Processor / Chipset / Performance
All of the newly-announced BlackBerry 7 Smartphones, including the BlackBerry Bold 9900, are running the Qualcomm Scorpion MSM 8655 processor clocked at 1.2GHz on the Snapdragon chipset. An Adreno 205 GPU (graphics processing unit) is also onboard, powering BlackBerry 7's hardware-accelerated graphics, which RIM has dubbed "liquid graphics." At 1.2GHz, the processing power is roughly double the speed of previous generation BlackBerry Bolds. In addition to more speed, this hardware platform upgrade addresses a lot of the other nagging wants we've had for a while now, including 3D graphics support (has been lacking to date on GSM BlackBerrys), HD video recording and more.
While there may be faster processors and even dual-core phones on the market already on other platforms, when it comes to the BlackBerry OS I don't think what matters is the exact spec -- be it 1GHz, 1.2Ghz 1.4Ghz, etc. - but rather the experience it delivers. And 1.2Ghz on the BlackBerry OS is like injecting it with steroids. It actually took some getting used to the overall snappiness of phone and responsiveness of touchscreen. Honestly, it almost felt too fast at first, until I adjusted. Basic OS tasks like opening and closing apps are instant for the most part, and in five days of use I really haven't experienced any sort of hiccups or slow downs. The only time I've really seen the evil hourglass is while installing apps from App World, but even then I've been able to continue to use the phone.
It honestly has been a night and day difference compared to my Bold 9780, which even on the most recent OS builds has been running slow and hourglassing like crazy as of late. Some things still take some time on the Bold 9900, like booting up the phone after a battery pull, but so far I have yet to experience the need to be forced to pull the battery. Between the hardware and BlackBerry 7 software, everything seems to be running smooth so far. I hope this speed holds up as I get out of review mode and into even more real world use (I'm curious to see how it performs after I turn the wireless connection back on after being on a four flight - an action which normally makes my 9780 unusable for a few minutes). I'm thinking it also might be time for another
BlackBerry Stress Test! Stay tuned for that.