Android what? Details and launch date revealed for BlackBerry Bold

by Stevie Smith - Oct 23 2008, 12:35

Google’s Android-equipped G1 phone may have been wheeled out this week, but Canadian smartphone specialist Research In Motion (RIM) seems keen to show it’s not prepared to blink in the face of the emergent competition.

Specifically, RIM and U.S. network operator AT&T are looking to steal a march on the unified code advantages associated with the G1 by revealing specification details and the official launch date for the new BlackBerry Bold handset.

Described as “a breakthrough 3G BlackBerry,” the candy bar Bold is set to hit the U.S. market on November 04 with a base price of $299.99 USD (with a two-year service contract), and is notable as being the very first BlackBerry to support HSDPA networks around the world.

Available across America exclusively through AT&T -- which also carries Apple’s iPhone -- the Bold delivers all the typical style and finish of the BlackBerry line, offering a sleek black exterior accented with a satin chrome frame and leatherette backplate.

Beyond its aesthetics, the Bold gives users with a half-VGA colour display screen (480x320) that provides a visual playground for the handset’s new 624MHz mobile processor, optimised Web browser, built-in GPS, Wi-Fi functionality, and a modest video-enabled 2.0 mega pixel camera (with 5x digital zoom).

Other features include 1GB of onboard memory, up to 16GBs of expanded memory via a microSD/SDHC slot, a completely redesigned QWERTY keyboard, an advanced multimedia player, Bluetooth 2.0, Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialling (VAD), and compatibility with more than 60 international 3G networks.

“The development of the BlackBerry Bold smartphone was an ambitious undertaking, and we focused intensely on the things that are most important to mobile customers when developing this best-in-class smartphone for HSDPA networks around the world,” enthused Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO at Ontario-based Research In Motion.

“The BlackBerry Bold exudes quality in everything from its stunning display sharpness and incredible keyboard to its premium phone performance and sophisticated software applications.”

In a move to complement handset features synonymous with the BlackBerry brand, AT&T is providing a wide range of services to further strengthen the Bold’s market appeal.

Those services include: simultaneous voice and data capabilities, enabling users to talk and browse the Web or use another data application at the same time; AT&T’s Navigator Global Edition, which provides spoken, text-based or turn-by-turn GPS directions; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g, providing seamless access to AT&T’s 17,000 nationwide hotspots; Cellular Video access across thousands of directly viewable clips; and AT&T’s Mobile Music Services, which include XM Radio Mobile, Music ID, MobiTV, Napster Mobile and eMusic.

While it might be hard to envisage the Bold having any more space for services, like all BlackBerry smartphones it works with the following BlackBerry applications: BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BlackBerry Desktop Manager, BlackBerry Professional Software, and BlackBerry Internet Service.

The Bold is supported by AT&T’s 3G BroadbandConnect network, which is currently available in more than 320 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. (with AT&T expected to extend that number to around 350 before the close of 2008). The handset will also be supported by AT&T’s existing EDGE network.

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