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Yes I know that one is probably issued by where they work and the other is their personal property but surely having two SIMS is possible so that the correct account pays the bill, anyhow the main thing here is their popularity.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 measures 10.5x6x1.5cm, as you might expect it is black with chrome trim round the sides and at the top part of the back.

The back itself is covered with a black leather like material giving it a non slip feel. Between this area and the chrome strip is the camera and flash module. The top and base have no connections. On the right edge are three buttons two on a toggle motion for volume while the single one lower down is for the still and video camera.

The left side has the earbud socket, the USB socket and finally the voice control button that has three raised dots.

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For anyone new to a BlackBerry then the Start Here and Learn more booklets are well written and also easy to follow.

The viewable screen is 5x3.75cm, below this are the make call, menu, control, back and end call buttons. The centre button ‘control’ allows you to move the cursor to any point on the screen (on my BlackBerry Pearl it is domed like a trackball) but I soon found it was easy to control – perhaps even easier than my BlackBerry Pearl.

Here I found setting up my GMail account a breeze mainly because the only things I needed to input was my user name (before the @) and my password. This would be quite easy on my Pearl but a breeze her because of the full keyboard.

The keyboard here is four rows and has a total of 35 keys with 28 of them having a second action via the Alt key meaning almost all the everyday keys and symbols are immediately available unlike a standard mobile phone.

It was easy to send and receive emails, likewise to send text and picture messages. In fact even web browsing was okay. However of course a larger screen would make the latter experience more enjoyable for users but of course a larger screen would mean less battery life. While this unit came to me charged - thank you - the test period is always short but I never needed to recharge the unit and that to me means a very good battery life.

Would I swap from my BlackBerry Pearl yes I would. Even though the BlackBerry Bold 24grams heavier, the screen is larger and for someone who does not use a mobile keyboard all the time everyday the full keyboard on the ‘Bold’ is a vast improvement on the 20 rocker keys on the ‘Pearl’. Mind you I know people who use the ‘Pearl’ a lot more than I do that say the rocker motion is fine once you get used to its style of movement.

This offering came from Virgin. Looking at their website the top offer seems to £15 a month on contract when you pay £219 for the SmartPhone. This gives you unlimited web and data access. However there are of course lots of other offers and your need can no doubt be catered for by at least one of their numerous range of plans.

Looking at their offers I could not currently find and Pay As You Go offers for the BlackBerry Bold 9700 SmartPhone. I did find it for FREE on their £30 monthly tariff.

http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/viewHandsetWithAllTariffs.do?offeringId=3336901