There has been a lot of talk on whether RIM should exit the consumer market and focus purely on the enterprise- a segment that they are really good at. While it’s true that RIM’s market share in consumer devices has globally been shrinking, it is still the best messaging device out there.

It’s no secret that I’ve been an advocate of BlackBerry Smartphones for a while and yes, I feel the pain of users who are envious of the slick UI and Apps that the iPhone and Android devices sport. So like most users in the UAE, I carry two phones with me and one of them is always the BlackBerry. The other phone keeps switching between an iPhone and whatever device that I am currently reviewing but the BlackBerry is a constant.

The reason I do that is because, as I mentioned in the intro, nothing comes close to being as good of a messaging device as a BlackBerry. The keyboard on RIM’s devices are insanely good and come in very handy, especially in a non-English speaking world where you mix and match words from multiple languages. Even my two year old iPhone doesn’t always get it right with auto-correction and no matter what one says, a full hardware keyboard continues to offers the best typing experience.

There is no denying that RIM is awesome on the enterprise-side, especially with their compression and security which not only helps careers utilize less bandwidth but also makes your device less expensive to use (through data charges) and makes the battery last longer due to lesser usage. That kind of technology would be incredible on an iPhone- especially if you add BBM to that mix, but do keep in mind that the reason that Apple does so well is because their control the entire software and hardware aspect of their products. RIM needs to continue doing the same.

So I don’t think RIM should exit the consumer device space. Their numbers might be shrinking in the rest of the world but they are doing really well in the Middle East where BBM has replaced text messaging for most. For a slick UI and apps, we need to wait for RIM to release the BlackBerry 10 OS and hope that they really hit one out of the park. And make a device that looks like the concept picture posted on top. I still have faith.

Nokia held a media roundtable in Dubai recently to introduce their PureView 808 Smartphone featuring a 41 mega-pixel camera. Yep- it’s the phone that was the talk of the Mobile World Congress show this year.

Mr. Vesa Julita, Nokia’s Global Head of Smart Devices introduced us to the PureView 808 by mentioning that Nokia was getting tired of the Mega Pixel race in the Smartphone market and decided to take care of it for once and all by releasing a camera with technology that is miles ahead and will competitors years to catch up. He mentioned that Nokia has been working on this technology for over five years now and has based it on the following three factors:

1) High performance sensors
2) Image processing algorithms
3) Precession optics

On top you see the massive PureView 808 Sensor with competing ones below it.

The Pureview 808 is the first product to feature this new technology and as Tuula Rytila, Senior VP, Portfolio and Business Management hinted, we should expect to see this in more upcoming Nokia phones- so don’t be surprised to see it on a Windows Phone 8 based Lumia phone in the near future as well.

While I was allowed to take pictures from the Nokia PureView 808, I was asked not to share these pictures as the device is still work in progress and the image quality will be further tweaked. Thus, the best I can show is the screen of the PureView with the picture I took from it as well as my iPhone 4S. You can immediately tell that the PureView has a wider-angle lens than the iPhone 4S but for anything above and beyond that, you will have to wait.

Following the roundtable, Mr. Vesa was kind enough to sit down with me and talk a little bit more about this exciting new device from Nokia and technology behind it.

The Huawei Honor U8860 Smartphone landed in our offices a few weeks back. For those who are wondering what a Huawei is and how do you pronounce it, I can try and answer the first one as the debate on the pronunciation is still on in our office. Although not very well known in the Middle East consumer space, Huawei is a huge company with offices in more than 140 countries and deals mostly on the Government/Corporate side providing high-end information and communications technology (ICT) solutions. Recently, they decided to enter the consumer space and that they made some notice at the MWC show in Barcelona last month by showcasing the fastest quad core smartphone based on their own chip. Sadly, that is not what we have with us today for reviewing but fear not as the U8860 does have a few tricks up its sleeve.

Packaging and Design

Packaged in a grey box that is slightly bigger than your standard Smartphone packages from HTC and Apple, the U8860 comes with the usual suspects- a USB cable, a plug and a headset. A quick start guide is also included to get the novice user up and running.

The Huawei Honor U8860 gets no points in the design department and let me show you why before we talk about it.

As you can see, the design of the unit is heavily inspired by a small unknown device from a not-so-well-known company based in Cupertino. It is so much alike that my aunt who already owns a white iPhone got confused when she saw it sitting on a table a few feet from her. So although Huawei will not win any awards for design, at least the construction quality of the U8860 is fairly decent. Although there is a bit of a creak on the back cover- common amongst devices with removable back covers, overall the device feels pretty solid in your hand and should be able to survive a small fall or two.

Specs and Performance

The Huawei Honor U8860 has specs that can be found on a mid to high-end Android based Smartphone of today. Based on a single core Qualcomm 1.4GHz SnapDragon CPU and Adreno 205 GPU, the U8860 should be able to handle everyday tasks without much issues. The following table compares the U8860 to some of the recent Android devices we have reviewed along with how well it did on the SunSpider benchmark (remember, lower scores are better as this is a time based benchmark)

UI and Apps

Like Samsung and HTC, Huawei has also chosen to implement a custom UI on their Android based U8860 and it’s pretty good actually. If you have ever used a custom ROM based on MiUi on your Android device, then the U8860 will be somewhat familiar to you. You can define four icons on your dock and also create folders and place widgets on your screens. Huawei adds colorful icons and adds a custom keyboard that supports Arabic- something that is not a part of stock Android pre 4.0. The following video shows you the user interface for the device.

As you can see from the video, the device is fairly quick at launching and moving between applications and home screens. I found the keyboard to be not as good as the stock one found on the latest version of Android (Ice Cream Sandwich) but nevertheless, it supports Arabic.

Camera

The Huawei Honor U8860 features two cameras like most modern Smartphones. The front one is a 2MP shooter while the back one is 8MP with autofocus and an LED flash. Sadly video recording is restricted to 720p @ 30fps. The following shot is a sample taken from the back camera of the U8860. The image has been resized but quality is kept at 100%

As you can see, the shots are decent in quality. The camera captures a good amount of detail but the colors appear a bit dull. You can go to digital zoom upto 4x but the quality of pictures degrades quite a bit.

Overall Usage & Conclusion

For everyday usage the Huawei U8860 works well. The call quality is just fine and so are the volume levels. I didn’t have anyone complaining on the other side of the line and I could hear everyone as clear as any other phone. The unit operates at a fairly cool temperature most of the times as well- although I did notice it getting a bit on the hotter side while charging and using- but that is true for many phones.

One of the best things about the U8860 is the battery life. With a massive 1930mAh battery, expect the U8860 to provide you with the best battery life on an Android device. It certainly proved to be one of the longest lasting Android device that I have tested on late by giving me almost two full days with my usual usage of having push email enabled, listening to some music, taking a few pictures.

Oveall, the U8860 is a pretty decent Smartphone. It is well constructed, has a nice display, performs quite well and lasts you quite a long time between charges. Its priced at AED 1,500 making it extremely well worth for what you’re getting and thus earns our recommended product award.

As grand as it may sound, Apple’s new iPad is a game changer and it is all about pixels. Sure, a better camera is nice as is quad core graphics. But undoubtedly the star of the new iPad is the retina display. I suspect it will also be the one thing in the new iPad that will take the iPad-line into the future.

I’m actually writing this on the new iPad connected to a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display and an Apple Bluetooth keyboard. There is a SD card adapter as well as USB adapter laying on the desk, completing the setup. It is truly amazing what I can accomplish with this gear.

It offers probably 90% or more of the functionality of a Mac, and that remaining 10% I don’t need all the time. In addition it offers some clear benefits over a Mac, like all day battery life and portability that not even the smallest MacBook can match.

Sure, I can’t expand the storage, but with access to a 50 GB online DropBox I’m not sure it matters much. And by SSH-ing into a virtual server I have access to the full flexibility and power of a Linux server right from the comfort and convenience of my iPad. Finally, when I need something that doesn’t run on the iPad, like access a website that requires Flash, I can remotely connect to my office Mac and do what I need to do.

But back to the issue of pixels. I’m not sure I can adequately explain just how gorgeous the 2,048 by 1,536 pixel display is. It’s a miracle that so many pixels have been packed into an area as small as just 9.7 inches.

Since the pixels are so small, text looks crisp, photos look amazing, and apps – at least if they’re developed for the retina display – look supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

I truly can’t make out individual pixels and that’s a first for me I think. Even on the 23-inch Cinema Display it all looks very smooth and crisp at the same time.

So what about competitors?

I don’t see any coming anytime soon. Even if there would be an Android tablet, for example, launched soon, there will not be many apps for a very long time. Just look at the meager selection of Honeycomb apps in Google Play now. This is one area where Apple’s advantage is even bigger than it is when it comes to the hardware and software of the device itself.

So even if you have no intention of ever buying an iPad, you just simply have to experience one.

At first glance it may seem like Apple didn’t do much to update the new iPad compared to the previous generation.

However, that would be missing what’s staring you right in the face – or not as it may be – that the new iPad is the first device that will make us forget about pixels.

And that makes it a game changer, one that even Steve Jobs would have been proud of.

Photo courtesy of Emran Kassim.

With the recently successful launch of Nvidia’s flagship GTX 680 graphics card, the company’s CEO sent out an email congratulating his employees on their hard work developing the Kepler architecture. Furthermore, Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun also talked a bit about where the Kepler architecture will be headed in the future.

The whole email can be seen below, as reported by AnandTech.

Notice the bolded part in the email where Jen-Hsun talk’s about the Kepler architecture coming to superphones. While not exactly a confirmation, nor an idea of their roadmap, the future of our phones certainly seems bright.

—–Original Message—–

From: Jensen H Huang

Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 9:48 AM

To: Employees

Subject: Kepler Rising

Today, the first Kepler – GTX 680 – is on shelves around the world!

Three years in the making.  The endeavor of a thousand of the world’s best engineers.  One vision – build a revolutionary GPU and make a giant leap in efficient-performance.

Achieving efficient-performance, great performance while consuming the least possible energy, required us to change our entire design approach.  Close collaboration between architecture-design-VLSI-software-devtech-systems, intense scrutiny on where energy is spent, and inventions at every level were necessary.  The results are fantastic as you will see in the reviews.

Kepler also cultivated a passion for craftsmanship – nothing wasted, everything put together with care – with a goal of creating an exquisite product that works wonderfully.  Let’s continue to raise the bar and establish extraordinary craftsmanship as a hallmark of our company.

Today is just the beginning of Kepler.  Because of its super energy-efficient architecture, we will extend GPUs into datacenters, to super thin notebooks, to superphones.  Not to mention bring joy and delight to millions of gamers around the world.

I want to thank all that gave your heart and soul to create Kepler.  You’ve created something wonderful.

Congratulations everyone!

Jensen

1) Keynote by industry leaders from Nokia, Qualcomm and RIM

The Tbreak Developer’s Conference kicks off with a keynote from Industry leaders such as Mike Al-Mefleh, Director of Product Management – Middle East at Research In Motion and Praveen Prabhakaran, Head of EDX – Middle-East at Nokia who will discuss the opportunities that exist in the Smartphone world for upcoming developers.

2) Discussion Panel

Following the keynote, you will get a chance to listen in on a discussion about the industry with some hard hitting questions about what is being done by platform providers to grow the developer’s community in the region as well as the effeccts of piracy and whether casual gaming is becoming the future of gaming

3) Free Classes from Nokia, RIM and Qualcomm

If you are interested in learning about developing apps and games for Smartphones, then you have a great oppportunity to listen in on free sessions from the likes of RIM, Nokia, Qualcomm and Microsoft. Think of it as a 101 class on development straight from the platform providers.

4) Opportunity to show off your app if you are an upcoming developer

If you’re a developer who is just starting out and have an app that you think could make it big, then TDC is the event to showcase your app to a panel of judges and walk away with prizes such as the latest Smartphones from Nokia and RIM.

5) Honoring the best

Part of TDC is recognizing the best from the indusrty within the Middle East. The nominations for best apps, websites and games were publicly voted upon on TDC’s website and the panel of judges has decided upon the winners. Come and find out who won from categories like best App, best website and best social media personality

I’ve been playing around with the Nokia Lumia 800 for a couple of weeks now and I’ve noticed that I’ve been giving it a lot more time than what I normally allocate to a review unit. I’ve always found Windows Phone 7 and it’s non-iOS look intriguing and while there have been a couple of good handsets sporting Microsoft’s latest OS, I’ve never found one that has that WOW factor. Does Nokia’s Lumia 800 change that and give Windows Phone the attention is deserves? Lets find out.

Packaging

Packaged in a nice blue recycled paper box that is a bit taller in size than the iPhone 4S packaging, the Lumia 800 comes with the usual assortment of goodies found in most modern Smartphones. You get a USB cable along with the charging plug, a fairly average headset and the standard quickstart/warranty guides. A protection cover is also included which matches the color of your phone- black, cyan or magenta. I received the black version for review which is probably the least exciting looking one.

Build Quality & Design

The Nokia Lumia 800 looks very much like the Nokia N9 that I reviewed some time back- you can pretty much call them twins separated at birth as you’d be hard pressed to find much differences between them- save for the obvious. Like the N9, the Lumia 800′s shell is based on unibody polycarbonate so not only will it survive a drop or two but scratches won’t wear it’s color off. The rounded edges along with the flat top and bottom make the Lumia 800 feel really good in your hand and in my opinion, one of the most well constructed Smartphones out there.

The Lumia 800 is slightly bigger in size than the iPhone 4S in all dimensions which makes it feel a bit more noticeable in your jeans than Apple’s flagship device. However, it’s still reasonably more pocketable than some of the super-sized Android phones like the HTC Sensation XE. On the right side, you have volume keys, the power button and a two-step camera button while the top has the 3.5mm connector and the USB and micro-SIM slots hidden behind doors. The front is taken up by large slab of glass that also covers the three required Windows Phone keys which aren’t actual buttons but do offer haptic feedback when touched. Sadly, there is no front-facing camera but the the Carl Zeiss 8MP lens on the back along with dual LED flashes makes up for it.

Specs, Comparison & Benchmarks

Microsoft has been pretty strict with Windows Phone manufacturers over the specs of Smartphones based on their OS which is a good thing as you don’t end up with a product that ruins the experience. On the flip-side, you also lose out on using cutting-edge hardware such as dual core CPUs and the latest/greatest GPUs. The Nokia Lumia 800 runs on 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset with 512MB RAM and features 16GB storage. The following table compares the Lumia 800 to some of the other phones we have tested of late.

Screen and Touch Interface UI and Apps

The Nokia Lumia 800 features a 3.7” touch screen with 400×800 pixel resolution and ClearBlack display technology that makes the screen look almost as good as the best Super AMOLED displays we have seen from Samsung. While the resolution is not as high the iPhone 4 or the latest Android devices, it still looks pretty amazing and the Corning Gorilla Glass should withstand a fall or two.

It’s Nokia’s first Windows Phone based Smartphone and, again, due to the strict requirements from Microsoft, Nokia probably couldn’t do much to change the way the User Interface looks. While this prevents manufacturers like HTC and Samsung to equip their UIs on top such as the HTC Sense or Samsung Touchwiz that we see on Anroid based devices, it gives the end user a much more controlled experience. Depending on how you look at, this could be a bad thing or a good thing as the stock version of Windows isn’t as bland as Google’s Android 2.x. Far from it, actually.

The Nokia Lumia 800 comes equipped with the latest version of Windows Phone which is 7.5 and codenamed Mango. Compared to the original release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has made lots of improvements over the original OS. In fact, the UI known as Metro has actually spilled over to Xbox and will also be featured in the upcoming Windows 8 for your computers and tablets. One of the first things you’ll notice about Windows Phone is how incredibly responsive and snappy it is. In fact, even with the single core CPU, it is much more snappier than many dual core Android beasts.

The idea behind the Metro UI is that you work with a collection of Live tiles. With Windows Phone, you have one large or two square tiles in each line that contain information such as your appointments, your messages or your contacts. Since these tiles are live, you can get real time information displayed on them- so for example, a third party weather tile can show current weather on the tile or a messaging application can show the number of new or unread messages. This works really well and looks beautiful at the same time. The following video shows you some of the aspects on the MetroUI and how it works.

You can pretty much tile anything from Windows Phone to your start screen. This can be a contact, a location on a map or an album from your favorite artist. While it’s amazing to have such flexibility to pin tiles to the home screen, the bad side is that you can have a fairly long home screen with many tiles making it counter productive. I think the easily way to solve this would be to allow tiles to act as folders when required- so for example, instead of having three separate tiles on my home screen for Texts, WhatsApp and Google Talk, I could just have one called Messaging with Live updates on the tile.

Above and beyond the OS, Nokia does add a couple of apps to Lumia 800 that you saw in the video. Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive use Navteq maps which, arguably, are the best maos available for the Middle East with live traffic info and 3D displays of buildings.

Camera

A new high-end device from Nokia is expected to carry a pretty awesome camera with it and the Lumia 800 is no different. The Carl Zeiss optics based 8 MegaPixel camera takes some pretty decent shots- although it’s not as fast to click and focus as the iPhone 4S. Windows Phone allows you to take pictures from the lock screen but it takes a few seconds for the camera app to load up and another second or two to focus. I managed to miss a couple of kids shot because of this lag. However, when you do have the camera app up and running, subsequent shots are at a decent speed and the quality is pretty good. Again, not necessarily as good as the iPhone 4S or even the Nokia N8 but still better than most mobile phones out there.

Battery Life & Usability

The battery on the Lumia 800 takes a few days to condition which is true for any Smartphone. When I first started playing with the phone, I was lucky to get a full day and thus disabled push mail. But after a week or ten days, I could easily get by on a full charge even with push mail enabled. Obviously your mileage will vary but a standard day for me is about 40 minutes of phone calls, push email and wi-fi enabled all the time, listening to a few tunes and creating/replying to quite a few texts, emails and tweets.

Sound quality on the Lumia 800 is as good as any other Smartphones- nobody complained about not being able to hear me properly and I was able to hear the person on the other end of the line just fine. The phone never really got too hot either- even with GPS and Wi-Fi radios enabled. About the only time it got a bit on the warm side was when using the camera or video camera but it was nowhere close to being uncomfortable.

Conclusion

Overall, the Lumia 800 is just what Windows Phone needed- a beautiful and well constructed device to show off the beautiful and well designed OS. Microsoft has made a lot of progress between the initial version of Windows Phone and what is out now (Mango). About the only thing holding me back from fully recommending it at the moment is the lack of full Arabic support- while text messages and social media clients display Arabic properly, you still can’t write in Arabic and emails/web pages appear in broken text.

If full Arabic support is not a requirement for you, the Windows Phone OS is now ready to be used as primary phone and Nokia has made a beautiful and fast device to accompany it. More and more applications are coming out by the day for Windows Phone which will only make the platform stronger. Give the Nokia Lumia 800 a try if you are looking for something fresh, fast and different in a world full of iOS clones. You won’t be disappointed.

Long before the dawn of mp3 players crammed with hundreds of songs, there was the humble CD player, and before that the cassette player, or the Walkman to be precise. There was nothing quite like donning those huge headphones with the silver band and bopping along the street like you didn’t have a care in the world. So when the Sony Ericsson WT19i Walkman phone landed on my desk, I was eager to swap out my phone for a few days and see just how this little gem would hold up.

Specifications & Design
At first glance the WT19i looks quite innocent with its non-flashy white looks and matte backing. The phone is nearly the same size as my current phone which is a Blackberry 9800, but feels much lighter due to the absence of a physical keyboard. Even though its mostly encased in hard plastic, the phone doesn’t feel cheap at all, though I’m sure that after a few accidental drops the plastic will give way in certain places.

Measuring 106 x 56.5 x 14.2 mm and weighing less than 120g, the phone is easy to slip into your pocket and forget about. At the front of the phone is the forward-facing camera and three buttons – Back, Home, and Menu, with the power button at the top of the device along with a dedicated button to launch the Walkman feature of the phone. The right side sports the volume rocker and dedicated camera button, while a micro-USB connector is on the left for recharging the device as well as connecting it to your PC. At the back of the phone is the 5 Megapixel camera and flash, as well as two tiny speakers for audio, which I’ll touch upon later. A Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 1GHz processor powers the device, with 512MB RAM and 1GB ROM. Under the back cover is a slot for your SIM card as well as for microSD storage up to 32GB. Finally, the screen is a 3.2” 320×480 LCD which is fine for general usage, but becomes difficult to use when browsing the web.

Software
The phone bundles with Android 2.3 and features a UI designed by Sony Ericsson. Each corner of the phone’s screen can be used to launch a particular app shortcut such as email or SMS, and even the main app list has been tweaked a bit. In addition to the stock Android apps, the phone bundles with its own brand of programs – the Timescape app is something we’ve seen in other Sony Ericsson phones, and provides you with a ‘stream’ of information such as your messages, emails, tweets, and Facebook alerts. You can also download more apps via a “Get Apps” program, but most of these just link back to the Android Market, so you’re better off just using the Market app directly.

It feels a bit awkward using an older version of Android having being recently spoiled by Ice Cream Sandwich, but it’s more or less a fairly pain-free experience navigating through the menus and launching apps. Typing on the other hand is a bit of a challenge – in portrait mode the phone provides a predictive text input which for the most part works well despite the small screen, but it’s the annoying autocorrect that too frequently changes your words into something else. Thankfully you can rotate the phone horizontally to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard which makes things a lot easier.

I think we can all agree that Nokia has not been doing too great the last few years. Sure, the Finnish telecom giant has released some interesting smartphones, like the N8 with its amazing camera. But it has not been able to grab headlines, like its competitors, at least not for the right reasons. When Nokia announced its partnership with Microsoft about a year ago, I was actually very excited because I felt going with Windows Phone for its smartphones would allow Nokia the stability and functionality it so badly needed.

Let’s take one step further back, to Mobile World Congress in 2010. There, in Barcelona, I witnessed when Microsoft unveiled the new Windows Phone 7 operating systems for mobile devices. I wasn’t exactly blown away but what I saw, but I was convinced it could compete with iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and all the rest. Microsoft had thought in new ways in terms of the interface as well as functionality, which is not something that can be said about Microsoft very often.

Then we waited. First we waited for any Windows Phone smartphone to appear, and what first came out didn’t exactly impress too much. Then we waited for Nokia to introduce its first Windows Phone device and while we waited we got the N9.

Finally, in October 2011, Stephen Elop stood on stage at Nokia World in London, declaring that the Lumia 800 was “the first real Windows Phone device.” As it turns out, the Lumia 800 is basically the N9 but running the Windows Phone OS. I’ve had a Lumia 800 for a few days now, and I can say it’s a very, very nice smartphone.

But I’m not going to review the Lumia 800 in this article, for that you’ll have to wait for the Tbreak tech labs team to sink their teeth into it. What I can tell you is that Nokia seems to be on the right track again, and that’s good news for you as a consumer as well as the industry as a whole.

With the Lumia 800, and presumably also with the Lumia 900, which I’ve not tried, Nokia has beautifully designed, high-quality smartphones, which run a cutting-edge mobile OS. Sure, the Marketplace for Windows Phone may only have 50,000 apps compared to the 500,000 you can find for iOS, and that is a problem, but it’s a problem that can be made to go away. Nokia and Microsoft have to push hard to get great apps, and a lot of them, developed for the Windows Phone OS. One such app, which many of us are waiting for right now, is Carbon for Windows Phone by UAE-based dots & lines.

By adopting Windows Phone as the OS for its smartphones, Nokia remedied the one big problem it has had over the last few years: Symbian. Now, Nokia can focus on its industrial and product design, something it has always been good at, and spend less time developing an OS. And I, for one, think that is a good thing.

Nokia is in the game again, baby, and I, for one, wish them all the luck in the world.

Picture by Olga Berrios.

It’s no surprise that geeks like me are not necessarily big on fashion. When I don’t have to attend events or meetings, I much prefer being in my jeans and a Polo. However, every once in a while (mainly during shopping festivals with super discounted prices), I’d step into Bloomingdales or Harvey Nichols and treat myself to a couple of nice shirts or even a blazer ( if they’re still called that). Now here’s the thing- different people have different opinions on my purchases. What one person absolutely loves, gets laughed at by another. In the world of fashion, there is no science and there are no analytical benchmarks to prove one thing is better than the other. It’s all in the eye of the beholder.

The intro above might seem a bit strange on a tech website but serves a purpose- it’s required reading for the Porsche Design BlackBerry P9981 that I am reviewing today. Ever since it was officially unveiled, I have read countless opinions on how sexy or how ugly the P9981 is. I too, considered the device unattractive when pictures of it were leaked on the web a few months back. But then I held it at it’s launch event in Dubai and suddenly, my opinion started changing. And after playing with it for a few days, my beloved Bold 9900 suddenly feels cheap.

Packaged in a nice box that is almost the size of something you get when buying shoes, the P9981 prepares you with what it has to offer right from the magnetic latch of the packaging. The top layer has the phone and the charging dock nicely cuddled up while going a layer deep reveals the Porsche branded battery (same capacity as the Bold 9900), your membership card and some manuals. Going deeper to the last layer unveils the premium headset, USB cable and four charging plugs serving different parts of the world. Interestingly, no holster is included in the package which tells you that this is not a device that you want to keep hidden inside anything. You can watch our unboxing video here.

The Porsche Design P9981 is essentially the BlackBerry Bold 9900 but in a chassis designed by the company that is associated with being über cool. Gone is the plasticy back and the brushed aluminum looking antenna band, replaced by real premium leather back cover and a shiny stainless steel band. Even the individual keys on the P9981’s keyboard are made of metal instead of plastic. Although it might not look very comfortable, the keyboard on the P’9981 is very easy to type on- not as good as the Bold 9900 but still pretty good. Above the keyboard, you have the four traditional BlackBerry keys and the trackpad- all of which are taller in size and easier to press. The hard metallic edges along with the leather back give the P9981 a feel that is like no other Smartphone. You know you’re carrying something that is premium.

This new enclosure is slightly bigger in size compared to the Bold 9900 but not much has changed as far as layout and positioning of buttons and connectors is concerned. The MicroSD slot has been moved a bit higher making it easier to manage your memory card and you no longer need to remove the battery to access it either. Other than that, all the other buttons and connectors are pretty much in the same spot as the Bold 9900. One change I would have liked to see is the notification LED moved a bit higher so that it sits between the top and front sides of the device- or possibly around the navigation pad.