The BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 smartphones have gotten great buzz since we first announced the two BlackBerry® 7 smartphones with a BlackBerry Bold touch at the BlackBerry World™ conference in May. Members of the media and #TeamBlackBerry certainly enjoyed test-driving them at our #BB7FanNight event in Toronto. (FYI: We’ve gathered many BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 reviews from across the web for your quick reference.) Now that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are making their way to your local carriers and retail locations, we thought it would be a good time for the BlackBerry Bold Product Managers Michael and Jason to share five things you need to know about the new BlackBerry Bold touch smartphones.

1. The new touch BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones combine design style with substance

Our design goal for the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones was to deliver a stunning design that integrates the BlackBerry Bold family’s iconic QWERTY keypad with a brilliant, high resolution capacitive touch screen. Great care, time and precision went into designing and creating the keypad on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones; it was meticulously refined, sculpted and positioned to deliver the utmost in precision functionality to make typing accurate, simple and fast. In fact, even though the keypad on these two smartphones may look similar to that of the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9000 smartphone, it actually has 5% more surface area. Achieving such an improved typing experience – on the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones yet – is something we know BlackBerry customers will appreciate (and is a testament to our design team’s commitment to delivering continuous improvements to what matters most to our customers).

In terms of the overall design, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones were built in the tradition of the BlackBerry Bold line of smartphones, with purposeful detailing plus premium materials and finish. When you first hold the device in your hand, we think you will quickly realize how great it feels. We’ve highlighted some of our favorite design elements below:

• Brushed stainless steel frame: the elegantly brushed stainless steel frame extending around the exterior adds to the visual appeal of both Blackberry Bold smartphones, giving them what we feel is a timeless and classic look. Beyond aesthetics, the stainless steel frame adds reliable durability while seamlessly integrating important functions like the convenience and volume keys.
• “Aerospace composite” battery door: distinct to the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones, the “aerospace composite” battery door is incredibly lightweight and durable. It’s made of the same composite material that’s used to construct next-generation airplanes, racecars, and high-tech sports equipment. The cool factor is high to be sure, but more importantly, this composite construction actually helps optimize antennas, radios, and other device technology for highly reliable connectivity.
• Ultra-thin design: When we looked at the amount of time people have a device in hand, it became a priority for us to make the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones ever at 10.5mm. For BlackBerry smartphone users, this means a lightweight, sleek & slim device that fits comfortably in the palm of their hand, while maintaining uncompromised performance.

2. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930: The most powerful guts ever in a BlackBerry smartphone

We wanted to match the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones’ distinctive design with powerful hardware to deliver a best-in-class BlackBerry Bold smartphone experience. With a 1.2 GHz processor, 8GB of onboard memory with the option to expand (using up to a 32GB media card), and high-speed CDMA or HSPA+ world phone connectivity, these models have the most powerful ‘guts’ ever in a BlackBerry smartphone, helping you get more things done even faster. Here are a few features we’d like to speak to in more detail.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are the first BlackBerry smartphones to feature brilliant 2.8” 640×480 high-resolution touch screens, which deliver crisp, clear images and text at 287 pixels per inch, in full 24-bit color. Powered by the BlackBerry 7 OS and Liquid Graphics™ technology, these screens provide a truly responsive and versatile touch experience, so you can browse the web, interact on social sites, read and respond to emails, and view high resolution videos and photos. If you’d like to learn more about the evolution of the touch experience in BlackBerry 7, check out Sangita and Troy’s post, which tackles the subject in more detail.

In addition to hi-speed CDMA or HSPA+ cellular connectivity, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones also feature dual-band Wi-Fi® connectivity (2.4GHz and 5GHz). Reliable Wi-Fi connectivity is important for pulling down large amounts of data quickly without a hit to your data plan, and Dual band Wi-Fi connectivity means better connectivity and faster performance at the office, coffee shop, airport, or at home.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are the first BlackBerry smartphones to feature Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC is a technology that allows BlackBerry smartphone users to just tap to connect, get information, and link up with other supported NFC devices or authentic BlackBerry accessories. For more information about what NFC means for BlackBerry smartphone users, please watch this interview with Andrew Bocking, VP of Handheld Software Product Management.

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

3. The new BlackBerry 7 OS delivers better performance, usability and voice-activated Universal search

The powerful hardware in the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones have been paired with the new and powerful BlackBerry 7 OS, which offers a variety of performance and usability enhancements, such as Liquid Graphics and the next generation BlackBerry web browser. While BlackBerry 7 Product Manager Annu is planning on providing a detailed blog post on BlackBerry 7, we thought we’d share one of our favorite features: voice-activated Universal Search.

With voice-activated Universal Search, the powerful on-device search functionality that premiered in the BlackBerry 6® OS has gone hands free. Using advanced speech-to-text translation, you can now search for files, emails, contacts, music, and more—all without typing a thing. Voice-activated Universal Search also combs the web and BlackBerry applications for the information you need. For example, I often use Universal Search to find an address, which automatically brings up the BlackBerry® Maps location information. Very cool!

4. The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones improve social collaboration

As we said before, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones’ full QWERTY keypad offer an efficient and speedy typing experience, but it’s not just for emails. The new BlackBerry Bold smartphones feature the latest versions of our social media applications, including Social Feeds, Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones, Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones, and the new BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) 6. This suite of apps makes it easy for BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphone owners to quickly connect with friends, family, and co-workers.

We’re most excited about the potential of BBM 6 for BlackBerry Bold smartphone users, because of “BBM-connected” apps. BBM 6 allows for 3rd-party applications to incorporate your favorite aspects of BBM into their apps, from status updates and sharing to BBM chats. The video below shows how popular social application Foursquare takes advantage of BBM 6, but that doesn’t mean that social on the new BlackBerry Bold smartphones is only about fun and games. Don’t believe me? Check out this post on how to use BlackBerry Messenger 6 for business.

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

5. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones “Balance” the needs of enterprise and end users

In addition a full QWERTY keypad, dual-band Wi-Fi and BBM 6, the new BlackBerry Bold smartphones offer a variety of features that reinforce the BlackBerry Bold family’s heritage as the ultimate enterprise device for business people on the go. Two of our favorites are BlackBerry® Balance™ technology and the Documents To Go® Premium app.

BlackBerry Balance is a new technology in BlackBerry 7 that ensures your work life and private life never mix—so you can enjoy the fullest mobile experience on just one device. When you’re at work, BlackBerry Balance technology allows you to focus on getting tasks done while securely accessing business information, but it also makes it possible to stay connected via apps like Facebook, Twitter or personal email accounts. This is because BlackBerry Balance technology is designed to works behind the scenes to safeguard against accidentally compromising the security of company content while simultaneously protecting the privacy of your personal content. To learn more about this new technology, check out the BlackBerry Balance product page.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones also come with the full premium version of the Documents To Go app, which is a vital tool for mobile productivity. Documents To Go is a mobile document suite that is designed to allow you to create and edit Microsoft® Word®, Microsoft® Excel®, and Microsoft® PowerPoint® docs, and view PDF docs anywhere, anytime. As someone that travels regularly for work, I can attest that the ability to easily review or edit important work documents has been a lifesaver many times over.

We’re incredibly excited that the next generation of BlackBerry Bold smartphones is now available for BlackBerry smartphone users. For more information on pricing and availability, please contact your local carrier or visit our BlackBerry Bold where to buy page. Make sure to post a comment below and let us know what you think!

As you’ve been following the Inside BlackBerry® Developer’s Blog over the past few months, you’ve probably noticed that the BlackBerry® Java® SDK v7.0 is available for download in BlackBerry Developer Zone, as well as BlackBerry smartphone simulators for the recently announced BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810 smartphone, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 smartphone, and the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone, all running BlackBerry® 7 OS. Along with the tools, there’s also supporting documentation guiding you through the work of migrating an existing BlackBerry Java app to BlackBerry 7.

While BlackBerry smartphone simulators do provide a very accurate representation of what the experience will be like on a live device, there’s just no substitute for the real thing. Or is there?

Perfecto Mobile, a global provider of cloud-based testing, automation and monitoring solutions for mobile applications, is starting a special limited-time offer to test your applications on BlackBerry 7 OS smartphones, using Perfecto Mobile’s cloud-based mobile application testing solution. The exclusive promotion offers you a free 2 hour testing trial period on Perfecto’s MobileCloud™ for BlackBerry 7 OS smartphones and additional testing hours can be purchased at a discounted rate of $4 USD plus tax per hour beyond the initial 2 hour period.*

How does it work? Perfecto Mobile essentially hosts live BlackBerry smartphones and provides you remote access to them, allowing you to install and test your app on real devices, on real carrier networks.

To get started with this free trial and see how your applications run on the new BlackBerry 7 OS, check out Perfecto’s MobileCloud for BlackBerry 7 Smartphones. Once you’ve tested your app, submit it to the BlackBerry App World™ storefront! Also, make sure you check out the MobileCloud for BlackBerry webpage for updates on more supported smartphones coming up, including the newly announced BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones.

*Exclusive promotional offer available for a limited time only. Regular price of additional testing hours can be found at Perfecto’s website.

Having just received a new BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone, I made some notes while setting it up and put together the following guide to help new users get started with BlackBerry® 7 OS smartphones. So if you’ve just purchased one or plan on purchasing one in the near future, here are a few things you’ll want to know.

Before we begin, if you are upgrading from a previous BlackBerry® smartphone, you can use the Device Switch Wizard included with BlackBerry® Desktop Manager to quickly migrate your settings to a new BlackBerry 7 OS smartphone. For more information on how to do this, check out the following links:

• BlackBerry Desktop Software for PC (User Guide)
• BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac (User Guide)

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

It’s no secret that the BlackBerry® 7 OS has arrived on a whole set of brand new BlackBerry® smartphones. There are many exciting features of the new operating system that enhance the business experience that BlackBerry smartphones have always provided. Here are our top five features of the BlackBerry 7 OS for business users:

Documents To Go® Premium

This app is a true companion to those who do business on the go; it is designed to allow you to open, edit, save, or create new documents including Microsoft® Word, Excel®, and PowerPoint® files on your BlackBerry smartphone. When you need to make one small change to that report, or a colleague is asking for you to review a presentation, you can make changes quickly and efficiently while on the go.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Do you know what London and Toronto have in common? Yesterday, both cities hosted BlackBerry® 7 OS launch events, welcoming the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810, 9850 and 9860 smartphones to the BlackBerry® family! Among the guests of honor were the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and 9930 smartphones, both of which are BlackBerry 7 OS devices that had previously been announced at BlackBerry World™. Of course, the Social Media team at Research In Motion® (RIM®) was on hand at these launch events to demo the smartphones and speak with attendees.

While the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are not yet in stores, we’re eager to share these early hands-on impressions from the press, everyday shoppers and BlackBerry smartphone users. We may have provided the BlackBerry 7 OS smartphones, but these opinions are 100% their own. Once you have an opportunity to use the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 or 9930 smartphone, feel free to post a comment of your own and let us know what you think about them.

The new BB Bold 7 browser is 40% faster than before. My Bold 5 just shudder with envy. So did I. #BB7FanNight http://lockerz.com/s/126330103—
katie (@motherbumper) August 04, 2011

Very impressed with new Bold – very thin and sleek and new OS7 is super smooth on it #BB7FanNight—
Jehan Watson (@JehanWatson) August 04, 2011

#bb7fannight The 9900 defines what Blackberry is all about. The physical keyboard and touchscreen is a winning combination. @BlackBerry—
Max Fireman (@brava27) August 04, 2011

Thinnest blackberry every made also touch screen! Love the new bold 9900! #BB7FanNight http://twitpic.com/60k1tk—
Jordana Stein (@jordanastein) August 03, 2011

BlackBerry Bold 9900 impression: 4.5\5! Great response! Very very snappy! #BB7FanNight—
Michael Lam (@FindMike) August 03, 2011

#BB7FanNight. Ultra sexy my heart is beating like a disco drum for the new Blackberry BOLD baby!!—
Desiree_Todd_313 (@DesireeTodd_313) August 04, 2011

Website: TheCellularGuru

“The Browser: is now up to 40% faster than the WebKit browser found in OS6, and 100% faster than the original browser found in BlackBerry 5 devices. The new browser has the most compliant HTML5 implementation of any device on the market; we actually pitted my Rogers Nexus S browser head to head with a BlackBerry Bold 9900 at HTML5test.com – the Nexus scored a 184, while the BlackBerry Bold 9900 scored a staggering 277.”

Read more: Interview with Annu Dawar the Product Manager for BlackBerry 7 at #BB7FanNight

Website: NerdBerry

August 4 – “Following in the footsteps of the Bold 9000 the 9900 has what is probably the best BlackBerry keyboard I have used. …. The touch screen responsiveness is top notch, and can be compared to other platforms and manufacturers … The one feature that I hadn’t really thought about going into the event, but which surprised and amazed me the most, is the Wikitude browser. The Wikitude browser takes advantage of the augmented reality and is surprising cool. As you can see in the video the augmented reality can be used for several social media functions, and the integration of BBM is off the hook.”

Read more: (VIDEO) Hands On With The BlackBerry Bold 9900 At #BB7FanNight In Toronto

August 3 – “The night has been full of hands on with the new BB7 devices, like the highly anticipated Bold 9900, and I have never been more a fan. When the Torch 9800 launched I thought I had seen the pinnacle of Blackberry, but tonight I stand corrected.”

Read more: BB7FanNight In Toronto Delivers Results!

Website: CrackBerry

“I love the look and feel of the new Bold, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE KEYBOARD, and I love that there’s finally a touchscreen on a front-facing qwerty BlackBerry. The new Bold is FAST, rich looking and is just the absolute best of the traditional BlackBerry experience.”

Read more: (VIDEO) BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930 Hands On and First Impressions (part deux)