Rogers and RIM will be releasing the much awaited Blackberry Bold in Canada, tomorrow, August 21st. The Bold or 9000 is RIM’s first HSDPA Device and some people are claiming it will compete with the new 3G iPhone.
In my recent checking out of the Roger’s web site it looks like they have changed their Blackberry Plans to be a little more reasonable than previously offered. The 30.00 per Month for 6GB Promotional package is available on the Bold until the end of August as well as a 15.00 unlimited email (only) package. There is one other decent package a 30.00 – 300 MB per month data plan.
However if you are on a Blackberry Enterprise Server, prepare to hand your wallet over to Rogers… The above data plans will not work with BES server. For BES users there are three (poor) data plans offering; 40.00 per month for 7 MB, 45.00 per month for 300MB and 100.00 per month for 1 GB.
I have been using my Curve with a BES running on my SBS server now for about a year and a half now and I really like the instant push to email that I get as well as the contact and calendar syncing. However I was planning on using the Bold as a tethered wireless modem with my laptops and even the 300 MB plan would make that next to impossible as I could blow through 300 MB in a day.
I will probably go with the Promotional Plan with 6GB of data and try some other things. I can use sync with the desktop manager for contacts and then use Google Calendar sync (which works great) to sync my calendars. If the I find I really need to be connected to the BES server then I can always change plans later and wait for Rogers to at least come close to the US for HSDPA Modem plans.
I have seen and held the Bold demo unit in a store and while a little larger than my Curve it does feel really nice in the hands and the keyboard looks and feels great. Maybe by this time tomorrow I will have my new Blackberry Bold. If so my own review will be coming along soon.
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