The Bold 9780 is not a radical re-design, or a re-design at all for that matter, it has rather simply been given a specifications boost and a few tweaks. Though this is not to be shunned, keeping the design and looks the same as the previous one will keep the continuity with its strong customer base.

The phone looks like a typical BlackBerry Bold, which is a good thing, it is familiar, slick and has a vibrant screen. They keypad is well constructed, which makes its easy to type on, by far one of the best keypad implementations on a phone of its size.

So what has changed between this 9780 and the 9700? Well in terms of specification it has the same 624Mhz processor but has 512MB of RAM instead of 256 and the camera has been upgraded too from 3.15 megapixels to 5 megapixels. A minor upgrade really but keeps the Bold series on track.

The Bold 9780 comes loaded with a new operating system, BlackBerry OS 6. The new BlackBerry OS 6 is pretty much similar to the old OS 5 in terms of looks and usability. There are a few improvements, it feels slicker, social networking has been integrated better, there is a new universal search and improvements have been made to all the native apps. Users of the existing OS 5 will notice these welcome improvements. However OS 6 is now available for the Bold 9700 too. In our opinion though parts of OS 6 still need improving, especially the app store which is difficult to navigate.

Overall the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is a small improvement over the 9700, existing users may want to hang on to the 9700, but if you're upgrading, then the 9780 gives you all you need, with top class business support and BlackBerry services.

If you are new to the BlackBerry scene, then as with most mobile phones, there is a small learning curve, and it does take a while to get used to, especially when you think its turned off, when in fact its just sleeping (if you want to really turn it off, taking the battery out is the only option). However once you have got the hang of it, you will be zooming through the phone using the small trackpad with ease.

Summary:

• Good Points: looks good, well built
• Bad Points: not a big upgrade, takes a while to get used to certain functionality
• Others to consider: Nokia C3
• Free on contract with: Vodafone, O2, Orange, Three, T-Mobile