Screen

The Bold has a unique look for a smartphone (but not for BlackBerry phones) in that it's screen is larger across than it is long. It's large, easy to read screen is nearly 2.5 inches across and 1.5 inches long. This rules out having to turn the phone sideways, a quirky feature on most other screen-predominant phones.

It's also easier to read a text message on the LCD screen thanks to the QWERTY keyboard residing below, and not on, the screen, the way some phones are set up. This offers the Bold room to allow people to select which font size they wish to view, a big benefit for people tired of phone-related eyestrain.

When it's off, the screen is reflective enough to check your hair in. But when it's turned on, it's backlit, allowing the 65K-color display to shine through with minimal glare. With many smartphones reaching 262K-colors or more, the color feature isn't all that impressive, but the screen images still look clean and stand out in contrast to the phone's black color motif.

The half-VGA, 480 x 320 px display makes up for the low-range color choice, though. The phone got its name due to its “bold” looking screen, and there's a reason for that. The screen also senses light and will dim in extra bright light or brighten in the dark to make the screen easier to see.

The phone's opening screen shows battery life and volume icons at the top left corner and pinky-nail sized icons for selecting messaging, contacts, calendar, media, browser and call log options. Getting to these options can go quickly if your thumb moves just right on the trackball, but touch it too lightly without making contact with the base of the trackball or move it slightly in the wrong direction and it might take awhile to navigate on the screen.

One annoyance with the screen is that it tends to dim quickly. Sure this conserves power, but the screen goes black as quickly as 23 seconds after touching the keypad, so if you pause to say something to a co-worker or look up a number in the phone book, you'll find a black screen by the time you look back at your Bold. Luckily, this standard feature can be changed to keep the screen on for up to two minutes in the setting section.

The Bold's screen receives the benefit of looking even larger than it is compared to some smartphones with screens as large as three or more inches because it takes advantage of horizontal space and leaves the keyboard off the screen -- an advantage over touch screen models. The screen isn't very colorful compared to many models in the same price range, but images come through clearly and icons and text and easy to see.

Audio

A pin drop would sound great on the BlackBerry Bold. The audio at any level is crystal clear. The Bold can be set to loud or quiet ringtone, normal, vibrate, or off. The loudest setting is audible to the hard of hearing without being raucous and has no hint of fuzz or distortion. Songs (and ringtones) sound as good or better than they do on an iPod, which means the handsfree 3.5mm stereo headset that comes with the phone should get a workout.

The phone comes with a huge collection of 75 ringtones and alarms.

It's hard to find anything to complain about with the Bold's audio. It sounds good, there's lots to listen to, and the settings cover a wide range. If there's one complaint, it's that there aren't more volume options between loud, soft and normal for anything other than listening to music or videos.

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