RIM revamps BlackBerry Bold

 

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By Andrew Williams

Posted on 21 Oct 2009 at 13:12

Research in Motion has put its flagship smartphone on a diet, with the launch of the BlackBerry Bold 9700.

It’s essentially a slimmed-down version of the Bold 9000. It retains its predecessor's coloured, large-keyed QWERTY keyboard - albeit in an ever-so slightly reduced form.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is packed with all the connectivity options that you’d usually associate with the always-connected devices, including Wi-Fi and HSDPA.

Unlike the BlackBerry Storm 2, unveiled last week, there's no touchscreen. The only touch-sensitive element of the Bold 9700 is its tiny central trackpad, used as the primary menu navigation method.

The Bold 9700 also features GPS, a powerful 624MHz processor and a claims 17 days of battery life when on standby with 3G engaged. The camera remains at the fairly lowly 3.2-megapixel count, but RIM claims the optical quality and auto focus speed are an improvement on the Bold 9000.

RIM’s VP of Product Management Carlo Chiarello sees the Bold 9700 as a product of the company’s strategy to make phones that are aimed towards a “broader market” rather than those “directed down a path that’s only enterprise or only consumer.”

He claims that more than 80% of its 3.8 million new subscribers achieved in the second quarter of the year were non-business users, and that more than half of the company's overall user base worldwide is non-business.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 will sell alongside the Bold 9000, rather than replacing it, offering a QWERTY device that’s a little more pocket-friendly than its big brother.