[_StephenBB81]

Forgot to mention but AT&T has a device that will bost your in house 3G signal. A friend of mine out in the country had near no reception and AT&T sent his a device that gave him full bars anywhere on his property.

Every Carrier should offer those

they have been in the market for years, you can even have ones installed in your car if you travel a lot,

Pricing ranges $200-$900, I wouldn't pay less than $400 for one personally

[lnichols]

I know that where I live, Charleston, WV, AT&T does have the best coverage with Verizon a strong second. I mentioned in an earlier post about the geography of the state causing a lack of solid coverage. For example, I live inside the city limits of Charleston and at my home, with At&T I usually only get Edge, with Verizon, the service is even worse. That combined with the fact that WV really doesn't have the large metro areas means we will not see drastic improvements any time soon.

My parents live out in Cross Lanes, Tyler Mountain area to be exact, and Verizon has the best coverage at there house. That bolded part being the most important because the terrain in WV makes it difficult for any provider to have comprehensive coverage. At their house my Sprint phone works but is sucking down the battery with only 1 bar toward the front of the house or switches to Verizon for roaming, and at the back of the house does better (tower is literally on top of the mountain they are at the base so front of house is obstructed by mountain shadow). My sister has AT&T and seems to have better coverage than I do, but not as good as mom and dad do. AT&T and Verizon are definitely your two best choices there, and probably the coverage of your house determines which one you go with. Verizon is supposed to be getting LTE there though soon so it will be interesting to see how that works out. Glad to see someone back home in WV is getting the 9900 to play with before a lot of people.

[DawgMan]

I know that area very well. Yeah the mountains definitely cause reception issues.

My parents live out in Cross Lanes, Tyler Mountain area to be exact, and Verizon has the best coverage at there house. That bolded part being the most important because the terrain in WV makes it difficult for any provider to have comprehensive coverage. At their house my Sprint phone works but is sucking down the battery with only 1 bar toward the front of the house or switches to Verizon for roaming, and at the back of the house does better (tower is literally on top of the mountain they are at the base so front of house is obstructed by mountain shadow). My sister has AT&T and seems to have better coverage than I do, but not as good as mom and dad do. AT&T and Verizon are definitely your two best choices there, and probably the coverage of your house determines which one you go with. Verizon is supposed to be getting LTE there though soon so it will be interesting to see how that works out. Glad to see someone back home in WV is getting the 9900 to play with before a lot of people.

[lnichols]

Every Carrier should offer those

they have been in the market for years, you can even have ones installed in your car if you travel a lot,

Pricing ranges $200-$900, I wouldn't pay less than $400 for one personally

I really wish every carrier would offer UMA for when your home. Almost everyone has WiFi now at their homes now and it would be an easy way to offer phone/data to the phones seamlessly. Even though T-Mobile isn't even a player in WV as has to use AT&T I might switch to them for the UMA when I'm visiting my parents house. Wouldn't do anything for in the car, but would be nice thing to have and in this day should be simple for the other carriers to implement.

[ibcop]

Are younsaying that the device showed full bars of service but in reality the device was still getting the same poor reception?

Dawg, I use an AT&T MicroCell at my home. I'm on the outer edge of 3G service and would constantly rotate between Edge and 3G. I opted to buy a MicroCell off eBay and give it and shot and boy.....what a difference. I have full bars and my BB and the other phones linked to my account have zero issues and performance has drastically increased. I paid a hundred bucks for it on eBay, but AT&T will sometimes give one for free or you can buy them at an AT&T Corp store, but I think there is a minimum service agree, but not sure.

[DeeDudnath]

is there Wifi hotspots? and thanks for the update man!

[Sharke]

AT&T data coverage in New York sucks, there are large areas of Manhattan in which it's virtually impossible to download a web page. Even though your phone shows "3G" with full bars, it will not download. In other areas, your phone will download one page without problems and then just seconds later will refuse to download anything. Sometimes I have to turn my radio connection off and on to get it connected to the network again. This was the case on my 9000, 9700 and Torch. It makes you wonder what is the point of them having a cellphone transmitter on the corner of every block (or so it seems).

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[palomartian]

Are younsaying that the device showed full bars of service but in reality the device was still getting the same poor reception?

Yes. A very powerful, crappy signal. Lots of dropped calls from the crappy coverage. Experienced that myself. GIGO.

[lnichols]

AT&T data coverage in New York sucks, there are large areas of Manhattan in which it's virtually impossible to download a web page. Even though your phone shows "3G" with full bars, it will not download. In other areas, your phone will download one page without problems and then just seconds later will refuse to download anything. Sometimes I have to turn my radio connection off and on to get it connected to the network again. This was the case on my 9000, 9700 and Torch. It makes you wonder what is the point of them having a cellphone transmitter on the corner of every block (or so it seems).

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

That sounds like the data network on the backside of the towers that transmit the data from the towers to the AT&T POP/Internet are congested. All carriers, be they wireless or landline, oversubscribe the voice and data capacity for an area. For voice the rule is 10 to 1 residential, 4 to 1 business. The assumption is that not everyone will be using the resources at the same time. Unfortunately this is also why when their is a major event, and everyone starts calling at the same time and getting fast busy.

I once did a demo of some VoIP gear that I was running across the Internet using a Sprint Air Card in a Linksys router down in Crystal City, VA (same tower the Pentagon hits). We setup at 6 AM and it ran ran great in tests till about 7:30 AM when everyone started hitting the Pentagon and all the surrounding contractors were pouring into the area, plus the I-395 traffic all hammering that tower. Demo started at 8 so I had to connected my Macbook to the Hotel Internet and turn on Internet sharing for the demo to work, even though the VoIP gear I was using was the most efficient you can get for bandwidth. Same thing happens to same equipment in the office down in Springfield but just in rush hours because traffic always backs up on 95S and everyone starts talking/texting/browsing on their smartphones.

[palomartian]

There is no "better." Only "better for you." It's not like you are trying to choose between a Chevy and a Toyota and, though they both do the job equally well today, you know what's coming.

[ardew]

That sounds like the data network on the backside of the towers that transmit the data from the towers to the AT&T POP/Internet are congested. All carriers, be they wireless or landline, oversubscribe the voice and data capacity for an area. For voice the rule is 10 to 1 residential, 4 to 1 business. The assumption is that not everyone will be using the resources at the same time. Unfortunately this is also why when their is a major event, and everyone starts calling at the same time and getting fast busy.

I once did a demo of some VoIP gear that I was running across the Internet using a Sprint Air Card in a Linksys router down in Crystal City, VA (same tower the Pentagon hits). We setup at 6 AM and it ran ran great in tests till about 7:30 AM when everyone started hitting the Pentagon and all the surrounding contractors were pouring into the area, plus the I-395 traffic all hammering that tower. Demo started at 8 so I had to connected my Macbook to the Hotel Internet and turn on Internet sharing for the demo to work, even though the VoIP gear I was using was the most efficient you can get for bandwidth. Same thing happens to same equipment in the office down in Springfield but just in rush hours because traffic always backs up on 95S and everyone starts talking/texting/browsing on their smartphones.

i was at the subway series last weekend and i couldnt call or message with full bars on 3G. it was horrible. happens a lot in downtown nyc too

[Siiid]

im playing with it right now, its amazing. i couldnt find bridge on it so i cant bridge to my playbook.
my Rim friend says it'll be probably coming out in 2nd half of August. cant wait its amazing, besides the amazing screen and stainless steel frame the keyboard is the best new feature to the touch.
rim does have a winner here.

[dancing-bass]

I can't wait till my carrier drops these. I gotta admit I'm torn between the 9900 or the HTC Inc S. gonna wait and research and read countless reviews (and drive myself crazy waiting) until then. By then I should be informed enough to make a good call. I hate that Canadian carriers have switched to 3yr contracts. Its either that, buy the device outright, or use a "tab" type program....

[sivan]

Word about the browser? Is it faster, any spinning clocks?

[Blacklatino]

Thanks for the review, Dawg. I'll get my wife the Torch II and I may decide to wait for this one.

[Siiid]

The Browser on 3G was fast, i've been using a 9000 up till now, so this felt 10 years ahead, it reminded me of the Playbook browser, the way it displays favs and tabs.
I desperately looked for google maps or bridge but couldn't find them in app world, or off the web.

Overall, this is the best BB yet!

[gods84]

looks and sounds awesome. i'm getting waaay to anxious for the new 9990/9930 to get out here and soon!! my torch is good but i miss the bold!

[austriker]

Gosh, I really want to get one of these too. Come on RIM, release it already!!

[magswlu]

Since I don't want to make a new thread just for one picture I'll just reply.

I was at Edgefest in Toronto yesterday and checked out the BlackBerry booth set up. They had PlayBook galore there and I happened to spot one of the reps with a 99xx. He let me play with it for a bit and let me tell you, it's smooth as butter. Like the OP said, nothing like the Torch/Storm series.

Was very close to running away with this bad boy :P

[Jordy357]

Since I don't want to make a new thread just for one picture I'll just reply.

I was at Edgefest in Toronto yesterday and checked out the BlackBerry booth set up. They had PlayBook galore there and I happened to spot one of the reps with a 99xx. He let me play with it for a bit and let me tell you, it's smooth as butter. Like the OP said, nothing like the Torch/Storm series.

Was very close to running away with this bad boy :P

Photoshopped

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[magswlu]

Photoshopped

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Definitely wasn't. But I guess you can believe what you want.

[Jordy357]

Definitely wasn't. But I guess you can believe what you want.

Definitely a fake story. Thanks for the 30 seconds of entertainment though

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[CGI]

As much as I think the 9900 will be wicked fast (and overall awesome)... I still don't have high hopes for the browser.

With every new BlackBerry we hear how much faster/better the browser will be (9700/9800) and every time it's been a major disappointment.

Yes, there have been some videos comparing the BB to iphone... but I won't believe it until I see it.

[magswlu]

Definitely a fake story. Thanks for the 30 seconds of entertainment though

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Do you really think I spent hours to make up a bogus story and Photoshop one picture of a Bold?

If you think it looks Photoshopped then blame the quality of my 9700 camera.

[anon(2947110)]

How can you tell if its photoshopped or not? (magswlu picture) just wondering... Oh & just another reason why i dont want to put a case/sleeve on the 9900, cuz it looks like all the other BB's! Definitely keeping mines naked so everyone can see how sexy the phone is Dont worry, i hardly never drop my phone haha