BlackBerry Storm at Vodafone
Fans of BlackBerry smartphones should head to Vodafone where the superb Storm is now available.
This is RIM’s first attempt at a touch screen and the results are impressive, especially as it boasts to be the UK’s first clickable touch screen. The screen actually depresses slightly when pressed and releases again with a single click.
Other features include a 3.2MP camera with auto focus and flash, 1GB of built in memory, 3G connectivity, built in GPS for sat nav and geo-tagging photos and a 3.5mm headset jack.
Business mobile phone users will be please to see that the phone comes with DataViz Documents to Go software, so MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents can be edited.
The handset also features an accelerometer, which means the screen view can switch between landscape and portrait as the handset is rotated.
The SureType keyboard is available in portrait mode and a full QWERTY keyboard is available in landscape.
Head to Vodafone for more details.
BlackBerry Bold – Review
The long awaited BlackBerry Bold is finally here.
And the initial verdict is that whilst the current BlackBerry range is perfectly functional, the Bold is a big step forward.
The first difference BlackBerry users will notice is the size of the handset itself. It initially feels rather bulky, but at the same time has a real quality feel to it thanks to the leather bound back cover.
The display is superb, with half a VGA resolution screen that matches the apple I-Phone with 480×320 pixels. The high contrast and extra bright screen produce a crisp, bold display and it is this that has given the device its “Bold” name.
Manufacturer RIM are pushing to move the BlackBerry away from it’s image as an email phone for business users the Bold looks set to capture a much wider audience. Once a large capacity memory has been installed on the Bold you realise it is a powerful media player – pictures, video and music are all of high quality.
In terms of web browsing a Facebook client is available, allowing easy upload of pictures. Web browsing is a dream thanks to the fantastic screen and you can switch easily from a desktop view to single column view.
Email is, as you would expect, fantastic on this device. One notable point is that email received on this handset is not in rich text/HTML, rather than plain text. The large display means more can be fit onto the screen than previous BlackBerry handsets and the font size and type can be changed to suit your preferences.
Entering text into the Bold is a dream. The qwerty keyboard keys are nicely sized. Sentences are finished by double tapping the spacebar (which then insets a full stop) and punctuation is inserted automatically. Although this is not new to the Blackberry range it is still unbeaten by the competition.
With a mix of 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS the battery has been boosted in size to cope with the demands expected to be placed on it. For normal business use the battery will last a few days. However, movies may drain the battery in a day.
The Bold is currently the ultimate BlackBerry and is proving popular with current BalckBerry users who are looking to upgrade.
Currently available on contracts from:
3, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile.