BlackBerry Bold vs. 8830 World Edition

I had an opportunity to try the new BlackBerry Bold, and I took it. I have been using a BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smart phone, and in general, I like the Bold much better. It is more tactile, has a better screen, features an excellent camera, and has good sound quality. The device itself is an excellent piece of technology. But I have a problem: although the AT&T Wireless coverage map shows my coverage is good at home, it is almost completely non-functional. Is this a problem with the map or with AT&T’s equipment?

Size

At first glance, the curved corners of the BlackBerry Bold make it appear slightly smaller than the 8830…but it isn’t. The two bodies are the almost identical, by the Bold is a single millimeter thicker. While the 8830 case can hold 105,336 cubic millimeters of electronics, the Bold case can hold 112,860 cubes. The Bold is almost imperceptibly heavier by 2 grams. What do you get for that additional volume and heft? A good camera and WiFi for starters. Compare the two models at BlackBerry.com.

Holster

The Bold holster is, well, more bold than the 8830 holster. Not only is the belt clip thicker, the Bold itself is slightly thicker. The whole package is not as sleek as the 8330, so the Bold does not ride under a coat or sweater as easily. Overall, thumbs up for durability, and thumbs down for concealment.

I also find the Bold harder to grip when extracting it from the holster. While the 8830 feels slippery (more on that in a moment), the most convenient way to pull the Bold from the holster is by gripping the sides…which activates the Contacts screen, so I have to back out of there to get to the main interface. I can use the camera lens as a grip, but that’s not really a good idea, is it?

Case and keyboard

The Bold uses a rollerball above the keyboard, just like the 8830. The Bold rollerball has a slightly gritty feel when rolling. I recall the 8830 also felt gritty when new, but it eventually became smoother.

The Bold screen is also more bold than the 8830 screen. It is much brighter, and characters and images appear more crisp than on the 8830 screen. Content is brighter in hue and saturation, with more contrast. In short, the screen is easier to read. However, some web pages display in condensed form, as if looking backwards through a pair of binoculars. There must be a setting to control that, but I haven’t found it yet.

While the 8830′s all-metal case feels slippery and insecure in my hand, the Bold’s textured plastic back feels much more secure. It is more pleasing in a tactile sense.

Opening the Bold battery compartment is much easier than on the 8830. I’ve actually deformed my 8830 battery cover trying to get it open. The Bold uses a tab: press the tab, and pull up on the side of the back with a fingernail. Easy. It is also much easier to remove the Bold battery — a fingernail is all it takes.

A backlighted keyboard is a great feature in low light. The 8830 has it, but the light is blue, and keys are actually hard to identify in the dark, despite the backlighting. The backlight on the Bold keyboard is much more white, and the keys are much easier to identify in the dark. I also find the keys quieter — less “clacky” — than the 8830 keys.

Camera

Yes, the Bold has a digital camera, and the 8830 does not. The couple of pictures I took with the Bold are really good compared to some cell phone cameras I’ve used. Definitely a big plus. For work, the camera can be used to document an accident or capture a key meeting moment.

Menus

Unlike the colored icons on the 8830, the Bold icons are monochromatic, so they depend on recognizing symbols to get to particular functions. I like the 8830 icons better, because there is less similarity between them. I can visually differentiate the 8830 icons mor easily than the monochromatic Bold icons.

Service

I’m very disappointed that although the AT&T Wireless coverage map shows coverage at my home should be good, I get nothing on our ground floor. On the second story, every several minutes I might get a few seconds of EDGE coverage, just enough to send or receive a couple of emails waiting in the queue. My 8830 won’t hold a voice call from my home, but it will reliability send and receive email.

I also tried to use the Bold while waiting for my snow tires to be mounted at my local Les Schwab dealer. I’ve used the 8830 (service by Verizon) at this location for voice and data, with no problems. With the Bold (service by AT&T), I got a red “SOS” indicator, with occasionally an EDGE connection. Both my home and the Schwab dealer are in part of the AT&T Wireless coverage map marked as good. Either their map is overly optimistic, or they have an equpiment problem in my area. All in all, I’m quite disappointed in my local coverage.

On the bright side, people tell me my voice calls using my Bluetooth headset are much clearer and more normal sounding than calls made from the 8830.

Unlike the 8830, the Bold allows you to set up a WiFi connection, and this is a wonderful addition. I configured it to use my encrypted connection at home, and found it dramatically speeds up web browsing (of course, remember I can’t hold a cellular connection at home, so anything is faster than nothing). It does seem to take some time for the Bold to recognize the connection. It shows it is connected, but sometimes it takes 10 or even 20 minutes before the WiFi light comes on and I can actually browse.

In areas with 3G coverage, the Bold is quite responsive, noticeably more so than the 8830.

Battery

After a few days of use, I am finding the Bold battery does not last nearly as long as the 8830 battery. I could go about three days at home with the 8830. With the Bold fully charged, I went to bed and found the battery had only half a charge left by morning. It may be that the battery was not fully charged when I went to bed. I did turn off Bluetooth and WiFi before going to bed, but left the Network on. It may also be that the lack of a strong digital connection makes the Bold hunt for a connection, which might deplete the battery more quickly.

Summary to date

My scoring of the Blackberry Bold at this point in time, compared to the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition:

• Holster: worse
• Rollerball: probably the same
• Screen: much better
• Case: much better
• Battery access: much better
• Keyboard: much better
• Camera: it has one, and it’s good
• Menus: worse, but that’s probably a personal preference
• Service: WiFi and 3G are pluses, local network coverage is disappointing, good sound quality
• Battery: appears to be worse

More reviews

Try these links for additional reviews of the BlackBerry Bold:

• http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/RIM-BlackBerry-Bold-Comes-Up-a-Little-Short/
• http://gizmodo.com/5075236/att-blackberry-bold-review-best-blackberry-yet
• http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/43074/review/blackberry_bold.html
• http://apcmag.com/blackberry_bold_handson_review.htm

Update, December 17

Removing the battery and reseating the SIM chip several times seemed to help with connectivity, but it is still awful at home.