Ecosystems: My Take On The BlackBerry Bold
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I have a problem. I am addicted to mobile technology. So, when I got a chance to play with a Blackberry Bold for a day, I could not pass it up. I have not touched a Blackberry for probably 6-7 years. I looked at the specs and read some of the early reviews, and the Bold seemed like it would be the perfect Blackberry for me to try out. My main requirements for my primary device: 3g, hardware keyboard (usually front-facing), push email, Microsoft Office capabilities.
The Bold is a sexy device. I love the design. It has a shiny screen and buttons around the trackpad, but the rest of the device is not a fingerprint magnet. The keyboard is great with a black matte finish. It is surrounded in matte plastic chrome. The back of the device has a fake leather design. It is elegant, it is modern, it does not require you to have a micro-fiber cloth with you at all times to wipe fingerprints off of it. It has a nice trackball that is used to navigate the OS. It has several buttons on the sides of the device, which is nice to still see from this generation of devices.
After about 5 minutes of using the Bold…I had to turn it off and pack it back up. I am not knocking Blackberry, because I am sure that die-hard fans will love this phone. It is just not nearly as nice as Windows Mobile to me. Once you get past the high resolution screen and new interface, you see the dated (yes, I consider this dated even compared to Windows Mobile) operating system that looks like what Palm OS 6 should have been. I hear the UI is a big improvement over other Blackberries, but it seems to be very far behind Windows Mobile and even further behind the iPhone. My overall impression of the Blackberry Bold is that it is an impressive piece of hardware that is crying out for an updated OS. If this thing was running Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard…it would be a dream to use.
I think that every device we use has the ability to show us things that can be improved in Windows Mobile. What can Windows Mobile learn from the Blackberry Bold?
- We need to see a Windows Mobile Standard phone with a higher resolution screen than 320×240. I think full VGA (640×480) is too high for a smartphone, but the Bold really proves that 480×320 would be perfect for this form factor. If you know anyone that gets the Bold, take a look at the screen. It really is a thing of beauty and there is no reason we cannot have a Samsung BlackJack or Motorola Q with the same screen resolution.
- You can design a sexy, exciting device without the entire thing being a fingerprint magnet. To add to that…you can still have an elegant device that has buttons around the sides and top. I don’t know when it became acceptable to ditch all of the useful buttons devices like the Tilt had. The buttons can be made smaller or be painted a different color to blend into the device so that you barely notice that they are there. Windows Mobile can take advantage of even 1 or 2 user defined buttons that can really add to the user experience, so bring the buttons back…just disguise them into the device design.
- If the trackball is not patented (and I have doubts that it is since the G1 uses it too), use this for a Windows Mobile phone…Standard or Professional. With a trackball like this, you have the 5-way navigation (you can press it in for enter), and you could allow a software mouse similar to the Samsung Omnia and Epix. I definitely prefer the trackball to the optical “trackpad” implementation that Samsung uses. It is also smaller than a typical 5-way navigation pad, so I would think that ODMs would jump on this to further reduce button size and maximize screen size. I remember some of the initial pictures of the HP 910 Business Messanger made it look like it could have a trackball instead of just a normal action button. From everything I saw, this excited a lot of people in the Windows Mobile community…that is a good thing!
- Microsoft needs to partner with manufacturers to finally market devices. Did anyone see the pictures from the Blackberry Bold and Storm release parties? I understand that it would be harder for Microsoft since there are so many handhelds to keep up with. What would be wrong with having a Windows Mobile party where you let celebrities try out different phones and choose what they go home with? Do you want to be unique and not cater to the celebs that could afford to buy any phone they want? How about you have a party for teachers, for coal miners, for the average person that may be considering an iPhone, but it don’t buy it because they can’t afford it? Microsoft has the money that they could use to promote an event where you let normal people have some hands on time with their phones and give them whichever model they like the best. They could follow it up by letting the users write about their experiences on the Windows Mobile website.
I love Windows Mobile. I just believe that it has the potential to be so much more than it currently is. I think competition will drive Microsoft and ODMs to step it up…and I think we have already seen that to a degree. I just hope that they keep true to what has made Windows Mobile what it is today without trying to make it something it is not.
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I had mine for just under 24 hours before I returned it. I guess the iphone has me spoiled. My biggest issue was that the screen, although very sharp, was too small for my eyes. I was getting headaches just looking at it.
That is the problem with higher resolutions on smaller screens. It is a fine line right now because 320×240 is the standard for this type of screen, but I think if the OS can handle it, 480×320 would be good. And by saying the OS can handle it, I mean offer solutions to increase font sizes without making the entire OS look like it’s broken while it does it.
Of course, after using the Samsung Epix and Palm Treo Pro, I really think that 320×320 should be the new standard for this size screen.