I feel like it’s SportsCenter here. Kevin is playing the game at CrackBerry, while we’re giving you the highlights. Today comes the second installment of the BlackBerry 9000 review, and it’s just as massive as the first.
A major concern with the 9000 has been battery life. This almost always seems to be an issue initially, and for the most part it works out in the end. The initial take of the 9000 has the battery running pretty normally, though Kevin has been running it on WiFi for the most part. If it can last a full day of normal to heavy use without needing a charge, it’ll be fine.
A bit of bad news: Onboard memory has not been expanded. That might have been wishful thinking, anyway. So it looks like you’ll need a microSD to store your bigger files.
Apparently, though, the 9000 can pull information from your memory card almost instantaneously. In fact, the whole unit is faster than its predecessors. Which, I suppose, is to be expected. Processors are getting faster and faster, and with all the other quick smartphones hitting the market, RIM clearly had to deliver speed with the 9000. And they did.
There’s a quarter inch gain in screen width, which might not seem like a lot, but it’s something. Kevin says that this combined with the impressive resolution makes the screen look a ton bigger than the older BlackBerry models. He puts it aptly: “if you handed the device to a longtime Treo user they would mistake it for a touchscreen and start tapping at the 9000′s shortcuts, which on the default Precision themes are nice and big.”
A final note for this installment. When I got my first BlackBerry, I couldn’t stand the LED. Absolutely hated it. Well, kind of. I loved the convenience of knowing when I had new messages, but i hated that the LED always caught my eye when my phone was on the desk. Apparently, this LED is even brighter. Looks like it’s being turned upside down while I work at home.
That’s it for today. You can check out the video below if you’re so inclined. We’ll catch up with you soon with the next installment of the BlackBerry 9000.
