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The BlackBerry Bold Impresses

While the iPhone 3G launch is capturing headlines and media coverage, Research in Motion is readying its BlackBerry Bold. The Boy Genius has been playing with it for a month, and he wrote up a very lengthy review. The verdict? BlackBerry lovers will be quite satisfied.

It looks like there were some hiccups with the software -- expected with a pre-release version -- but the Bold was easily updated:

This part totally blew us away! Gone are the days of a 30-45 minute backup and update. It probably took no more than 6 minutes to backup the device, erase the applications, load the system software and what not. The only part that took a little bit was waiting for the device to initialize after everything was done. As soon as we booted up with the new OS, we were good!

The screen was described as the "best screen we've ever seen on a mobile device. Hands down." That's high praise for this iPhone competitor. But, it does appear that the screen is easy to scratch, so be sure to not put it in your pocket with keys.

The smartphone's packed with connectivity options, as users can fire off e-mails using 3G data, Wi-Fi, and even EDGE. It also uses cellular data to rock assisted GPS, which could provide goodies like turn-by-turn navigation. The browser has finally been upgraded, and seems like it will be usable. Not iPhone-like, but definitely better than previous BlackBerrys.

There did seem to be some issues with the OS, though:

What's sad is that even with this bad-ass 624-MHz CPU, we still get slow downs and we still get freezes. Don't get it mixed up, it is 100% faster than any other BlackBerry. We just can't understand why this thing isn't really optimized like it should be. Ah! Because the OS is from 1999. That's it.

BG also goes in depth about the keyboard, applications, and more. It looks like a home run for RIM, but it's still unclear when this handset will be out, and at what price.

Are you going to resist the lure of the iPhone 3G and snap up a Bold? One thing's for sure, with upcoming devices like the HTC Touch Pro, Samsung Omnia, and Apple and RIM's latest handsets, it's a good time to be shopping for a smartphone.

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