BlackBerry Bold 9700 Too Small?

Since getting my new BlackBerry Bold 9700 earlier this week I have been living on cloud nine. It's uber fast. The optical trackpad is silky smooth. The 3.2 megapixel camera is noticeably better than the original Bold's and the additional flash memory boosts operating performance considerably. And I've been blown away by the battery life so far -- over 48 hours before needing to charge!!!

With positives oozing out of the device, the only thing that I have had to really come to terms with is how much smaller the new Bold 9700 actually is compared to its big older brother the 9000 (I tried to get the images above close to actual size and scale). And reading through the Bold 9700 forums and talking to other original Bold owners making or looking to make the upgrade to the 9700, it appears I'm not the only one.

When the Bold 9000 came out, I was a Curve user. At the time, I actually griped over the Bold's big size and deemed the size a negative. But over the year and a half following its introduction, I have really grown to LOVE the big-boned Bold. They keyboard is heaven to type on, and that extra 1/4" of width in the screen makes a difference. Plus, the device just looks impressive - the full leather back, the chrome band, the shiny black area above the display.... the Bold 9000 is the luxury SUV of the BlackBerry Smartphone line and when you see it in public it stands out in the crowd. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is stellar, but it's more of one of these new, smaller, cross-over SUVs. The 9000 was my daily driver for the past few months, and making the switch to the Bold 9700 it now feels like I've gone away from using a Bold to using a Curve again.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Bold 9700. I just hope / wish RIM would also release a same-sized upgrade in the Bold 9000 form factor for all the people out there who appreciate a bigger device with a little extra bling (the 9700 has a more conservative look). Honestly, when I went to the Rogers store Wednesday to buy a 9700 they also had the new Bold 9000 in white on display. If only that white Bold 9000 had 256MB of flash memory, trackpad and a 3.2 megapixel camera, I would have purchased it over the smaller Bold 9700. The Bold 9700 needs to exist as device (it's awesome!), but it's almost like RIM should have branded it the Curve 3G or something (maybe slapped on a Curve-esque keyboard), then released a bigger device as an update to the Bold more true to the original Bold's heritage. On the other hand, to each his/her own. My girlfriend traded in her Curve 8320 for the Bold 9700 and is head over heels for it. I love the Bold 9700 too... I just can't help but miss the 9000's big keyboard everytime I pick it up.

CrackBerry Poll: Whaddya think? Like your Bold big or small? Cast your vote above! 

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A new Captain, a new course, a new-ish CrackBerry
From the new Editor's Desk

A new Captain, a new course, a new-ish CrackBerry

Hi there. You might've seen my name around on here a fair bit recently, starting with a blast of CES 2023 coverage. I'm Derek, and I'm excited to take on a new challenge as the Editor-in-Chief of CrackBerry.com.