Blackberry 'Bold' to challenge iPhone

By Ground Report
May 13, 2008

(GR, Waterloo, ON) -- Call it The Bold & the Beautiful. Today Blackberry holding company Research in Motion (RIM) announced the Blackberry Bold, its sleekest, strongest most Apple-esque smartphone ever. If looks could kill, Apple's iPhone might be a likely victim.

And clearly the iPhone is in RIM's sights. The new Blackberry Bold has the sharpest visual display ever, a "desktop-style" web browsing experience and support for streaming video. Mentioned first in the press release, these features are all hallmarks of the iPhone.

The phone itself looks much more like the glossy iPhone, as shown on its promotional website. The Blackberry Bold-- or 9000-- is the prettiest yet.

The Boy Genius Report listed these as highlights:

* 1GB on-board memory with encryption.
* Tri-band HSDPA.
* Pricing in the $300-$500 range with a carrier.
* Launching on AT&T "this summer."
* Interchangable color back plates.
* 5 hours of talk time, 13 days of standby time.
* 624-MHz Marvell Tavor PXA930 processor.
* Taller and wider than the Curve.

TechCrunch noted that there is no touchscreen-- still the signature trackball-- but listed these features:

* 624MHz CPU
* 802.11 a/b/g and GPS
* Half-VGA screen (480 x 320)
* Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support
* microSDHC support up to 16 GB
* Quad-band EDGE, Tri-band HSDPA
* 2MP camera w/ flash and 5x digital zoom
* Replaceable “leather-like” backplates


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