RIM announces firmware update for Bold 9900

Research In Motion has recently announced an upgrade for their high-end BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone. The upgrade takes the handset’s firmware from

Shayne Rana|Apr 19, 2012, 17:47:04 IST

Research In Motion has recently announced an upgrade for their high-end BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone. The upgrade takes the handset’s firmware from 7.0 to 7.1 which might not seem like such a big deal to some. This upgrade for the Bold 9900 will include a lot of performance improvements along with the addition of the much required WiFi Hotspot functionality wherein one can connect up to 5 devices to share the devices internet connection.

There have been a few reported software bugs faced by users which have also now been rectified in this update by RIM. Also included with the update is an upgrade for their popular proprietary chat application i.e. BlackBerry Messenger which has also upgraded to version 7.1. The new BlackBerry Messenger will have a more personalized experience which includes animated avatars and extra colors for the chat bubbles along with better integrated set ups for social networks like Facebook and Twitter. This was announced by the Canadian company only last week.

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Updated to 7.1

The Bold 990 featured a 1.2GHz Qualcomm 8655 Snapdragon chip and was one the first from the company to feature a touch and type system. Aside from that and it’s light weight but sturdy carbon fiber shell, here’s a quick look at the it’s other specifications:

2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 640 x 480 pixel resolution
3G, BIS, BES, Wi-Fi, with Hot Spot creation for internet sharing
GPS with a-GPS support for third party maps
Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, USB 2.0
5 MP, fixed focus camera with an Led flash and 720p video recording
8GB internal memory with microSD card support for up to 32GB more

As per Research in Motion, this update is only meant for SIM free devices and the ones locked in by the operator will be updated soon in collaboration with their respective service providers. The update is not available over the air meaning users will have to use BlackBerry’s PC software to update their handsets. You can get the update from BlackBerry India’s support page here.

Currently the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is priced at Rs. 33,360 on Flipkart.

By Shayne Rana

Shayne has an exceptional love for superheroes, action figures, comics, retro music and movies. His love for the 80s is also very evident in his lingo which is populated with words like 'Yes Siree Bob', 'Scooby-doo', Howdy and lots, LOTS more. As the Deputy Editor of tech2, Shayne stays fit by running back and forth between his desk, the tech team or some other department.