[newblackgirl]

Okay guys. I heard this from the Cingular/ATT people. IF you haven't registered with Cingular or your phone service that you have a Curve then you could be draining your battery. Apparently you need a specific SIM card and Cingular needs to know that you have a Blackberry Curve and not some other phone or your Curve is working overtime to get it's signal bla bla techtalk la la la. This may be the cause of sucky battery life. I think it was for me.

I changed from a Blackjack to a Curve and was using my old SIM card, but apparently this is not good enough. The SIM card they sent me for the Curve is "better" somehow and it allows my phone to work less hard (?). Now that Cingular knows I have a Curve and I have the proper SIM card my battery life is a jillioin times better.

and BTW they told me that the Curve is now a 3G device when it wasn't before??? Cool.

Suffice it to say, I looooooooove my Curve!

[tomleavitt]

Can these be upgraded/updated to support the faster network speeds of 3G?

[newblackgirl]

I got the impression that it's already 3G but we just didn't know...but don't quote me. It's definitely just as fast as my former Blackjack (3G device) was. Maybe someone more knowledgable can answer that for us...anyone?

[kasperapd]

I call complete BS on this. Did they charge you for that new SIM card? Also, it is not a 3G device. No way, no how. Read the specs, it is only EDGE capable. Sorry you were mislead.

[newblackgirl]

Well maybe the 3G part was farfetched. The Cingular guy sounded sincere. Who knows.
But the SIM card thing is real they sent the new one for free with my Curve. I just hadn't used it b/c I didn't think it would matter. I realized it does matter! My device works much better now, plus my internet connection is better - making me believe them a little more

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kasperapd]

Well, I'm absolutely telling you it's not 3G.

Now as far as the SIM... that sounds farfetched to me, but your the one with the actual experience with it. So if it works better for you, then great!

[idontknow]

I manage an AT&T store and can tell you with 100% certainty that the curve is not a 3g device. Also 3g is not available everywhere yet so if you are not in an area that has 3g coverage your internet speeds on the Blackjack and the curve are going to be very similar. As far as your sim card when you bought your blackjack they should have updated your sim card to the newest one out. As far as changing out the sim card to improve battery life well I've never heard of that before. Only thing I can think of is if you had a bunk sim and you were having trouble grabbing towers that can cause your battery to drain faster because the phone is working harder to search for a signal.

[tomleavitt]

My wife has a blackjack and the speeds blow my Curve away...but I didn't buy the phone for it's internet prowess, she did...hence, she has that cool little blackjack and I have my cool little curve...both are happy!

Thanks for confirming the 3G issue...I didn't think the networks were compatible but I do know that somethings can be upgraded with a firmware update...if the underlying hardware supports it to begin with. If the curve doesn't have the required HW to begin with it will never work...if it does...well, firmware updates can enable previously dormant functions.