[Safarii]

My mother would like to get a blackberry but we have verizon.... I know this is coming to verizon soon, but when my mom went they told her she had to pay an extra 30 dollars for all the features she doesnt want/need. This was manily because verizon now makes all smart phones an extra 30 dollars.... so is the BBFlip considered a "smart phone?"

[BlackBerryBob]

Absolutely. The only main difference is the SureType keyboard. Other than that, It will do most anything any other BB will do.

With that being said...I wish I would have waited. That 8900 is sweeeet!

[stevenandwes]

verizon now makes the data plans mandatory on all smart phones?

[DINGSTER1]

on any non BB smartphone released on or after Nov 14,2008 and ALL Blackberrys

[SLVR6]

Only makes sense so people can actually use the phone for all it was meant.....still don't understand wanting a smartphone on a dumbphone plan!

[cwcanty]

Att and tmobile dont require it do they? Some people just want the operating system, calendar and the nice keyboard. Not everyone needs email.

[Hankster]

Att and tmobile dont require it do they? Some people just want the operating system, calendar and the nice keyboard. Not everyone needs email.

I know TMO does not require you to get a data plan, and I'm 99% sure ATT does not either. It's optional.

[prlboarder]

I think that the non-blackberry smartphone data plan is ridiculously expensive. It should be the same as blackberry if not cheaper and i agree with cwcanty, some people just want the phone for it's keyboard and non-data features. I have a moto q and i don't have the data plan because i got if a year ago before the plans were mandatory

[Rizzleman716]

Well it is a smart phone. Don't let the flip mechanism, or suretype fool you. It does everything a regular BlackBerry can do.

[Zina_berry]

Yes, some of us wanted the fancy without the data plan. For me, it seemed stupid to have access to email & Internet at work and through high speed at home. Why pay for the additional access when I'm usually at one place or another? I am not that frickin important that I need to check my email on the 20 minute drive to/from work. When I travel, I have to take my laptop so I can access the Internet using it at most places.

What I needed was a phone. What I wanted was something that would come close to functioning like my Sony PDA. I loved writing in grafitti and still do so on paper. On the BB, I like being able to keep songs/pictures, etc., especially since I replaced the stock media card with a bigger.

Overall, the PDA functionality is still not there for me. But, it's a nice toy -- especially when it only cost me $28.

BTW, T-mobile does not require the data plan. I was able to keep my regular Fave 5 plan.