BlackBerry Curve 8900 (??)

[TarekElsakka]

Good day every one,

I haven't made an introduction thread yet because I don't really have much time as I am writing this thread quickly then going to go pick up something. I've been a Nokia user all my life, and owned an iPhone 3G last November for about a couple of weeks then sold it because I didn't like it (yeah, I'm a member of EverythingiCafe, name: TarekElsakka). I have a Nokia E71 (which I currently use), Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N81 8GB. I'm pretty impressed with the Nokia E71, I just bought it about a week or two ago and I really like it but.. I've been wanting to buy a BlackBerry for a long time now. A friend of mine bought one from Dubai (Blackberry Curve 8900) officially unlocked and brand new, I might buy it tonight but I'm not really sure. I don't want to take that step because if I buy the blackberry I'll have to sell the E71 as my other Nokia phones are being used by siblings. ANYWAY, is there anything I should know about the 8900 as a Nokia and never BB user before? What are the pros and the cons? I don't trust reviews on sites like GSMArena as there are some idiots who don't know what they're talking about.

Here's the BlackBerry Curve 8900: http://www.gsmarena.com/blackberry_curve_8900-2604.php

Here's a comparison between it and the Nokia E71 (which I currently use): http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3...&idPhone1=2604

Do you think I should make the step or not? Also, please tell me the pros and cons of that phone. I know that it doesn't have 3G but that's okay because I don't use 3G (3G in my country, Egypt, sucks and is very very slow, almost like GPRS), I only use WiFi.

Thanks a lot,
Tarek.

[stevetaz]

Hi Tarek and welcome to EB:

You have asked a very difficult question, should you buy a BB?

That is very tough to answer as many people have joined the BB fold and love it, but a few were not happy.

It is a very different platform from Palm, WM, etc. The BB platform is an excellent one that has some vey strong plusses like push email, a rock-solid OS that has not crashed on me once in 16 months, comes with many apps and functions I would have had to purchase separately when I was using a Palm Treo.

It is not an entertainment device like an iPhone, but it does act as an MP3 player, plays videos, can sync with your iTunes library (non-DRM) and such. The web capabilities are not up to par with an iPhone, but it works very well for me. Then again, the BB is generally better at business functions than an iToy. The newer BB devices like the Bold, 8900 Curve, Storm have all improved the entertainment functions greatly, but a BB still has the core of what it was designed for....A secure, reliable email device that has expended it's functions, but did not forget it's roots.

It will sync flawlessly with Outlook and the PIM functions all work to give you control over tasks, appointments and such, but I will say that the calendar is not as pretty and polished as the Palm calendar. But then again when I had the Treo I couldn't look at the calendar until after I rebooted often because of the freezes and hiccups the Palm OS seemed known for.

It does not play as nice with Apple computers, but even that can be helped by purchasing a third-party app, MissingSync.

Personally I think everyone should try a BB and the 8900 Curve is an excellent choice.

Not sure if this is of help and if you have specific things you would like to see noted, let us know.

Visit and post often.....

[TarekElsakka]

Thank you very much for replying, stevetaz. Yeah, I'm hopefully going to go ahead and buy it either tonight or tomorrow morning after university, I'm interested in trying a BlackBerry since the BB OS and Android are probably the only two I've never tried before. I've always wanted to buy a BlackBerry ever since the Bold came out, but unfortunately, the Bold is not available in Egypt and none of my friends are selling one so tough luck to me. I don't really care about entertainment a lot, I have my computer for that. The only entertainment I actually use on a phone is listening to Music by connecting the audio cable from my car to the phone. I've an iPod Touch that I actually never use. So I guess the BlackBerry is going to suite me well. Nice size, appearance, keyboard, and features, that's all I actually need in a phone. I some times take pictures using my phone when something interesting comes up and I don't have my digital camera with me, so I guess a 3.15 Megapixels camera is pretty good. By the way, I use Windows/Linux most of the time, not Macintosh, so I guess snycing isn't going to be much of an issue.

Again, thank you for your reply, you cleared out a few things.

[stevetaz]

Tarek, I am going to move this thread over to the Curve Forum where it actually belongs.

You have to check into one other thing and that is does your carrier support BlackBerry devices? To get all that you can out of the BB you will want to sign up for a BlackBerry Data Plan. Note that there are several built-in applications and functions that will not operate on the BB without a BB Data Plan such as Push Email, the BlackBerry Browser and BlackBerry Messenger.

Since the 8900 Curve does have WiFi, you will be able to work around it to a degree. You can use Opera Mini or Bolt as a browser over WiFi and as long as your calling plan with your carrier includes Texting, you should be able to do texting as that uses texting units, not data.

BIS Service (BlackBerry Internet Service) is what you need to set up a BB email account and to forward all of your personal email accounts to your BB so you can read all your email on the go. That does require a BB Data Plan. Here is a link to our Sticky - Email On A BlackBerry, which will explain BIS and what it does.

Service Books are also needed to "instruct" the BB on how to operate and what features you can use and those are pushed to the BB Device by your carrier when you activate the BB and a BB Data Plan.

Do you know if your carrier will support BBs?

[TarekElsakka]

My carrier does support BlackBerry plans, they sell BlackBerrys with service plans themselves. Anyhow, I got the phone today about an hour or two ago after I finished my university course, it's brand new in a closed box so I only got to use it for about 10 minutes then the battery got drained, of course. In those 10 minutes I discovered that the keyboard is awesome, I could type almost as fast as on a keyboard, of course size differs. It's an unlocked BlackBerry but has the T-Mobile logo on the back above the camera *lol*. It's very light, awesome size, and nice color. It's charging now and I am still waiting for it to reach 15% or something so I can start using my Mobile's network (which I used before the battery died). There is one major flaw, though; when the battery dies and you charge the phone, you have to wait like 10 - 15 minutes (yeah, I read posts *lol*) until the Radio (network connections) can be activated, and that really sucks. That way people can't call me when it's charging except till 10 - 15 minutes later. I'm going to discover everything I can about it when it's fully charged so I can see what's so good about the BlackBerry OS .

Yeah, I can use GRPS, SMS, MMS, Email (Wi-Fi), and of course phone calls. I'm not really into Push-Email and that sort of things, I'm just a teenager who only cares about making phone calls, texting, having a good looking and good performance phone - which the Curve covers all of that, plus more.

Thanks a lot for your help man and I sure am going to be posting a lot later when I am done with university because well, I'll need help with it and probably help others when I get enough information .

Good luck, dude.

[stevetaz]

Keep in mind that the Li-Ion batteries do not like to be run down completely. Actually they prefer to be kept topped off so try to avoid running it down completely and then you shouldn't have the waiting issue.

You should also try to avoid using the BB during that first full charge cycle. Let it charge fully and then you can rock. You will see that the BB Battery life is pretty darned good.

BTW...If you have a gMail account or Yahoo, you can install their own email apps to get your email on the BB using the WiFi....

[dollface]

Hello and welcome. I was going to post to encourage you to get that Curve, but I see that already did. I am so jealous, that is the model that I wanted but darling Sprint decided not to release the 8900. So I got the Curve 8330 which is still an awesome phone. I hope you enjoy it and definitely get the BIS plan, it is worth it.

[TarekElsakka]

Thanks, dollface. I'm going to call Mobinil (my network provider) up and ask them about the blackberry plans. Good luck.

[Sav]

Tarek, I don't have any advice as I'm too lazy to read your essay-posts and it's late but I just wanted to welcome you to EB! Nice to see you here too buddy!

[TarekElsakka]

Thanks Sav, it's nice to see you here too, mate!