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BlackBerry Bold 9780

28 Oct 2010

Loaded with the new BlackBerry OS 6, the BlackBerry Bold 9780 gets a set of upgrades that includes WebKit-based browser and a high quality 5-megapixel camera.

Tags: blackberry, rim

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HWZ's Overall Rating: 8.0

Design:

Features:

8.5

User-Friendliness:

Performance:

7.5

Value:

Preloaded with intuitive BlackBerry 6 OS

New 5-megapixel camera

Processor speed remains at 624MHz

Sensitive optical trackpad

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		<h2>More articles (2)</h2>
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					<li class="current">
			<a href="/review-blackberry-bold-9780-incremental-update" alt="/product-blackberry-bold-9780/review?review=120659">BlackBerry Bold 9780 - An Incremental Update</a>			</li>
					<li >
			<a href="/feature-blackberry-os-6-improved-formula" alt="/product-blackberry-bold-9780/review?review=77911">BlackBerry OS 6 - An Improved Formula</a>			</li>
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			<h2 class="header-green">BlackBerry Bold 9780 - An Incremental Update</h2>
		<span class="byline">Reviewed by Seow Tein Hee on Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011</span>
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		 		<h2 class="page-title">Design &amp; Features</h2>
		 		<h3 class="page_title">The Bold Family</h3>
<p>Amidst the two important milestones known as the <a href="/hwz-tv/view/84384" target="_blank">BlackBerry PlayBook</a> and <a href="/product-guide/view/94544/review/109452" target="_blank">Torch</a> for Research in Motion (RIM), it's easy to forget the device that gave the company the breakthrough into the mainstream market &ndash; the <a href="/product-guide/view/5369/review/5375" target="_blank">BlackBerry Bold 9000</a>. Back in 2008, we had nothing but praises for the first Bold. For RIM, it was the definitive device that won the hearts of consumers, making it one of the few and well-chosen devices for the year. In 2009, its successor, the <a href="/product-guide/view/1351" target="_blank">BlackBerry Bold 9700</a>, enjoyed a much more compact design, removed the trackball in lieu of an optical trackpad, and a slightly updated BlackBerry 5 OS.</p>
<p>And thus, in 2010, we kept our eyes peeled for the third iteration of the Bold series. Near the end of the year, we kept our fingers crossed in the hopes of spotting the BlackBerry Bold 9780 in our labs. Fortunately, the unit came into retail availability within December 2010, barely making the mark for its scheduled appearance.</p>
<p>When we place the Bold 9780 side-by-side with its Bold 9700 predecessor, there's seemingly no differences to spot in its exterior. As such, you'll have a similar handling experience between these two BlackBerry devices. The optical trackpad is still present, and like what we've said previously, take due care with how sensitive the trackpad can be. With almost the same dimensions as its predecessor, we were thankful that its physical QWERTY keyboard is still easy to utilize even for its compact nature.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="234" width="500" alt="" title="Nothing much has changed for the Bold 9780. Same size, same keyboard. The only discernible difference is its black borders, unlike the Bold 9700's glossy and shiny choice." src="/files/images/BlackBerry_Bold_9780_01.jpg" /></p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="400" width="500" alt="" title="Underneath it all, you'll see the same layout, including the angled microSD card slot." src="/files/images/BlackBerry_Bold_9780_02.jpg" /></p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="400" width="500" alt="" title="The microUSB port sits to the left, beside the voice dialer button and the 3.5mm audio jack." src="/files/images/BlackBerry_Bold_9780_04.jpg" /></p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="400" width="500" alt="" title="The less obvious change to its hardware - a 5-megapixel located at the rear." src="/files/images/BlackBerry_Bold_9780_03.jpg" /></p>
<p>So what are the distinct improvements to this BlackBerry Bold update? It's all internal, from its hardware specifications, to the new <a href="/features/view/77911" target="_blank">BlackBerry 6 OS</a> as seen on the earlier BlackBerry Torch 9800. In essence, the Bold 9780's interface shares the same basic premise as what we saw on the Torch 9800. Focusing on populating the home screen with various pull-up and drop-down menus, the experience is slightly different from the touch screen interface. Instead, you'll depend solely on the optical trackpad to scroll through the various menus, followed by clicking on the trackpad to select the highlighted menu.</p>
<p>With its small screen size, it can get frustrating to navigate through the interface with just the trackpad. Our earlier mentioning of the sensitive trackpad made it even harder to have a good control of the interface.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="376" width="500" alt="" title="There are some slight differences to BlackBerry 6 OS as seen on the BlackBerry Torch 9800. However, the same concept holds true across this new BlackBerry OS, including various dropdown menus and a single home page with multiple categories. " src="/files/images/BlackBerry_Screenshot_01.jpg" /></p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img height="188" width="500" alt="" title="Pre-loaded apps such as Social Feeds (as seen on the Torch 9800) will consolidate your social networks into a single channel." src="/files/images/BlackBerry_Screenshot_02_0.jpg" /></p>
<p>In fact, even for its hardware, the changes are minimal, with a boost to its onboard memory from 256MB to 512MB, and a new 5-megapixel camera. This is good news for the mobile shutterbug, since the camera comes with a significant imaging improvement. The question is - will you see a significant performance improvement?&nbsp;We'll answer that in the following Performance page.</p>			</div>
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BlackBerry Bold 9780

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