The Bold 9700 and one of BlackBerry’s most petite handsets, the Curve 8900, look and feel practically as if they were stamped from the same die. Both measure exactly 4.29 inches tall and 2.36 inches wide, with the Bold packing just a smidge of extra flab on the belly for a thickness of 0.56 inches and weight of 4.3 ounces with battery. Make no mistake: the extra decimals can’t do much to diminish the superbly pocketable size and weight of the new Bold, which sidles up right next to the very similar Curve 8900 as one of the most portable smartphones we’ve ever tested.

Finding and calling a contact is very easy as you just need to type the first few letters of a name. Dialing is also as easy, even if the numeric keys are grouped tightly, which makes it harder to use when not looking at the keyboard (driving). There’s no favorite or “most called” list, but you can access the call log. There is a voice dialing function that doesn’t work as well as Android’s, but it’s there and it might be friendlier with your voice than mine.

The only other downside, as mentioned here and other places, is the web browser. It’s adequate, but if you want a noticeable upgrade before a webKit option becomes available try using Opera Mini. Opera isn’t supporting 9700 installs yet but I had no problem installing and running it. It renders web pages far more accurately than the BB browser and I also think it’s a tad quicker.

Bottom line: solid hardware, solid OS and messaging software. Only weaknesses are a not-so-great browser and not-so-great social networking apps for BB, but as with finding and using an option like Opera Mini I think it’s only a matter of time before developers improve these apps and enhance the BB experience.

The Bold 9700 and one of BlackBerry’s most petite handsets, the  Curve 8900, look and feel practically as if they were stamped from the same die. Both measure exactly 4.29 inches tall and 2.36 inches wide, with the Bold packing just a smidge of extra flab on the belly for a thickness of 0.56 inches and weight of 4.3 ounces with battery. Make no mistake: the extra decimals can’t do much to diminish the superbly pocketable size and weight of the new Bold, which sidles up right next to the very similar Curve 8900 as one of the most portable smartphones we’ve ever tested.

The physical keyboard, one of RIM’s strongest features in most of its handsets, is maximized on space and layout. It might look a bit cramped at first but it’s just enough and comfortable for two-fingered typing. RIM shaped the individual keys with a chiseled edge, half of which faces the left and the other half facing the right. This is actually a clever and practical move — your thumbs get some sort of traction over the keys and helps prevent from slipping and hitting the wrong keys.

Again, RIM has fully transitioned it’s old and problematic trackball and replaced it with a touch-sensitive trackpad. This is probably the most welcomed change made on BlackBerry handhelds lately and it does seem to perform well.

Putting aside the fact that I’m terribly spoiled working on sizable slide-out QWERTY keypads like those of Nokia N900, Nokia N97 Mini or Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 and keeping in mind that people who get a Blackberry are actually fans of its candybar-style thumb QWERTY keypad, I’d say that BB Bold 9700′s keyboard is one of the best ones I’ve used on any device in this category. The fretted keys, which are slightly raised in the middle, make typing not only fast but more importantly, accurate.

The display on the Bold 9700 matches the Curve 8900 exactly for brightness, resolution and color, which is to say, it’s amazing. Granted, at 2.44 inches across, it won’t run beside full touchscreen phones, but half-VGA brightness crammed into such a tiny area produces a tack-sharp display that makes even the tiniest text and details look crisp. A powerful backlight produces all the punch you need to read under all conditions, without washing out the deep blacks and vibrant colors.

Research In Motion (RIM) has been targeting the entry-level market for some time now but it wasn’t very evident until they released another qwerty smartphone, the Blackberry Curve 8520. Like most other Blackberry phones, the Curve 8520 gets a stylish glossy finish and a sleeker look. It’s a bit smaller than the previous full qwerty Blackberry handsets but is still comfortable to use.

RIM ditched the usual trackball and replaced it with a touch sensitive optical track pad instead. The trackpad is really nice and comfortable to use but sometimes I find it cumbersome especially when scrolling over really long web pages or list of messages.

The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8520 is probably most notable for its design, since it brings a couple of new tricks to the table. The overall look of the phone, however, is similar to the Curve 8900, and the two models actually share the same measurements at 4.3 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick. The Curve 8520 is a smidge lighter at 3.7 ounces, and while lightweight, we thought the phone felt slightly plasticky. However, the black model features a soft-touch finish along the outside edges preventing the smartphone from feeling too slick. T-Mobile also offers the smartphone in a frost color.

Specifications

Camera: 2-megapixels, 5x digital zoom
Display: 2.46in (320×240-pixels)
Messaging: SMS, MMS, push e-mail
Connectivity: Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900MHz), GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, WiFi 802.11b/g
Internal memory: 256MB Flash memory
Expansion slot: microSD
Other features: Multimedia player, wireless email, organizer, browser, phone
Standby/talk time: 17 days/4.5 hours
Battery: 1,150mAh lithium-ion
Weight: 106 grams
Dimensions (w x d x h): 60mm x 13.9mm x 109mm

The most significant difference with the Pearl compared to other BlackBerry devices though is its size. It measures in at 107 by 50 by 14.5mm and weighs a mere 89 grams, making it one of the lightest PDAs on today’s market.

From a physical perspective, everything about the Pearl oozes quality from the ultra sturdy release buttons for the back tray to the smooth rounded keypad that fits with the contour of the phone — we really wish more phones were designed to look this way. Even the Pearl’s added accessories speak style — a lamb skin tote, a smooth Bluetooth headset or a docking station that puts your phone rightfully on display.

You will want to make sure your nails are perfectly manicured before using this phone though, as all eyes will be on you once the “pearl” comes out. RIM has done away with its standard track wheel at the side and replaced it instead with an addictive luminescent ball that resembles a pearl. It navigates in all directions and is much more responsive than previous BlackBerry tracking devices.

One of the most significant of these is a trackball. Instead of using a D-pad like virtually every over handheld and smartphone, you move around and select things on the Pearl’s screen with a small roller-ball. RIM’s implementation of this is well done, and I found it very easy to use. I’m not sure it’s superior to a D-pad, but it’s at least as good, and it’s definitely better than just a scroll-wheel..

Aside from its keyboard, the Pearl is well supplied with additional buttons. On both the left and right side are what’s called “Convenience Keys.” By default the one on the left side lets you do voice dialing, while the one on the right opens the camera application, but these can be changed to whatever applications you prefer.

BlackBerry PearlAlso on the right side are a pair of buttons to increase or decrease call volume.

On the left side of the Pearl is the headphone socket and the device’s mini-USB port. I’m not happy about the location of either one of these. If you’re carrying this smartphone in your pocket with the headphones plugged in, you really want the socket to be on the top of the device. And the fact that the Pearl’s mini-USB port is on its side means that no company is going to be able to create a cradle for it.

Overall, the Pearl lives up to most of it expectations — we recorded a talk time way above the 210 minutes suggested by the vendor, and found navigation and other key areas of functionality up to scratch in comparison to similar devices on the market. It may not be quite “stealth” yet in terms of operation (Stealth was BlackBerry’s previous name for this phone overseas) but it is RIM’s first foray into the consumer space, and based on the popularity of its business-type models with consumers already, we think BlackBerry could have market, with this little Pearl, wrapped up in a clamshell.

At this point in time, a BlackBerry is just about standard issue equipment for anyone who needs to be easy to reach. There are a number of other options, most notably Windows Mobile smartphones, but the BlackBerry remains the tool of choice for business users. The company did this by catering their products to business users- their phones are great with email, are easy to use, and are packed with productivity features. In order to make the products even more attractive to corporate types the company left out many of the things that might be a security risk, like a camera, as well as leisure features, like a media player.

The BlackBerry Pearl rocks a 2.25-inch TFT screen that displays 65,000 colors at a 240×260-pixel resolution. Like the rest of the company’s devices, it’s not a touch screen, but it offers a sharp, clear display with vibrant colors and is great for viewing e-mail, images, and Web sites. It also features light-sensing technology, so it will automatically adjust the screen and keyboard depending on your environment; true enough, it adjusted the display’s light so that we could still read it in direct sunlight. You can change the screen’s theme; backlight time; and font size, style, and family. A small LED above the screen illuminates different colors for different status messages: green for wireless, blue for Bluetooth, red for new messages, and amber for low battery. There’s also a mute button on top of the device.

It is easy to get too wrapped up in the good looks and the extras, but when it comes down to it, people are going to be interested in the Pearl because it is a BlackBerry. This means the same excellent email, personal information management, and internet browsing as on their 8700. The QWERTY keyboard is gone, but once you get over that the main functions of the phone are largely unchanged. The calendar, messenger, address book, and memo pad are all basically the same as we have seen in the previous models, which is a good thing considering how well these have been received by consumers. For more information on this check out my review of the 8700, but since nothing much was changed we won’t get more into it here.