BW Communities

A Bolder Move

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[For many years now, BlackBerry users have been what I'd call a rather patient lot. They've been used to devices that sport a spec list of ‘have-nots' – they didn't have latest cameras, the thinnest specs or the fastest processors, and a lot of the latest specs made their way to ‘berries much after they became standard fare on the competition. With the Bold 9900 though, RIM seems to have righted the ship, with forward-looking specs and a brand new OS7 platform to boot! At 130grams, it isn't exactly light, but then with a ‘berry I have to know it means business and it can take the rigor of everyday use. The 10mm slim profile certainly helps sliding it into a pocket, and it wears the "slimmest BlackBerry yet" crown well. The metal band which surrounds the 9900 gives it a premium feel, and makes the rest of the Bold family look very plastic by comparison! The display on the 9900 is excellent – with a 640 x 480-pixel panel, it isn't a iPhone Retina display by any measure, but the 2.8 inch touch screen looks downright beautiful, with vivid and crisp reproduction and a touch panel that is accurate and responsive. But no two ways about it, the keyboard is still excellent, probably the best physical keyboard on any smartphone around. Proper sized, tactile, and very usable – just the way BlackBerry users will like it as will anyone switching over as well. It has got to be said that the touch and QWERTY implementation seen in the 9900 makes a lot of sense, and feels very efficient by design. Imagine a QWERTY keyboard Android device of this size – you'd almost feel cramped, and the OS would feel much more difficult to navigate. OS7 on the 9900 feels like it was made for this device – one second you're hammering away at the keyboard, and the next, you could instantly take your thumb up to the screen to touch a button or dismiss an alert. It feels very natural to use. And for once, RIM has shown some hardware leadership by including a near field communication chip – a fairly new technology that's been talked about for years but only made its way into very few phones. In the future, this may allow you to use the phone for contactless payments. For now though, there's little use for NFC technology, so this feature is nice to have but there's not much more you can do with it. It's under the hood that the real statements are made – the 9900 breaks through the 1GHz barrier and packs in a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Add to that 768 MB of memory with 8GB of storage going upto 32 GB via microSD cards, and you have more than enough storage for most people. It also fits in hardware accelerated graphics, which RIM has dubbed "liquid graphics", which allows for smooth 3D graphics support, HD video recording and an overall smoother experience. You certainly can't criticize this unit for not being powerful enough, can you? The flipside is the impact on battery life, and if you've been used to eking out 2 days out of your ‘berry, this one will need to be charged at the end of the day or you'll have the phone dying on your by the middle of the next day. This then is a device that exudes quality, but can it command the price premium? For the average consumer, all things considered, they may just find the same money can get them a lot more smartphone elsewhere. <a href="/businessworld/system/files/OS7-Screenshot-pu.jpg" onclick="window.open('','','');return false;"><img src="/businessworld/system/files/OS7-Screen250x189.jpg" style="margin: 5px; float: right;" width="250" height="189"></a>OS7 The 9900 is the first BlackBerry to sport OS7, a platform that takes a lot of visual cues from the PlayBook's user interface. As before, you have numerous app drawers you can swipe through (favourites, recent, downloaded etc), although you can now manage which ones you want to see via the menu. But beyond a few visual tweaks here and there, OS7 doesn't look that different from OS6, and really ought to have been a OS 6.1 or 6.5 rather than bumping it up to a version 7. Don't get me wrong though – with the faster hardware and the under the hood tweaks, the phone is much faster to use, and quite literally flies when you compare it even to a one-generation old ‘berry. The app story on the BlackBerrys is an oft repeated tale, and the competition is much further along the road in this department. Maybe a concerted effort to move developer attention to the QNX-based OS (used first in the PlayBook) meant for upcoming devices next year will help? Rating: 7/10 Price: Rs 32,490 URL: http://bit.ly/pSI0Y7 <table style="width: 600px;" align="center" border="1" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;">A Perfect Case</td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="/businessworld/system/files/apl8-ipad1-20-mdm.jpg" style="margin: 5px; float: left;" width="200" height="200">There are regular everyday cases for your iPad, and then there is the Utility Series Latch from Otterbox. Designed for heavy on-the-go users, folks who are looking to use the iPad in the field or for entertaining the kids in the car, this accessory offers it all. It comes with elastic straps that wrap around the corners of the iPad. From there on in, you can either use the padded hand strap to quickly secure the iPad to one hand, eliminating the likelihood of dropping it while you're on the field. Or you can use the included adjustable elastic strap (with velcro) that lets you fasten the device to the back of a car seat headrest for worry-free kid-use. Otterbox also packs in a non-waterproof cover for your iPad – it isn't waterproof but it will help protect your device a bit if you encounter bad weather, and will keep the dust and dirt out as well. There's a lot of thought and detail placed into the making of this accessory, and is something I'd strongly recommend if you're on the road a lot.   Rating: 8/10 Price: $49.95 URL: http://bit.ly/pIds8V</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <table style="width: 600px;" align="center" border="1" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;">Securing Your iPhone</td> </tr> <tr> <td>After launching an Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile version of their popular WaveSecure cellphone protection software, McAfee has launched a version for iPhones as well.  Not only does it maintain an online backup of contacts and photos, ready to restore onto another device (in case of theft), it can even let the owner monitor a lost phone's location or remotely wipe the phone's data. Never let the data on your phone get into the wrong hands, even if the phone does.   URL: http://bit.ly/oOHFYd Price: $19.99</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> technocool at kanwar dot net twitter@2shar