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BlackBerry may have lost its way over the years in certain aspects, but aside from when BBM went down, messaging has consistently been a strong point for RIM phones. No surprise then that it's excellent as always on the BlackBerry Bold 9790.
Email is the natural place to start, and it ticks all the boxes, with various account options open to the user from BES (business setup) to BIS (consumer-focused). It's very intuitive to set up if you're doing it yourself, and just as easy to customise.
We're big fans of the unified inbox, since you're able to throw everything in there. We're not talking just multiple email accounts but SMS/MMS, BBM, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook. To coin the Apple philosophy, 'it just works.'
BBM is present and accounted for. RIM's proprietary messaging service, which offers encryption, is free to use (barring data costs) and extremely popular with younger people who swap BlackBerry PINs like adults used to swap cigarette cards. Group chats, file transfers and even BlackBerry Music are onboard, which enables you to share your audio tastes.
Twitter and Facebook are both accounted for, and represent their clients well. Of course, you can also use the fantastic alternatives such as UberSocial if you prefer - they all do the basics well. The Facebook app has been updated in the last six months or so to make it more visually appealing and user-friendly, although it's still not on a par with the iPhone or Android variants.
As well as full integration with the inbox for Twitter and Facebook, the beauty of BB7 is that it enables an inroads to the inbox for other messaging solutions, too. The likes of Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, LinkedIn and so on. All of them will show up with notifications in the inbox if you choose, and it looks and feels very professional.
We were really impressed with the keyboard on the BlackBerry Bold 9790. It's the same as that found on the 9700 and 9780, which we always thought was one of - if not the - best out there.
The Bold 9900 upped the ante a little by giving more real estate, but we still feel that the keyboard on the BlackBerry Bold 9790 is pretty unbeatable, and you'll be typing out messages like an eager Justin Bieber fan club member in no time at all.
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