BlackBerry Bold 9930: Conclusion

CONCLUSION

When it comes to BlackBerrys, the Bold 9930 is the cream of the crop. But that's exactly the problem: it's a BlackBerry and ultimately, that means it pales in comparison to the competition in many areas.

Yes, the Bold 9930 now has a touchscreen and a slimmed-down profile, and it maintains the great BlackBerry cornerstones of an excellent keyboard and a solid email application, which is why I'm sure it's still the smartphone of choice for many businesses.

But when compared to the likes of Android and iOS, the Bold 9930 still comes up very short. Introducing the next version of the BlackBerry OS -- the one based on QNX -- would have been a great way to overcome this obstacle and improve the user experience, but in the end this just a minor upgrade, not a major overhaul.

The tweaks to improve the user interface and integrate touchscreen controls are certainly welcome, as is the much faster browser, but RIM needed something much more drastic to make the Bold 9930 a more desirable choice than the other, more user-friendly devices that are out there. And let's honest: the browser may be improved, but it still doesn't hold a candle to BlackBerry's competitors.

There's nothing wrong with the BlackBerry Bold 9930 per se, it's just that the OS hasn't changed much and it's still very much a niche device for the business-oriented. Others looking for a vastly different BlackBerry experience should probably hold out until next year for a new device with the QNX OS.

Individual Ratings: *

Service, Warranty & Support  
Ease of Use 
Design 
Performance 
Value 
* Ratings averaged to produce final score