BlackBerry Bold Travel Apps

About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Warning: I'm a Mac user and have been one forever. I'm Apple everything: iPhone, iPod, iTunes, MacBook, the works. In other words, I have an admitted bias. Nonetheless, the good people at BlackBerry encouraged me to try the BlackBerry Bold model and consider how its travel apps could help a couple like you. With extreme prejudice, I have. The verdict: I can't recommend travelers choose this over an iPhone.

It has far fewer apps, a small screen, and isn't any fun to use. A disposable underwater camera and cheap phone might as easily suit your needs on vacation.



Pros

• A popular email and business productivity tool
• Grown-up QWERTY keyboard is solid and well-designed
• Travel apps are well integrated with model's built-in GPS
• Unit has a substantial feel and handsome pebbled-leather back

Cons

• Screen is half the size of top new smartphones
• Tiny fonts on some apps are hard to read
• Limited number of travel apps

Description

• Unit operates on 3G and wi-fi and features built-in GPS, camera, and music and video players.
• Non-touchscreen navigation; uses lit trackball and keys to switch from app to app.
• As a GSM phone, the BlackBerry Bold can be used around the world. Check with carrier for fees.

Guide Review - BlackBerry Bold Travel Apps

At this writing, the BlackBerry Bold made nearly 70 free and fee travel apps available to users. This is in contrast to the 3,000+ iPhone travel apps. While you may not need a Tierra del Fuego travel guide or nautical chart for the waters off Dubai to play your romantic getaway, they are available through iTunes.

Back to the BlackBerry Bold, which debuted mid-2008. There are two areas where this model excels:

• The full keyboard has contoured keys that make it easy to type and write email — unlike the iPhone's virtual keyboard, which makes inputting tedious.
• BlackBerry Bold features a 2 megapixel camera with a built-in flash (the new iPhone 3GS has a 3.2 megapixel camera but no flash). Having this means there's a better chance you can shoot travel pictures in low light conditions.

As far as I could tell, there is no way to browse available travel apps online. Instead, one needs to download the free BlackBerry App World onto the device and scroll through choices. App purchases are paid through PayPal.

Some popular iPhone apps useful to couples who travel are available on the BlackBerry: Sit or Squat, Facebook Mobile, Zagat to Go, and Evernote. The latter could be especially useful for destination wedding planning; it lets users clip Web pages, photos, video, and organize and search within them.

Does It Work?
Oddly, after downloading a free trial of the DK Guide to Vienna travel app, the next screen offered these two choices: Top 10 Amsterdam and Top 10 Barcelona. Not much help to honeymooners looking for the best place for a sacher torte. Although other apps functioned properly, this smartphone's emphasis is on work, not fun or app variety.

Agree? Disagree? Write a review below. I invite BlackBerry owners, Bold and otherwise, to tell what you like about the device and which travel apps you find indispensable. I'd really like to know.