To Bold-ly go where no BlackBerry has gone before …

After my unsuccessful attempt at the iPhone 3G when it first came out and the ensuing discussion on this blog, I decided to hang on to my BlackBerry Pearl for a little while until the BlackBerry Bold came out.  I’ve now had the Bold for almost two weeks and I’m still deciding whether I’ll keep it at the end of the 30 day trial.  I think I will, but there are some issues ... things that I like and things that I'm just not so sure about.

What I like:

• The screen is every bit as beautiful as the iPhone, even though it is about ½ the size.  I have no trouble reading messages in good light or bad and the user experience is identical to everything I was used to with the Pearl.  I like reading e-mail on the Bold – the user experience is really terrific.  I don’t do a lot of web browsing from my phone – checking facts occasionally and, most often, checking my son’s grades online.  The screen size, the largest of the current BlackBerry family (until the Storm), is fine for me, especially since it’s pretty easy to zoom in and out.
• The sound quality is great and the phone reception is the same as the Pearl.  People keep telling me that the Verizon network is better than AT&T but I really have had no issues in the places where I spend most of my time – the Washington, DC area and Indianapolis, IN.
• The battery life is not nearly as good as the Pearl, but it lasts longer than a day with pretty typical use and since the battery life was a deal-breaker for me with the iPhone, I’m happy to say that it’s a non-issue for the Bold.
• I really like the key pad and track ball combination.  I am much more comfortable with the keys than I was with the iPhone touch screen.
• The browser is much faster than the Pearl but I honestly haven’t been able to tell much of a difference between 3G and WiFi, though I know the WiFi should be much faster.  
• There aren’t really any “fun” applications like on the iPhone, but Facebook, the Wall Street Journal, and NewsGator are all useful.  The Cellular Video is also pretty cool.  This is a pre-installed application that has clips from sources like CNN and ABC some full episodes of TV shows.  I have watched CNN a few times as I’m riding in taxis, which is a much more engaging way to catch up on news than my news feeds.  I think of the Bold as a work device.  I really like the Word to Go, PowerPoint to Go, and Excel to Go applications.  It is great to be able to open attachments and actually edit them in a familiar user interface.  There are a few games that come on the device and some additional applications you can buy or download, but for the most part, the BlackBerry is about function, not fun, and for me, that’s fine.
• The Bold is as shiny and slippery as the iPhone but the good news is that there appears to be a place to attach a wrist strap (I’m not quite sure if that’s what this little hole was really meant for, but the AT&T guy found it and put my wrist strap through it and the phone still works so I hope that is what it was for!).  For me, a wrist strap is critical because this is a big, bulky phone and while the leather back is not as slippery as the iPhone, the size is awkward in my hand so I like to attach it to my wrist, knowing I won’t drop it, and use the headset when I talk, especially when I’m in motion.

 
What I don’t like:

• It’s really clunky – it’s shorter and wider and a little thicker than the iPhone, which felt too big for me too.  After 2 years using a Pearl, this thing just seems enormous – it’s purse-sized but definitely not pocket-sized.
• I also had a very weird experience synchronizing the calendar the first few days.  I sync manually since I do not have an Exchange server for e-mail.  For the first couple of days, any meeting I accepted on the BlackBerry was not showing up in Outlook after synchronizing.  It took me a while to figure out why it wasn’t working, but it turns out that the first e-mail account that you set up should be the one in which you get your meeting invitations (for me, it’s my work e-mail) because otherwise, the Bold appears to synch the calendar (not the contacts, just the calendar) with the mail application that was added first.  In other words, it seems to maintain a separate calendar for each e-mail account and since I happened to add my personal e-mail account first, none of my appointments were syncing correctly in my Outlook calendar.  When I deleted all the e-mail accounts and re-configured using my work e-mail as the first one I set up, everything synchronized correctly and I’ve been happy ever since.
• The other real negative is that the screen seems to absorb any oil or dust within 3 feet so I’ve got a screen protector on order.  When I went to one AT&T store to see if they sold screen protectors, I got a goofy answer from the sales clerk that “no one ever wants one for a BlackBerry.”  At another store they told me that they just hadn’t gotten any in yet.  There are lots of versions available on the web and I was able to order one that had free shipping.

I’m still not sure whether this is the device for me – I’ve got another 2 weeks to try it out.  I love everything about it except the size so that is what is making me hold back from gushing.  I’m hoping that the Storm comes out before my 30 day trial is up with the Bold.  I don’t think I want the touch screen, but I just want to be sure before I commit to AT&T for another 2 years.