[mike240se]

Hi, i recently got the storm, came from a moto q.

I am having 2 different feelings on it.

1) I love the blackberry platform and OS. I never thought i would and had many incorrect preconceptions about it. Now i realize its way better than i expected.

2) typing on the storm is terrible, and thats keeping me iffy about the phone

so i have been looking for other alternatives. I want to stick with verizon so the bold is out for now.

so i was looking at the other verizon BB's and this WE and curve are the two that interest me. I want a full qwerty, so the pearl is out. Although i think the pearl flip is very cool, but they dont have it anyways.

But then i realized that this phone (which i like looks wise, better thant the curve) only has 32mb of ram?!?!?!?

I have 128mb on the storm and its not even close to being enough. especially since you cant install programs on the sd card or flash.

So i am wondering if the phone is severely limited/crippled by the 32mb ram? Or if that is even correct, i was thinking it was a typo on verizons side maybe just cause its so low.

thanks

[BlackBerryBob]

In the BB world that's pretty good. most of the memory hog items are going to be media, and that's the reason for the media card. There are a few apps that allow the loading / unloading of software (Aerize Card Loader is one) to the media card but, most BB apps are fairly small.

But I do completely agree with you. I can't understand why they cant cram more internal memory into our BB's. (thanks marketing)

[jeffh]

...this WE and curve are the two that interest me. I want a full qwerty, so the pearl is out. Although i think the pearl flip is very cool, but they dont have it anyways.

But then i realized that this phone (which i like looks wise, better thant the curve) only has 32mb of ram?!?!?!?

I have 128mb on the storm and its not even close to being enough. especially since you cant install programs on the sd card or flash.

So i am wondering if the phone is severely limited/crippled by the 32mb ram? Or if that is even correct, i was thinking it was a typo on verizons side maybe just cause its so low.

thanks

I'm not sure where you saw the 32MB quote. The 8830 has 64MB of RAM. Of that, 47 841 280 bytes is available to the user. I don't find that a severe constraint at all, but that's very much dependent on how you use it. Indisputably, the 64MB 8830 won't hold as many apps as the 96MB Curve 8330.

Other differences may be more important than the memory. The 8830 has no camera, the 8330 has one. The 8830 is a World Phone and comes with a SIM card for use overseas (overseas only; it cannot be used on US GSM frequencies); the 8330 is not a World Phone. On Verizon, the 8830 cannot receive MMS messages, the 8330 can. The 8830 is slightly larger and slightly heavier than the 8330 and may be slightly more robust, but that's not quantifiable. The 8330 has OS4.5 officially released, the 8830 has an OS4.5 beta in circulation, but not officially released. Finally, the 8830 may be nearing the end of its time in the product lineup.

[mike240se]

Weird, verizon lists 32mb of ram for all the BB devices except the storm.

it says 64mb flash/32mb ram here:

Enter your location


I figured that was like the storm where it has 1gb flash and 128mb ram. and only the 128mb ram can be used for apps/email, etc.

[pakman92]

Why is this posted in the BlackBerry 8830 WE forum?

[Chrisy]

Because the OP is asking about the BlackBerry 8830 WE.

Where else would it be posted?

JeffH gave a really good comparison, succinct and informative.

i don't like certain things about the storm either. i like my curve a lot but i'd also like a world phone. i'm waiting for the rumored niagra phone which looks to be a world phone with a camera. http://forums.crackberry.com/f71/who...niagara-99388/

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[jeffh]

Weird, verizon lists 32mb of ram for all the BB devices except the storm.

it says 64mb flash/32mb ram here:

Enter your location


I figured that was like the storm where it has 1gb flash and 128mb ram. and only the 128mb ram can be used for apps/email, etc.

The difference is probably in the definition of flash and ram. I don't know how Verizon uses the terms. The 8330, for example, has 96MB of memory. Maybe someone else will post a better technical description of the differences.

[ScienceRules]

My 8830 has 64MB of Flash and 16MB of RAM. This is consistent with the specs that are available on the FCC web site.

Yet, the recently revised RIM specs, indicate that the 8830 has 32MB of RAM.

16MB - https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/f...ive_or_pdf=pdf (p. 25)

32MB - http://na.blackberry.com/eng/deliver...rtphone-US.pdf (p. 21)

I would love to trade up to 32MB if I could.

sR

[Xopher]

Newer blackberries are definitely getting more needed RAM. The smaller amount of memory in my 8830 is the only real complaint I have about it. I am so looking forward to the Niagra coming out in a few months, since the rumored specs will have a lot more memory than the 8830.

[jajacobs]

I have had my 8839 for a little over a year and have very little to complain about, but if I had to complain it would be the memory.

[jeffh]

My 8830 has 64MB of Flash and 16MB of RAM. This is consistent with the specs that are available on the FCC web site.

Yet, the recently revised RIM specs, indicate that the 8830 has 32MB of RAM.

16MB - https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/f...ive_or_pdf=pdf (p. 25)

32MB - http://na.blackberry.com/eng/deliver...rtphone-US.pdf (p. 21)

I would love to trade up to 32MB if I could.

sR

Good catch. I can't explain the discrepancy. My 8830 has 47 841 280 bytes File Total. Until recently, I had never seen a different value. A couple of weeks ago, I saw this: http://forums.crackberry.com/f61/wha...ml#post1436672
I can't explain that either. What file total do you have?

[ScienceRules]

Where are you pulling the total from?

From the status screen, after typing in FTOT, I'm showing 47448064. But that is just the file system allocation. Here's what I have -

Mem Config Table (ver 1.12) (actual):
Flash Chip: 0x00000000-0x03FFFFFF Chip 0, Sub 0
OS Dynamic: 0x00040000-0x????????
FS Dynamic: 0x????????-0x03DBFFFF Virt 131072, Phys 131072
BSNRegion: 0x03DC0000-0x03DDFFFF
BugDisp: 0x03DE0000-0x03DFFFFF Phys 131072, Sectors 1
QualComm NV: 0x03E00000-0x03EBFFFF Virt 131072, Phys 131072, Sectors 6
OS NV: 0x03EC0000-0x03F5FFFF Virt 131072, Phys 131072, Sectors 5
Branding: 0x03F60000-0x03F7FFFF
AppStore: 0x03F80000-0x03FBFFFF Phys 131072, Sectors 2
HWV Entry: 0012 - 0001

RAM usage: 0x10000000-0x1103CEB8

8830IR - International Roaming?

RIM recently applied for and received FCC certification as a result of a minor component modification.
HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - 8830 Hardware Refresh.
I wonder if this is connected.

sR

[jeffh]

Very interesting report. How did you get the data? Typing FTOT from the status screen does nothing on my 8830.

My File Free is 14 956 714 and File Total is 47 841 280. I'm aware that's not the total memory, but it's all the memory users have access to, so it's all I monitor.

[ScienceRules]

There are three well-known production backdoor commands under Options/Status.

BUYR
FTOT
TEST

Where are you getting your totals from?

[jeffh]

TEST I had used before. The other two were not well known to me. FTOT does nothing on my device. No change to the Status Screen, no additional information displayed. BUYR added
Data Usage: IT Policy Enabled
Voice Usage: IT Policy Enabled
to the bottom of the Status display, below ESN (hex).

My normal status screen, without BUYR, displays,
Signal:
Battery:
File Free:
File Total:
PIN:
IMEI:
ESN (dec):
ESN (hex):

The memory values I reported come from the File Free: and File Total: lines.

You have 400k less File Total memory and at least one additional test code. There's obviously more difference between our devices than the name on the front.

[ScienceRules]

I'm aware that's not the total memory, but it's all the memory users have access to, so it's all I monitor.

Same here.

[ScienceRules]

FTOT does nothing on my device.

That's strange. On my device I do not have the File Total line item until I type in FTOT, after which I get File Total -that's all FTOT does. I guess that sort of explains things.

[jeffh]

That's strange. On my device I do not have the File Total line item until I type in FTOT, after which I get File Total -that's all FTOT does. I guess that sort of explains things.

That explains FTOT, but what about all that other memory info? Is that on your normal status screen? Mine shows only what I posted previously.

[ScienceRules]

I used another method.

I sent you a PM on that.

[ScienceRules]

Perhaps RIM intentionally buried File Total in the 4.5 code. Others have reported that they no longer have it.

[jeffh]

Yes, I should've thought of that. I'm running 4.2.2.196. I don't want to install a beta OS on my BES device. Although it would probably work, I still wouldn't have some of the functionality because our BES is v3.6.

[ScienceRules]

Good catch. I can't explain the discrepancy. My 8830 has 47 841 280 bytes File Total. Until recently, I had never seen a different value. A couple of weeks ago, I saw this: http://forums.crackberry.com/f61/wha...ml#post1436672
I can't explain that either. What file total do you have?

The 4.5 OS code is considerably larger than the 4.2 code and leaves less space for the filesystem.

4.2 OS 0x00040000 - 0x0101xxxx rim8830c.sfi is stored here (rim8830c.sfi is 16,640,580 bytes for 4.2.0.196, for example)
4.2 FS 0x01020000 - 0x03dbffff -->0x02DA0000 = 47,841,280

4.5 OS 0x00040000 - 0x0106xxxx rim8830c.sfi (rim8830c.sfi is 16,932,664 for 4.5.0.101)
4.5 FS 0x01080000 - 0x03dbffff -->0x02D40000 = 47,448,064

The Mem Confg Table is also displayed via Javaloader in bootrom and os metrics.

Of all the 88xx series devices, the 8830 is clearly the most memory-challenged in terms of available flash under 4.5.


sR

[FuturaxLabs]

Honestly i have 2 BB's, the 8330 and the 8830 and i love them both. I just got the 8830 about 4 days ago and so far i have no complaints, granted i dont have many apps on it yet but i think it is an amazing device. I got mine brand new in the box for under 200 bucks so you cant beat that. Yes it has been out for awhile but i still think it is one of the best BB's to ever come out. It is slightly larger than the 8330 but its really thin and the feel of it just feels perfect in my hand. Comparing the 2 is hard at least for me lol, i dont think there are any cons to either device in my eyes. It all comes down to preference and what feels better for you, any phone you get you should have a 30 day return policy so if you dont like the device you can swap it out. All around you will probably be happier with the 8330 as a primary phone. Hope this helped a little.

[ScienceRules]

So i am wondering if the phone is severely limited/crippled by the 32mb ram? Or if that is even correct, i was thinking it was a typo on verizons side maybe just cause its so low.

thanks

The 8330 was engineered to support the 4.3 feature set and was endowed by engineering with 96MB of flash and 32MB of RAM - and as such, has been appropriately sized for the 4.5 features and functions that RIM has been touting.

Whereas,

The 8830 was endowed with 64MB of flash and 16MB of RAM. The jury is still out on this model, which has been available since Q307. The corporate depreciation cycle remains at two years or longer (for desktops and PDAs), and a significant portion of RIM's corporate customers require the security policy enhancements that are only supported in 4.5 or higher. So there will be a 4.5 production release in our lifetime.

But as we all know, size doesn't matter.

However, the latest RIM models are shipping with substantially larger on-board memory. If you are able to hold out for a few months, do so. You may be very happy with the next CDMA release.

Thanx to FuturaxLabs for unhijacking this thread.

sR