Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 18 August 2008 11:11
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Also included is a better browser that now shows you the
width of a web page zoomed right out. Using the smooth trackball, which
seems to have a bit of added texture when scrolling it, a tiny arrow
mouse cursor appears, letting you glide the arrow across the screen.
It also serves as a magnifying glass to zoom in
on text, but it’s a far cry from the iPhone’s double tap or pinch
movement to zoom in and zoom out.
So, while the browser is a massive improvement it’s just a shame the
BlackBerry doesn’t have a touch screen as well as the trackball to more
easily manipulate the web. I guess I’m simply too used to the iPhone
and thus see most competing phones through iPhone shaped rose coloured
glasses!
The BlackBerry Bold’s keyboard is also excellent, nice and relatively
large keys, all well shaped and an absolute pleasure to type on with
two thumbs.
But as Steve Jobs explained when he introduced the iPhone in the first
place, those keys take up a lot of space which could instead be given
to screen space – it’s a shame there isn’t some reliable “slider”
mechanism that could unveil a larger screen if desired (giving you the
option of typing on a smaller screen or a larger one).
In addition, with the slider enabled, if such a thing existed, any future phone would then still need to be properly balanced.
However these are problems for the next generation of BlackBerry phones
to worry about, as the current Bold version has no such slide and is
but a figment of my sci-fi addled imagination.
The back of the phone also has a camera and a faux-leather type feel,
giving it a nice, bold, executive look. All in all it’s the best
BlackBerry yet, and with existing BlackBerry users or new converts sure
to be happy to captain this new model.
Federation Telstra representatives then decided to issue several subspace messages in celebration of the BlackBerry Bold’s release.
Continued on page 3.
