One Week with Blackberry Bold 2 (9700), what I missed most...

I spent a week with a Blackberry Bold aka 9700 and here is a list of things I liked and missed as compared to my old faithful Nokia E72.

1. In India, there are no Blackberry Maps available, the only option is to use Google Maps or as many threads have suggested Amaze GPS (which is no longer a free mapping service) as compared to my Nokia E72 on which there is free OVI Maps (free turn by turn mapping for the entire planet) and in addition you can have Google (better connection to the cloud for better context searches).

2. You can not update an address book record from the main screen. Like, if you got a call from someone, and the number shows in the received call register, there is an option to add this number to contacts, but the 9700 does not give you an option to update and existing contact (like the Nokia E72 does) and the only option is to painfully copy the number to clipboard, navigate to address book, navigate to the contact desired, choose edit, and then paste the number from clipboard. Duh !!!! Blackberry, please wake up.

3. The email app on the BB 9700 is good but...hello. I have some 40 odd folders on my Gmail which filter the various groups / newsletters / threads that I subscribe to, and they are neatly sorted in folders on my Nokia E72 (it allows I think 10 folders) but the Blackberry does not understand IMAPese. It has no idea that there are folders there, and it shows all those partly unnecessary mails in my main email view if I have chosen to update Gmail mails there. I have an option to go to filters and turn off these mails through filters, but then I do not get to see them anywhere at all on the Blackberry till I turn these filters off. The only option is to go to my PC to check these mails. Is this retarded? With my E72, I do not need to go near my PC at all, and the filtered mails are there on the E72 whenever I want to see them without an irritating alert every few seconds. (as on the 9700)

4. The Blackberry Bold 2 does not have an inbuilt dictionary app.

5. You can access the open apps by long pressing the menu key, but, hey, you can not close these apps by clicking the cancel/delete key like you can on the Nokia E72. Which means, going to individual apps and then scrolling down to 'close' to close these apps.

6. The native Blackberry Browser on the 9700 could not open my bank site. Must be an issue with https. I am not sure. It just showed a blank screen. And the browser is too darn slow.

7. The Camera on the 9700 is good. It renders the colors nicely and auto-focuses without any problem before clicking a pic. There is no need to first focus the camera as in the E72.

8. When the Blackberry Bold 2 rings, and you have an incoming call, the only options provided to you are 'answer' or 'ignore' the call. The E72 gives you the options to reject call with a pre-defined text message like "I am busy, will call back later" or any message of your choice.

9. If you are using any Mapping software, including Google Maps, I found the GPS fix taking a long time despite assisted GPS enabled. Also, the GPS needs to be switched on and Off through the main menu under Advance Settings. On the E72, the GPS fix is much faster and the GPS radio switches on or off automatically depending on the Map app being on or off. Saves the batteries.

10. No native Skype app for Blackberry yet. So the E72 pips the BB here.

11. BB messenger is a great app to keep in touch with other BB users worldwide for free, provided you know their device PIN. No comparison here.

12. No Opera Mini for the Blackberry Bold 2 yet, which is a certain let down.(Update- Opera Mini is now available and works OK)

13. Optical track pad is much responsive and makes it easy to scroll through pages, but if you want to scroll down a long page, it's easier on the E72 where you can hold down the D-Pad and not have to swipe the optical track pad a gazillion times.

14. The clock application on the Bold 2 has the option for only one single alarm time that you can set. The E72 allows you to set multiple alarms with their own repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly instructions.

15. I use the '$' sign while writing messages only once in the bluest of moons, and I use the '.' sign (full stop, period) every sentence. Yet, the BB team have the keyboard fixed so that the '.' sign needs a double key press (alt+ '.') and the '$' sign is a single press. High time they interchanged the two. What say people...?

16. The keyboard on the 9700 is not as user friendly as the E72. The keys are designed to be used with both your hands whereas on the E72, all keys are raised in the center making it very tactile and easy for one-handed use. E72 also has a 39 key keyboard as compared to a 35 key keyboard for the 9700. Way to go, Nokia...

17. Despite having 3G connectivity, the 9700 does not have a front camera for video chat. How uncool is that??

18. The Speed Dial on the 9700 is cool with all 26 letters of the alphabet available for Speed Dial excepts those reserved for voice mail (#1).

19. The Nimbuzz app on 9700 does not allow making voice calls on Skype, and only text chat is available. Unlike E72 where you have a choice of using native Skype or using Nimbuzz with all the capabilities.

20. The Speaker Phone on the 9700 is effective and loud and with a dedicated key, is quite useful. It even has equalizer controls for changing the treble / bass level.

21. The headphone jack hole is placed on the side, which means I can not really carry the phone in my pocket with the headphone plugged in. Nor can I put the phone in a Blackberry provided case with the headphone plugged in. What were you thinking BB?

22. The phone requires a reboot (which takes all of 10 minutes) every time I install or remove even a simple app. Comeon BB team, even simple phones do not require the reboot drill.

23. The phone is much thicker than the E72 and I can 'feel' it in my pocket. The E72 just melts away in your pocket.

24. I recently got an email notification from BB for an OS upgrade to 5.0.0.862 but the inbuilt wireless update didn't show the update. I had to connect to the PC to update. The E72 has OTA firmware update functionality which is quite handy.

25. There is no multiple selection of files if I am trying to attach more than 1 file to an email or move them from one location to the other. I have to painfully select each file and attach or move. The E72 is sooooo much better at this.

26. The search application on the Bold does not allow me the option to search documents or files, whereas the E72 has a very comprehensive search which includes searching over the net on google, all in one GUI.

27. I have not yet found a free app for the Bold for tracking my route (using GPS) like the Sports Tracker on the E72 (free). There is no comparison here.

28. All these shortcomings apart, the only area where the BB Bold scores over the E72 is the solidness of the emailing functions (minus the IMAPese, remember). Period. Otherwise it's a distant also ran. But I need to mention here that Nokia Customer Service has a dedicated team, and quite well trained at that, who solve the Nokia Email issues if any. I had a couple of issues and they promptly solved them for me. (I had 2 phones configured with the same id, so the server was getting confused, Nokia support deleted the phone I no longer used. Though I think this should happen automatically, but then hey, the Nokia Email service is free in India, yes totally free with the E72 which costs almost 1/2 as much as the Bold 2 in India).

29. Last but not the least the E72 has short cut buttons for putting the torch on and off (long press space bar), the bluetooth (dedicated button), etc. On the Bold 2 there is no way to get the torch (LED) to come on, so I use a trick like I have mapped the left convenience key to the video camera and I have the LED set to 'ON' as default in the Video camera. So I do get to use the left convenience key as the 'torch' key of sorts.

Comments welcome

Skinput - Touch screen on your skin

Sneak Peak at Symbian^4 Interface

and

Samsung Wave Hands on Video with Bada UI

Dual Boot N900 Maemo and Android

E72 - suggestions to the Firmware Update Team

1. When dialing a number, the left soft key says 'loudpeaker', once
the number connects, this shifts to the right soft key. This is rather
confusing. I expect one softkey to remain as the 'loudspeaker' key
either during the dialing process or after connection.
2. The phonebook search could include numbers. Like if I want to
search 98100......, the search should show me numbers beginning with
98100 in my phone book. All windows mobile phones have this lovely
feature.
3. Symbian team could work at making shortcuts of all keys (long
press). i.e. if I set long press 'c' for camera, long press 'e' for
email, long press 'k' for calculator, r for 'recorder' and even use
some for speed dialing like a for 'Arpit' etc, a lot of my navigation
through menus is reduced. All keys could be used for short cuts or at
least the alphabet keys.
4. They should consider adding a feature to find duplicate numbers in
the phone book.
5. The navi key makes you jump just one icon in the menu screen with
one scroll even at high sensitivity. There should be an option to
enhance this sensitivity so that users could scroll the entire length
or breadth of the screen with one finger swipe. It reduces effort.
6. The bluetooth key is a good idea, but there should be an option to
use this key for a. turning bt off or on (as it is already there), or
b. turing on the main bt screen (this is sometimes required to connect
your paired device and eliminates the need for going through the
menus.)
7. On the menu screen, there could be an option to turn off the menu
labels and hence pack more menu icons on the screen. The menu labels
of selected icon could display at the top of the screen.
8. The icons could be less colorful on a business phone, so all Nokia
needs to do is come ont with a serious business theme with simple,
colorless icons.
9. On selecting a contact, there should be an option to 'set meeting'
with the contact and open the calendar screen with the contact details
populated.
10. In the music player, while the music is playing, there should be
an option>lock keypad so that the optical key does not get activated
by mistake. (currently you need to go to main screen and lock, this is
cumbersome)
11. There is a lot of animation / transition time in the email
program. I would ask NOKIA to add an option to do away with the
transitions and make it snappy.
12. The Email software is regressive. The IMAP folders are not easy to
reach as on E71 and they do not display the number of unread messages
in brackets. You need to open all folders to be able to know if there
are any unread messages.
13. Another issue is that unlike E71 messaging, there is no option to
sync the 'read' message status. It automatically does. Meaning, if I
have read a message on the phone, or deleted it, it will show as read
or deleted on my pc as well. This is a bummer.
14. While updating the music library, it adds all sound files,
including ringtones that are small files. There should be an option to
set a minimum size of files to add when updating music library.
15. Moreover, if I install some sis or jar file using Ovi suite or
Nokia PC Suite, it should retain a copy of the sis or jar (0r jad)
file in a special folder on the PC so I can reinstall them through the
PC any time and the OVI Suite or PC Suite knows which all programs are
installed by a log file it maintains for the purpose. It makes the job
much simpler after a hard reboot. (hard boots are currently required
after every few weeks/ months to increase system performance, which
starts lagging dues to insufficient garbage collection)
16. The light sensor of the front of the phone
could be used to switch the optical navikey off (when the phone is
next o the ear) rather than have the optical navikey disabled during a
call as default. I think this feature of light sensor could also be
used to switch the phone to sleep mode when put inside it's case.
18. The lock screen is cumbersome with 2 keys, though I know it is
safer (less chances of getting activated by mistake) , but other
options like maybe double clicking the voice command key or double
tapping the d pad (navikey) could do the same.
19. The phone hangs, reboots and sometimes drops connection in the
middle of a call. Serious investigation of the same needs to be done.
20. Every application should have it's own choice of 'predictive input
'on or off rather than having it universal. I like to have it on while
doing a search on Ovi Maps, but do not like to have it on while
composing SMS, but like it while composing emails, or while writing
notes. But since there is a universal on or off for predictive input,
this is not possible.
21. I am still not sure if the E72 set I have is a 600 Mhz processor
as mentioned here http://www.forum.nokia.com/devices/E72/ , or a
slower processor.