Be Bold!

Calling all Blackberry users! There is an exciting new handset due for release this summer named the Blackberry Bold (also known as the Blackberry 9000) that you won't want to miss.

The Blackberry Bold is an upgrade to the existing Blackberry 8800 series rather than a brand new handset. If you own an 8800 series mobile phone the 9000 will be a pretty impressive upgrade for you!

The stylish Blackberry Bold sports a glossy front fascia with chrome highlights and a leather effect back fascia. The QWERTY keyboard is clear, tidy and easy to use. It measures in at 114 x 66 x 13mm and weighs 133 grams.

It boasts 3G, WiFi and HSDPA support for high speed downloads. A bonus is that the Bold can access high speed data almost anywhere in the world as it supports tri band, quad band GSM, GPRS and EDGE data. It also supports 802.11a (more commonly used in corporate environments) WiFi as well as the more common g and b varieties. The software has been upgraded to Blackberry OS 4.6.

Another useful upgrade from the 8800 series is that you can now use WiFi and GPS at the same time, rather than using just one or the other. This is because a GPS receiver has been added as standard.

It also boasts web browser, document editor, multimedia support, stereo Bluetooth, graphics equaliser, comes with 1GB of internal memory which can be expanded up to 16GB by microSD cards. And just in case you need to take a photograph it has a 2 mega pixel camera with flash.

The Blackberry Bold (9000) should be available in summer 2008.