Blackberry Bold – What’s To Come
The original Blackberry Bold 9000 was released over a year ago and at the time it was well received by critics and consumers alike. The Bold has become a flagship phone for BlackBerry, with its chunky design and rollerball navigation emulated by jealous rivals ever since. BlackBerry has very recently announced the follow up to the original Bold, this time with the suffix ‘9700′. While this is going to be a fairly marginal upgrade, with a slightly improved operating system and a touch pad rather than a rollerball, the evolution is going to be good news for fans of the original. Since the Bold 9000 has been on the market for some time, large communities of designers and modders have been able to come up with a wealth of different software for the Bold and the multimedia capabilities of this business phone have been taken to the limit. Hopefully the new Blackberry Bold 9700 will be able to offer even more scope for user ingenuity, as well as retaining compatibility with the well stocked theme and wallpaper vault produced for the original.
If you are an owner of the original BlackBerry Bold 9000, or are thinking about getting the 9700 when it becomes available, your first port of call should be the BlackBerry community forums. Here like-minded BlackBerry owners come together to discuss their phones, give help and advice to those in need and show off their own user-generated wares to the community at large.
The BlackBerry Bold is compatible with customised themes and this is something that has really taken off in the user community. Themes change the look and feel of the Bold’s home screen and in some cases completely rearrange all of the icons. Although the Bold is no slouch when it comes to a vibrant interface, if you are looking for a more personalised and unique feel to your phone then you need to check out the various themes online. There are tons of professional themes, for which you will of course have to pay. However, in the tradition of user-generated content, many are available for free. Obviously the quality varies, but you can download themes and experiment until you have found a theme that suits your own style and needs.
Interestingly the Bold 9700 will feature a smaller screen than its predecessor. It will keep the same resolution as the 9000, which will result in a sharper image quality. This change has almost certainly been prompted by the criticisms levelled at the large size and chunky design of the 9000, but the maintenance of the resolution should ensure backwards compatibility when it comes to applications, themes and wallpapers.
One of the most useful features offered by BlackBerry is its own Developer Support program, which runs in unison with the BlackBerry App World online software shop. The Developer Zone is the first stop on your way to creating your own BlackBerry apps for your Bold. You do not need to have an in-depth knowledge of programming in order to get the most out of this excellent community feature and it is all accessible for free on the BlackBerry website. There are plenty of guides, tutorials and expert advice centres which you can use to learn the ropes and then develop your idea. You can even ask questions and get answers quickly.
The BlackBerry Bold Developer Zone is quick to remind its users that the mobile software market is still a growing one, with mobile apps only popularised recently thanks to devices such as the Bold and the iPhone. Developing apps for the Bold is relatively simple because it is compatible with the common Java software platform. You should probably start off by watching the introductory Mobile Development 101 video to get an idea as to just what you are letting yourself in for, but if you are interested or you have an idea that you just have to try out, the BlackBerry Bold is a great place to begin the learning process.
If you are a BlackBerry Bold owner then you have probably already used the BlackBerry App store to download applications. Whilst some of these are officially sanctioned and produced by professional software companies, many are the brainchildren of small groups or individuals who have built them from the ground up. You can create your own Vendor page in the App store to help promote and sell your products, or you can just give them away if you are feeling particularly charitable. Small companies have been developed around BlackBerry App marketplace and the days of bedroom programmers making it big are still around.
When the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is released, sporting the new Version 5.0 of BlackBerry’s operating system, there is little doubt that early users will encounter some problems. New software is almost invariably buggier than the established, patched versions used by older handsets. With a new, important release most of the bugs should have been ironed out before hitting the shelves, but this is never guaranteed. One of the more impressive improvements in the 9700 is the 3.2 megapixel camera, which features autofocus and has a flash. This should bolster the Bold’s photographic capabilities and as the retail package is reported to come with a 2GB micro SD as standard, you should be able to get the most out of the new features straight away.
Tags: blackberry 9700, blackberry 9700 bold, blackberry bold, blackberry bold2