- The BlackBerry Bold 9930 weighs 4.59 ounces and measures 4.53 x 2.6 x 0.41 Inches. Its 1230 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 6.6 hours of CDMA talk time (5.9 hours on GSM 3G networks), and up to 300 hours (12.8 days) of standby time. It runs on the 800/1900 CDMA/EV-DO Rev. A frequencies.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
Defining the word "Quality"
By E. Byer
I've been through hell and back with phones, so forgive me for being pessimistic when I'm standing in the Verizon store wondering what's wrong with each phone they had. I was ADAMANT that my next phone was going to be the iPhone5 because everyone has jump ship to buy one of these, and quite frankly I love how smooth and responsive my iPod Touch 4g is. Well to backtrack, I have suffered through the BB 8320, BB 8330, BB Tour....got fed up with how underpowered and outdated they were with TONS of lockups and LONG resets, went to G1, DroidX, Fascinate....got fed up with just soooo many glitches in Android phones I can't believe anybody actually believes they like them...and believe me....as hesitant as I was...I purchased the Blackberry Bold 9930. Why? Why not the iPhone5? For the following reasons:
1. IT HAS AN INDICATOR LIGHT! This technology is so dated that it's CRIMINAL not to include one on every phone manufactured. If you are like me who is always in quiet environments and can't have ringtones or chimes going off all the time, then this is extremely valuable to you. With the samsung fascinate I felt I had ADHD constantly checking the damn thing and actually used more battery turning the phone screen on and off. Also BB has the best notification lights on their products hands down! DroidX had one but it wasn't very visible. Love BB for this!
2. The BEST...and I mean this....THE BEST BB Keyboard I have every used! It's soft to the touch, easy to press, extremely responsive, keeps up with you, and is wide enough for my big fat fingers. BB...if you ever touch this keyboard and change it I will personally come to your headquarters and slap the CEO. This is the best one ever! I am so SICK and TIRED of these virtual keyboards I can spit. I have more errors than I or the device can count, and I spend MORE time correcting one word than typing a new word.
3. The screen. This is where I think people need to wake up and truly assess the screen size. It's absolutely stunning. It looks better than a retina display imho, it's 2.8" but not just that...it's touchscreen....something that I begged and pleaded from BB for as long as I can remember (I think the G1). Now I can just tap on the icons and simply tap on whatever I choose without a mouse cursor. Also I thank you BB from the bottom of my heart for keeping the touchpad because you are the ONLY company that I can actually scroll into the middle of a word and delete and replace letters. I can't stand those stupid touchscreen-only devices when you are typing a text message or web address and you miss a letter and you keep pushing with your index finger trying to get the cursor wedged between two small letters on a small screen. NEVER AGAIN. Also people argue "well you can blow up pictures bigger and view web pages longer." Very true. But in portrait view, the BB now offers the SAME width as all the other phones...go ahead and compare. Sure you get some more real estate in Landscape...but to me it's still a 3.5 - 4" screen and I wouldn't trade a BB keyboard for anything in the world!
4. FAST. I MEAN...FAST. This thing keeps up with every button I press and every icon I tap.
5. Battery life is good. Honestly I'm not jumping out of my seat saying "I can't believe how long this lasts." It does last a long time (I'd say about 6-10 hrs depending on real usage) but no better nor worse than the competitors. Gotta power that gorgeous display somehow right ;).
6. 5mp Camera is nice. The flash is great to have, but the pictures aren't as natural as a real camera flash. I'm being picky, but I tell it like it is. I really don't know what the iPhone camera flash is like, but I do know the pictures are crisp and clear on that phone. These pics seem great to me as well, but I have yet to send one to someone to see how it looks on their phone.
7. Design: Quite frankly I don't know what everyone is bickering about on the blogs, but apparently this Bold "look" has been replayed for a couple of years now. What I say to that is: If it ain't broke don't fix it. It's the most popular selling BB phone RIM sells next to the AT&T Torch, it looks gorgeous to me (I love the metal all around the sides and the carbon fiber look to the back cover), so they could sell me the same looking phone in 6 yrs and I'd still buy it. How many times do you watch your favorite movie over and over again knowing it won't change when you watch it? What about the iPhone? Black front, shiny back every time...still looks gorgeous (can't fault them for that).
8. Speaker, speaker, mic, and vibration: You have to hear it to believe it. The speaker on this phone is very loud and clear up to 85% volume (I notice more distortion past that). I dare you right now to go find a speaker that beats this...go ahead...I will wait. I have had one too many phones in my day and this one is the loudest and "clearest" relatively speaking of the bunch. The way I test a speaker volume is to try it out in the store in a noisy environment. If I can still hear the music AND it sounds good, then that is a good speaker. All the devices out there can't match it. Sorry but it's true. The next speaker is the earset. Sounds crisp and clear. Something my Samsung Fascinate apparently knew nothing about (muffled, crappy, distorted). The mic picks up my voice very well and people have commented ever since I got the phone that I sound clearer. The vibrator on this phone is adequate and noticeable on a desk, but I still have trouble with it in my pocket (like every other phone on the market....they were meant to be worn on belts).
9. Comes with a leather case...and a high quality one. I always loved buying a BB for one of these. It has the swivel clip so you can orient it on your belt as you please.
I could go on and on about this but I'll stop here. I RARELY write reviews unless I am in love with a product and THIS is a product I love. I highly recommend it and if you have any questions my name is Ed at optomechesst@aim.com.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
Step in the right direction for RIM....
By Quentin Gerlach
I feel for you Verizon customers who have been waiting to upgrade your Blackberries - especially if you wanted a touchscreen BB. Since RIM never released the Torch 9800 for CDMA users, you guys never got to experience that goodness. Surprising since the Torch is (was now, with the release of the Torch 2 and the new 9850 for Verizon) one of the few decent releases from RIM in the past couple of years. Anywho - with the 9930 Bold, those who were left out finally have a reason to upgrade their phones.
For those of you who are wondering - this is NOT the Monaco phone that RIM plans on releasing soon. That phone is fully touchscreen - designed to replace the much hated Storm and not too much better Storm 2.
Ok, so some list of changes that RIM brought about:
- With the release of this Bold, RIM decided to nicely go back to the old style Bold 9000 keyboard. The keys are a bit bigger, so for those of you whose fingers might have been too big for the Bold 2 that was released for Verizon, I urge you to give this phone's keyboard a try - you'll be pleased. Some of you may notice the dimensions of the 9930 and the 9700 are very close, so you might wonder how they got the keyboard bigger. Well, they did it by getting rid of the plastic lining around the sides of the phone. Yes - both the keyboard and screen are now flush with the edge of the phone. I'm not sure I'm a fan of this, as it makes it a whole lot easier to crack/break something important, but it seems to be a direction most phone manufacturers are moving in, so we'll see....
- This phone is the first to have the new 7 OS - which is nice, but I think I'd rather have the QNX OS, thank you very much... Haha - but it is a good OS - for those who are interested, it takes up less space than 6. If my calculations are correct - about 15% less. This OS also supports NFC (near-field communication), so it'll be interesting to see what kind of apps developers create to take advantage of it. (For those who remember it - NFC is how Google Wallet works) Voice search also works particularly well with this OS, and two new business apps are included, called BlackBerry Protect and Balance. Protect allows your business to remotely monitor, configure and wipe, if necessary, a remote smartphone so when the phone disappears, your whole business life doesn't disappear along with it. And Balance separates business tasks from personal stuff on a BlackBerry, which helps avoid the possibility of confidential data accidentally being sent to all those shady contacts.....
- Yes, the screen is touch capable. It's actually pretty slick - especially considering how small the screen is, comparatively speaking, so it is usable in day to day operations. It especially works well with the browser - for all those times you need to move the page around, or zoom in on something, or zoom out to get a better view of the entire page. Are you going to play games with it?? Most likely not. But it is a start.
- "Liquid Graphics Technology": there's been alot of talk about this, and what exactly does RIM mean by it. Here's what I can tell you, from my research and usage of the phone: RIM basically put a separate graphics processor into the phone, which means that any of the graphics stuff should be a whole lot smoother and cleaner, since there's a distinct chip handling all of it. From what I've seen, it is pretty fluid, but it still does get hung up at times - especially when it comes to certain web pages. But overall, definitely an improvement. I heard it's also designed to support 3D animations and games...
Alright - enough of that. Time for the good stuff - is it worth it??
Short answer - absolutely.
Pros:
1) Battery life rocks. I feel for all of you iPhone and Android users whose phones die in like a day. This phone still keeps kicking after 2 days - without plugging it in once. Add to that the ability to actually change your battery, and that I tend to carry a spare just in case, and I can go practically a week without having to charge my phone. Incredible....
2) Faster processor. Thank you RIM, for finally adopting a processor that breaks the 1 GHz marker in a phone! Actually RIM upgraded a bunch of hardware - like the memory, along with the ability to do NFC communications. Thank you for reaching the 21st century RIM - we're happy to have you!
3) Global phone - this phone supports both the GSM and CDMA networks, so it can be used internationally - a big plus for our corporate employees. If you happen to travel internationally alot - don't worry, this phone's got you covered.
4) Hotspot capable - this phone I believe is the first BB to natively support hotspots. Yes, there are apps you can download for the other phones, but you usually have to pay a decent amount (the cheapest I can remember is around 35 - 40 bucks) This supports personal hotspot right out the box, and it does support N-type speeds.
Cons:
1) Apps. Actually - it's not what you think. It's not about the amount of apps - it's that quite a few don't work with OS 7 right now. Though this will be corrected as the OS matures and becomes more available.
2) Screen resolution - which still comes in at 640x480 pixels and 287 dpi. It's not bad - but I was hoping to get a qHD screen on a BB soon....
3) No 4G - this does annoy me greatly. 4G, especially on Verizon, is starting to get decent, and to not have that ability on this phone?? I get the fact that it's a battery hog, but with BB battery life's so good as it is, I can't imagine it detracting from it that much.
Honestly - what's been holding RIM back is their lack of upgrading the hardware. They always seem to be a year behind the phones of the present. They finally do some catching up with the 9930.
I'll update this review as I use the phone more - feel free to ask questions or correct me, since I'm sure I forgot something!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Bolder
By A. Dent
I will state right in the beginning my view that Blackberries continue to be the leaders when it comes to security, data efficiency, reliability and and practicality. My company-issued Blackberry does not do games very well and I'm not using it to play movies (I prefer the 73" screen in the living room for that) but it's amazingly good when it comes to getting my email and quickly composing new messages or replying to the incoming. Also great at integrating the enterprise email with any Web email services I'm using, Bluetooth-paired devices and the phone features be they 4G or Wi-Fi.
Current Bold users should be happy and almost certainly happier with the 9930 because this is very much the 'old' Bold only sleeker, faster or, in other words... bolder. When it comes to new users, it's a crowded marketplace out there. Those who prefer great physical keyboards may want to look into this Bold because you could hardly find a better 'phone' keyboard anywhere and that includes other Blackberries. I am currently a Torch user but I've been given the opportunity to try out a couple of the newer models: this new Bold and the new Torch 9810. The Torch has a slightly larger screen but, in fairness, few phones come close to the new Bold when the factors considered are elegance, the quality of the build and, naturally, the keyboard.
First, the good things:
- IT'S STILL A BLACKBERRY - This is important to the many BB users who want their Blackberry to change only slightly from one generation to another, at least as far as the physical form and the user interface is concerned. While Blackberries evolved from the little 'wheel' to the track ball to the current touch-sensitive pad to touch screens, they are still recognizable and I bet that if a time traveler from, let's say, 2002, popped up in 2011, he/she should be able to use the 9930 in no time. All buttons are at the familiar locations and, at least when comparing it with the previous generation, the 9930 responds very much in the same way with 'touch' added if needed but never mandatory to accomplish anything. I find myself using a combination of touch, buttons and sometimes to track pad to operate it.
- IT'S SMALLER, LIGHTER - While the screen appears to be (very slightly) larger on the 9930, its bulk is significantly reduced. This model is thinner and it appears to weigh less than its predecessor. Not everyone may appreciate this in the beginning and I was one of those but I got used with the lighter device quickly and I would consider it an improvement now.
- TOUCH - Not the first Blackberry with the feature and it's not as good as iPhone's but, for what I'm using it, it's just right. The new Blackberry OS allows me to 'touch' just about anything on the screen and trigger... something. Gestures are also supported including 'pinch-zoom' in and out. And, related...
- BUTTONS - Maybe this should have been at the top of the list. This Blackberry does not force me to do everything by touching the screen. Just about everything can be done by either pushing/clicking a button and controlling the cursor with the little trackpad or by interacting directly with the screen (tap virtual buttons) or a combination. Most of the time it's 'a combination' for me and it's always the way I feel most comfortable about doing things. I appreciate the ability to use physical buttons when I want it.
- IMPROVED PICTURE QUALITY - Very much on par with what's current 'best in the business', the picture is significantly better as far as brightness and resolution. I would not use the Bold to watch movies or read books with the Kindle app but this is because I don't use Blackberries that way. I could if I wanted to. To me Blackberries are expected to do: email, voice, enterprise integration. Everything else is 'extras' - my employer wouldn't like to see me watch movies, play games or update my Facebook wall on the company 'phone'.
- BETTER KEYBOARD - Believe it or not, this Bold's keyboard is even a better design that the predecessor's. The keys are slightly larger because keys now stretch from edge thus gaining maybe an extra 1/8 of an inch to distribute among the 10 or so keys on each row. I noticed the difference immediately.
- EXTRAS - Of course, you get cameras with geolocation which I'm not likely to use a lot but it's good to know it's there, you can get video for free or subscribe to some pay services, have the ability to store various media and so on. It's good to have them but I'm not likely to spend much time with the 'extras' except maybe with the Web browser which, by the way, is very good at handling HTML5.
- IMPROVED WEB BROWSER - This is good news. The built-in browser may not be as good as, let's say, Opera but it's coming pretty close and it's a major improvement over what Blackberry used to offer. This one is, of course, touch enabled.
- Bluetooth, WI-FI - they work great and pairing with a Bluetooth device can be done literally in seconds.
In addition to the above, on the 'the same' or not necessarily 'improvements' category, I noticed no significant change as far as battery life is concerned. Hard to measure it but I would recharge it every couple of days if used for phone/email only and at least daily if a lot of web browsing or video is involved.
On the not-so-good or 'really annoying' side, I really hated the abundance of bloatware - I call it 'crapware' - that seems to have invaded the Blackberry world. There is an abundance of little pre-installed apps and services that, shortly after you click on and go to the trouble of activating them, it turns out that they are 'pay' things, ranging from Pac-Man to TV services, and it's either impossible or very difficult to remove - I didn't have the time to waste so I was able to quickly hide them but... there SO MANY of them. If RIM is listening, they should know that I do NOT love Blackberry more for turning the BB desktop into some apps and services peddling space. Blackberry's app store continues to be difficult to navigate, overpriced and quite unattractive.
When it comes to rating this new Bold, within the context of Blackberries, it's probably one of the best and I am now hesitating between this and the Torch. It's lighter, brighter, sharper, faster and provides more functionality than previous models so it's a five-star.
And, yes. The Blackberry is not an iPhone or an Android. And the reverse happens to be true: iPhones and Androids are not Blackberries. I'm using a Honeycomb tablet for personal entertainment and there is an iPad in our household but what I've been using a Blackberry for 'business' quick, efficient and reliable communications for the past 10+ years. They never let me down.
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