Summary: First my personal story, then the technical review.
I am a convert from a Motorola Q9c on Verizon running Windows Mobile 6.1. I was used to a certain feature set and got along very well with my device for far longer than it should have lasted.
That said, I was used to a longer battery life, in all likelihood because I didn't have WiFi built in, rarely used data (went without a data plan for the first two years of ownership) and Verizon blocked my GPS from being useful for navigation outside of VZ Navigator.
To that end, I wanted a phone with a similar form factor, good front-facing QWERTY keyboard, some of the amenities that should be standard that I lacked and hopefully an improved display.
I got all those things.
Is it some freak superphone? No.
Is it a strong web browsing, communication tool with some modern features? Yes.
It is also the best BlackBerry ever made.
Now for the technical review...
The Bold 9930 has a unique design that takes cues from past BlackBerrys and other similar devices and really creates a composite that is a stunning piece of hardware. The stainless steel band that trims the edges pull together a soft touch rubberized ring inside of that on the back, with a carbon fiber-looking composite material designed to conduct the NFC signals from the antenna built into the battery door.
The front is simplified and elegant from past BB models. Gone are the colorful buttons, but in their place monochromatic keys that are an acquired taste for some, but a very clean looking device that can hang with the top contenders in sleek design.
The keyboard cradles your thumbs and makes typing with speed a breeze. If you're converting from another QWERTY device to a BB for the first time, there is a learning curve for some of the symbols and minor functions (like the ampersand -- & sign -- being in a menu instead of a function/alt of the standard keys). Altogether, the illuminated keyboard trimmed with chrome accents between the rows and stylish, yet functional ridges make this keyboard the best QWERTY keyboard on any mobile device that I have ever seen or used.
The keys around the band of the phone are pretty good. They don't have a lot of play to them and press softly, with just enough tactile feedback to know you pressed them. The playback buttons on the right side can be a tad tricky -- mostly if you're using a case (like the RIM softshell case that I use), but you get used it it after a while.
No issues with the placement of the MicroUSB port or headphone jack. the stainless steel band doesn't really reduce the play or jiggle when the USB charger is plugged in, but it does serve to protect the recessed port a little better than some other phones.
Call quality is sufficient. No celluar network is stellar, but volume is fine. No distortion. The speakerphone works well and can be activated with a hardware button on the keyboard (the dollar sign key) or via the touchscreen.
The display itself is one of the finest RIM has ever put on the market. Finally a legit touchscreen on a portait QWERTY device. A little larger than my old Q9c and cramming 640x480 pixels into a 2.5-inch display means this display has a pixel density second only to the iPhone 4(S). This is great when using the web browser or any other text-intensive activity (which BlackBerry users are almost always doing).
The touchscreen is responsive and accurate, within the limitations of the OS. When memory issues occur, it takes a while to register, but I push this phone far beyond what a normal person would or should, so this may not be an issue for everyone. Despite such a relatively small display, I have not encoutered virtually any issues with touching the wrong icon or item.
Combining a full touch interface with the trackpad is excellent when working with text because small print is hard to move a cursor through accurately and this solves that issue. This is something that plagues all touchscreen devices and RIM implemented a brilliant hybrid solution on this device.
As for the OS itself, it does a good job of using the graphics processor onboard this Snapdragon processor -- which I believe is the same one used in the original EVO and a few other phones of that generation. Animations are smooth, scrolling is too. Almost as smooth as iOS or WindowsPhone, but under heavy load, things sieze up more than I would like.
The onboard memory is good enough to hold a strong selection of good apps that enhance your experience, plus a good variety of games.
This is not a gaming phone per se, but it can handle some surprisingly graphics-intensive games and barely misses a beat. Load times scan be slow on more demanding games, but that's not a problem exclusive to BlackBerrys.
BB OS tends to build in a lot of features that other operating systems leave to the app developers. It's a double-edged sword, but it works for me.
Media is a huge function for me. I listen to all of CNET's podcasts (or did... really only two left now) and having a device that will grab that for me is great. The podcast app is built right in. The media library organization is great, but I don't tag my files well enough to really take advantage.
One major advantage to BB OS is that it will playback OGG audio files, which is what I started building my digital music library of all the music I own with. At this point, it would be a total time sucker to go back and redo the libarary in MP3 or WMA, but there would be some advantages in on-device organization if I did so.
To this day, OGG is only supported out of the box on BB devices. WP and iOS can't do it for sure and I believe Android takes some wrangling first.
However, if I dare pause my playback at the wrong time or too many times, I will get a "Device Media Processor Busy" error and the only way to continue playback is to reboot the device. That is a total pain and an unacceptable waste of time.
RIM hasn't worked this bug out and has no solutions. A real shame.
I multitask like crazy though and I'm sure a lot of the weird errors I get are generally uncommon for the average user. The 7.1 OS update fixed a lot of the major flaws in the original carrier release of the OS. If you aren't on 7.1 out of the box, update that before you do anything else.
I won't bore you with ramblings about apps because that's a personal preference, but rest assured that all of the key amenities and features that other phones have are also available in App World. Check out a site like CrackBerry.com or BlackBerry.com itself to delve deeper into that. I will say this though, excellent FREE voice-guided nav in the latest version of BlackBerry Traffic. An excellent app and a must-have for you nav addicts.
Next, connectivity.
The 9930 suffers from a lack of HSPA+ connectivity tha the 9900 twin enjoys with the GSM carriers. However, what it lacks in a data speed boost, it gains in network ability. This device can operate on both GSM (EDGE/HSPA) and CDMA (EVDO), with a range of frequencies on the radio to make it one of the most -- if not the most -- comprehensive world phone on the market.
Documentation in the box (and a contact preset on the included SIM card) make it fairly simple to switch over to an international plan on the fly when needed.
I live in the Greater Cleveland area and I have never had a dropped call on my end unless I was in an underground location surrounded by lots of concrete and even then, things hold up remarkably well and far better than I would expect given the location. My Q9c would have given up under many of the conditions I succeeded with on the 9930.
WiFi works very well for a device of its size. Obviously it doesn't have an antenna with the range of a full size laptop or other larger device, but I can get around the house or the parts of work that have WiFi routers without too much trouble. The device is pretty good about switching data connections on the fly when one connection is lost. Nobody has perfected this, but this phone does a pretty good job.
It also has NFC functionality built in and WiFi hotspot ability. NFC is nice, but there are so few uses just yet that it's not overly useful. That's changing very quickly, and mobile payments aren't the only thing RIM and its partners are cooking up (again, hit up a BB news site like CrackBerry to research this). The WiFi hotspot requires a seperate data plan that I'm not willing to pay for, so I have not tested this.
Bluetooth works just fine. Not a real battery hog, but then again, I turn off WiFi and Bluetooth if I'm not going to use them. Toggling them on and off is really easy from a pulldown menu you get by tapping the clock.
Occasionally if you lose the Bluetooth connection (like turning the paired device off), you get a spinning green circle over the toggle check box to turn it on and off, and it won't let you tap it to turn it off. Just use the trackpad and click. Not a huge deal, just one of those quirks.
I use by BT mostly with my 2008 Mercury Milan's Microsoft SYNC system. It works virtually flawlessly as a phone and media player. One weird quirk is that it automatically launches the media player whenever I switch to the Bluetooth streaming audio input. This gets annoying -- especially after I flashed my memory card and only had some stock music from a game I downloaded onboard.
Audio quality in playback is remarkable. Many people complain about audio quality and fidelity, but it is great in my Milan.
Same media playback issues apply here occasionally. Not sure what causes that.
Also, I have had an issue in the past when switching back and forth from Bluetooth where my phone calls can't be heard on either end. It just goes silent. It requires a reboot to remedy. I can't even find a way to describe this to RIM to report it and I can't find any other identical instances of this. I'm hoping I'm just an outlier.
Speaking of boot times, it's faster than older BB devices, but way slower than Windows Mobile ever was. I can live with it, but the faster the better and it's a tad slow for me (but instant on is an imperfect thing right now).
I'm probably missing some key parts of this review, but if anyone ever has any questions about this device, please feel free to get in touch with me. If I don't have the answers or insight, I will do my best to find someone who can and will.
Updated on Aug 23, 2012
I recently updated my OS software to version 7.1.0.580. It addressed many of the software concerns I had, most notably the silent call flaw and media playback issues.
This update made it so that I can no longer multitask and remain in bedside mode. As many BlackBerry users know, bedside mode allows you to set a sound profile, dim the clock, etc. for sleeping. It used to remain with the sound profile intact until I unplugged the device, despite whether or not I would multitask. This was very convenient. Now when I switch tasks while in the mode, it exits bedside mode until I switch back to the clock app. Without bedside mode, I often forget to turn my sounds back on when I wake up and end up missing calls or getting messages late.
The new OS update has a program built in to the OS that, when enabled, automatically monitors all processes and kills anything that's causing memory leaks.
Better battery life came in the update too. Certainly more consistent than in the past.
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BlackBerry Bold 9930 (Verizon Wireless)
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