Review: BlackBerry Bold 9780

A smartphone that handles the basics as no other

The BlackBerry Bold 9780 has been improved a lot in hardware (camera and memory) but the real changes are in the new operating system OS6. The traditional business brand is pushing on the right road in the consumer smartphone market. In this review we will analyze important aspects like web support and how our Dreamweaver Extensions are doing on the OS6.

Overview

BlackBerry Bold 9780

BlackBerry Bold 9780: The Bold is Better

The Bold is physically identical to its popular older 9700 brother, but in terms of equipment it has huge improvements. The Wi-Fi and HSDPA provides a super fast service to receive e-mail attachments, which look comfortable on the sharp 2.44 inch display.The 5-megapixel photographs or other media also easily look up on this screen. The QWERTY keyboard is perfect for setup a message and the GPS receiver let you easily navigate straight to address you want. The Bold 9780 is ideal for business and leisure activities, but the biggest upgrade is the involvement of Operation System 6 which finally provide web browsing capabilities.

OS 6.0 Enhances the Ease and your Potential

Besides the 5-megapixel camera, also the operating system of the new BlackBerry Bold 9780 is completely updated with new features and capabilities. Version 6.0 of the BlackBerry operating system increases the capacity, convenience, and improves your own productivity. With the new menu screens and customizable home screen you stay organized and browse for files easily thanks to an integrated application called 'Universal Search'. The simple web browser makes each visit to the Internet fun to work with. Because you have your social feeds in one place, you can use the BlackBerry Bold 9780 during busy weekdays to pay attention to your friends as well.

5-megapixel Camera and Expandable Memory

On your way to work or waiting for a belated appointment, there will always be a moment, where you can use a distraction in the form of multimedia. The BlackBerry Bold 9780 is quite an entertainer because of the MP3 player and even a DivX/XviD compatible video player while the 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash ensures beautiful pictures. Share and send your snapshots via MMS and email or upload to social network sites like MySpace or Facebook. The standard memory of 256 MB is easily to increase with a MicroSD card. So you always have enough space to store all your files.

Web Support

Web Support

A big improvement is the memory boost. That is doubled compared to the Bold 9700, which is probably necessary to ensure that the new BlackBerry OS6 works smoothly. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 worked properly but didn't look that beautiful. That's completely changed now. With a push of a button you can manage connections, notifications of calls or messages, or your most used and favorite startup applications.

Other solid adaptation is the browser of the BlackBerry Bold 9780. The browser is based on WebKit, a technique that the browser in Android phones and the iPhone uses. It works much better than the stiff OS5 browser in the 9700 Bold or Curve 8900. The pages are loading very quick, conform itself perfectly to your screen and glide smoothly back and forth. The way to organize your favorite web pages and working with different tabs is better.

Unfortunately there is still some delay occurring when scrolling through menus and the browser requires a refresh now and then because of some jQuery issues.

dmxzone.com os6

Dreamweaver Extension

We have tested our Fish Eye Menu, DMXzone Lightbox, Ajax DataGrid, DMXzone Calendar, HTML5 MP3 Player, Pure PHP Upload 2, and we are very surprised how well they work with BlackBerry OS6.

A little bit on the slow side, but Fish Eye Menu works!

 

DMXzone Lightbox is showing a nice outlined picture, awesome!

http://www.dmxzone.com/demo/php/FishEyeLightbox/index.php

In this demo we test the Bold on a basic Ajax Grid. Ajax DataGrid allows you to create tons of possibilities as you can see.

http://www.dmxzone.com/demo/ajaxgrid/Grid-demo-2/

 

 Fill in the calendar to book your room or use the DMXzone Calendar for other projects like birthdays, appointments and other events.

http://www.dmxzone.com/demo/dmxCalendar/reservation_demo/index.html

 

The HTML5 MP3 Player is almost perfect. The sound is perfect, the navigation is how it should be, but it's a pity that the timer doesn't work because of the limited support of flash.

 

The uploading option is working amazingly good. Pure PHP Upload 2 directs the user to the data locations and gives the opportunity to upload a song in no-time.

http://www.dmxzone.com/demo/php/HTML5mp3Player/MP3playerPPU/index.php

Conclusion

The BlackBerry 9780 is clearly an update of the 9700 and brings in terms of looks not that much except a black finish. Size and weight are exactly the same but the hardware improved with a 5 megapixel camera  instead of the 3.2 megapixel in its older brother. The internal memory is doubled to 512MB and you still can enjoy the same solid design, the comfortable grip and excellent full QWERTY keyboard.

The real improvement is the BlackBerry OS6. Not only the interface is more beautiful but the integration of Social Feeds is astonishing. There are many other small but pleasant changes such as Universal Search, Browser Tabs, Contact history, YouTube uploads, etc.

The BlackBerry is the ideal basic smartphone but don't expect any flashy games or super-fast special browser actions.

Specs

What's in the Box

  • Wired Stereo Headset 3.5mm
  • Charger
  • MicroUSB- datacable
  • 2 GB MicroSD-card
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Manual
  • Software-cd

Features

  • 3G network support
  • Email and text messaging
  • Instant messaging
  • Phone
  • Browser
  • Social networking
  • Camera and video recording
  • Wi-Fi
  • GPS
  • Media player
  • Organizer
  • Trackpad
  • Bluetooth
  • Expandable memory
  • Tethered modem

Size and Weight

  • Height: 109mm (4.29 inches)
  • Width: 60mm (2.36 inches)
  • Depth: 14mm (0.56 inches)
  • Weight: 122 grams (4.3 ounces)

Display

  • High-resolution 480x360 pixel color display
  • Transmissive TFT LCD
  • Font size (user selectable)
  • Backlighting
  • Light sensing screen

Camera & Video Recording

  • 5 MP camera (BlackBerry Bold 9780)
  • Flash
  • 2X digital zoom
  • Video recording

Battery & Battery Life

  • Battery: 1500 mAHR removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium polymer cell
  • Standby time: GSM-up to 22 days/528 hours, UMTS-up to 17 days/408 hours
  • Talk time: GSM-up to 6 hours, UMTS-up to 6 hours
  • Music playback time: up to 36 hours

GPS & BlackBerry Maps

  • Built-in GPS functionality
  • Includes BlackBerry Maps

Data Input & Navigation

  • Trackpad located on front face of device, ESC key to the right, Menu to the left
  • Keyboard backlighting

Voice Input & Output

  • 3.5mm stereo headset capable
  • Integrated speaker and microphone
  • Hands-free headset capable
  • Bluetooth headset capable
  • Integrated Hands-free speakerphone
  • M3/T3 Rating for hearing aids (PDF)

Media Player

  • Video format support: MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.263, WMV
  • Audio format support: MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA

Ringtones & Notifications

  • Polyphonic/MIDI ringtones
  • MP3 ringtones
  • Vibrate mode
  • LED indicator

Bluetooth

  • Bluetooth v2.1, Mono/Stereo Headset, Hands free, Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) and Serial Port Profile supported
  • Bluetooth Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP), DUN

Memory

  • Expandable memory—support for microSD card
  • 512 MB onboard memory, 2 GB media card included

Device Security

  • Password protection
  • Screen lock

Wi-Fi

  • 802.11b/g
  • WPA/WPA2 Personal and Enterprise
  • Cisco CCX certified
  • Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry Enterprise Server
  • Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry Internet Bundle
  • Support for UMA (carrier-dependent)

Wireless Networks

  • Tri-band 3G HSDPA networks: 2100MHz/1900MHz/850MHz
  • Tri-band UMTS networks: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz and 2100/1700/900 MHz
  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks: 850/900/1800/1900MHz

Rob Nijkamp

Rob NijkampHi, I am Rob and proudly introduce myself as the Marketing manager of Dynamic Zones International BV.

That means that I am responsible for all sort of things like professional news articles, world leading premium content, the outraging Dreamweaver extensions & web components and helpful tutorials for the DMXzone community.

It's a honor to have the opportunity to participate and bring the DMXzone community to a whole new and stronger level with more high quality and superb DMXzone content for our loyal members.

See All Postings From Rob Nijkamp >>

Comments

Be the first to write a comment

You must me logged in to write a comment.