My first Blackberry phone ever. 9360!

Since my first cell phone (a Sony brick with jog dial), I'm fairly certain I've never had the same platform/OS twice. I don't own an Android or iPhone but have used iOS quite a bit. But I have never, ever even used a live Blackberry phone. Ever. Not for a second. Blackberry has just never appealed to me. Quick thoughts:

• iOS, very fun to use and play with
• Android seems a bit archaic actually. It smells a lot like Linux, very slick looking UI & graphics, but the beauty is skin deep.
• Windows Mobile 6.5, yes, really as bad as its reputation
• Symbian S60? Yes, also quite bad (my most recent phone)
• Symbian UIQ? I actually like it, very pleasant to use.

Then I got a Playbook. It was wonderful. Loved it, waay better than the iPad (yes I have one). Then I got really fed up with my current cell phone & when a deal came up, I decided to jump in.

Blackberry 9360. Why?

• Something inexpensive to tide me over until BB10 comes
• I "need" the FM Radio
• Pretty much every carrier here supports the 9360, so once unlocked, I would be free to move.
• Try the keyboard so I can decide which BB10 device I want. Full touch or keyboard.

New phone for $179 or $0 if I went with the "tab". Windmobile had the $25 unlimited text, talk + voicemail, CallerID, other goodies & 100MB BIS plan. Tough to beat.
First sales guy tried to talk me into a Lumia 710 or Galaxy Q, which was the other "free" phone. Lumia has an awesome screen, but I played with it a bit and notice some parts were laggy. Plus my friend works for Microsoft, gets free phones and still forks out his own money for a non-Windows phone. I was surprised to find the Lumia has 50% faster CPU, it sure doesn't feel like it. Anyways, after my last phone fiasco, I wanted a real keyboard. Second sales guy actually longed for his Blackberry after switching to a Galaxy, really positive about me getting a Blackberry. Friends & colleagues who have Galaxy's swear their real-life battery is like 1-2 days tops. So Blackberry got the call.

So far, I think it's a great phone, especially for the price.
Design: Feels very well built, good quality. Wider than my preference but feels good in my hand, bested maybe by the 1G iPhone.
Screen: I thought I would hate the screen, the size, the orientation. In reality, I never noticed it and it works well, even for watching video. Nice screen.
BB7: It's not so bad, it works, it's relatively easy to figure out. Waaay better than Symbian S60 or WinMo 6.5. iOS feels like a "toy" (I don't mean it in a bad way), BB7 feels like a tool, very efficient. Phone, messaging are distinct, front & center. On iOS it seems like just another app. Very fast, efficient. What's not to like? Yes, I do like Playbook OS better, but BB7 is no piece of junk. I had Appworld hang once when I tried installing 2 things at once, but everything else kept working. The lack of touchscreen hasn't bothered me, even though my past 3 phones had one.
Keyboard: Ah the legendary keyboard. Not so hot. They keys are too close together (I do not have fat fingers). The keyboard on Xperia X1 was WAY better. At this rate, I would spring for the all-touch BB10. I wish RIM would make a side-slider, it's my favourite format.
Battery: For the first while, it looked like I was going to get 1-2 days on a charge with light usage. Not acceptable. Then I realized a lot of junk apps were just calling home or pushing stuff or what not. I uninstalled the crap, turned off location services, now I'm getting 3-4 days on a charge. Maybe even push it to 5. Much more satisfied now.
Other notes: Dump the cheapy headset, if you can't offer a good one, then don't. I'm still using headphones from a Sony W800, way better than anything else since. Also odd that the sound doesn't get routed through the headphones when plugged in! Music, yes. Video, yes, and calls probably yes, but other stuff still comes out the phone speaker. Annoying. If anyone knows how to fix this, let me know.

I can see why Blackberry is still so popular outside of North America, where you use it as a communication tool. In North America where people tend to use it as an entertainment device more than anything else, then it's not the best and probably that's why it gets a bad repuation.