April 2010 was when HTC really got real recognition; heads started to turn and people began talking, the “HTC Desire” was due for release running on Android 2.1 with a 3.7 inch AMOLED screen and a 1GHz processor. I think it’s safe to say that the Desire was the most popular Smartphone of it’s time, I was really looking forward to getting my hands on one!

The HTC Desire was my first Android device and i must admit i was impressed from the off, i took straight to the Android OS with ease, general day to day use became natural for me. This was my first time i really used “Applications” the Android Marketplace was impressive; I’d download apps like Facebook and Twitter and i was so impressed with how well it kept me connected with friends and family. Accessing my emails was important for me, I had my emails pushed through to my Desire and they were well presented and easily accessible. i couldn’t find a fault i was so impressed            

Once the honeymoon period wore off which did take some time; i started to notice a few glitches within the device, the demand for wanting more and more apps grated on the performance of the device and it soon became sluggish and kept prompting me to delete content to free up more space so it could perform. With an internal storage capacity of 512MB it was always going to struggle.

Towards the end of my time with the Desire i became increasingly frustrated with the touchscreen, it became not as responsive and inaccurate; sending messages became frustrating as i would always press the wrong keys. I started to miss the physical feel of a keyboard, having almost no feedback when typing on a touchscreen was not satisfying. I appreciate that there is the ability to turn feedback on – key sounds or vibration but i done everything in my power to keep the battery life prolonged so i never used these functions.

Although i loved Android and knew no different i was always curious about other manufacturers/OS systems whether it be Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple but more so RIM (Blackberry) as i had had my hands on previous models like the Bold 9700, the keyboard always felt too small though and to be honest it did annoy me because the feel of a physical keyboard was appealing to me. Once i heard about the Bold 9900 i checked the spec out and noticed that it would possess the biggest physical keyboard RIM had ever produced! i was immediately interested form the off looking at reviews online; every reviewer mentioned the touchscreen capability and how nice the keyboard was. My mind was sort of made up; i felt like a change and this physical keyboard really was the selling point for me.

When we received stock here at Clove i got my hands on one right away and although i must admit the OS on the Bold 9900 is not outstanding i was content, I immediately felt the enjoyment coming back as i was texting and sending instant messages. Sending messages was no longer a chore, the keyboard was great – almost perfect for me. I am now getting used to the OS7 on the Bold 9900 and it works great. The lack of apps is probably its biggest draw back but i myself am not a huge app user; i would tend to have a lot of apps but really they were just there if you get my drift!

So to sum it up I’ve opted for efficiency over flexibility which works great for me! That’s not to say the Bold 9900 isn’t flexible [-)