Category: Fixed QWERTY
In: BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Bold If it appears that I give these BlackBerry handsets more attention than other devices, note that I use this first section to describe usage patterns, requirements, preferences, and infrastructure that apply to all of the phones here.
I originally marked the BlackBerry Curve out of rotation in favor of the Bold, but I found that each hits a substantially different target. The Bold is unquestionably the enterprise device of the two and a best-in-class choice for the top-echelon technical professional.
The Curve is the BlackBerry you'd buy for yourself and bring to work. I carried it in my pocket, the only QWERTY device here that allows it, so every morning I found the Curve on my dresser with my wallet and keys. The bulkier Bold ends up wherever I used it last. I carry the Bold around the house like a cordless phone, although ironically, it's the Curve that truly functions in that capacity (see the review).
It's in rotating straight from the Bold to the Curve that made the Curve seem like a device to knock off the list. Compared to the Bold, the Curve seem cheaply made and cramped; the Curve is harder to type on and harder to see. But on its own, and after a switch to the Curve from anything but the Bold or the iPhone 3G, the Curve seems decently made, what I'd call a two-year phone. The Bold is a five-year device, quick for a BlackBerry, and while by no means luxurious, pleasant to drive. The Curve is a lateral step, neither up or down, from an 8800-series BlackBerry.
On seeing a friend's Escalade, I was immediately struck by its appropriateness as a visual and functional metaphor for the BlackBerry Bold. The device is rugged, as if you could drive a nail with it, yet it is by far the handsomest, fastest, and most productive BlackBerry (in terms of bundled software and ease and pleasure of use) that RIM has produced. It feels natural to keep several applications running at once, something I avoid on other phones. I treat the Bold like an ultra-ultra-mobile PC.
Much of what seems to me technologically marvelous about the Bold as a reviewer becomes transparent to me as a user. Without looking back at the press release or my review (both of which I intentionally don't reread after my review is filed), I can't recite the things that are new about the Bold or BlackBerry's retooled platform. It just takes less time to compose and read e-mail on the Bold. My eyesight improves dramatically when I switch into the Bold. Documents I ordinarily have to scroll around in (I live in DataViz Documents to Go) fit better and are more readable on the Bold's smaller display. The Bold doesn't have to live on its charger as the other phones do.
I have Exchange Server running here, with BlackBerry Enterprise Server in a virtual machine. My workaday mail server is a quieter, simpler Xserve. It pairs reasonably well with every device here. My e-mail experience changes when I carry a BlackBerry handset. Xserve does BlackBerry push e-mail; when a new message comes in, my BlackBerry buzzes in a couple of seconds. The only configuration change required on the server side is forwarding inbound messages to the BlackBerry account I created.
Forwarding to a Google Gmail (free) or Apple MobileMe (US$99 per year) cloud service hurries messages to a T-Mobile G1 and iPhone 3G, respectively. Xserve hands outbound mobile mail to RIM's, Google's, or Apple's infrastructure. The last two are pitched to consumers and disclaimed for professional use. I take that guidance to heart. But in all cases, I forward mail to my mobile device while keeping a copy on Xserve. Anything that slips through the cracks will hit me when my MacBook Pro or PC checks in.
I rarely use any handset's Wi-Fi. It is a phone battery's mortal enemy, and if I forget to turn it off, my device's battery drains rapidly on standby. People forget, too, that a wireless is no desktop. Wi-Fi is not fast. Except for latency, you can scarcely notice the difference between Wi-Fi and 3G.
Using the Bold causes me to peg DataViz Documents to Go and TeleNav turn-by-turn navigation as device essentials. It also clues me to Google Sync. Sync now has all seven smartphones, plus my MacBook Pro, aligned for contacts and appointments. The fact that Google's free cloud knows who I know and where I'll be doesn't worry me, but it's an individual choice. An enterprise should be paranoid in general about letting company data cross into people's private contacts, inboxes, and calendars. I'm hardly the only professional that appreciates the convenience and platform-agnostic nature of Google's free cloud. I did not expect Google to play a starring role on a BlackBerry.
