friends online.

BlackBerry handsets are surprisingly decent media products generally, and the Torch continues the tradition of offering a decent set of media functions. The device offers a full media player, with playback support for multiple video and audio files, including MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, MP4 and WMV. Internal memory capacity on the 9800 is an impressive 4GB, which can be expanded with Micro SD memory cards; the 9800 Torch supports cards up to 32GB in size. The handset also includes a decent 5.0 Megapixel camera, with autofocus and LED flash. Image stabilisation is present, to help remove the fuzziness caused by shaky hands on some images, and the inclusion of a GPS unit allows captured photos to be tagged with location information. As well as a full GPS receiver, there is onboard support for aGPS which enables a faster lock-on time to your current location, and the device will ship with BlackBerry Maps pre-installed.

One of the areas where BlackBerry devices suffered in the past was with data connectivity. Often you would find yourself in a situation where you could get a phone with GPS, but not 3G. OR you could get 3G and GPS, but no WiFi. Or WiFi and 3G, but no GPS. You get the picture. Thankfully it seems that RIM have decided it is best to just include all the popular connection options in one device, giving the consumer the option to choose which service suits them best. To this end, we find that the Torch 9800 includes the aforementioned GPS, as well as full 3G connectivity with HSDPA and HSUPA included, and full WiFi 802.11 b/g/n available, too. For local data connections the BlackBerry Torch 9800 supports Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, and ships with a Micro USB connector, which doubles up as the charging port.

All round, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is fully featured smartphone, sporting a slick, updated User Interface running over a totally new Operating System. All the main features you would expect to find on a modern handset are included, and there is little we can see to criticise on the new handset. It would seem that this BlackBerry device is set to be a winner.

It may be that Android is gaining ground fast in the mobile world, but amongst the teen and youth market, the device of choice is BlackBerry. Once the mainstay of business users, BlackBerry devices have increased in popularity as more and more youngsters look to get on the BlackBerry bandwagon.

One reason teens admit to owning a BlackBerry is because their friends do. Individuality takes a back seat, it seems, when it comes to staying up to date with the latest fashion. Another popular reason for owning a BlackBerry device is BlackBerry Messenger. BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM, allows users to send messages to each other via the BlackBerry servers, which offers a cost effective way of keeping in touch, an important point for younger people who are in full time education rather than full time employment.

And on that point, BlackBerry devices also come in at a lower price point on contract than other smartphones, such as the HTC Desire or Apple iPhone. The BlackBerry Curve 8900 and BlackBerry 8520 particularly reinforce this. Whilst it is generally acknowledged that the iPhone is a better device for music, and apps, BlackBerry handsets are capable media devices, and there is a good selection of apps via BlackBerry's App World. The official Facebook and Twitter apps also lend appeal to the BlackBerry brand.

So whilst the numbers may talk of Android, and marketing hype focusses on the iPhone, on the ground, the device that is moving is BlackBerry.

With all the talk in the last few days surrounding the flaws in the design of the iPhone 4 antenna, it is easy to begin to overlook the positive impact that the iPhone in all its guises has had on the mobile industry as a whole.

The iPhone is mainly responsible for kick-starting the whole mobile application industry, delivering bright, colourful applications that were easy to browse, purchase and install. Apple do receive criticism for the way they control the whole App Store experience, but the quality control is something that helps deliver a consistently high level user experience across all applications.

Apps come in many forms, from games to useful utilities, and businesses are starting to see the benefit of giving access to their content on the move, and recently British Airways updated their iPhone app, and have also made it accessible to users of Android devices and RIM BlackBerry handsets, too. Noticeable by their absence is Nokia's S60 platform. S60 is the number one platform, in terms of user numbers, for smartphones worldwide, but the platform is regularly ignored by developers, and can only lead to more people who want access to apps like these to switch handset as soon as the opportunity arises.

The new App from British Airways will give access to current and upcoming flight details, access check-in and look up flight information, see timetables and so on. BA Executive Club members will also be able to check out account details.

Another benefit of the App, initially for iPhone users, is the ability to have a mobile boarding pass on the handset. No more need for printing out flimsy pieces of paper which are easily lost, all you need to do is check-in on the iPhone via the App and your boarding pass will be downloaded to your device. Looking at the image, it would seem that the mobile boarding pass will take the form of a 2D barcode, which will be scanned by the boarding crew as you access your flight. The mobile boarding pass option will be added to Android and BlackBerry at a later date, and will be rolled out across more flight routes too. Initially the option is available on BA flights between London and Edinburgh.

Given the popularity of the devices the app will be available on, there is a wide scope for growth in usage, and the opportunity for other airlines to deliver similar apps too. Just another step towards towards a ticketless, paperless, electronic world.

If you currently use a device that is not BlackBerry, Android or iPhone, then you can access the BA Mobile services either by logging onto the BA Mobile site, BA2go.com, or by taking advantage of their SMS based service.

The new features of OS 6.0 include integrated feeds from social networks, a universal search option, and the all new web browser, which offers a significantly improved browsing experience. Other UI improvements include application tabs, which facilitates simple switching between different application groups, an improved media player layout and pinch to zoom when viewing web pages.

Whether the new OS will be enough to keep BlackBerry devices fresh and competitive remains to be seen, but it is good to see RIM striving to deliver an improved experience for consumers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A few years ago, as the possibilities of the mobile internet were only just becoming clear, one of the ‘killer applications’ that was often talked about was the ability to get email on the move. Most commentators were of agreement, that being able to access email on the go would be the one feature that would really push the sale of mobile internet enabled devices. These days, we seem to take the access to email wherever, whenever, for granted.

It is rare these days for a modern mobile phone not to include at least a simple email client in the messaging menu. Of course we expect this of smartphones, but even the majority of mid range handsets and even some lower range devices can be configured to access your email account, although it is fair to say the further down the line you go in handset price, the less effective and more problematic the device can be to set up for mobile email access. Additionally, there are some third party setups that will also give you simple, synchronised access to your email from your mobile device, and we’re going to take a look at a few of these handsets and services in a bit more detail.

In the earlier days of mobile email access, setting up a device was a rather complicated affair, with users needing to know information like the SMTP and POP settings for their accounts. Thankfully life is a lot easier these days, most devices require only username, password and email address, the rest of the information is added automatically by the device. When mobile email is mentioned, it is not uncommon for the first thought to turn to BlackBerry.

BlackBerry devices have had a major impact on messaging from a mobile device, and have moved from what was solely seen as a corporate user’s work tool to something that is not uncommon in the hands of many teenagers. There are two ways a BlackBerry device will handle email, one is known as BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Service) and the other is BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service). BES is pretty much exclusively a corporate setup. If you own a BlackBerry device and you use it for work email, it is most likely that the setup is controlled by the internal IT team, and uses BlackBerry Exchange software. For people who work in smaller companies, and for sole traders, prosumers, and general blackberry owners, the service you would use is BIS. BlackBerry devices tend to use technology known as ‘Push’ for delivering email to your mobile phone. Push technology actively sends out the email to your connected device as soon as it hits the email server, delivering the email to you instantaneously. If you mark the email as read, it will also be marked as read on your server. You can still access the email via your PC, and can archive it for future reference.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With a Blackberry device, networks set up a Network Operating Centre (NOC) which is operated by RIM (Research in Motion, the people who manufacture BlackBerry devices) via a private APN (Access Point Name). The networks are charged for this, a charge that is passed on to the customer. If you have owned a BlackBerry device for personal usage, you may well have been aware of extra charges to access the BlackBerry email and blackberry internet services. That charge covered the cost of accessing the BlackBerry servers.

There are benefits to this, and one of these is BlackBerry Messenger, also known as BBM. BBM allows you to communicate with other BlackBerry devices via a service called PIN messaging. It’s a bit like any other instant messaging service, you can send pictures, text, voice notes, etc, directly to another BlackBerry device, all you need to know is the PIN number of the handset you are connecting with. (PIN numbers can be accessed via the settings menu, as well as being written on the IMEI label underneath the battery on the phone, and on the side of the box the phone came in) The BBM service totally bypasses the cellular network, which can also offer significant cost savings if it is used when abroad. BBM is also a main driver in the growing popularity of BlackBerry devices amongst the younger users.

Whilst BlackBerry pretty much built their empire on mobile email, it took other manufacturers a little while longer to get on board. In recent times, one manufacturer which has made big strides in delivering a decent mobile messaging experience is the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones, Nokia. The Finnish giant offers a personalised service on a range of Nokia handsets, via their Nokia Messaging service, which is as simple to setup via the Nokia messaging website as it is on the phone itself. All you need to do to get emails coming through directly to your device is to enter the details of the handset you are using and the email account settings on to the Nokia Messaging website. The procedure is a world away from the complicated and difficult process that was needed in the past, and has helped serve Nokia with a decent slice of the mobile email market. Allied to this Nokia have delivered some supreme quality messaging handsets to the market in recent times, especially in the E Series range. As well as delivering access to email, the E Series devices deliver strong feature set, and have gained a reputation for excellent build quality and a supreme battery performance, features that are all important for those that work away from the office for long periods.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With most other mobile devices, the technology used in email access is something called ‘Pull’ retrieval. This generally involves the handset automatically connecting to your email account, on average every 15 minutes, and ‘pulling’ all newly delivered unread messages into the handset inbox. A time lapse of 15 minutes in notification isn’t such a big deal for many people, and there is a saving in terms of costs for people who use handsets that utilise pull technology. This can be of interest to users whose handsets do not deliver the decent battery life of a BlackBerry or Nokia E Series device. Because ‘Pull’ is not constantly connected to the network, the battery performance is less affected.

Aside from Push and Pull technology, you can also configure your email client on your mobile phone for manual synchronisation with your email account. Many people prefer this option, as it gives the idea of being in control of when they get their email, rather than feeling their email is controlling them with always connected services. Once your email client on your device has been configured, simply open the mailbox so the handset can connect, poll your account, and deliver any unread messages. Further messages will not be delivered to your phone until you open the mailbox to connect again.

If your preference is for Push email, but the device you are currently using can only handle Pull, then you could look at some of the online services available, which can mimic the performance of push email. Services such as Emoze or Mail2Web work to give you instant access to your email wherever you are. Once you have signed up for an account with them, you simply set in your email details and the service starts pushing out emails straight to your phone. Some of the benefits of these types of services are being able to keep up to date with your messages even if you change handsets frequently, as they work on a variety of phones from a range of manufacturers, including the iPhone, Android, Palm or Windows Mobile handsets, and Symbian devices. They can also be configured to deliver social networking updates from services like Twitter and Facebook, delivering a fully rounded messaging experience. There are many more services like these available online, and some of the services offered are not always free, so make sure you are aware of the costs involved before you sign up.

Among the most popular email services are those offered by Google, Yahoo and Hotmail; these web based services let you login to your account by any device that has access to the internet, such as a PC, MP3 player and of course a mobile phone. These services are compatible with email clients found on most devices, but the quality varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. As the web browsers have improved on mobile phones these days, it has become easier to ace web based email via the browser on the mobile phone. If you find your browser isn’t up to the job, then you could always look at downloading the excellent Opera Mini.

Services like Google’s Gmail also offer java apps that you can install on almost any handset that supports java, and that’s a lot of phones! The Gmail app mimics the layout of the Gmail web service, and is a very intuitive application to use.

As it turned out, access to email on the move didn’t really explode the sale of mobile internet based devices; that was more due to the development of large, colour, touch-enabled handsets which offer a much improved overall web browsing experience. But email is a major part of the feature set on any decent device these days, and as communities move more and more to using email to keep in touch with family and friends, being able to access email from your mobile phone has never been as important. Or as easy.

When the original BlackBerry Pearl was announced back in 2006, it caused quite a stir. Until that point, BlackBerry handsets were rather large, and chunky, and very wide. But then came the Pearl, and suddenly Blackberry handsets were almost the size of a normal mobile device. The size issue with Blackberry handsets was caused by the inclusion of full QWERTY keyboards, and whilst handsets these days with full QWERTY are a much more manageable size, something like the Pearl still has a place in the pocket of some mobile users. So it is good to see that BlackBerry have taken the popular Pearl design, and updated it, bringing the handset up to date with the features and functions you would expect to find on a Smartphone in 2010.

Size wise the new Pearl 3G is almost identical to its predecessor, measuring in at 108 x 50 x 13mm, and weighing in at a satisfactory 94g, a good light weight for a Smartphone device. The TFT display has a pixel resolution of 360 x 400 and supports up to 256,000 colours. The keypad looks almost like a standard alphanumeric keypad, with keys lined out in a slightly curved fashion. Text entry utilises the SureType system, which takes a while to get used to, but once you are familiar with the technology it is a very fast way of entering text, easily on a par with T9 input. The general look and design of the navigation keys is familiarly BlackBerry, as is the menu layout, with the five shortcut icons laid out across the bottom of the main homescreen. To navigate the menu the trackball used on the previous Pearl has been replaced with an optical trackpad.

Traditionally connectivity has been a real shortcoming on BlackBerry devices, but recent releases have sought to confront this issue, and it is the same with the Pearl 3G, with a strong representation of data connection options included. The device is a quad band GSM handset for full voice roaming capabilities, and also supports Tri Band HSDPA, plus HSUPA, GPRS and EDGE. BlackBerry have also included WiFi on the Pearl 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n. Bluetooth is available for local data connectivity, with A2DP stereo audio included, and there is a Micro USB port for connecting the handset to a PC with a data cable.

Obviously, the Pearl 3G excels in messaging, with full support for push email included, and it is very easy to set up. BlackBerry Messenger is also included, as well as integrated support for notification updates from Facebook and Twitter. Handling attachments is no problem, either, with a full document editor on the device, which can handle Word, Excel, PowerPoint and .pdf formats. The Pearl 3G includes a GPS receiver, and has support for aGPS, and comes with BlackBerry Maps pre-installed, plus you will also be able to use Google Maps, as an alternative, if you wish.

Media has a strong presence on the new Pearl, with a full music and video player included, offering support for a wide range of formats including MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC+, MP4, WMV, H.263 and H.264. The device incorporates dedicated music playback keys, and also offers a 3.5mm audio output jack for listening to music playback with your personal favourite set of headphones. A digital camera is available on the device, a 3.2 Megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash. There is ample storage on the phone to keep all your media, too, with 256 MB of internal memory, which can be expanded via Micro SD memory cards, with the Pearl 3G officially supporting cards up to 32 GB in size.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Battery performance has always been a positive for BlackBerry devices, but the inclusion of high speed data options like 3G and HSDPA has had an impact. Even so, the BlackBerry Pearl 3G still manages to offer a credible 5 hours of talktime and up to 13 days standby from a single charge. For music playback you should be able to get about 30 hours usage from a single charge. The handset is expected to release during Q3 2010, and will be available in a range of colours, Piano Black, Opal Pink, Royal Purple, Flash White and Red Gradient.

BlackBerry, themselves having a busy week with the announcement of new handsets are also looking to release a newer version of the BlackBerry operating system, OS 6.0, sometime during Q3 2010. The new OS is expected to be installed as default on forthcoming products, and is also expected to be backward compatible on handsets such as the BlackBerry Storm 2, Bold 9700 as well as the new Pearl 3G and Bold 9650. To whet the appetite, here’s a ‘sneak peak’ from BlackBerry’s YouTube channel at what the new OS will be bringing to your handset:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.