2012 Tech News Report: Porsche Design RIM BlackBerry P'9981 comes to the UK!

At first glimpse, we weren't sure what to make of the strange metal-clad QWERTY bar, bestowed with the all-important BlackBerry logo atop its display. We at first, speculated its legitimacy, whether it was ushering in a new design language for the brand as a whole, or if it was some strange custom or special edition device.
It so happens that we didn't have to wait long to find out its true intent. The hard lines and custom font etched onto that futuristic keyboard were the result of Porsche Design partnering up with the Canadian smartphone manufacturers to create something rather different. The result proved striking to say the least, but left many a 'Berry fan somewhat lost or at least unsure at how to react.

  
It wasn't until a month after its first appearance that we were given the true explanation for this peculiar device, but then everything made a little more sense. Dubbed the BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981, it closely mirrored its everyday counterpart the Bold Touch 9900, with a 1.2GHz single core processor under the hood.
Other specs include a gig of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a 5MP camera on the back with 720p HD video recording and of course BlackBerry OS 7, which in fact could make this the last BlackBerry out the gates before RIM focus their attentions on the BBX-laden 'Colt', or at least something like it.
The Porsche Design P'9981 was given its very own launch event in Dubai, back in late October with the choice of venue eluding to its luxury-focused target market. The P'9981 was expected to retail for around $2000 and now it comes to the UK market too. If you want one with the intention of giving it as a present for the big day, you only have a short window of opportunity left, but it's available for a cool £1275 at the world renowned Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London. Reports from the store themselves saying that demand is high and the device is selling fast.
Will you be picking up this unique 'Berry, or perhaps making it a very special gift this holiday season?

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RIM BlackBerry BOLD 8900 Review: Dare You Go! (PDA, unlock, Repair, Auckland)

Some handsets will work their socks off to have their fifteen minutes of fame, others are simply born into stardom. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is certainly fortunate to carry a name that stands for popularity and excellence in the RIM family of phones. But this kind of fame can be less a blessing and more of a curse if the successor fails to live up to the standards set by its illustrious namesake.

These high expectations have quite often turned otherwise decent handsets into a byword for failure. It's simply not enough to provide incremental improvements when upgrading an iconic handset. The iPhone somehow gets away with that, but Apple usually does. But for regular mobile phone manufacturers it takes something new and it certainly takes something better for the successor to achieve the same kind of success.

Key features:

2.44" 65K-color TFT landscape display with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels

Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard

Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA

Wi-Fi and built-in GPS and BlackBerry maps preloaded

3.15 autofocus megapixel camera, LED flash

624 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM

BlackBerry OS v5

Responsive trackpad navigation

Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)

DivX and XviD video support

Good web browser

Office document editor

3.5 mm audio jack

Decent audio quality

Smart dialing

Great battery life

More compact body and lighter weight compared to the Bold 9000

Good build quality

Main disadvantages:

Many features are locked without a BlackBerry Internet Service account (plan)

Mediocre camera performance and features

No FM radio

No video-call camera

No TV-out functionality

No built-in accelerometer

No built-in compass

It's pretty obvious where the RIM R&D team is heading with the BlackBerry Bold 9700. It's hard to really overhaul a handset that was considered almost perfect by most of its users without testing their loyalty, so they embarked on optimization instead. It's not a bad formula for success to just keep the same functionality, stick it in a smaller, fitter body and improve the performance wherever possible.

One glitch or an important feature sacrificed to fit the compact package and the plan goes down the tubes. The smartphone market is increasingly competitive and smaller companies like RIM know they have little room for error. The new Bold 9700 looks fit and hot, no doubt about that. Let's see if it performs to our expectations, and yours.

Note: If you have any question about Apple iPhone 3G, 3GS or Apple iPhone 4 repair, unlock, jailbreak or broken screen replacement, feel free to get in touch with Abby Technology Limited.

We specialise in the mobile phone repair, BlackBerry Storm repair, Blackberry Pearl unlock, UK cell phone network unlocking and Apple iPhone repair in North Shore, Auckland; Wellington, Hamilton and Christchurch, New Zealand.

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This post is sponsored by:

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