Originally Posted by
christopherklinck so i too am a newbie to the world of blackberry...also coming from the iphone. i must say that until this phone, i've missed apple more than a little. droid, and winmo have nothing, and i mean nothing on apple. their collective touch ui's are so very very very subpar, i finally threw my hands up and went back to a phone with real keys/keyboard...
best decision ever. i truly loved my iphone, and to be completely honest, i still miss it. however, i don't miss att, and their inflated price plan. after trying a droid, a samsung, and the htc hd2, i came to the realization that no touch screen phone had the smooth effortless feel of the iphone...and to be frank, that was the appeal of the touch screen to begin with. i spent many a 12 hours on forums trying to hack my various devices to emulate the iphone ui, but none ever measured up, and somewhere in the search for a replacement, i realized that i had never let blackberry take a turn. i always saw these phones as hip-holstered business devices, but am now falling in love with actual keys underneath my fingers. my emails arrive instantaneously, i am quite delighted with the blackberry app store, and i've finally found a suitable replacement for my iphone.
i don't think i've used more than 20 minutes of my monthly plan thanks to the UMA feature. my battery not only survives a full day of use, but i have more than half a charge at the end of the day...and this is day 3...i've been playing around with it, downloading apps, setting up accounts, and going about my normal day of phone calls, texts, and facebooking. haven't had a phone in 4 years that could survive a day of heavy usage, and i've still got a half full battery 36 hours in!
was also very impressed with service (even with tmobile). my band practices at a soundproof facility that is so well insulated, you ought just leave the phone in the car (this has been true with sprint, verizon, and att), but i still have a strong signal. i'm well aware that it's not the strength of the carrier (no offense T), but rather the phone, and i am happy to know that i have a phone that truly works hard as a phone, while still offering me the fun of games, utilities, and apps i'll probably never use (but downloaded nonetheless).
i AM rather bummed about blackberry's reluctance to welcome mac users into the design fold...which is especially frustrating as a graphic artist, whose had more than a little experience theming. but if we can't theme, then we try and wallpaper to masquerade as building our own homemade efforts. i am currently using the 18 icon theme, with some homemade wallpaper that makes the rather boring stock icons look a little better.
i can't deny that if you're a youtube junkie, web surfer, or app collector that you might be disappointed, but here's the thing...
I USE THIS PHONE. for games, web surfing, facebooking, etc, but i also use it as a phone. all i'm getting at is, i had more apps than i knew what to do with, a substantial library of music, and videos galore, but i didn't really use the device for what it was intended. sure it was sexy and fully loaded, but i was using it for everything but talking to people on the phone.
at any rate, kudos blackberry, and thank you for breathing hope back into a guy who had really come to believe that no mobile could ever measure up.
just my two cents...