BlackBerry Bold 9780 Review

BlackBerry Bold 9780 deals

There are no huge changes with the BlackBerry Bold 9780 to its predecessor, the Bold 9700 (which we have also reviewed on this site). But then they probably figured it was a case of, if it's not broken then don't fix it. If you're a fan of the BlackBerry yand its full QWERTY keyboard and you're not worried about getting the most up to date phone, it's well worth checking out the phone deals available on the BlackBerry Bold 9780.

Physical Design

In its physical design the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is almost identical to the Bold 9700. At a glance it really is difficult to tell them apart. Which is not necessarily to say that's a bad thing because the 9700 is a very good looking phone... which means that the Bold 9780 is as well. It's just that with this sort of thing, the first time something is done is always the best, after which it just feels like copying. So while it does look good, some kind of tweak of the design would have been welcomed.

One aspect that we don't have any complaints over, however, is the QWERTY keyboard. That's basically the same as well, but this is an area in which originality is not important. What's important is how well it functions, and this keyboard functions extremely well. It can be daunting at first, with so many buttons close together but after a little bit of practice your fingers will soon be able to get used to where everything is. This allows you to punch out a long email in a similar amount of time that it would take with a regular size keyboard. Which is of course why the BlackBerry has proved so popular in the business community, as it is especially good for emailing when you are out and about.

Having said that though, Android and iPhone devices do a good job these days as well with on-screen keyboards. And if you don't need a physical keyboard then with an Android or iPhone you have access to plenty of other benefits, not least of which being a copious amount of downloadable apps.

Upgrades

We've talked a lot about the similarities of the BlackBerry Bold 9780 with the 9700, but what about the differences? There have been upgrades, so what are they?

• BlackBerry 6 OS. One of the major ones is an upgrade to RIM's BlackBerry 6 operating system which has made web browsing smoother and includes a feed which brings together your Twitter, Facebook and other notifications. It runs very smoothly on the 624MHz processor with 512MB RAM. The only problem is that this is an operating system which was designed to be used with a touchscreen as well as touchpad, and the Bold 9780 only has a touchpad. That makes it feel a bit awkward some of the time, when it feels like the most natural thing to do would just be to stab an icon with your finger. However there is a search feature on the phone, accessible at all times, that allows you to find anything on the phone simply by searching for it so this makes up for some of the difficulties.
• 5MP Camera. Another major upgrade for those of you who like to be able to snap a good pic with your camera is the inclusion of a 5 megapixel camera. Unfortunately you can't record HD videos as well, which is pretty standard these days.

The 2.4 inch screen is as big as you would expect with a phone that has a lot of its space taken up with a QWERTY keyboard, and the 480 x 360 pixel resolution is fine for a screen of this size.

For the full specs, check out BlackBerry's website.

Summary

If you're in the market for a smart phone with plenty of apps and customisable features, then this is probably not the phone you're looking for. On the other hand it's well worth checking out the BlackBerry Bold 9780 monthly contract deals available if you're looking for a smoothly operating smart phone with a great QWERTY keyboard.  Or if you prefer another colour, BlackBerry Bold 9780 white deals.