The new Blackberry 9700

The latest release from Research in Motion is the BlackBerry 9700

With a more slim line look and feel to it RIM have responded to the consumers and released a compact version of the BlackBerry 9000. The 9700 boasts all of the features of the 9000 with a few enhancements. Take a look below for the technical specs on the new BlackBerry offering.

In comparison to the BlackBerry 9000, the 9700 has a more refined look, smaller and lighter than the 9000 handset. The new Blackberry trackpad has been included with the QWERTY keyboard we find on the BlackBerry range. A smaller sized phone means even smaller, fiddlier buttons which all BlackBerry users finally get to grips with.

Battery Life

Battery life on the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is, as I have grown to expect from a BlackBerry phones,great! Even with Wi-Fi turned on it is reported you can get almost 6.5 hours of talking time in a single call, which is better than RIM's own estimates. Signal strength problems on the T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9700 are reported to be a thing of the past as it now uses the UMA calling feature using WiFi to place calls.

Social networking

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is great at keeping your social networking needs, although getting the access is not evident from the start. There are very few application pre-loaded, at least on the T-Mobile version, and even the BlackBerry App World, RIM's answer to Apple's App Store, requires a visit to the BlackBerry Web site (ironically, the BlackBerry App World is a featured download in . . . wait for it . . . the BlackBerry App World!?). We quickly loaded up the BlackBerry Bold 9700 with Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and a couple Twitter apps to try. The best part is that most of these don't just sit on the phone like eggs in a carton, they integrate into the system, like eggs in a cake. Once you've downloaded Facebook, you start getting Facebook messages in your general inbox, and Facebook calendar items on your BlackBerry calendar. Once you have Flickr set up, you can quickly upload pics from the photo gallery to Flickr without having to open the Flickr app. None of the apps are especially good looking or feature rich beyond the essentials, but this deep integration makes the BlackBerry platform one of the best for keeping in touch and sharing experiences with your friends relatives and contacts. With other apps to take care of Gmail, AOL, Messenger and many more we have no doubt keeping in contact with friends, relatives and colleagues will not be a problem.

Business

Originally the BlacBerry was intended for the military market, next the BlackBerry came into the Business market place, this phone with all its general use features has many improved buisness user features packed in. IT departments will be buzzing with the security features to lock down company data stored on your phone. The phone comes with enough applications to get any small business user getting a lot more of of their mobile phone. If you can't find what you are looking for out of the box the BlackBerry online resource BlackBerry App World contains a whole load more applications to whet your appetite. The BlackBerry 9700 can open Microsoft Office email attachments and comes with docments to go preloaded so you can edit Word and Excel documents. To create Word and Excel douments from scratch you will need to pay the premium and get the full version. As with my previous BlackBerry handsets it synchs nicely with Outlook and the calendar and notes functions. I find the Desktop Manager software a little 'clunky' and find it hogs a lot of resources even on my main i7 computer,

Features

• Trackpad navigation
• Bright, hi-resolution screen
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• 3G technology
• Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® enabled
• 256MB flash Memory
• 3.2 MP digital Camera with
• Video Camera
• Multimedia Player
• Wireless Email
• Organiser
• Browser
• Phone
• SMS/MMS
• MicroSD card Reader