RIM releases a quad-band 3G Bold… in Japan

By on Feb 26, 2009 at 8:02 AM
General February 26, 2009

Not to rub salt in the wounds of T-Mobile customers who are still crying out for a 3G BlackBerry, but not even the Mighty Magenta could pull off a feat the likes of what Japanese carrier DoCoMo did: convince RIM to add in a fourth band of 3G on the Bold. That’s right, the Japanese Bold that went on sale over the weekend is a quad-band 3G device containing the 2100, 1900, 850 and 800 MHz bands of UMTS/HSDPA. It was wise of RIM to omit this intel from its English press release of course, because it would definitely cause T-Mobile customers to start complaining about the Bold’s lack of of AWS 3G. And just for those of you who are wondering, the 800MHz UMTS/HSDPA band is a part of DoCoMo’s FOMA Plus Area network which is used in rural areas where the low-frequency spectrum is better able to navigate long distances and mountainous terrain. Tell us, T-Mobile 8900 users, are you green with envy that Japan got a special HSDPA band put into the Bold or is UMA enough for you?

Thanks, Jeff!

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  • http://removeblackberrypolicy.com JC

    The point of the article, as I understand it, is that some carrier in one country was able to get a custom frequency added (800 is not a typo and is different than 850) even though the only users for that device in that country are bankers and a few expats.

    TMO in general (not specific to the Bold) has been unable to get RIM to make custom adjustments for their network.

  • Helen

    @ JC:

    But you’re assuming T-Mobile went to RIM and asked for a AWS capable handset then got shut down? We don’t know that.

    We do know that T-Mobile USA’s CTO has admitted to the companies focus on the consumer and less on enterprise but that in the future they would be much more accommodating to B2B customers and will include a large line of smartphones to compliment their expanded 3G network later this year.

  • john

    You ever hear of wifi?? Also, tall buildings deflect signal and buildings don’t allow signal through very well.

  • Ryan

    The chipset used on bold works on both spectrums.(800 and 850). No hardware change was needed…docomo did get a cameraless version tho.

  • pinguta

    @ JC:

    Couldn’t agree with you more on all three points you made – point of article, bankers & expats, and TMO.

    Although NTT docomo’s website (http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/product/foma/pro/blackberrybold/spec.html) shows “FOMA Plus Area” compatibility, the “read” link from the original post doesn’t. That link points to the Japanese language Bold specs page on the BlackBerry website. The funny thing is, the very last line (footnote #6) reads “cannot be used in the FOMA PLUS Area (800MHz)”…

    Basically, the original post is a mess through and through.

  • Brad

    Like the format but font size of news stories still needs to be larger. NY TIMES mobile site is a good template for comparison. Ok for youngbloods but for us in our early 50′s, it’s still a strain. Read your site daily- please address. Thanks.

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

  • http://removeblackberrypolicy.com JC
  • bolduser

    The Blackberry has always been targeted for the corporate users in Japan. I got a Bold as the previous model was just too slow.

    Yes that particular 3G frequency is unique to Japan.

    Just as a guess, it might be because of the compact charger (700ma) that is causing the Bold to overheat, no problem with the 1A charger nor USB.

    Japan is 100v 50/60hz, so probably the charger wasn’t tested properly.

  • Christian Calzo

    I want this…. But the U.S. version.
    Anything else just isn’t American.

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