14 DAY TRIAL // BlackBerry Bold 9000, the yet-to-come high-end smartphone prepared by RIM for all those in need of a complete business device, is said to get a similar contract price as the 16GB iPhone 3G. At least that's what will happen in Canada where, according to BlackBerry Cool, Rogers Wireless intends to sell the new RIM handset for $299 - [admark=1]only with a contract agreement for three years.
Unfortunately, the new BlackBerry will be on sale no sooner than July 25, while the 16GB iPhone 3G (as well as the 8GB one) is available from Rogers since last week. Also sold only with a 3-year contract, the 16GB iPhone has exactly the same price as the Bold will have ($299), while the 8GB version costs only $199. This might make lots of users think twice before getting a Bold, although the BlackBerry handset is quite different from Apple's iPhone.
Measuring 114 x 66 x 14 millimeters, BlackBerry Bold is a bit bigger than the iPhone 3G, but its features seem to be better than the ones of Apple's handset (save for its display, which, although it has the same number of pixels - 480 x 320 -, is not touch-enabled). The Bold comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, internal GPS, BlackBerry Maps, Wi-Fi, GSM and HSDPA connectivity, advanced email and Web capabilities, Music and Video players, a 3.5mm headset jack, a 2 Megapixel camera with flash and video recording, BlackBerry OS 4.6 and lots of other cool features.
The North American retail price of BlackBerry Bold is not known for the moment. However, T-Mobile Germany has unveiled the European retail price of the handset, which is of 550 Euros ($875), hence North American users should expect to pay about the same amount of money if they want to get the Bold without a contract agreement.