Ready to ditch my blackberry,

[mystic205]

Originally Posted by nowwhatnapster

I have had my blackberry curve 8330 for about a month now, and I am not terribly satisfied with it.

Here are my likes and dislikes:
Likes

I like the qwerty keyboard for typing, its great.
I like the ability to see and respond to my emails on the go.
I like being able to browse the web on the go.
Mini SDHC slot is nice, plenty of storage.

Dislikes

Browsing the web is not comfortable, screen is too small and I usually have to scroll endlessly through pages as using column view is really the only decent way to go.
Many websites are simply unbrowsable due to flash and java apps.

I guess your phone shrunk after purchase?..luckily my 8330 screen is the same size as the day I bought it..You should buy a laptop.. its a smartphone that you can see full web pages on..


Coughing up an extra 20/mo for buisness email isnt worth it.

buy a laptop connect card and VPN software for the laptop..its a smartphone that gets business email, but wont take pictures or get calls

30/mo for email and web is alright, but still pricy considering my nicely organized outlook email wont ever be synced with my phone, and I will do double work deleting emails.
Trying to sync your organized email is hopeless if you dont have exchange email.
Photo quality could be better.

Buy a camera, its a smartphone that doesn't browse and doesnt take calls

Browsing photo's is slow, (using class 6 card)
Taking video shouldn't even be an option with such poor quality.

Dont take videos

Available apps are limited, take forever to download, have trouble installing, and are just a bad experience so far.

iPhart not working for you?

Now I'm sure someone can argue or even correct me on several of my quibbles, but honestly, I don't feel the extra 30/mo is really worth it for getting crappy email service and poor web browsing. I would much rather switch carriers and get an iphone at this point.

So, if you spend about a grand, carry 8lbs and pay about $60/mo then you can do what you want....but you will still need a phone

[Lady.Khrystal]

Ok, as for switching to the iPhone:

1. Your beef with the email: You WILL run into the same thing, and to be honest, the syncing with your destop information is not availble on many devices. Email on the iPhone standard works exactly the same as the Blackberry $30 data plan.

2. Browsing, while full screen on the iPhone, is still a drag down sort of deal, and to be honest, the zoom in is very clunky and difficult to use through the Safari browser. I pretty much consistantly have problems getting the website to format properly, and not having the ability to use a pointer really hinders it (I have to page back and re-tap to try to hit the right link again).

3. iPhone STILL can't do MMS, although AT&T says it's expected.

4. You're taking pictures on a camera with a 1.3 MP camera, and the Curve originally came out over a year and a half ago. When it came out, it was a top of the line camera. New phones that are coming out have 2.0 and 3.0 MP cameras. For what it has and how long it has been out, I think you're really taking it for granted.

5. Except for games, you can find all the apps that you can get on the iPhone for the Blackberry, usually free and better running.

6. Enable Javascripts is the best you can do for your websites. The iPhone can't view flash websites either. Too bad so sad. It's because Flash hasn't created a mobile verison, so no matter where you go or what you get, you'll be dealing with this.

7. The slow browser is just because of the way it is condensed and set up. You can get faster speeds and "iPhone quality" browsing by downloading Opera. Opera works the same as Safari, it just condenses it and lets you zoom in.

Now, I'm not pointing these things out to you because I don't like the iPhone... I carry an iPod touch myself and I love it, but I just don't use it for web browsing and email and calanders and contacts because it's absolute crap for that. It's a rediculously fun toy for listening to music and playing games, but it is by no means a business tool and the web browser leaves a lot to be desired. So when you say, "I'm just gonna go get an iPhone".... Please don't, because then you'll just be back here in a couple months complaining about the same issues, only worse.

Regardless of where you go or what phone you get, you ARE going to pay more for the ability to do remote desktop syncing. It comes standard on all phones if you actually plug your phone in and sync it, but doing it remotely is considered a luxury you have to pay for.

What I heavily suggest to you is make a complete list of things you don't like about your Blackberry. Search the forums for fixes for these issues, and before you go buying a different phone (and I even mean different phone with the same carrier... I don't care what carrier you have) go to a store and play with the phone first. And I don't mean for a couple minutes... Test EVERYTHING and specifically look for those issues you're having with your current phone. Playing with a phone for a half hour to an hour in a store before you buy isn't insanity; it's becoming an educated consumer.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

P.S. If you have themes on your Blackberry, good luck with themes on your iPhone. You have to download the backup file, run the jailbreaker application, press some funky buttons at the same time, and THEN load the themes. Themes on a BB is sooooooo much easier.

[MoonHowler2009]

Am I alone in thinking that mobile Flash would be a horrible idea?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Lady.Khrystal]

No, mobile Flash IS a horrible idea. I utilize Flash for my art classes and the amount of processing it takes and the weight it costs your browser to run it just isn't worth it. If Flash created a mobile application, we would be resetting our devices so often our heads would spin. Plus, constantly moving pictures + connected web browser = dead battery.

[b1gg134]

Originally Posted by mrspock2002

The sound quality that the media player pumps out for music is iPod quality. It is the first phone I can say can replace and iPod completely. This is coming from someone who spends $1000+ on a headphone amp and $600+ on cans.

The ipod has mediocre sound quality for an mp3 player so this really isnt a selling point. There are a lot of other mp3 players with better sound quality.


But getting back to the original post, you bought a smartphone because you wanted to feel tech savvy. Well you arent or else you would have figured out how to do what you want the curve to do and/or you would have researched before just walking into the store to buy something. Now you dont want it and need to make up excuses as to why. Just take it back to Verizon and get a dumb phone.

or

Switch so you can take your whining over to an apple forum where you will be saying the same exact thing about the iphone.

[nowwhatnapster]

Thanks for the bashing & help guys, haha.

After posting my rant over a month ago I realized my expectations for todays smart phones is a bit unrealistic.

As one of the posters mentioned I am going to make a list of the things that still bother me and see if there are workarounds.

One of the most annoying things at the moment is when answering a phonecall my phone goes on speakerphone for a split second and causes some ear drum trauma,
ill seach for a fix for this to start, I am going to say, for now, I am satisfied with my blackberry curve, it is what it is. I can't wait till technology advances some more and these phones get more power under the hood.

[budfox]

I dont know what yur trying to do with the phone but if you want streaming videos, games, and big screens, you should have checked the phone out better first. The 8330 has been near flawless in email delivery and web svcs since I've had mine (9mos). I use mine for work and contact mgmt, as well as email, sms, mms, web logins, etc., and it serves very well. I wouldn't recomm the curve for gamers, streamers, and speed hounds! None of the sp's are perfect but they each have niches. Snds like you don't need a sp?

[TeriG123]

One of the most annoying things at the moment is when answering a phonecall my phone goes on speakerphone for a split second and causes some ear drum trauma,
ill seach for a fix for this to start

Check your OS and make sure you are running a current version. This is not an uncommon problem, and is usually due to the fact that the OS needs to be updated.

[MrWheelMan]

Available apps are limited, take forever to download, have trouble installing, and are just a bad experience so far.

They are?? I've had a BlackBerry for a month now and there are apps for this phone to do things I didn't even know I wanted to do on my phone until now. What kind of apps are you looking for, dude?? And I had a more "modern" phone, the touchscreen Samsung Instinct, and my only regret is that I wasted a year with that phone when I could have gotten this "obsolete" piece of glorious technology then.

Comparing an 8320 to a iphone is like comparing chocolate to cheese... they are both food, but thats about it.

Completely agree, except you're missing the real point. Some people prefer chocolate, and some people prefer cheese, and just because you happen to prefer one, that in no way means that it is definitively better than the other. And the other thing about Chocolate and cheese is that neither in any way replaces or negates the need or want for the other.