The OC Technophile

Blackberry is constantly updating their lineup of phones and most recently updated their Bold line of phones with the Blackberry Bold 9700. If you’ve ever used the Bold line, the 9000 was the most recent of the line. It was a little larger than the current phone but proved it could handle anything thrown at it and had a strong battery life as well. The 9700 contains updated software, a smaller device factor, and proves that smaller things do come in better packages. No longer do you have the trackball but now have a trackpad which makes navigating the interface so much better. The 9700 also contains a longer battery life than most Blackberry units and has lasted us well through the day with multiple options open at the same time. The email interface remains the same as does the browser, but an upcoming browser update is in the words according to those in the know.

Overall, we’d highly recommend the newest addition in the Blackberry lineup as they’ve kicked it up a notch, to quote the celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. Sturdy, productive, and a professionals dream equal a great product. Grab it from AT&T today for $199 with a 2 year contract.

I’ve recently purchased the Nokia E-71-2 and am ready to proclaim this as the king of Smartphones. I’ve had the opportunity to use the N95 and iPhone in cell phone testing, and it’s amazing to see the differences in a closed platform vs open platform cell programs.

The E71 by Nokia is a all in one smartphone with a full Qwerty keyboard, a brillant screen, built in WiFi, GPS, 3.2 Megapixel Camera, and many more features. From the minute I took it out of the box, the build quality on this phone blew me away. Solid and robust feel to the unit makes for a durable phone in our world. Built in exchange support, full email support including POP and Imap, and ability for multiple email accounts also adds to its excellence.

What really makes the E71 and even the N95 stand apart from most applications is the S60 platform which stands miles apart from the Apple process of NDA’s and closed developers. There are a ton of applications that you are able to download and try  (some free, some not), and don’t require you to unlock your phone or break the phone to use them. Applications such as fring, truphone, and others allow for built in VOIP as well.

Video support is built in as well and with a worldwide support staff of developers and users, it’s easy to find support when needed.

The N95 in retrospect is a feature packed phone with a 5 megapixel camera, but is a slider phone and typing emails and texts proved a chore. The future N96 is due out this fall and should be interesting to see its improvements over the N95.

Kudos to Nokia for putting together a great phone and the best Smartphone on the market. 10/10 from us.