14 DAY TRIAL // RIM and the Japanese carrier DoCoMo have recently launched the BlackBerry Bold on the Japanese market. It seems that the mobile phone operator managed to convince Research in Motion to add a new 3G band to the device so that it could work on the networks in the country.
The new BlackBerry Bold available in Japan now features quad-band 3G connectivity, including support for the 2100, 1900, 850 and 800 MHz UMTS/HSDPA frequencies. What is most interesting is that RIM didn't officially announce the launch of the device on the Japanese market.
On the other hand, this would be somehow explainable, given the fact that the handset doesn't include support for AWS 3G, the band used by T-Mobile. The fact that the maker managed to add a new band to the device could lead some of T-Mobile's users to complain about the feature that the handset does not include so that it would become available for them as well.
The 800MHz UMTS/HSDPA band is used by DoCoMo with its FOMA Plus Area network, which covers rural areas, where the lower frequency spectrum is able to provide connectivity over long distances and mountainous terrain.
The BlackBerry Bold that comes to Japan will be able to offer users in the country features that include a TFT LCD able to provide a 480 x 320 pixel resolution, a QWERTY keyboard, 3.5mm stereo headset capable, a 2-megapixel camera, full HTML browser, Music and Video players, as well as advanced email and messaging capabilities.
The device also sports 1GB of internal memory, complemented by support for both microSD and microSDHC memory cards for additional storage space. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and USB connectivity are also present. The handset measures 4.48 "x 2.6 " x 0.59 " ( 114mm x 66mm x 15mm) and weighs 4.8 oz (136g).