Shove over iPhone: Blackberry Bold comes to Australia

Targeted at business professionals and power users, the BlackBerry Bold builds on the popular platform, with newly-added support for tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks.

The device weighs 136g and features a 624 MHz mobile processor, GPS and Wi-Fi support, as well as a 2-megapixel camera and externally accessible memory card slot that supports up to 16Gb microSD/SDHC cards.

A 480x320 LCD display and newly-designed full-QWERTY keyboard are expected to enable the use of Instant Messaging (IM) programs such as BlackBerry Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger.

Users are also able to access Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files using the Bold’s preloaded DataViz Docoments to Go software suite.

When it is made available in Australia beginning in mid-August, the Bold is expected to work across both Telstra’s Next-G 3G network, as well as the 2100/1900 bands used by the other providers.

Telstra has announced that it will be offering the Bold for $0 upfront on business plans from 25th August, and expects to provide typical speeds ranging from 550kbps to 1.5Mbps.

Optus will offer the Bold for $10 per month over 24 months, with a $79 Cap plan. Vodafone also has announced plans to offer the Bold.