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So if you're wondering which of the two Bolds is the Daddy, here's where the distinction is made. And it's not good news for the BlackBerry Bold 9790. We say this because the newer handset has a much poorer video shooter than the Bold 9900.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you 640 x 480. Yes, it's 2012 and BlackBerry's supposed 'flagship' smartphone doesn't do HD video recording. This is a crying shame, because the Bold 9900 did come with that out of the box, but it's been deliberately omitted here.
Watch our BlackBerry Bold 9790 review video sample
The BlackBerry Bold 9790 comes with a 1GHz processor, so it's clearly more than capable. The software is capable because it runs on the Bold 9900, so we remain completely stumped as to why RIM has crippled the BlackBerry Bold 9790 in such a way by providing us with the same resolution we'd expect from the more affordable Curve range.
Luckily, if you're a part time Spielberg you won't be too disappointed, since videos do look quite nice on the screen. The colours are reproduced well, the frame rate is top notch and the sound is recorded perfectly, so for watching back on your phone, you'll be quite happy with the BlackBerry Bold 9790.
Even watching videos back on a computer is OK. It's just not amazing. Movies are shot in the older .3GP format.
There is a video light, but annoyingly, you have to decide if you want to have it on or off before you start shooting your video, which is irritating - especially if you're moving around between light and dark or maybe shooting in twilight.
You have to stop recording to toggle it on and off, which can ruin videos, and there's what looks like an icon at the bottom of the screen for you to click on to turn the light on and off. Unfortunately this is just a notifier, signalling if your light is on or off (like you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at the back of the phone), and is a waste of screen real estate.
It's annoying and shows that RIM hasn't really thought this whole bit of the OS through. Most people won't notice or mind, but we did, and it irked us.
