BlackBerry Bold 9650 Phone Black Sprint

Posted by Smartphone Review on August 12, 2010

BlackBerry Bold 9650 Phone Black Sprint

Powerful and refined, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 smartphone offers high-speed connectivity via Sprint’s dependable 3G network as well as Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g) for connecting to home/business networks and on-the-go hotspots. And whether traveling to Europe or Asia, the Bold 9650 provides globetrotters the freedom of reliable global connectivity to GSM and 3G UMTS networks via Sprint Worldwide international services.

Enjoy fast cellular connectivity with Sprint’s dependable 3G network and global GSM/3G connectivity when traveling abroad.

In addition to fast 3G speeds from Sprint’s high-speed EV-DO network, you’ll enjoy GPS navigation capabilities for accessing the optional Sprint Navigation turn-by-turn direction service and Sprint TV’s video-on-demand with full-motion video and vivid sound (see more details on optional services below).

Offering top-of-the-line performance and functionality, it features a sophisticated, high-gloss black finish, chrome highlights and leatherette back. It also includes a distinctive, highly tactile full-QWERTY keyboard for fast and accurate typing, and an innovative touch-sensitive optical trackpad, which makes for a great navigation experience.

Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder, Bluetooth for hands-free devices and stereo music streaming, microSD memory expansion to 16 GB (a 2 GB card is included), support for BlackBerry App World, and up to 5 hours of talk time.

Key Features

• Fast 3G connectivity thanks to Sprint’s EV-DO, Rev 0 network
• Global roaming with Sprint Worldwide international services (pre-installed SIM card; compatible with 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM and 2100 MHz 3G UMTS networks)
• GPS using Sprint Navigation for turn by turn directions, and points of interest searches
• BlackBerry OS 5.0 includes typing accuracy and selection improvements, as well as usability and visual enhancements such as inertial scrolling, spin boxes that make it easier to set dates and times, gradient shading on buttons, and more use of animation.
• Support for BlackBerry App World featuring a broad and growing catalog of third-party mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry smartphones. Categories include travel, productivity, entertainment, games, social networking and sharing, news and weather, and more.
• BlackBerry Internet Service offers easy access to up to 10 supported personal and work e-mail accounts and one BlackBerry e-mail account.
• Compatible with BlackBerry Enterprise Server for advanced security and IT administration features within IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise environments. Customers running BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 will gain the ability to set follow-up flags, manage e-mail folders, access remote files (Windows Shares), forward appointments, view calendar attachments, and more.
• View attachments including JPEG, Adobe PDF, and Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• BlackBerry Media Sync is built right into your BlackBerry Desktop Software and lets you sync your desktop iTunes or Windows Media Player music files with your BlackBerry smartphone. If you’re a Mac user, just choose the “media” option and you’re ready to sync your iTunes music collection from your BlackBerry smartphone onto your Mac.
• Memory expansion via microSD card slot with support for optional cards up to 16 GB. A 2 GB card is included with the phone, and it also has an internal 512 MB memory.
• Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g) for accessing home and corporate networks as well as hotspots while on the go
• Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity with stereo music streaming (A2DP) capabilities as well as hands-free headsets and car kits and tethering with your PC (with optional tethering plan). (Learn more)
• Full messaging capabilities including SMS text, MMS picture and IM instant messaging (via popular services)
• Large 2.45-inch high-resolution display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi) that displays pictures, videos and Web pages with contrast and detail
• 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, variable zoom, image stabilization, autofocus and video recording.
• Full HTML Web browser, streaming audio and video via RTSP

Vital Statistics

The BlackBerry Bold 9650 weighs 4.8 ounces and measures 4.4 x 2.44 x 0.55 inches. Its 1400 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 5 hours of talk time, and up to 312 hours (13 days) of standby time. It runs on the 800/1900 CDMA/EV-DO Rev. A frequencies in the United States as well as 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM and 2100 MHz 3G UMTS/HSPA networks outside North America.

What’s in the Box

BlackBerry Bold 9650 handset, rechargeable battery, folding blade micro charger, 2 GB microSD card, SIM card, USB cable, 3.5mm stereo headset, synthetic swivel holster case, BlackBerry documentation kit, quick start guide, user manual

Sprint Services

• Broadband-like 3G network: Supporting the EV-DO Rev. A high-speed data standard, this phone enables you to download and stream high-quality video, straight onto your phone. Where coverage is available, EV-DO Rev. A connectivity provides average download speeds ranging from 400 to 700 Kbps, with peak rates up to 2 Mbps.
• Global roaming: This phone operates on quad-band GSM and 2100 MHz 3G UMTS networks globally where Sprint has international roaming agreements. (Note that this phone is not compatible with GSM networks found in the United States.) A Sprint-provided SIM card is provided pre-installed in the device for customers who wish to utilize Sprint Worldwide international services (special activation required) while traveling abroad. You can make and receive calls as well as access data in over 185 countries.
• Sprint TV enabled: With Sprint TV, you can make your cell phone your always-on source for news, weather, sports and more. This comprehensive video service combines high-quality streaming audio and video from channels including the NFL Network, ABC, The Weather Channel, Fox Sports, E!, CNN, The Discovery Channel, and more.
• GPS capable with Sprint Navigation: This GPS-enabled phone provides optional access to Sprint Navigation for driving directions on your mobile phone–by voice and onscreen. Along the way, turn-by-turn directions will be announced in a clear voice and displayed on your phone. For example, Sprint Navigation will say, “Go 1.2 miles and turn right on Elm Street.” As you approach the turn, you will hear, “Turn right on Elm Street.” Sprint Navigation also provides proactive traffic alerts with one click re-routing. And it’s easy to find restaurants, banks, cafes, hotels and more from over 10 million points of interest across the U.S.
• Stay Sporty with Sprint: With NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile, instantly connect to the NASCAR information you want, when you want it. Follow NASCAR action from practice to race day with real-time leaderboard and alerts. Get exclusive access to your favorite NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver with real-time driver stats, breaking news and more. Live in-car audio, race radio, NASCAR on SPEED and other audio/video only available on select phones. Visit sprint.com/speed for details.

To access, just text “NASCAR” to 7777 on your Sprint phone or visit the Sprint Digital Lounge to download NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile (standard text messaging and data rates apply).

This phone also provides access to Sprint Football Live–free for any phone with a data plan. You’ll be able to follow all the live play-by-play action with the Live Game Center for both pro and college football games, as well as stay on top of the pro football draft with a Live Draft Tracker and in-depth analysis and bios on nearly 500 top prospects. Access by texting “FOOTBALL” to 7777 on the handset to download Sprint Football Live from Sprint Digital Lounge (standard text messaging and data rates apply).

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Bold new Tour
Got this to replace my Sprint tour that everyone said I sounded muffled on. Nice update from the 9630 Tour. No complaints about the sound (no muffling) and the trackball issues others were having with the Tour are fixed with the new optical trackpad. Also happy to report that the slightly annoying battery cover that was loose on the Tour is fixed on this model. Other than those items, the Bold 9650 has more memory and WiFi now. If you are upgrading from a Tour or buying a case that was for the 9630 Tour, be careful because they moved the charging port up slightly (about 1/8 inch) so your old style case may not allow proper access for the charger. I have a Case-Mate “Barely there” 9630 Tour cover that works on this one fine (only because the openings are pretty big). The phone works fine on the Sprint network and already has a firmware update on the Blackberry site (although I couldn’t figure out what it fixed). Always back up your data with the Blackberry Desktop software before attempting a firmware update just to be safe. I didn’t give it a five because I think Blackberry is lagging behind in web browsers and Apps, but this works well with my work e-mail so I went for this over an Android phone.

5 Stars Reliable, Excellent Camera, Fast, Loud, Excellent Sprint Coverage and Service!
Quick Daily Usage Summary: Driving and listening to Pandora internet radio streaming CD quality audio >>> Sprint navigation interrupts stream to notify of traffic alert and rerouting options >>> BB message alert from friend >>> AOL instant message >>> Google talk >>> E-mail received of Amazon shipping item >>> Calendar alert showing appointment later that day >>> When parked I send picture to Facebook instantly.

This is probably one of the best all around BlackBerry devices every created. I only upgraded from a 8530 because I needed to have international roaming capabilities. And with Sprint, the phones come natively unlocked and ready to roam on ANY GSM network in the world! (pop-in new SIM card and you’re set)

This phone has ALL the features that its competitors have along with its storied and well developed BB e-mail / messaging system that has over 100 million users worldwide. The fact that it can be bought for less $200 is an excellent value.

If you’re looking for a phone that keeps you organized, connected to all your family and friends, entertained, and more, this is a great phone.

The e-mail, contact lists, and how all messages are combined into shared boxes is efficient and easy to use. The keyboard is responsive and fast…much better than any touchscreen out there. The battery life is phenomenal and turning off the WiFi and Bluetooth radios and closing extra applications extends it even further.

Regarding the cellphone service coverage, Sprint has vastly improved over the last 5 years. My friends and I took our BB phones up and down the East Coast and had excellent service the entire way: e-mailing, chatting, texting, sending pics, receiving pics, facebooking, etc. There were a handful of dead spots, but coverage and reliability was rivaling Verizon Wireless (former VZW subscriber of 10 years!)

Unlimited use of their voice command GPS network (LIVE traffic updates and rerouting!) is truly amazing and at least worth $200 in my opinion. The Sprint TV network is DARN GOOD with various channels that include LIVE ESPN.

The camera actually takes better 3.2MP pictures than the iPhone 3GS with full color and detail…with a LED flash that is blinding! (flashlight mode is possible under the camcorder mode and is hilarious as it literally lights up an entire room)

Also, I’ve been able to stream Pandora internet radio nonstop for hours without barely using the battery.

Minor disadvantages: Yes the screen is small…but I’d rather carry a device that doesn’t impale me while in my pocket. Web browsing is annoying at times, but update coming to the phone will vastly improve experience. Otherwise, most websites load fine.

Sprint’s Family plans are the best currently on the market. To have unlimited mobile to mobile calling (ANY CARRIER!), unlimited texting, unlimited data, for less than $40 per person per month is nearly miraculous. If you don’t want to waste money on flashier smartphones, get this phone. You won’t regret it!

Buy/More Info

Palm Pre Plus Phone Verizon Wireless

Posted by Smartphone Review on July 6, 2010

Palm Pre Plus Phone Verizon Wireless

Running on the Palm webOS mobile platform, the 3G-enabled Palm Pre Plus for Verizon Wireless brings together all of your important information from where it resides–on your phone, at your workplace, at home, or on the Web–into a single mobile device. In addition to high-speed connectivity on the fast and reliable Verizon Wireless 3G network, the phone’s memory has been doubled to 16 GB and it comes with a built-in 3G Mobile Hotspot that can be shared via Wi-Fi among five devices–laptop, another phone, MP3 player, and more.

The Palm Pre Plus features the Palm webOS platform, a vibrantly colorful touchscreen-enabled display, and slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.

The phone’s slide-out full QWERTY keyboard puts it all at your fingertips, and the multi-touch screen lets you move back and forth between open applications using natural gestures. With Palm webOS, you can keep multiple activities open and move easily between them–like flipping through a deck of cards, using natural gestures. This allows for easy movement between messaging and e-mail or searching the Web while listening to music, and items are rearranged simply by dragging them.

Palm’s webOS interface brings together the most important information from your phone, at work or on the Web, into one logical view. In addition to linking information from Google, Facebook, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and LinkedIn, Palm Pre Plus adds Yahoo! integration to Palm Synergy, which offers:

• Linked contacts that displays contacts from a variety of sources in a single view.
• Layered calendars that combine all your activities into one view–work, family, friends, sports teams and other interests
• Combined messaging presents all your MMS and IM conversations with the same person in a chat-style view.

You’ll stay on course thanks to the VZ Navigator GPS turn-by-turn direction service. Other features include a 3-megapixel camera/camcorder, digital audio player, Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free devices and stereo music streaming, access to personal and corporate e-mail, and up to 5.5 hours of talk time.

Key Features

• Fast 3G connectivity thanks to the reliable Verizon Wireless EV-DO, Rev A network
• Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g) for accessing home and corporate networks as well as hotspots while on the go.
• 3G Mobile Hotspot: The Palm Pre Plus comes travel-ready with a built-in 3G Mobile Hotspot–a Wi-Fi hotspot that can be shared among five Wi-Fi-capable devices. The 3G Mobile Hotspot is the perfect family vacation companion, and at $40 for 5 GB and 5 cents per megabyte overage, it provides an allowance big enough for sharing with the entire family for downloading games, Internet access, and more.
• GPS navigation capabilities via VZ Navigator service
• 16 GB internal memory (non-expandable) with the ability to work as a USB drive when plugged into a PC. You can simply drag and drop your PC media and documents onto the device.
• Palm’s webOS platform lets you manage multiple applications at a time, unlike any other mobile platform today. It lets you keep multiple activities open and instantly flip from one to another using card view.
  • Linked contacts: With Palm Synergy, you maintain a single view by linking your contacts from a variety of sources, so accessing them is easier than ever. For example, if you have the same contact listed in your Outlook, Google and Facebook accounts, Synergy recognizes that they’re the same person and links the information together, presenting it to you as one listing.
  • Layered calendars: Palm Synergy lets you see your calendars can be seen on their own or layered together in a single view–combining work, family, friends, sports teams, or other interests. You can toggle to look at one calendar at a time, or see them all at a glance.
  • Combined messaging: See all your conversations with the same person in a chat-style view, even if it started in IM and you want to reply with a text message. You can also see who’s active in a buddy list right from contacts, and start a new conversation with just one touch.
  • Combined e-mail: Check your Outlook e-mail with Microsoft Direct Push Technology and HTML support. Get wireless e-mail access to popular commercial POP3 and IMAP accounts like AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo! All your e-mail accounts can be viewed together, or separately from one simple application. Synergy even lets you see IM presence directly from an e-mail.
• Instant messaging for Google Talk and AOL
• Document viewer compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents
• Universal search: Simply start typing to begin searching your contacts, applications, Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia and Twitter. Universal search narrows down the possible results as you type, so it’s easier to find what you need.

The Palm webOS offers the ability to keep multiple applications open at once with “activity cards,” so you can do more than one thing without losing your place.

Palm Pre Plus has the ability to pull in your online calendars from places like Facebook, Google and Office Outlook and layer them into one view of your whole day.

Each person’s contact information is pulled in from places like Facebook, Google, Microsoft Office Outlook, and LinkedIn, and combined under one entry.

• Unobtrusive notifications: When important things come up or new updates arrive, you’ll receive notifications at the bottom of your screen. You will know what is going on without being completely interrupted or losing your train of thought.
  

  Turn the Palm Pre Plus comes travel-ready with a built-in 3G Mobile Hotspot, enabling up to 5 additional devices to connect to the Web via Wi-Fi (additional charges applicable).

• 3.1-inch multi-touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color, 320×480 resolution HVGA display
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor: An accelerometer automatically orients Web pages and photos to your perspective so you can view them in landscape or portrait mode. Watch videos in landscape mode as well. The proximity sensor automatically disables the touch screen and turns off the display whenever you put the phone up to your ear.
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard for fast messaging
• Amazon MP3 Store enables you to download stereo-quality non-DRM protected tracks instantly to your wireless phone.
• 3-megapixel camera with LED flash, extended depth of field, and geotagging.
• Bluetooth connectivity (version 2.1) includes profiles for communication headset, hands-free car kits, and the A2DP Bluetooth profile–enabling you to wirelessly stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones or speaker dock.
• Incredibly fast Web browser brings you full Web sites the way they were meant to be seen
• Voice dialing capabilities
• Organizer tools including calendar, notes, voice memo, tasks, calculator
• Ringer switch easily silences the device with one touch
• Browse the App Catalog from your phone and download apps right over the air. Choose from a variety of titles designed for Palm webOS, many of which work together with other apps on the phone. Find apps like OpenTable, Yelp, or WHERE, just to name a few… and new ones are being added all the time.
• Palm Services automatically backs up your phone so you have a copy of your important data. You can also remotely erase your data if your phone is lost or stolen. And you get software updates that make it easy to stay up to date with the latest enhancements.
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Bilingual interface: English/Espa
  

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  Tags: 3g Network, Course Thanks, Deck Of Cards, Digital Audio Player, Direction Service, E Mail, Facebook, Full Qwerty Keyboard, Google, Linkedin, Logical View, Megapixel Camera, Mobile Hotspot, Mobile Platform, Natural Gestures, Open Applications, Speed Connectivity, Verizon Wireless, Wireless 3g, Wireless Palm