Comments Locked

36 Comments

Back to Article

  • Lord 666 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link

    Annoying side scrolling
    Annoying that pressing the seven dots button doesn't expand the full screen anymore
    Annoying sluggishness
    Annoying how SMS sometimes does not allow seeing older messages and just freezes

    The only thing going for BB right now is the great GSA pricing on handsets and true centralized management.
  • Johnmcl7 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link

    I don't think it's a bad idea to focus on the enterprise market as it's an area where RIM have less competition. In the company I work for the 9780 is now the only smartphone availble to employees (simpler and cheaper than the Torch) and I'm sure that's not unique to this company either.

    John
  • Zink - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link

    Blackberries are beautiful for phone and email functionality because of the durability and the keyboard but just can't do the entertainment stuff as well. I think a blackberry would make a great companion for a 7" tablet for mobile use if you're carrying some king of bag.
  • Faruk88 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link

    Just a comment on signal performance: On Blackberries, you won't get an accurate dBm reading unless you go into the Engineering screen. Otherwise, anything better than -90dBm is reported as -70dBm. In the Engineering screen, the numbers are more accurate and are refreshed more frequently.
  • mythun.chandra - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link

    Thanks for the heads up Faruk88. I will try and get the numbers updated at the earliest. Appreciate the input! :)

    Thanks,
    Mithun
  • Brian Klug - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link

    Or on the home screen, press and hold alt, then type nmll ;)

    -Brian
  • Titanius - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link

    The article is good and all that, but it has been 4 months since the Bold 9780 came out on the market...FYI.
  • SonicIce - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    no one gives a fuck about smartphones what has this site become
  • strikeback03 - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    I'm gonna guess they could pull their page hit numbers and tell you differently. But feel free to go back to waiting for Llano to be released and SNB to be fixed.
  • kmmatney - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    Time for another $700 video card article...
  • SonicIce - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    just kidding lol
  • radium69 - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    Too bad the market for blackberries is getting saturated in europe.
    All of the teens have either a blackberry or an iphone.
    The image of a blackberry is getting seriously raped over here. Carriers are promoting the blackberries like mad, with a text bundle etc.

    Allthough it's a nippy little device, I will not buy it.
    Allthough the battery life is as always, good.
  • IntelUser2000 - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    "the javascript performance as reported by the SunSpider benchmark has improved by a staggering 54% compared to the numbers before the update (which in itself was a decent 13% better than those posted by the Torch, which basically has the exact same hardware specs as this Bold)."

    Lesson in simple arithmetic. When comparing performance numbers that result in better score as "lower", the gain in performance is found by dividing the higher number by the lower number.

    For example:
    10612ms vs 22752ms

    22752/10612 = 2.14x or 114% faster
  • mythun.chandra - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    Agreed. What I meant to say in the review was it executed the SunSpider benchmark in 54% less time.
  • klatscho - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    i have been using the 9700 for 18 months now; the previous OS was terrible, but with the current os 6 it really works fine; i especially enjoy the search functions and the long battery life; the device is quite small and robust; also the keyboard augments my productivity.
    i would really like to see more hardware like this (small form factor, keyboard, long battery life) instead of all the supersized phones that are currently hyped. larger devices are fine for private used, but in a typical business environment, the just not cut the cheese.
  • Kosh401 - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    I've been on the Bold 9700 for quite a while now and love the thing. It's functionality with my job is a huge time saver and being able to use BBM with coworkers and all my friends who have berries has been a nice touch. For entertainment I have a couple games on it but I don't really use it much for games. Play poker the most with some friends, otherwise just good old fashion solitaire. I probably watch more Youtube and check the news more than I play games on it I'd guess. So for me that's all the entertainment I require out of my phone :)
  • tipoo - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    Do we know yet if the Torch is getting that update that improved the Bold's Javascript performance so much? With the same processor it would make sense that it would.
  • Vinny N - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    There's an error in the article...the display resolution is stated as 320x480. It is actually 480x360. Someone must have been thinking of the 480x320 resolution of the original bold 9000...
  • mythun.chandra - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    Fixed!
  • tech6 - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    I can only partially agree with this review as it seems to approach the 9780 as a home user device. For the average home user this phone will not be very interesting so if you want apps to show off to your friends and family then get an Android or iPhone. The Blackberry is a corporate communicator and it servers that purpose very well delivering security, the policy based management functionality of BES and the focus of the UI. For business these are indispensable qualities that the competition doesn't yet offer. That is not to say that Android or iOS are inferior but their focus is more on turning phones into media consumption devices than serving business and your review needs to reflect that.

    I also don't agree with the assessment of build quality. I changed my 9700 for a 9780 a couple of weeks ago and it is every bit as sturdy as the Torch or the 9000 and 9700.
  • bplewis24 - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    Off-topic observation:

    I read your post and when I read the word "serves", I made sure to go back and re-read it, because I often subconsciously type out "servers" or "server" whenever I plan to type out "serves" or "serve" respectively. Lo and behold, you typed out "servers."

    I don't know what it is about that word that forces me to add an "r" to it, but I'm glad to know I'm not the only one :)

    Brandon
  • buhusky - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    10 years from now RIM will be nothing more than an article on Wikipedia
  • Stuka87 - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    If this is their idea of an update, I am not sure they will even last that long :/
  • mythun.chandra - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    The original signal attenuation numbers in the article were infact based on the "alt nmll" method. But as Faruk88 mentioned above, and based on what I saw myself, those numbers aren't nearly as accurate as the ones shown in the engineering menu which needs to be unlocked. :)
  • vision33r - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    If you look at the recent earning numbers from RIM, the company is raking money on services.

    Any Android handset maker can only dream of making the dough RIM is taking in. Not even Google makes this much money from their own Android phone division excluding their ads and search revenue.

    The only other company that makes this much money off their handset and services is Apple.
  • bplewis24 - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    But they warn of a rough quarter ahead:

    "It predicts its smartphone sales to fall at a time when the smartphone market overall is growing. It says to expect fiscal Q1 sales to fall between 13.5 and 14.5 million units. It also warns that its gross margin (a measure of profitability) will drop 41 percent."

    Nevertheless, excluding Google's ad/search revenue from the mobile division is being completely blind to their business model. They license open-source and essentially free software so that they can make their money on search/ad revenue. Excluding that when making a profit comparison is like comparing a wage-based employee's income to a commission-based employee's income by only comparing wage-based income.

    Brandon
  • worldbfree4me - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    I have got to give it up to RIM. They sure know how to milk something for all its worth. The Marvel 600 MHz cpu certainly have achieved economies of scale by now and then some. But my problem is this, it's like a V8 5.7 L (350 cu in) of yore vs. V8 6.2 L (376 cu in) of today, it’s a relic, plain and simple! Grand Ma doesn’t mind, but I do, so no sale period!
  • Wurmer - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link

    I agree and it's way pass time RIM equips their flag ship devices with much more powerful processor. Compare to other top of the line smartphone it's rather weak and with the coming of dual core CPU in smartphones they better stepup their game or they will be left in the dust. In these times of rapide changes I think it's not realistic to expect to use the same CPU for more than 6 to 12 months. My wife has both the Torch and the Iphone 4 and the speed doesn't compare, Apple product is a lot more snappier and faster.
  • NCM - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    The Anandtech site takes pains to be precise in its technical data and analyses, so the lack of attention to similar precision in use of language continues to disappoint.

    Only the latest of many examples:
    • The trademarked spelling of the RIM smartphone is "BlackBerry," complete with mid-cap.
    • Words in the English language do not form their plurals using a "grocer's apostrophe." The plural of "Blackberry" (even if that singular were correct) would never be the "Blackberry's" seen in your product review. Unlike the fruit, the plural of this trademarked name would normally be "BlackBerrys." RIM, however, says that there is to be no plural form of their trademark, but that "BlackBerry smartphones" should be used instead.
  • JarredWalton - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    I've corrected the spelling to BlackBerry, thanks. Your other two comments, while correct, do not appear to be present in this article. The only reference to "BlackBerry's" is on the summary page where we state, "the Torch and the Bold can both run the latest revision of BlackBerry's OS 6". While it may be more correct to say "RIM's OS 6" or simply "BlackBerry OS 6", you can look at it as the OS belong to BlackBerry and it would be correct. I've removed the apostrophe S anyway, as the full OS name should be BB OS 6.
  • Galcobar - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    "BlackBerry's" standing in for a plural form is also present in the Display and Camera page, first paragraph; and Design and Ergonomics, third paragraph
  • JarredWalton - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link

    Thanks... I tried searching for "Blackberry's" and couldn't find any hits; turns out that the text was "BlackBerry’s" (notice that's a right-single-quote instead of a regular apostrophe). Any more comments from the grammar fiends, or have we finally reached the point where you can merely grumble about our style rather than full-blown errors? :-)
  • Holler - Saturday, March 26, 2011 - link


    technically, Curve 9330 3G for sprint I beleive was the first "non touch: blackberry with OS6. has same processor and memory, but lesser screen and camera. I think it came out a month sooner.
  • tammlam - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link

    I'm on my second BB and the reason I went with them again is that these phones can take a licking and keep on ticking. I was tempted to go Android or WP7 but decided against it because I have seen some of my friends' Android phones have hardware failures from just regular use. My original BB was abused by my then 1-year-old son on a daily basis and it still works. It's been dropped, used as a chew toy, and thrown. I don't even hesitate to hand over the new BB to my now 2-year-old for him to play with. Furthermore, I do not use a protective case.
  • johnnydfred - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - link

    I just "graded" to the new Bold. This company's offering is becoming a joke. Had to take a meeting with conference calling, and finally switched over to my iPhone to get 'er done. Just can't believe my corp. is still working with RIM.

    I could close my eyes, spin and launch this cruddy piece of silicon and plastic into the night, and have a pretty good chance of striking a better smartphone.
  • CellPig - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link

    As long as Blackberry continues to keep their focus on things other than the internet browsing and apps they will continue to lose market share. Younger generations are snatching up smart phones left and right and they're not going to Blackberry. Does RIM not do any research on their target market??

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now