RIM BlackBerry Bold officially on sale
RIM BlackBerry Bold
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)Obviously, there are some more important events happening on this Tuesday, but in case you're interested in hopping in one line to the next, the RIM BlackBerry Bold is now officially available for purchase through AT&T.
The highly anticipated smartphone can be yours for $299.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts. The carrier reports that there have been lines 20 to 25 people deep at some stores in New York, Boston, and Chicago. Has anyone gone out to buy their Bold today? If so, did you have to wait in any lines? Let us know.
For more information on the device, please read our full review of the RIM BlackBerry Bold.
Update, 7:30 p.m. PT: According to Engadget Mobile, you can get the BlackBerry Bold for free (!!) through LetsTalk.com after a mail-in rebate. However, as Gear Diary found out, you will also need to sign up for a $79 1350 Rollover plan as well as a BlackBerry plan ($30) and unlimited messaging plan ($20). In total, you're looking at a $129 monthly cell phone bill. Worth it?
Bonnie Cha is a senior editor for CNET, covering smartphones and GPS. When she's not testing the latest gadgets, you can find her chasing after her crazy lab or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California. E-mail Bonnie.
1) Waiting it out a little longer could mean you could get the Bold for a lot lesser than what is advertised now
2) Waiting it out for a lot longer could mean you could get the Bold for *FREE* when other contenders enter the smartphone arena - including RIM's very own Blackberry Storm :-))
All said, the Bold is a really nice phone but not "revolutionary enough" to pay full asking price! And I think most folks living in the IPhone era feel the same.... the only ones in denial appear to be the BB fanboys :)
great phone. It's not revolutionary...but trust me when i say, it is the best messaging device ever created. It's the fastest blackberry with 3G and the new OS is smooth, I like it alot.
my comments at http://www.commentino.com/orim
Full disclosure, I?m the product manager for one of those apps being showcased, called Viigo.
Hundreds of thousands of BlackBerry users are using Viigo every day to stay up to date with their Sports Scores/Schedules, Stock Prices and Portfolios, News & RSS, Weather Updates, Flight Search/Tracking, etc. etc. Best of all, Viigo is Free. You can download Viigo for free by browsing to http://getviigo.com/?bold. Would love to hear your feedback on the product ? please email it to feedback (@) Viigo.com
Keep up the great coverage,
Jesse Sternberg
Product Manager
OTA download link - http://getviigo.com/?bold
And btw I had an iPhone and switched to the bold and LOVE it.
No regrets.
Seems pretty clunky when compared with the iPhone.
-
by the3p2
November 6, 2008 7:07 AM PST
- I did go from one line (voting) directly to another (Bold) Tuesday. The voting line was much shorter! I waited 1.5 hours for the Bold ... not so much because other people were getting it, though some were, but because the AT&T store was small and understaffed.
-
Reply to this comment
-
(16 Comments)I really like it so far. I switched from the iPhone 3G and am H-A-P-P-Y with that decision. The iPhone is a fun device with too many basic deficiencies in usability. The lack of cut and paste is a "are you kidding me?!" issue. Not being able to search calendar items is crazy. No support for Outlook Notes left me high & dry. Creating calendar appointments is way more difficult than it should be -- seriously, with a state-of-the-art touchscreen, you can't just touch the time you want and create an appointment?!
iPhone does have it all over the BlackBerry world in sexiness and app support though. I'm far from an Apple fanboy, but they know how to design great-looking products. The Bold is "meh" on the sexiness scale. And apps that cost $1.99 to $5.99 in the iTunes App Store cost 4 to 5 times that for the BB. But ... they do support cut and paste!