Following months of leaks BlackBerry holding company Research In Motion (RIM) has officially unveiled its two latest BlackBerry Bold smartphones. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones features an easy-to-use BlackBerry keyboard as well as high resolution, capacitive touch-screen.These two smartphones also operate on a new, performance-driven platform powered by the BlackBerry 7 operating system (OS).

 

 

Like the other smartphones in the Canadian company’s line-up, such as the BlackBerry Bold 9780 and BlackBerry Torch 9800, these additions to the Bold line-up sport one of the best QWERTY keyboards available on a smartphone, as well as a selection of premium materials and finishes.

 

Both models’ exteriors feature a brushed stainless steel frame and a high-gloss glass-weave backplate. These are also the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones thus far, measuring in at a mere 10.5 mm (slightly thicker than the iPhone 4’s 9.3 mm and Samsung Galaxy S II’s 8.9 mm).

 

 

 

Besides their thin frames, the 9900 and 9930 are the first models to be powered by the new BlackBerry platform. The company only recently revealed the name change from BlackBerry OS 6.1 to BlackBerry 7 OS.

 

RIM stated that it provides an easier and faster user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches, the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, as well as additional personal and productivity apps out of the box.

 

 

The standard BlackBerry Browser has been significantly enhanced in BlackBerry 7. In addition to the general performance gains of Liquid Graphics, which helps deliver faster rendering and seamless panning and zooming, the BlackBerry 7 browser includes a new JIT (just in time) JavaScript compiler to improve the load time speed of web pages. This new browser also includes support for additional HTML5 elements, such as HTML5 Video.

 

Building upon the Universal Search feature introduced in BlackBerry 6, BlackBerry 7 expands the capability to include voice-activated search. This new capability makes it even easier and more convenient to search for content on the smartphone or web.

 

 

As convenient as the new voice-activated search functionality, so is the integration of BlackBerry Balance, which separates personal content from corporate content on the smartphone. This provides users with the ability to use the handset for personal email, Facebook, Twitter, multimedia, games and other apps, whilst also attending to their need for corporate data to be highly secure and manageable.

 

BlackBerry Balance works in conjunction with BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.3, which provides a number of unique IT policy controls, including wiping only corporate data from the device and blocking work related content and apps from being copied or forwarded to personal contacts.

 

With BlackBerry 7 on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones, users will also get the full version of Docs To Go with all “premium” features enabled out-of-the-box so that users can easily work with Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the smartphone. Docs To Go also includes a native PDF viewer.

 

 

It’s not just the new OS and included apps that is going to allow for a performance boost on these new BlackBerry Bold smartphones, as they are also powered by a 1.2 GHz processor (the fastest CPU used on BlackBerry smartphones thus far). The 9900 and 9930 also boast support for high speed 4G/HSPA+ wide area wireless networks.

 

According to the company, the Liquid Graphics touch-screen delivers fast, smooth performance for highly responsive touch-based navigation, web browsing, pictures, video and graphics intensive games. 

 

It offers up to 60 frames-per-second performance with instant UI action/response, with both smartphones featuring brilliant displays with an 287 dots per inch (approaching the iPhone 4 display’s class leading 326 dpi) to deliver crisp, stunning visuals.

 

 

 

Complimenting the Liquid Graphics and high-resolution displays are some added functionality that is new to BlackBerry OS the likes of NFC (Near Field Communication). The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones, like the new Google Nexus S and a few other Android-running smartphones, includes built-in support for NFC. This new technology will enable many rich and exciting experiences, including mobile payments via the smartphone without the need for you to swipe your credit/debit card.

 

Like the Nokia N8, E7 and HTC Desire Z, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones supports up to 720p (HD-ready) video recording and playback. Users will be able to easily share their videos directly from the smartphone or sync videos, as well as music and photos, to their PC via Media Sync included with the BlackBerry Desktop Software.

 

Both devices also feature a built-in compass (magnetometer) to support location-based services as well as augmented reality. These models will also include Wikitude software, which overlays contextual information on what the user sees through the smartphone’s camera viewfinder.

 

 

The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are expected to be available from carriers around the world beginning this summer (winter for us). No local release dates or prices are available yet.

 

 

115 x 66 x 10.5 mm, approx. 130 g

2.8" capacitive touch-enabled display – VGA (640 x 480), 287 dpi resolution

Ultra-easy QWERTY keyboard, optical trackpad

1.2 GHz processor, 768 MB RAM

8 GB on-board memory, plus microSD slot supporting up to 32 GB cards

NFC technology

5MP camera that supports 720p HD video recording

Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), Digital Compass (Magnetometer), Proximity Sensor

Built-in GPS / aGPS

Dual-Band Wi-Fi - 802.11 n at 2.4 GHz and 802.11 n at 5 GHz

Bluetooth 2.1+EDR support

Wireless Network support:

9900: Tri-Band HSPA+, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE

9930: Dual-Band CDMA/EV-DO Rev. A, Dual-Band HSPA+, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE

1230 mAh removable, rechargeable battery

BlackBerry 7 OS