RIM BlackBerry Bold 9780 Review

Introduction:

Following up after the impressive Bold 9700, which was released around this time last year, its successor in the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9780 surely has its work cut out for itself. Now that BlackBerry OS 6 is starting to become more prevalent amongst RIM's lineup, it'll be interesting to see how it all will play out on a handset that's regarded as the bread and butter style of RIM's portfolio. Instead of finding itself at the upper end of the pricing spectrum, the BlackBerry Bold 9780 for T-Mobile is priced aggressively at $129.99 with a 2-year contract.

The package contains:

• BlackBerry Bold 9780
• 2GB microSD card
• Stereo Headset
• microUSB Cable
• Wall Charger
• Start Guide
• BlackBerry User Tools CD
• Holster

Design:

If you're expecting something drastically different from last year's iteration, you'll be sorely disappointed to see the Bold 9780's design to be an exact replica. It's not to say that it's a bad thing, depending on how you look at it, but the Bold 9780 exudes all of the classic qualities we'd expect from RIM's Bold line of handsets – like its catching industrial design and solid construction. Fairly compact, its choice of materials also remains the same as it utilizes some tough feeling plastic, a metallic bezel, and that faux-pas leather back cover. In any event, we're still pleased with this design as it truly epitomizes what a tried and true BlackBerry should look like.


You can compare the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9780 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

There's nothing overly compelling about its same sized 2.44” TFT display which manages to retain a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels and support for 65k colors, but it nevertheless gets the job done with its expressive details and colors. Using it outdoors doesn't pose too much of a problem as it dishes up some great viewing angles that are complemented with its high luminance. Even though we would've loved to see RIM up the ante, its decent looking display is more than forgiving for now – but we don't expect it to stand well if it's used again next year.


When we think about portrait style keyboards, the first thing that instantly pops up in our minds are the ones offered by RIM. Again, the Bold 9780 employs the same identical keyboard from its predecessor and functions almost flawlessly with its distinguishable buttons and tactile responsiveness. Even though people with larger fingers will have to deal with the tiny sized buttons, it's still undeniably useable after an adjustment period.

Continuing the trend, the optical track-pad is placed squarely in the middle of the device as it feels slick and highlighted with a chrome outline. Surrounding it are the usual set of other physical buttons which are flush, but separated – these include the send, end, BlackBerry Menu, and back keys.


The left edge of the phone houses the left convenience key, microUSB port, and 3.5mm headset jack, while rugged feeling right convenience button and volume rocker are placed on the right side. Discretely built into the top edge of the handset are the mute and lock/unlock buttons.


Luckily, we now find a bumped up 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash in the rear – as opposed to the 3.2-megapixel one with the Bold 9700. Sliding off the rear cover will grant you access to the easy to access spring activated microSD card slot, 1,500 mAh battery, and the SIM card slot which is found by removing the battery.

Interface and Functionality:

Being the third BlackBerry handset to launch in the US with OS 6, which is the latest version of RIM's mobile platform, it surprisingly works well for a non-touch handset. Partly due to its 624 MHz processor and 512MB of RAM, navigating around the platform is effortlessly accomplished seeing that it's more than responsive in moving around and opening applications. We've gone over the interface in depth with our BlackBerry Torch 9800 review, but we're still amazed that the platform is so attuned to to work on both touch and non-touch devices.


When it comes to managing contacts, the Bold 9780 works like any other smartphone as you're presented with a boat load of useful information to associate with each person. Naturally, you can add as many contacts you can pack into the phone's memory, but sadly, it still lacks a native wireless sync option. Thankfully, we downloaded Google Sync to properly protect our precious address book – for free!


Strictly using it as a messaging phone, we're more than content with the Bold 9780's performance as it genuinely makes itself a convenient option for those swift in composing messages. Thanks mostly to its fantastic keyboard, we rarely had any problems typing anything with a reasonable amount of speed. Although some can get confused with the “Messages” icon because it compiles things from emails, text messages, and notifications, you can simply rely on clicking the “Text Messages” icon to only get the relevant messages you want.


If you despise the lengthy time required to set up email on most smartphones, you'll be especially be blown away at how quickly it's accomplished with the BlackBerry Bold 9780. In fact, nine out of ten times it will only require your email address and password to correctly set up. Even setting up our own PhoneArena email, it manages to do it without the need of additional information like server addresses or ports. Moreover, its push email system will quickly get messages onto the handset without sacrificing its battery life.

For those heavy into social networking, you'll appreciate its inclusion of dedicated apps for Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace – plus its very own “Social Feeds” app which aggregates content into one place. Additionally, you can connect your Facebook account with some of the core apps – such as the Calendar, Messages, and Contacts. And if you prefer to instantly chat with friends, you can do it by using the dedicated clients for AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and Google Talk.


As for other third party apps, the only one notable that we're treated is Slacker Radio – but thankfully, the BlackBerry App World is a gateway for all your app needs. Furthermore, the handset includes the usual characters of apps typically found on most BlackBerry smartphones – like BlackBerry Messenger,  BlackBerry Maps, YouTube, BrickBreaker, Word Mole, Texas Hold'Em King 2, Sudoku, and Klondike.

Camera and Multimedia:

Seeing a higher 5-megapixel auto-focus camera on board with the device, we're happy to see that it produces some nice looking images outdoors where lighting is most prevalent. In fact, images are acceptably sharp looking with an attention for the finest of details – especially for macro shots. In addition, colors are neutral in tone thanks to the proper exposure the handset is able to exhibit. However, its quality diminishes drastically in low lighting conditions as it boasts an abundance of noise which inevitably softens its look. Fortunately, the LED flash is able to better illuminate the scenery, but colors still look washed out.




Moving into an era where high-definition video recording is becoming all too common, it's still hard to fathom that this notable handset is still missing out. Instead, it retains the same old maximum video recording resolution of 640 x 480 while shooting at a decent rate of 23 frames per second. Still, its performance is respectable and is even highlighted with its support for continuous auto-focus – which is something not seen on a lot of handsets.

RIM BlackBerry Bold 9780 Sample Video:



Simplistic in nature, we're happy to see that the music player interface is functional while offering some good looking visuals to its presentation. Naturally, it display the usual mix of items like the album cover, on-screen controls, and track information, but it sprinkles a dash of glamor with its coverflow-like interface when navigating between songs. Even though its speaker output is a bit on the sharper side, enabling audio boost and choosing the correct equalizer setting can adjust it to an appropriate level.


Since it doesn't embody the high resolution displays of its competitors, you're going to be limited to the kind of videos that'll play with the smartphone. Specifically, we were able to load a video encoded in MPEG-4 640 x 480 as it played smoothly and without much effort. However, the device wouldn't accept anything higher in resolution than that. Moreover, it's also able to play the same sized video encoded in DivX, but its clear that there is a delay with its audio output. Regardless, the still highly regarded display is more than capable of enabling anyone to enjoy a couple of hours of video playback.


RIM has preloaded a 2GB microSD card which should satisfy the needs of most people, but it can always be replaced with cards up to 32GB in capacity.

Internet and Connectivity:

You can't go wrong bringing along the BlackBerry Bold 9780 overseas on trips or vacations seeing that it's a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band UMTS (900/1700/2100 MHz) device. Even better, it boasts UMA calling which enables you to place/receive voice phone calls through a Wi-Fi hotspot – so it's an invaluable feature in situations where the network connection is insufficient. And for those instances you find yourself lacking 3G speeds, you can connect via its 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi to gain faster data speeds. Finally, it includes Bluetooth 2.1 to get all of your pertinent accessories to connect with the handset.

Web surfing on a BlackBerry web browser isn't as challenging as it was in the past now that it's a WebKit based system. Luckily, pages manage to load up in a decent amount of time on the Bold 9780 while perfectly rendering it exactly like what you see on a desktop. Additionally, scrolling is much more manageable with its fluid movements and its adjustment of long passages of text to fit the length of the display. Sure it's lacking Flash support, but it's leaps and bounds better than what we experienced with the Bold 9700 – plus, it rivals some third party offerings like Opera Mini and the BOLT browser.

Performance:

Calling quality is mediocre at best since that there is a faint continuous ringing tone that can be heard through the earpiece when the volume is placed to its maximum setting. At the same time, voices sound a bit distorted which hampers in deciphering words. On the flip side though, things are a bit better for our callers as they stated that our voice sounded clear and free from any interference. Finally, the speakerphone manages to emit some strong levels to make voices sound audible, but it's muffled in tone.

In our time using the handset, we didn't experience any noticeable evidence of fluctuations with signal strength as it retained a solid connection in the high coverage areas of the greater Philadelphia region.

When it comes down to battery life and smartphones, the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is one handset you want to keep your eyes on seeing that we managed to get 3 days of normal usage out of it. Needless to say that its mark is impressive, but we'd imagine light users to extend its usage even more. For heavy users, it'll be more than capable of surpassing the one day mark and probably into the next before requiring a recharge. The manufacturer has it rated for 6 hours of talk and 528 hours of standby time.

Conclusion:

When it's priced at $129.99 with a contract, you really can't go wrong with the BlackBerry Bold 9780 – even when it closely resembles its predecessor. Simply, it goes to show that this is RIM's bread and butter seeing that it excels in a wide variety of areas as it plays to the strengths of business-centric individuals. Moreover, BlackBerry OS 6 manages to run exceptionally on the device as it caters to RIM's targeted demographics while still winning over new ones with its well rounded features. In the end, the BlackBerry Bold 9780 embodies all the qualities we adore about RIM's portfolio which in turn, aids them to retain their clientele.

Software version of the reviewed unit: 6.0 Bundle 863 (v6.0.0.285, Platform 6.5.0.54)

RIM BlackBerry Bold 9780 Video Review: