The choice between Blackberry and Nokia (or iPhone for that matter) got even more difficult today, with the appearance of two cutting edge smartphones. See the pics and our first impressions.
The choice for smartphone buyers is increasing by the day. In the one hand you've got iPhone, in the other, the reigning champion Blackberry, and then there's Palm, Nokia, Samsung and the rest.
iPhone has gotten all the press lately, with it's sleek design and ability for home users and (here's the killer) business users to get push-email on the road. But the Apple-fest isn't going unchallenged.
Today we saw two new smartphones that should definitely be on your shopping list.
Top of the list is Blackberry's Bold, a classy upgrade to Blackberry's award winning package, that brings users into the world of fast HSDPA download speeds.
Networks
The device itself is 136g, which is on par or slightly above the weight of the 16GB iPhone. Crucially, it works across both Telstra's Next-G 3G network, as well as the 2100/1900 bands used by the other providers (Optus and Vodafone have announced plans to offer the Bold, in addition to Telstra).
Features
Other key features include WiFi, GPS, and the device will support up to 16GB external microSD/SDHC cards in addition to the 1GB onboard, so there's no shortage of storage options for music, photos or your work. The processor is also faster at 624MHz.
Screen
Much is also being made of the Blackberry Bold's 480x320 screen, with some tricky "fusing" of the LCD to the lens, to improve image quality. It looks great, though we'd argue most people won't be buying this for video/photos, as they would do with the iPhone.
Prices
Optus has announced Bold plans for $10 per month over 24 months, with a $79 Cap plan. Business users wanting the Bold from Optus need to pre-register here from August 1.
The other must-see is Nokia's new E71, a classy, super-slim smartphone, which has grabbed our attention with full QWERTY and great battery life. See our Nokia E71 story here.
Also see: Head to head: Blackberry Bold vs iPhone