My Nextel 8350i Review

[tdawg2008]

Greetings my fellow Crackberrians,
This is my first blackberry and my first review so be nice. First of all, this is not a choice phone for someone who wants to stream TV or watch youtube videos. Let's face it, Nextel is a slow, outdated network. However, don't let this change your interest in this phone. This phone is packed with features. It has 802.11g wifi built in so when you need to watch youtube or download something pretty quick, you can do it. The phone features OS 4.6 which supports better web browsing, html email, and of course MMS. The phone comes with a theme similar to the bold and as of now, custom themes can be made with Plazmic 4.7 if you prefer. Last but least, it carries what Nextel is known for which is the Direct Connect walkie talkie. I mean, who doesn't love push to talk?

Now, there are a few problems however. There is an echo problem with every case, I have yet to see a post about a case without an echo. There was a text messaging issue at the beginning but the issue was resolved in the .112 and .128 update. The network may be too slow for streaming video, but I can stream Nobex and Slacker Radio while on the mobile network so there is atleast some hope. Maybe someday there will be a wifi video service or whenever flash is released, we can watch hulu but until then, we are stuck with radio.

Overall, I would give this phone an 8.5. Its got a sleek exterior, all black with yellow accents to add to sex appeal. I took out a half of a point for it not being a hybird phone like the ic902, i.e. Sprint voice service and Nextel Direct connect. I also took off a point for it taking so long for the issues to be resolved. In other words, if you need a Blackberry and you need a Nextel phone for direct connect and can live with low data speeds, this is the phone for you.

[Their_Mom]

I just got this phone to use for work and the text messages seem to all go out using MMS... which I guess is fine, but my biggest issue is that and I can't find a setting to make it show the number or name of the sender!! This is HUGE since there's some (60) employees who'll text at any given time!! (my personal bb is the Storm with Verizon and I don't have this issue) I've added them all in as contacts, put the area code and even tried adding the country code.

Any ideas?

[treeman44]

this 8350i is a piece of junk and i own my own companies and every phone i got echooosssssssssssssssssss !!! sprintnextel should of had this issue fixedddddddddddd before they send it to us the consumer and customer!!! theres alottttttttttt of issues with these phones!!!

[brooklynman2020]

I have echo issues my self but over all this phone is the best phone i ever used so far. Ill give is 8.5

[tdawg2008]

Supposedly the new update fixes the echo problem and the mms issues. Update your phones and see, I'm doing that as we speak.

[Gr8bncool]

Originally Posted by treeman44

this 8350i is a piece of junk and i own my own companies and every phone i got echooosssssssssssssssssss !!! sprintnextel should of had this issue fixedddddddddddd before they send it to us the consumer and customer!!! theres alottttttttttt of issues with these phones!!!

I totally agree! I am so feed up with this freakin phone I'm canceling my contract with Nextel/Sprint and going back to Verizon. I had the BB 8830 w/ Verizon and loved it, no dropped calls, no echo, and got my texts in a minute not 6 to 8 hour as with the 8350i. I have a construction company and got 8 of these phones for my office staff to be able to communicate w/ field staff with direct connect. It is embarrassing to do any business over the phone with all the dropped calls and echo. I hope Nextel/Sprint doesn't charge me an early cancellation fee or I'll take my other 30 phones to Verizon as well.

[localgolfer808]

why do you guys all hate. every phone that is released has their share of problems. most if not all the problems have been fixed.

[xxwckdxx]

No problems at all here glad to have my 8350i no echos or anything

[Gr8bncool]

Originally Posted by localgolfer808

why do you guys all hate. every phone that is released has their share of problems. most if not all the problems have been fixed.

Why do I hate? I could understand if we we're talking minor problems that needed worked out but we're not. The echo and dropped calls are so bad that I am truly embarrassed to conduct any business over the phone. 6 to 8 hours at times to receive a text is inexcusable. I don't know about you but to me these aren't minor issues. It would be like going and buying a new vehicle and the radio stops working. It's inconvenient but the vehicle still does what it was designed to do get you from point A to point B. Now say you buy a new vehicle and the engine stops running, now all the sudden the thing is not doing what it was designed to do. I buy a cell phone and at very least expect to be able to use it as a phone!

The 8350i has been out for what six months now and even with the latest update I'm still having issues. It's not like they reinvented the wheel here it's the flippin curve, there shouldn't be any issues to work out. With that being said I really blame Sprint/Nextel for the issues that I'm having not BB. Dropped calls and problems getting texts sounds like a network problem not a phone issue to me.

If you're 8350i works I'm sincerely happy for you. If it's not working to you're liking and your waiting for a fix than you're more patient than I am. For what it's worth I ended up making the switch to Verizon. I had 33 phones in total with Sprint/Nextel and canceled them all.

[Angry Pirate]

I do have the occasional dropped call and sometimes won't get a text message for a good bit of time later. Overall not a bad phone, would like to buy a different housing for it but apparently no one makes a different colored housing for the 8350i. And the echo through the ear piece is annoying but like said in the post above, Nextel and Sprint are to blame not RIM, too much.

[justmecheryl]

I am having a problem sending videoson my 8350i. I can not send them email or MMS. They are not long videos either. Can anyone help with this issue?

[YGun CAOS]

hey guys ive been workin and trying nd juss ugh rediculousness i thought i was a lil computer savy guess not but my BB 8350i curve is in desperate need of help nd so am i my fone not making calls browser works here an there wat app r needed to b downloaded for this chit to run smooth