[kristicat12]

Hi Everyone,

Let me start first by saying that I promise this post ends up on a Curve topic but I want to provide background info for my questions . I'm TOTALLY new to the Blackberry world and stumbled upon this site during my "research process" (I have a tendency to research almost every product I buy).

I recently had an HTC Touch under a Bell Canada contract. I had it for about 2 months and I spent more time swearing on it then using it. It CONSTANTLY shut off in mid-conversation due to the "airplane mode" button being accidentally pressed by my face during talk times. I also found the phone to have pathetic battery life. I had to charge it after every conversation or any time I used the web. These, along with other issues, prompted me to bring the phone back to the bell store for help and they kindly replaced it with a new one which, too, gave me headaches. Bell then gave me a software update to do which fixed some of the freezing problems I was having but the phone continued to be a pain when it came to cutting off convos with the "airplane mode". Additionally (and without being mistreated or dropped at all) the faceplate began to crack so I took HTC phone #2 back to Bell and they said it was a common problem and they were doing replacements for faulty faceplates. That was the second week in July. It is October I am STILL waiting on my 3rd HTC touch replacement. It's been 3 months and I cannot seem to get an answer other than the Touch's have been on "backorder".

I used to be a cell phone junkie (using my text and browser all of the time) but since having to send my HTC phone away I am using my old Samsung A900 (Blade) and am a little scared off from the whole "high tech" smartphone atmosphere. I am wondering at this point if I should just sell my HTC on ebay .. IF and when I get the brand new one in the mail. I don't want to give up on smartphones cause lets face it .. they are so fun! I have been shopping around and I find I am craving a little "berry" .. lol. Particularly, I have been looking at the Curve 8330 .. which finally brings me to my point (sorry for the novel-length post) ... I have a bunch of questions regarding the device and they are as follows: (Please feel free to answer some or all of the questions and I appreciate the direction!)

-Does anyone know the story on the GPS issue with Bell Canada? One of the selling factors for this phone for me would be GPS. I want a phone that will help me get places when need be!

-Does the Curve 8330 have Wi-Fi and does Bell allow use of it?

-What kind of plan does the phone require? I have a data plan for my HTC and my overall bill is rather inexpensive so I wonder if the same plan is usable for Blackberry.

-Battery Life - I have lurked and read many posts complaining of battery life on their BB's? I think having to charge your phone every day is just plain ridiculous. Remember the days when we would get a week of standby out of cell phones? I know its not a "smartphone" but I get a couple of days out of my A900 without having to charge.

-The one thing I did enjoy about the Touch was Windows Mobile. I just loved their layout, apps and programs. How does the BB Curve compare to this?

I believe that sums it up. Again, apologize for the long post but in my decision on whether I'm gonna take a leap into the BB world, I need to know ALOT of things ..lol. Thanks in advance!

[zahirw]

hey,
its odd, i feel like ur wearing my shoes right now. I had a touch before i got the curve. Here are a few reasons why you should shift.

1. the touch kept hanging, switching off, going blank, none of that has ever happened with the bb. In short, its a lot more stable an OS than WM

2. Email is KICKASS and now with full HTML support, its as good as the touch. I always loved email on my touch, so clean so comprehensive. I always felt that the BB lacked majorly in the rich HTML dept but OS 4.5 fixed that.

3. Also with OS 4.5, an upgrade to which should be one of the first things you do on your phone, the overall UI is so much cleaner and crisper. I for example, love the default black theme of the Touch, crisp! I now find the vodafone white theme a much better replacement.

4. Gtalk, MSN, BBMessenger, Doc2Go...l all blew me away. I frankly found the native office on the touch better, but bb isnt half bad... the messenger apps are awesome tho, almost as good as the desktop while i always struggled with messenger apps on the touch.

5. Battery life is definitely better on the BB. The touch was a drain bug.

6. Yes 8330 has wifi! cant advise you on the gps tho, im not from canada.

Overall, things i miss about the touch are
1. touchflo
2. Weather
3. touchscreen

but with each day, i get over it more and more....
good luck... hope this helps

[mab4285]

hey,
its odd, i feel like ur wearing my shoes right now. I had a touch before i got the curve. Here are a few reasons why you should shift.

1. the touch kept hanging, switching off, going blank, none of that has ever happened with the bb. In short, its a lot more stable an OS than WM

2. Email is KICKASS and now with full HTML support, its as good as the touch. I always loved email on my touch, so clean so comprehensive. I always felt that the BB lacked majorly in the rich HTML dept but OS 4.5 fixed that.

3. Also with OS 4.5, an upgrade to which should be one of the first things you do on your phone, the overall UI is so much cleaner and crisper. I for example, love the default black theme of the Touch, crisp! I now find the vodafone white theme a much better replacement.

4. Gtalk, MSN, BBMessenger, Doc2Go...l all blew me away. I frankly found the native office on the touch better, but bb isnt half bad... the messenger apps are awesome tho, almost as good as the desktop while i always struggled with messenger apps on the touch.

5. Battery life is definitely better on the BB. The touch was a drain bug.

6. Yes 8330 has wifi! cant advise you on the gps tho, im not from canada.

Overall, things i miss about the touch are
1. touchflo
2. Weather
3. touchscreen

but with each day, i get over it more and more....
good luck... hope this helps

8330 does NOT have wifi. The 8320 has wifi. Not sure about the GPS since I'm on Sprint in the US.

[tae_254]

Its not a touch screen. Enough said

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[zahirw]

oh yeah, sorry, i got the 8320 and 8330 mixed, no wifi... my mistake!

[kristicat12]

That sucks .. Bell's website only shows the 8330 so I guess I'm confined to that Curve if I decide to get one. Although I don't really know how beneficial Wi-Fi would be for me under the Bell Network. It does show GPS though, if I'm not mistaken? And again, I'm not sure what the usage factor will be for GPS with Bell. If anyone knows, please feel free to inform me!

[zahirw]

Yeah that's the inintial impression I had too
8300 none
8310 gps
8320 wifi
8330 gps and wifi

But I looked around and saw ppl complaining abt the missing wifi so I politely withdrew

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[fishkat]

Hello & welcome to the family! Where in Canada are you? I just got on line w/Bell Canada & they seems to have diff. availabilities for diff. areas. But I am not 100%, I am in the lower 48. but & this is big, you can get it in RED. I think if you ck out Bell a bit closer, you will be able to get the ans. you need. I have used my GPS & I love it. Not sure if this helped you much.

[neicy17]

All the issues you've described, sounds like my life before the ....blackberry curve LOL. I'm so serious. I think AT&T has me flagged in the system for complaints about phone issues, because no matter what I did, I would always have phone problems. That was until I got the curve. I didn't want a bb because I already have an 8300 for work, and I thought that noose was close to slavery. But I decided to give the curve a try and have never looked back, or regretted my decision. It's the best, fun to play with, many features, and of course, a phone Good luck on your decison.

[mab4285]

Yeah that's the inintial impression I had too
8300 none
8310 gps
8320 wifi
8330 gps and wifi

But I looked around and saw ppl complaining abt the missing wifi so I politely withdrew

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

8330 is CDMA and only has gps. The new iDen 8350i will have wifi and gps.

[kristicat12]

zahirw-yah, its very confusing. i don't see why the 8330 (according to the BB website) doesn't have wi-fi? it has everything else. i noticed also that it has much less standby time and a LITTLE more talk time. I wonder what constitutes this comparison in talk/standby time to the others in that series?

fishkat- Thanks! I was in BC when I signed up for my plan but am currently moved back to Newfoundland for the winter. Do you know if GPS works here?

neicy-Sounds like me, but then again, I get tired of every phone I buy after about 6 months. I'm looking for something that I will hopefully be able to stick with for more than a few months .. haha. The deal breaker for me will be the data plan. I currently have an unlimited data everything plan for my HTC called the "fun 15" with Bell and I'm wondering if that's transferable to a BB if I get one? If not, I can't see me giving up an unlimited browsing and email plan for $15 a mth to a BB plan at more than twice the price for the same service.

[GMace]

I'm on the 8330 w verizon. The evdo is faster than a couple of my friends wifi curves.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[pearlyrob]

Hi there. Well let me start by saying I am with bell and have the curve 8330. Like already mentioned it has no wifi, GPS is great. If you use gpsnav which is preinstalled by bell it costs extra. I use google maps which is free, it just uses data.
The plans are different for blackberries though as opposed to your touch. Unlimited blackberry data is 30/month on top of a minimum 30/month voice plan. Windows messenger is also extra but there are free I'm programs you can use. I bought jivetalk for a one time 30 fee and love it.
As for what you miss. I use blackberry weather eye and love it. Its free and displays the weather on the icon. Its cool! Hope this helps a little. Feel free to message with any other questions. From one bell user to another!!

Rob

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kristicat12]

Rob-Thanks for the info .. I had a feeling that my current data plan would not work for the Blackberry .. which kinda makes me weary cause I have a great cell plan now and it comes to about $50 a month and that's fab 5, call display/waiting, voicemail, unlimited data etc. I really love the curve but it seems sooo much more expensive to operate considering you have to pay for the specific bb plan and now I find out that it doesn't even include messenger? I get tons of text and pic sending, unlimited email, browsing and Windows Messenger under my Fun 15 package. I'm starting to think that getting a Curve will be far fetched for me

[tae_254]

Rob-Thanks for the info .. I had a feeling that my current data plan would not work for the Blackberry .. which kinda makes me weary cause I have a great cell plan now and it comes to about $50 a month and that's fab 5, call display/waiting, voicemail, unlimited data etc. I really love the curve but it seems sooo much more expensive to operate considering you have to pay for the specific bb plan and now I find out that it doesn't even include messenger? I get tons of text and pic sending, unlimited email, browsing and Windows Messenger under my Fun 15 package. I'm starting to think that getting a Curve will be far fetched for me

You can download a third party app that has messenger that runs off data,not text.

[kristicat12]

You can download a third party app that has messenger that runs off data,not text.

well that's good to know! there's obviously sooo much i don't know about BB. thanks for the tip

[neicy17]

zahirw-yah, its very confusing. i don't see why the 8330 (according to the BB website) doesn't have wi-fi? it has everything else. i noticed also that it has much less standby time and a LITTLE more talk time. I wonder what constitutes this comparison in talk/standby time to the others in that series?

fishkat- Thanks! I was in BC when I signed up for my plan but am currently moved back to Newfoundland for the winter. Do you know if GPS works here?

neicy-Sounds like me, but then again, I get tired of every phone I buy after about 6 months. I'm looking for something that I will hopefully be able to stick with for more than a few months .. haha. The deal breaker for me will be the data plan. I currently have an unlimited data everything plan for my HTC called the "fun 15" with Bell and I'm wondering if that's transferable to a BB if I get one? If not, I can't see me giving up an unlimited browsing and email plan for $15 a mth to a BB plan at more than twice the price for the same service.

I was the same way, PRE-curve. I wouldn't even consider any other brand other than a BB. Luckily I have an unlimited data plan with AT&T or else it wouldn't be that fun. The $15 is cheap....AT&T gets both t's from you and unlimited bb + net + msgs = $50 (does not include plan).

[kristicat12]

I just got a reply from Bell regarding the compatibility of my existing unlimited browsing plan .. apparently (and as expected) .. my plan would not work with a BB. This is a bummer considering I would not only have to pay much more for a BB plan .. but there is no available/affordable unlimited BB plan where's the fun in having a BB if you are limited to how much you can enjoy it?

[mab4285]

I just got a reply from Bell regarding the compatibility of my existing unlimited browsing plan .. apparently (and as expected) .. my plan would not work with a BB. This is a bummer considering I would not only have to pay much more for a BB plan .. but there is no available/affordable unlimited BB plan where's the fun in having a BB if you are limited to how much you can enjoy it?

One of the reasons I'm still a U.S. citizen...we have unlimited BB plans...just kidding