Last year, with much hype, the first 3G Blackberry was released, called the Blackberry Bold 9000.  With it’s super fast speeds compared to the older EDGE phones, amazing picture quality and much much more, RIM was able to set a new standard for their Blackberry devices.  Following came the Curve/Javelin 8900, Storm 9530, Storm 2 9550, Tour 9630 and the Curve/Gemini 8520 . RIM has finally released the Blackberry Bold 9700, and with great pride, have provided faster speeds, greater picture quality, and so many more features.

Many Canadian consumers have been eagerly dialing *611 to Rogers Wireless requesting hardware upgrades, many signing new contracts with Rogers, and the third party markets like Craigslist, E-bay and Kijiji being swarmed with over inflated prices on the Bold 9700 AKA Onyx. An even bigger hype is now in motion.  With T-mobile awaiting their release of the 9700 the American consumers await in excitement.  With all this excitement, we’ve decided to create a comparison between the Blackberry Bold 9000 and the Blackberry Bold (2) 9700.

This review on the Bold 9000 and Bold 9700 will guide you through the new features and hardware of the 9700 and hopefully act as a means to help you make a decision in shopping for a new Blackberry.

We’ve covered the following in the 2 videos above….

Part 1: Bold 9000 vs. Bold 9700 – Hardware, Firmware and Features

The Blackberry 9700 certainly has not failed to please our expectations.  With the sleek style of the Curve 8900 and Tour 9630, RIM has created a device lighter, but faster than the 9000.  In our video, we attempt to cover the following…

• Physical Overview – Embedded Rubber buttons vs. Metal buttons on the 9000
• Text Messaging – Firmware 5.0.0.321 vs. Firmware 4.6.0.162
• Back of Phone – SIM card slots and Micro SD slots
• Stickers – Ripping of the stickers.  It pains us to do it, but it was done for you.
• Loading Screens – Blackberry Logo loading screen vs. Blinding White light

Part 2: Bold 9000 vs. Bold 9700 – Media: Images and Video

In our best attempt, we’ve taken pictures in low light in a stationary position (9000) vs (9700), and in daylight (9000) vs (9700)with the 2 blackberry cameras from the same angles.  We also thought it’d be cool to take video footage of downtown Toronto with the Bold 9000 in 1 hand and the Bold 9700 in opposite hands.  Here, you will be able to measure the video quality as well as the audio quality from both phones.

• Picture Quality: Low light & Day light pictures
• Video Quality: Measuring the sounds of the streets and Starbucks

Conclusions:

We’ve been able to draw a few conclusions from our video review.

• With version 5.0 on the Bold 9700, processing speeds, internet speeds and features such as text messaging are significantly better
• The lighter weight and smaller device make it more convenient to carry around
• Embedded rubber buttons will wear slower on the 9700 than the metal buttons on the Bold 9000
• Images capture more colors with the 9700.
• Video quality is incredibly different.  The Bold 9000 has a higher pitched audio and has a tendency to cut in and out, while the 9700 captures more of what your voice really sounds like and blocks out unwanted noise, yet captures subtle wanted noises.

In our opinion, we believe that the Blackberry Bold 9700 will be the best Blackberry smartphone available on the market for at least the next year.  I’m not sure how, but RIM will have to find a way to outdo themselves, yet again.

If you’ve already purchased this phone or plan to, you can unlock get your unlock code here.