[9thline]

Hi everyone - I scrolled through this forum for a good Bold user review discussion and decided to start one. I just got my Bold a few days ago and I think the infatuation is already gone, so I'm not sure if I should return it or suck up the loss of $400 and keep it. Here's my review:

Good:
Keyboard is awesome and I find typing on the large surface a lot smoother, and I'm making less mistakes

Built in speaker sounds amazing for the size, good when you want to show videos or play songs for other people.

As a phone, the sound is much better both talking to others and listening.

The larger screen is amazing, crisp and bright. The photos and videos that come with the unit really showcase the picture quality here.

Browser is definitely much better, better than OperaMini

Finally plays YouTube videos.

Has a video camera.

Wifi seems to work

NotSoGood:

The system is faster but not significantly so I don't know, maybe I'm used to computer performance? But the advertising and reviews I've heard and read seem to make this thing out to be the cat's ass in Blackberries and I still find it lags once in a while when switching apps etc.

3G, is this supposed to be fast? Again, faster than Edge but not much by any stretch. Especially the GPS, in fact I don't see a difference at all when doing the GPS navigation. And it still takes long to load image intensive pages.

WIFI - well if I'm on 3G with a 6GB plan, it's not very useful for me. Plus I had a hard time connecting to my secure network at home. I had to set it up through my router actually.

Skin - I'm sorry, but when you make all the buttons white outlines, it's just hard to find stuff quickly. I realize it's solved quickly by installing themes but I havne't gotten around to it yet.

Mac support - I installed the latest version of Pocketmac, and it crashes everytime I do a synch. I tried it about 5 times, and realized that although it crashed, it still managed to download my calendar and address book over. However, it didn't bring over my notes and it still erases all the calendar items from 60 days prior by default. I have stuff I need to keep for that!


So anyway, that's my pathetic review. As you can see there are more good points than bad but they are very short which means they're less significant. I guess I am 50/50 on this thing. Just wondering if other Bold owners are still at the honeymoon stage after a week of ownership?

[UptownGirl]

I've owned the BB Bold for almost 3 weeks and am still at the honeymoon stage, so much so I'm going to buy another one for a family member. The first one I bought was unlocked from Rogers but I'll wait till AT&T finally releases it in the U.S. to buy the second (if they ever do). On the points you raised:

System speed - no problems so far for me. I've found it to be really quick when switching between apps, pulling up stuff, etc. Are you running the latest official OS - 4.6.0.162? I downloaded it yesterday and feel like it's really speeded things up, although it was fast to begin with (the Rogers pre-installed one was 4.6.0.125).

3G - agree with you on that one, it's fast but not as fast I thought it would be. Although that may be more of an AT&T issue for me and a Rogers issue for you.

Wi-fi - works great for me so far. I make it a point though to keep it off if I'm in an area with strong 3G and only switch it on if I don't get 3G somewhere. It saves battery life.

No issue with skins, and I don't use a Mac so I can't comment on that.

Personally, I love the Bold and am really enjoying the screen (awesome for photos and videos) and music and browsing and fast email and the call quality has been excellent. It's easy to use and I haven't experienced any glitches (even downloading the new OS was a breeze). However, everyone has a different experience, and if you are on the fence, maybe you should consider other options like the iPhone, etc. It may be better on the Mac issue, although I think it'll be the same as regards 3G and Wi-fi issues.