BlackBerry Bold Touch hands-on [competition]

Our good friend CrackBerry Kevin has just gone hands-on with the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, the new touch-enabled flagship phone from RIM. BlackBerry has always excelled at the front-facing QWERTY, and the Bold 9000 series has been the be very best of their best -- and now with the 9900 and 9930 it's going touch. Not touch like the Storm -- thank Odin for that! -- or even like the original underpowered Torch. No, this is doing it with BlackBerry OS 7, a 287dpi 640x480 screen, and a 1.2GHz processor.

Some questions remain, however. Can BlackBerry really do touch? The PlayBook says they can but this phone still runs BBOS, not the new QNX platform. Is the touchscreen and keyboard, like the old Palm Treo line, the best of both worlds or twice the compromises? And will "super apps" stop being a lame marketing quip and become truly killer software for BlackBerry?

The Bold 9900/9930 will debut this summer, which would typically put them head-to-head with a new iPhone, but this year iPhone 5 might only debut in the fall. Will that help RIM out? Hit the link below, watch the video, and tell us if Apple and iPhone 4 have anything to worry about.

[CrackBerry]

Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.