[guerllamo7]

O.K. Not another thread on BB security. We all know that. But with Verizon going to data centric phone plans and wilth every carrier moving away from unlimited plans (except Sprint - so far), it is clear that a data efficient BlackBerry will actually save us some bucks.

BlackBerry has very good data compression and not only this, they also have very smart apps. Take two examples:

BlackBerry Traffic (free). The data consumption on this app is minimal and certainly far less than something like Google Voice Navigation. Obviously, GVN is really nice but the graphics come at a price. Literally. BB Traffic consumes far less data and gets the job done smartly. Not to mention battery preservation.


BBM Music (4.99).
Slacker Premium and Pandora Premium (about 10.00) are twice as expensive and they stream the music so data is being consumed all the time. In contrast, BBM Music actually allows you to store the music on your device after the first download so you could go for a run on the beach and turn off your 3g if you wanted (I've tried this) and listen to your music.
The point being that I can enjoy a playlist and not worry about massive data consumption. The further I'd run the more I would worry. Not cool. With a BlackBerry with BBM Music I can swap out songs after I've burned them out and never worry about spending on a song that I kinda like or not.


Don't get me wrong. Google Voice Nav is pretty awesome and so are Pandora and Slacker but when it comes to BlackBerry saving me money in smart ways I think that is pretty neat. Low data consumption apps on a secure platform that is the leader in data compression is pretty cool. I won't even go into how smart Bridge is with the Playbook.

People ask me all the time "why are you so fond of your BlackBerry?". Well, in the last twelve months I've received $170.00 in free apps, they make great keyboards and now with the OS7 touch screens they are more user friendly. They save me bucks on data and apps and yes, they are more secure than any other device. I just enjoy the way they run e-mail, BBM, etc. What would I get if I leave? Movies and video games come to mind. Maybe more apps but honestly who started this craze for apps anyway?

Nothing wrong with any of the above but is that really what you want to do with your phone? What about security, real time push all the time and on everything not just gmail. I'm obviously not on the same page as so many in the U.S. but I don't see any reason to switch to something else.
What do you think?

[cgk]

but is that really what you want to do with your phone?

Sales trends indicate the answer is "yes".

Your general points are good but I can't help but think about Nokia - I can do turn by turn navigation with no data because I can download maps for pretty much any country before I leave and zune pass allows me to download as many albums as I like, great features but they seem to have had no impact on sales - so I'm wondering if will provide any benefit for RIM as it hasn't provided any for nokia?

[guerllamo7]

cgk,

I think you make a good point and we should give credit to others that are doing good things for their users users as well.

I've looked at Microsofts maps and if I were going for something like that I would go for Google Maps. Besides a very nice feature of BB Maps is that it gives you traffic updates. Microsofts downloadable maps don't.

I think the Zune pass is 14.95 per month, is that correct? If so, I think it would mean that I would not get as much advantage unless I purchased about 15 songs every month. I don't know the service beyond the reviews. I think I see more value for paying 4.99 per month and not having to stream my music. Both are probably nice but I like sharing with BBM. I have about twelve BBM buddies and half of them listen to BBM Music so that is quite a bit of music and I can add their songs to my Playlists as well as just learn what they like and try some new stuff.

Anyway, the idea of lowering costs by using less data is pretty neat. Does Microsoft have equivalent data compression to BlackBerry?

[Alex_Hong]

Not for everything. But if i remember correctly they do compress web browsing data. Nokia maps is extremely useful for me on my lumia 800. Mainly the ability to download offline maps. Currently Google Nav still does not work for my country, BB traffic is not available in my country. But Nokia maps works for my country. Which is why it is superior, because it works. From what i know Apple's Maps would work for my country too. So, RIM seriously needs to push out their BB traffic onto more countries, especially on BB10.

But i do love the data compression on my BB. Its great for overseas usage.

[ubizmo]

I think this, and a few other things, could be the basis of an ad campaign that could start right now...

"Things you didn't know about BlackBerry..."