The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is now available in South Africa via MTN, with no word as yet from Vodacom on when they will stock it.

The Bold 9700 is feature packed with 3G HSDPA connectivity, a powerful 624 MHz processor, 256 MB Flash memory, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a sharp 2.44" display.

Bucking current smartphone trends, the 9700 doesn’t feature a touch-screen. Instead you get a touch sensitive optical trackpad for easy scrolling and navigation, as seen on the recent Curve 8520. So, while the screen looks fairly small in comparison to other smartphones on the market, it is more than satisfactory considering you get a full, physical QWERTY on the device.

Although it the Bold 9700 is available from MTN, BlackBerry could not provide a recommended retail price yet.