[diosabellissima]

So, for several years now I've had a Curve, then now a Bold. I went through two Curves (they would just randomly shut down) and am now on my third Bold. I don't think I'm exceptionally hard on my phones- I don't drop them, throw them around, hack them, or do anything crazy with them- but they all break. I never had this issue with my previous non smart phones.

Anyway, with my Bolds, I've had the following problems:

• Random powering down.
• Dead track balls (cleaning doesn't help)
• Freezing (the little hourglass like timer thing pops up and just wont go away).
• Whenever I get a new Bold, the camera quickly goes from taking fabulous pictures, to taking awful ones (cleaning, etc doesn't help).
• The speaker phone went out (I have since done the paper in the back trick, but frankly, I shouldn't have to do this on my 6 month old, several hundred dollar phone).
• and, most recently, the alarm has just up and stopped working (battery pulls, etc don't help).

There are more, of course, but these are ust the ones that come to mind. I realize this all might be user error, but I don't know. I do what I'm supposed to do, I am not crazy hard on my phone, and it still breaks. So, because all kinds of things are failing on my phone, I'll need to pick up an new one soon and- for the first time in several years- I'm considering a non Blackberry.

I don't want to switch to a different brand- I'm so used to the BB interface, etc. But even my friends are noticing how much more frequently my phone breaks than everyone else's.

Do any of you have these problems? What would you do? Should I just try the next gen BB? Abandon the brand?

[elvin1983]

Can you go into a little more detail as to what you do on your device. Do you load a bunch of 3rd party apps, are you closing out of your programs correctly, etc?

If you don't like how the BB has worked for you, maybe looking for something different wouldn't be a horrible idea...

[coolguy78240]

Im honestly astonished that you waited so long and "suffered" with a blackberry maybe this is not the phone for you. Im sure there are hundreds if not thousands of bold users that have zero issues, and for you to go through that many phones with the same issues leads me to support the idea of user error or inexperience.

[diosabellissima]

My Blackberry is mostly used for email and texting, though a few times a day I check Facebook on it (through the Blackberry Facebook App). The other programs I have are BeeJive for IM and Google Maps (which I use the GPS on). I have a memory card in the phone that is loaded with music, since I use my BB as an MP3 player in my car.

Nothing crazy, is what I suppose I'm trying to say

[diosabellissima]

Im honestly astonished that you waited so long and "suffered" with a blackberry maybe this is not the phone for you. Im sure there are hundreds if not thousands of bold users that have zero issues, and for you to go through that many phones with the same issues leads me to support the idea of user error or inexperience.

Oh, calm down. I thought I made it clear that I love my Blackberry, hence me being torn about whether or not to switch. Despite my problems, I do rather enjoy the phone, it's just that certain things are necessary when I use my phone (speaker phone, alarm, etc.). A simple Google search of the problems I've had shows that there are lots of folks encountering similar problems (that's how I learned about the trick to put paper in the back of the phone).

Inexperience? I've had BBs for over 5 years. I read this forum religiously. If I'm inexperienced, then I'm not sure what to say.

[elvin1983]

Do you keep alot of programs running in the background by chance, such as Facebook, Google Maps, and BeeJive? I'm not sure if it would be related to your problem, but I know that not properly closing out apps can cause a drain on available memory, which could cause issues. Sometimes it's just a malfunction within the individual handset, but to have issues like that would make me think that there's got to be a common link...

[Reed McLay]

http://forums.crackberry.com/f2/all-...t-here-260887/

There is a dedicated thread for this discussion.

... or, I can change the original thread title to better describe the threads content.

[diosabellissima]

Do you keep alot of programs running in the background by chance, such as Facebook, Google Maps, and BeeJive? I'm not sure if it would be related to your problem, but I know that not properly closing out apps can cause a drain on available memory, which could cause issues. Sometimes it's just a malfunction within the individual handset, but to have issues like that would make me think that there's got to be a common link...

Facebook is always running- I almost never shut that down (just because I'm constantly checking it). I rarely use BeeJive, but when I'm done with it, I always do a full shut down of the program. Googlemaps. . . I'd probably say 3/4 of the time I fully shut that down (every so often I'll notice it is still on because I forgot to do a full shut down- hence the 1/4!).

Would those two things be enough to wonk up my whole phone you think?

[xgm541]

I have used the bold 9000 for a few months and now my dad uses it. The trackball works perfectly fine, so does the speaker, keyboard, etc.

I have had one problem with my bold 9700 which wasnt even big enough to get a replacement, but it had a few basic wear and tear signs so i exchanged it for that.

My sister has a 8900 and once again, the trackball wore out after like 6 months of usage so I called in and got her a replacement. The trackball worked fine, except it was slippery to the finger, if that makes sense, because the grip on it wore away.

What im trying to say is the issues you are having, i have not experienced. You may be better off with a different device, but from experience, no phone is indestructible. RIM doesnt have the best quality materials in their phones, but neither does HTC. And you probably see plenty of people with broken iphone screens.

[Masahiro]

What OS are you running? Have you tried any of the newer ones?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dmnall]

My Bold 9000 and I have a love hate relationship myself, I love the features that work but I hate that my phones Standy/Mute button works half the time.. My main complaint with RIM is to make there new phones more durable and not break down.. Like the old 8700 series and older bricks just worked and ran for what seems like forever with out problems.. But ever since the 8300 and on in my experience work great for a year then the phones themselves start to have issues that can be downright annoying, like my 8300 dropped calls, warranty, then get another cannot make calls, warranty, 3rd 8300 will not get signal at all. Upgraded to 8310. 9 months later the phone quit working all together! Bold 9000 in November 2008 *a week after it released*, first one never got 3G and dropped calls returned, got a second one the charge port died 3rd one rocking for *with in a week of the first one*, worked great up until about a month ago, stand by button issues.. But overall this is the longest phone I have ever kept though! Like stated no phone is perfect but do you reboot your phone periodically?? Also try updating to a newer os..

HTH,
Charlie

[MrObvious]

And to add to Charlie, wipe your phone.

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

That's odd that you have I had so many issues. I have had six BlackBerry devices and blackberry is the only brand of smartphone that I have never had any issues with. I have a Tour now and didn't experience the trackball issues that everyone complains about. I agree with the above posters, if the BlackBerry device that you have is working for you, then you should try another brand or another model BlackBerry.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Jude526]

My only issue was the trackball on the Tour thought the first replacement had fixed it but NOT so now have the Curve 8530 and no issues. There are lemons out there ! but a device should last at least the two yrs of being in contract.
I am not hard on my phone either. I have had my share of difficulties with most of them. I hope my Curve is stellar and have no problems with it. So far so good....