[fernandez21]

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Hi everyone, I have no experience at all with Blackberry devices. I have been a smart phone user for years and have gone through winmo, symbian s60, webos, and currently I have an iPhone 4. Right now I have the task of finding a new phone for my father who is wanting to replace an again Blackjack II with winmo 6.0. Up until last week I was considering getting him either the HTC aria or an iPhone, but leaning towards the aria because of his needs. After seeing some of the videos of the Blackberry Torch, I'm wondering if this phone might be better for him.

He works in air conditioning service, this would be his work phone. He gets most of his service calls through SMS, where the customer leaves their name, address, phone, and problem in the sms. Sometime he gets these through e-mail, which is set up with hotmail. Simple navigation from the sms field to the phone and navigation is important. I know this device isn't out yet, but from your experiences with blackberry could you give me information about how some of this might work with the torch.

Most important features for him are as follows:
1. Call quality and reliability
2. Earpiece/ringer volume and clarity
3. Handset durability
4. Battery life
5. SMS/email
6. GPS navigation

I know with the iphone does well with items 2,4,5,6 but as a phone isn't too reliable or durable, so if he wants to go this route it would have to be incased 24/7. It would also be very simple for him to just strait from the sms to either Google maps or the phone app by just tapping the address or phone number in the sms, and Navigon or Tom Tom are available as well for turn by turn. I was also thinking about the HTC aria because of what I have seen it’s a durable handset with good battery life and the free navigation with Google maps, plus it can detect addresses and phone numbers in the SMS field and link them to maps or to dial the phone.

How does the blackberry compare in those areas, and do you feel the torch would be a better fit for him than either the aria or an incased iphone? He doesn't browse the internet, doesn't have facebook, doesn’t care about gaming, video, or music, he just needs a good reliable phone, simple SMS and e-mail, with a big screen and GPS integration. Thanks for your help.

[dfairlite]

Battery life on the phone should be fine, call quality is usually top notch on bb as is the earpiece. the ringer volume varies from bb to bb. bb's aren't terribly rugged, but they are definitely not fragile like the iphone 4. email is a breeze on bb and your sms and email can both be combined into one inbox. I've never had a problem with gps navigation on my bb, however he will have to copy the address from the sms or email then hold the bb button to switch to the gps program and paste the address.
there's my .02.

[mykey2k]

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1
It depends on the Service Area of course. But by and large, I don't have a problem with AT&T here in a large metro area.

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2a
I don't have a problem with the phone's earpiece or mouthpiece, and the speaker phone is quite good.

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2b
Like the other reply, the quality of the ringer does vary and depends on even which tone you end up using.

There are different profiles and in those profiles you can set the volume of the ringer on a scale from Silent(0) and 1-10 for anything.. phone calls, SMS, email can all have different alerts. There's also a "Phone Call Only" setting which keeps any received texts or emails silent, but will ring on a phone call.

For the alerts, songs and mp3's sometimes fare the worst, whereas ones named "ALARM" and "Classic Phone" (think an old wall phone with bells) are the loudest in my opinion because they just blast noise at a constant volume.

Depending on your location and free time, definitely check out a newer BlackBerry and have the sales consultant bring you to the Profiles to hear the different ringtones. From that screen you can set the volume and tone.

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3
I've dropped my BlackBerry from chest height a few times. I have had the Bold 9000 for about 20 months, and whilst it is showing the damage on the silver outer bezel, the phone is fairing rather well. The buttons are still responsive, the track-wheel works well.

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4
Battery is good depending on how you use it. If he receives constant emails, texts, phone calls, always checking and the display is never able to turn off, the battery is going to suffer.

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5
SMS and eMail is where the BlackBerry in my mind was born and everything built around it.

You can set up multiple email accounts, receive or send email as any of those accounts transparently. They can all go in to a main repository, as well as their own section.

SMS messages can go in to their own container or the shared one as well.

Replying is as easy as tapping "R" and typing... then of course sending.

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6
You probably will have to copy and paste an address, but I am not sure since I don't have a GPS or navigation program installed. Copy and paste is fairly easy though.

[fernandez21]

Thanks, it seems that for most of what he needs the torch may be it. The only question left I guess would be navigation. I know at&t navigator is available, but what other options would there be? Don't mind paying a one-time fee, but he definately wouldn't go for monthly payments like at&t navigator requires.

[ibcop]

Use a free service for maps.....Google maps is great.

Don't pay A Suck & Suck for that.

And don't forget about the 30 day return window. Get one and try it out. If it doesn't work, then get a different device.

[mavrrick]

I would suggest either the Samsung Captivate or the BB Tourch. The captivate will give you a 4 inch screen for the navigation and such and have google navigation built in. the torch will have a few options but you will have to pay month to month for voice turn by turn navigation. They i would expect both to have good call quality. The swype keyboard make the Captivate pretty nice to type on once y ou get use to it. With that said you can't really beat the keyboard on BB's generally. I tried the tourchs out and it was pretty decent although i think need time for a really good test. I would suggest that either way you go look to keep them in a case or a holster. I know if i switch to the BB tourch i will be getting a holster and a bedside cradle for it.

[Sirhill]

Everything that everyone has said I would agree with. I would just add that using the bb for email and text is what it was built in mind for so this is a great option. Placing the torch in an otterbox case like the commuter or defender case would not just protect the phone but will make it super durable and keep its looks whenever he may need to take the out of the case. With the android devices you do get free turn by turn but you do lose some functionality with the email due to the fact that he will be using an yahoo account and not google (with google email is pushed to the phone unlike with the bb it does not matter what email he uses it all gets pushed to the device). So it really comes down to what he likes and what he thinks will fit him the best. I would just let him see them both and let the phones speak for themselves.

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