Under the hood the device is sporting a a fast 1Ghz processor and an 8MP camera. We’re expecting the camera to be an especially good one in a world of poor smartphone cameras, since Sony Ericsson makes some great camera phones. On the Android front, the device has been customized with the Nexus interface which features TimeScape and MediaScape. TimeScape, which can be optionally set as your homescreen, integrates contacts, Facebook, Twitter, emails, photos, calls, and all of their status updates in to a bunch of cool floating stacks. MediaScape is a vast improvement over Android’s built in media player, it makes it much prettier, and Sony Ericsson says that it will also be able to integrate directly with third party music services.

But other than TimeScape and MediaScape, a single Nexus widget, and a blue theme – there isn’t much more customizations that Sony Ericsson has implemented on top of Android. Our hope is that they will throw in some more specialized widgets just like the HTC Hero and Motorola Blur has with their devices. There is no word on pricing or carrier information yet, but Sony Ericsson says that they will be releasing the device in all parts of the world and that they’re working hard to make the battery life as robust as possible.

Design and Build Quality:
The Bold 9700 has a slimmed down size and formfactor compared to the original. The Bold 9700 measures 4.3 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches in comparison to the original Bold’s 4.5 x 2.6 x 0.6-inch measurements. During its time off, the device has also dropped .5 ounces and weighs 4.3 ounces compared to the Bold 9000’s 4.8 ounces. The build quality of the Bold 9700 feels very good. Its new form-factor also seems more slick and refined, and even less masculine. The infamous leather finish on the back of the Bold is still there and is still a really nice touch.

 

Gone is the trackball from the original Bold 9000, in its place is a new optical trackpad which was first used on T-Mobile’s Curve 8520. The optical trackpad took some getting used too; especially after having been accustomed to using the the trackball on my Curve 8900 but I really – really like it. It makes operating the device and menus much less strenuous. You really reap the benefits of the optical trackpad when viewing web sites, since its now much easier to move around in all different directions without tediously rolling a trackball under your thumb. The trackball was also notorious for breaking, so now there is one less hardware issue to worry about.

Display:
The device has a 480 x 360 resolution compared to the Bold’s original 2.6″ 480×320 resolution. Overall, the Bold 9700’s display is excellent, and very colorful, making video playback very pleasant as well as viewing photos.

Keyboard:
Since the Bold 2 is smaller in size, its keyboard keys are also smaller and more cramped than the original Bold. Unlike the Curve which has some spacing between each key, the Bold’s keys are all squeezed in tightly up next to one another and they have a squishy feel when you’re typing. The Bold 9700’s keys also retain the raised edges of its predecessor. The smaller keyboard means that people with bigger fingers and long nails might struggle with the keyboard. I personally find the typing experience on the Bold comfortable, but my co-editor preferred the feel of the Curve 8900’s keyboard which had smaller sized, harder keys with more space in between each key.

Performance and U.I.:
The 9700 runs the new BlackBerry OS 5.0 very snappily thanks to its 624mhz processor. We didn’t notice much lag at all when multi-tasking. The 5.0’s U.I. isn’t a drastic change but it provides pretty noticeable speed improvements and some perks like an improved web browser.

Software:
The 9700 comes with Dataviz Documents To Go which lets you view Word, Excel, and Powerpoint Docs. A full suite of IM apps are also included – there is a dedicated app of reach major IM platform AIM, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and ICQ. You can run IM applications in the background and receive notifications of new messages with a small icon on top of the screen just like you do when new emails come in. It would be much easier if they included a multi-service IM client, but there is always the BlackBerry App World for you to download apps from later.  But oddly enough BlackBerry App World didn’t come preinstalled, so we had to download it and install it on our own. The device also comes preloaded with 5 games including Soduku, and of course brick-breaker.

Web browsing:
First off, navigating web sites is now so much more enjoyable using the optical trackpad! Testing the 9700 in New York City, using T-mobile’s 3G network we experienced the following loading times:

13 seconds for NYTimes.com (mobile version)
10 seconds for CNN.com (mobile version)
1:10 seconds for ChipChick.com
2.8 seconds for Google.com (mobile version)
7 seconds for YouTube (mobile version)
16 seconds for ESPN (mobile version)
17 seconds for TMZ.com
35 seconds for SmashingMagazine.com
44 seconds for Bensbargains.net

Overall, T-Mobile’s 3G network seems pretty speedy, but we recommend using the Opera web browser to really take advantage of T-Mobile’s 3G network

Call Quality:
Call quality on the Bold 9700 is very, very good. And is a big improvement over previous BlackBerry models that we’ve used. In New York City so far we’ve only been greeted with 5 bars, but we’ve yet to travel outside of Manhattan where T-mobile’s coverage is generally very good, we also haven’t experienced any dropped calls. Except that last night T-Mobile did experience some outages in NYC.

When you’re in a call, there is a special option to “Enhance call audio”. Even when set to the default Normal quality, call quality is very good. The other two options include Boost Bass and Boost Treble of your voice. Callers on the other end said that Boost Bass made them hear me more clearer and crisper and Boost Treble not only made them hear me sound clearer and crisper, but it also made me sound louder to their ears, so much so that they had to turn down their handset’s volume.

The device has support for T-Mobile’s @Home service. For $9.99 a month this service will give you unlimited calls whenever you’re on your home Wi-Fi connection or at a hotspot.

Multimedia:
Like the previous Bold, the 9700 is a decent multimedia machine. Videos playback nicely and audio sounds good on the 3.5mm headphone jack. The device supports MP3, WMA, AAC, And OGG music files, as well as MP4, DIVX and WMV file support to 640×480 in resolution.  There is a 2GB microSD card included to get you started on saving docs. Unfortunately even the mobile version of YouTube doesn’t work to well with the BlackBerry’s browser even when connected via Wi-Fi. If you’re looking for video entertainment on the go, the PrimeTime2Go video app for $9.99 a month will give you access to many popular TV shows like Heroes and CSI, but only over Wi-Fi. There are also other great apps like Slacker which works great for with the BlackBerry when you want to listen to music on the go.

Battery:
We’ve only been using the Bold 9700 for a few days, and so far the battery has lasted through a day of average use.

Camera and Video Camera:
The 3.2 megapixel camera captures great shots, much superior to most of the smartphones out there with good color reproduction, even in dimly lit rooms. Videos are also good quality but have a low 480×352 resolution.

Conclusion:
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 isn’t a massive upgrade from its predecessor, it’s more about making refinements to an already great workhorse of a smartphone. The handset still can’t compete with the multimedia chops of the iPhone, and even of the latest Android devices, but it’s still a super reliable business smartphone. The Bold will be available from T-Mobile soon for a $199 with a 2 year contract. If you are looking to retire your older BlackBerry, you should definitely consider giving this one a whirl.

The Good:

Better camera than the original Bold, excellent display, optical trackpad makes operating the device much more enjoyable, great call quality with call enhancement feature, snappy performance, great build quality and form-factor, solid multimedia device, visual voicemail is always a nice touch

The Bad:

Keypad is smallish and might be difficult to use for bigger fingers, BlackBerry’s built-in web browser doesn’t do T-Mobile’s 3G network justice, BlackBerry App World still doesn’t come close to the AppStore, and the device still doesn’t come close to the iPhone’s multimedia capabilities

We are half way through fashion week and what geeky fashionista wouldn’t love to dress up their Windows Mobile phone. Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang, Isaac Mizrahi, Rock & Republic, and Ron Arad have each made their own designer theme for your smartphone. Each one has a custom palette and wallpaper that will work on any Windows Mobile running 6.5. Download them all for free on October 6th from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

T-mobile MyTouch 3G users rejoice! With a simple download from the Marketplace, you’ll now be able to enjoy Visual Voicemail just like all of those AT&T iPhone users do. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the file, all you have to do is run the app and after a few minutes of configuring it goes to work displaying all the voicemail in your mailbox. Take a look at the shots below for the full U.I.

The new Mark Levinson N˚500H power amplifiers (above) are audio beasts. I sat in a meeting room and listened to them power audio through a set of speakers. Between the Harman speakers and the Mark Levinson N˚500H power amplifiers, it felt as if you were sitting in a concert hall – minus the annoying crowd. I especially appreciated that the bass produced by the system wasn’t body jarring the way so many high-end systems are.  Also, you’ll notice that the Mark Levinson N˚500H’s design is especially unique. It screams metro-sexual audiophile with money to burn. It also kind of resembles a high-end desktop tower. I think men will love to use this system as a show piece in their living room and women will want to hide it.

The new circuitry design used in the N˚500H Series amplifiers is the key to their amazing performance. CFA design uses a circuit topology that emphasizes current-mode operation, which is inherently much faster than more conventional voltage-mode operation. With CFAs, amplifier gain may be controlled independently of bandwidth, a major advantage over conventional VFA topologies. By embracing new technology with Mark Levinson’s traditional passion for excellence, the N˚500H Series amplifiers combine truly impressive output capabilities with Mark Levinson’s characteristically high power efficiency. Other features of the N˚500H Series include reliable high power in four different channel configurations that provide ideal solutions for any type of system, independent power supply components for each channel to maximize isolation and improve imaging, isolated chassis and signal grounds that minimize noise and optimize sonic detail even at lower listening levels, and balanced and single-ended inputs. Furthermore, custom home systems integrators will appreciate the N˚500H Series’ Ethernet and 12-Volt trigger control capability, allowing for easier integration into home networks.

There are four amplifier models in the N˚500H Series all offering different numbers of channels. The N˚531H (300 Watts) = 1 channel, the N˚532H (600 Watts) = 2 channels and the N˚533H (900 watts) = 3 channels. They all feature extremely low Total Harmonic distortion (<0.5%) excellent signal-to-noise ration, and frequency response from 10 Hz to 20 kHz. The N˚535H is rated for 1,000 Watts and offers five balanced XLR inputs per channel, five unbalanced RCA inputs per channel, and five pairs of loudspeaker outputs with banana-plug sockets per channel. All N˚500H Series amplifiers feature an Ethernet 10Base-T port, a 3.5mm mono mini-plug trigger input, a 3.5mm mono mini-plug trigger output, and a 3-pin IEC standard power connector.

Being touted as future proof, Harman has also announced the Lexicon BD-30 Blu-Ray player with support for just about everything including BD-Live, BonusView, DVD, upconverted DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD, CD and USB. The BD-20 features Anchor Bay’s award-winning Video Reference Series technology for the best 1080p picture possible.

In the world of speakers, Revel has the new Ultima Rhythm2 Powered Subwoofer to show off. This 18 inch subwoofer can supply 2,400 watts RMS and up to 5,600 Watts at peak. It also promises to perform at high output levels without any distortion.

The second new subwoofer from Revel is the Performa B150 which features a 15 inch transducer with integrated high-power amplification, and 1,200 watts RMS.

The Revel Performa B150 raises the performance bar, both in terms of low-distortion output capability, as well as in accurate, uncolored sound quality. Its 15-inch woofer and 4-inch voice coil are integrated with a 36-pound motor system and a true 1.5-inch linear excursion, resulting in the capability to provide enormous amounts of low-distortion bass. . Distortion is extraordinarily low without resorting to servo-feedback, thanks in part to the B150 woofer’s symmetrical magnetic field, flux stabilization ring and copper shorting ring. This is combined with an integrated amplifier which produces 1,200-Watts RMS continuous power and an extraordinary 2,800 Watts of peak power, providing the B150 with substantial headroom to avoid low-frequency distortion. Furthermore, Revel has engineered-in advanced protective circuitry that allows the B150 to reproduce natural bass with maximum dynamic “punch”. For the custom home systems integrator, this means they can reliably build home theater and music systems that can accommodate anything film sound can dish out, with a subwoofer that can hold its own mated with the finest loudspeakers available.

For those of you who are minimalists, or rather have your gear be hidden. Harmon also has special speakers that are designed to be built in to your wall. Once installed, you can paint over them and have them fit in perfectly with your decor.

There is no word on pricing yet for any of these products, but we’ll update this post as soon as pricing becomes available.

Designed for consumers and network operators, the zBoost-ONETM UMTS 3G signal booster consists of one base unit with no external aerials and extends 3G Voice and Data Zones™ for single or multiple users in homes or offices using UMTS/HSPA (2100MHz). Internationally, the high data speeds of UMTS are now most often utilized for Internet access making the zBoost an ideal product for people with smart phones like iPhone™, Blackberry™ and Palm™.

Well it has been a while since we mentioned anything diamond encrusted lately. I think I have feeling why… but Knalihs Athem has decided not to shy away, even if it the rich can barely afford to buy their creations. The BlackBerry Bold(Black Beauty) Limited Diamond Edition is available in various designs using diamonds including pink, yellow, black, champagne and white diamonds. You can also get the back in “beige, black, red, brown and maroon crocodile skin, red and tan leather, black-bronze and black-red snake skin and blue and pink denim finish.” If the diamonds aren’t enough, you can even have it customized further with your favorite logo, lucky number, or just about anything. No pricing is listed because frankly if you have to ask – that means you can’t afford it…

Update 04/22/09: Check out the winning entry

Regulations: The contest is only open to residents of the U.S.A. AT&T ChipChick.com are not responsible for any lost packages or incorrect shipping addresses. The prize is not redeemable in cash and must be accepted as awarded. Approximate value of prizes may vary. By claiming the prize, the winner authorizes the use, without additional compensation of his or her name and/or likeness and/or voice/photograph and municipality of residence for promotion and/or advertising purposes in any manner and in any medium (including without limitation over the internet and picture data storage).

This contest is also being run on several other web sites, which are listed below. Each site is giving away its own handset. While contestants are welcome to submit entries to each participating site, please be advised that contestants are only eligible to win one prize.

Design:
The Peek is compact and pretty slim, it’s just a little thinner than my 1G iPhone, yet it is wider and shorter. The peek is lightweight at just 3.8 ounces and comfortable to hold in your hand. The front of the peek is covered in a rubbery finish which also covers the keys. There are no gaps between the keys and the devices, so you don’t have to worry about crumbs and dirt falling through, and it should probably be spill resistant to a certain extent as well. – That is something to keep in mind if you are going to be giving this device to a kid to use. The keyboard is comfortable to use and provides pretty good tactile feedback. It’s keys illuminate when pressed which is great when you’re using the peek in areas with dark lighting.

 

On the right side of the device is a scroll-wheel and back button. There is no doubt that the Peek’s designers took design cues from the older generation of BlackBerries. Unfortunately the scroll-wheel is a bit stiffer then we’d like it to be. The display on the Peek is bright and clear and as a result reading text is easy and Viewing image attachments is a pleasant experience. In the box you get an ac adapter which is nice and small and slim, so it will be great for traveling. A travel case designed by Timbuk2 is also included but we did not receive one.

Overall the design is nice, slim and simplistic. Personally we like the pink color the best, not because it’s girly, but because it’s got the most pop. However you can go for the more conservative Charcoal gray or the Aqua blue version. Either way we can’t help but compare the Peek to being the BlackBerry’s younger kid sibling. The Peek’s got the basic looks, does email well like his older brother but he has a lot left to grow up before he’ll be the BlackBerry feature-wise – but not that he wants too.

Set-up:
When you first turn on the Peek it greets you with simple instructions for setting up the device, which is really just that you have to wait for the device to acquire a signal and from there you are prompted to set up your email account by inputting your name, email and password. The device can hold up to 3 email accounts, and it currently supports AOL, Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. I pulled in a Gmail and an AOL account – Yes, I still use AOL, and I’m not ashamed of it either. Overall the set-up process was dead simple.

Software/Interface:
The Peek’s software interface is very BlackBerry’esque. You use the side scrollwheel to open emails ad select menu options. The menus pop up in the upper right corner just like on a BlackBerry. Its display can fit 8 emails listed at a time on the screen. The Peek’s inbox collects all of your email account in to the same inbox, which according to your preference – can be a good thing or bad thing. Overall, the interface is very responsive and there is only a very minut lag when jumping between emails. Unfortunately the font size may be a bit small for some, we’d like to have an option to increase the size like you can on a BlackBerry. – Especially since the device will probably appeal to kids or older folks looking for a simple to use device like this one. I know from personal experience that my mother had me increase the font size on her BlackBerry to the maximum size available – the BlackBerry, which by the way, she constantly asks me how to use.

Features:
The Peek isn’t rich with features, it’s really just about the email. However it does support image attachments, and it also lets you create a contact list. The Peek also lets you set up sound & alerts. You get to choose between Vibrate, Ring – high, medium, low or silent. You can also set the display to standard battery saver in which the display dims after 15 seconds or battery hog in which the display turns dark after 60 seconds. Additionally, the Peek lets you choose from 3 themes with different color sets including Dusk, Tangerine and Spring.

E-mails came in about 5 minutes after they were received in my regular mailbox. Additionally you can use the send/receive button to have emails manually pushed to you.

Conclusion:
We love that the Peek is contract free. It’s cheap $99 price point works as well. However we still think that $19.99 a month is a bit much for just email. If that included access to IM like AIM and MSN, we’d say it’s the right price. But for just email we think it should be dropped to $15 a month (maybe $10?) and the device would fly off the shelves. Overall we imagine that this device would do well with kids or just someone looking for a cheap device that is just dedicated to email. We hate to make generalizations but it should appeal to senior citizens as well (the non-tech savvy ones), granted that they don’t have a problem with the font size. It’d be a great gift to give grandma to keep in touch with her grandkids before she heads off to Miami, while she is sunning herself on the beach. Or perhaps it’s for the senior citizen who isn’t quite ready for a full blown computer yet but again, wants to keep in touch with their family. The Peek goes on sale at Target as of Monday, September 15th.

The Good:
Great Minimalist Design, Easy to Set-up and Operate, Clean Interface, Affordable

The Bad:
The monthly charge of $19.99 to receive JUST e-mail is a bit high.

The Pure-Fi Mobile’s goal is to deliver a great wireless audio experience for use with your phone or PC whilst being small and portable enough to travel with. The speaker can last up to 12 hours with its rechargeable batteries. Aside from connecting it to your A2DP enabled phone or PC, you can also connect your iPod or Mp3 player to the Pure-Fi Mobile via the 3.5MM stereo jacket. A cable is even supplied to do so. Of course that means that it won’t be a wireless experience, but blame that on Apple for leaving A2DP bluetooth out.

 

Set-up:
First I paired up the Pure-Fi Mobile with my Motorola RAZR 2. The pairing process was simple, though I did have to refer to the manual for the initial set-up. I held down the bluetooth source button and then had my RAZR 2 scan for available devices. The manual instructed me what the pin number was and once I entered it, my RAZR was connected to the Pure-Fi Mobile.

Audio:
For such a small little speaker, I was impressed at how loud the Pure-Fi Mobile could get without much distortion. Sound quality was good but not great, most likely due to the fact that the Pure-Fi Mobile doesn’t have any bass so it’s really all treble. But for a speaker it’s size it is very solid.
Playing music off of the Motorola RAZR was an ok experience, just ok because the music files on the RAZR 2 tend to be very compressed, plus the music is coming through bluetooth. Playing music on the Pure-Fi Mobile from my iPhone or off of my computer using the Aux-in was naturally a better experience.
I did notice that when I connected my laptop or iPhone to it via the auxiliary input, it is better to change the volume directly from the source than from on the Pure-Fi Mobile. Making the volume louder directly on the Pure-Fi Mobile created some static, while making the volume directly louder from the source didn’t.

Speakerphone:
The Logitech’s Pure-Fi Mobile has not one, but two built-in microphones; one designed to pick up “vocal nuances” while the other mic is meant to block out unwanted background nose.  Using the speaker, I could hear people on the other end of the conversation loud and clearly. Callers on the other end of the line could hear me clearly as well but they said that I did sound like I was on a speakerphone because I sounded a bit distant and quiet.

Conclusion:

As a bluetooth travel-sized speaker, Logitech’s Pure-Fi Mobile is one of the best ones out there. It’s simple to use, has a nice design, it can get to powerful volumes despite its small size, and overall it does a good job with all of its features. But if you’re looking for a rich audio experience, the lack of bass hurts it. In other words this is a truly a speaker / speakerphone for those on the go, and not a home speaker system replacement. The Pure-Fi Mobile retails for a reasonable $149.95

The Good: Well rounded performer, travel friendly design, case included

The Bad: Audio Lacks Bass, Audio volumes are better suited being controlled from the music source rather than from the Pure-Fi Mobile itself