My thoughts on the BlackBerry 8230 (Verizon)
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Purchased mine this morning. I'm doing a write-up on it on our website, but the main strong points for me are, as of now:
1. Upgraded OS. If you used the T-Mobile version, you realize what I'm talking about. The CDMA and GSM versions of this device is like night and day. Verizon/RIM did a fantastic job into transforming a sluggish GSM device into a fantastic CDMA device.
2. Color. Cosmetic, however I prefer the silver color. Looks professional, albeit distinguishing.
To those that have been frustrated about the 8220/8230's lack of coverage in the BlackBerry world compared to other devices - now that we're seeing the device on Verizon (and available to 80+ million subscribers), I believe it will become more mainstream.
3. Keyboard. The keys are actually glossy as opposed to the 8220's regular keys, which (for me at least) makes it easier to type on.
I'll keep updating with my findings.
-Aaron06-19-09 01:00 PMLike 0 -
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I picked up a 8230 on my way to work this morning at 9AM when the VZW store was just opening.
I have to say so far I'm pretty impressed with the device, especially with the memory coming from a Storm.
I have to really test it out over the weekend I guess. I consider myself a power user and I'll see how I feel about the Flip once I give it some real time. I have had meetings all day so I haven't really got a chance to play with it too much so I'll see.06-19-09 03:58 PMLike 0 -
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Yup, personal choice. I perfer the black, which also looks very professional.Originally Posted by Mr. Bond2. Color. Cosmetic, however I prefer the silver color. Looks professional, albeit distinguishing.
That may be specific to the silver, because my black 8230 has matte keys. The chrome surrounding the trackball is the only real glossy stuff. There's other chrome, but it's kind of a matte chrome, not really reflective.Originally Posted by Mr. Bond3. Keyboard. The keys are actually glossy as opposed to the 8220's regular keys, which (for me at least) makes it easier to type on.
I think the biggest improvement (other than the OS) has to be swapping the WiFi for EV. I'm not always in an area where I can get WiFi, and why should I have to switch my connection when I have perfectly good EV available? Some of the things that 8220 users are complaining about, such as problems with streaming radio, I've not had any problems at all. Streaming video also works just fine.06-19-09 05:42 PMLike 0 -
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what do you mean? i have a storm and i kinda am starting to hate it. i was curious about this device too becasue honestly, the best BB i ever had was a Pearl.I picked up a 8230 on my way to work this morning at 9AM when the VZW store was just opening.
I have to say so far I'm pretty impressed with the device, especially with the memory coming from a Storm.
I have to really test it out over the weekend I guess. I consider myself a power user and I'll see how I feel about the Flip once I give it some real time. I have had meetings all day so I haven't really got a chance to play with it too much so I'll see.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-19-09 06:23 PMLike 0 -
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I meant as far as memory leak is concerned and the Os being sluggish. The 8230 booted up with about 60 mb of memory and stayed at that pretty much all day. Where as my storm would boot up with about 40 and reach about 15 by the end of they day and get sluggish. The only thing that's a concern for me so far is the battery but i haven't given it a full charge and fair chance yet.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-19-09 10:15 PMLike 0 -
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i would love to knw your thoughts on battery life. my storm cant make it through the day with the amount of usage i slam her withI meant as far as memory leak is concerned and the Os being sluggish. The 8230 booted up with about 60 mb of memory and stayed at that pretty much all day. Where as my storm would boot up with about 40 and reach about 15 by the end of they day and get sluggish. The only thing that's a concern for me so far is the battery but i haven't given it a full charge and fair chance yet.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-20-09 12:10 AMLike 0 -
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My storm didn't make it to noon so I got an extended battery. That did the trick. But I'll charge the flip for a full night tonight and I'll report back tommorrow about battery life. I'm a very heavy user so it will be a good test for this phone
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-20-09 12:19 AMLike 0 -
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I have to ask. You said that it boots up with 40 and ends up with about 15.I meant as far as memory leak is concerned and the Os being sluggish. The 8230 booted up with about 60 mb of memory and stayed at that pretty much all day. Where as my storm would boot up with about 40 and reach about 15 by the end of they day and get sluggish. The only thing that's a concern for me so far is the battery but i haven't given it a full charge and fair chance yet.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
You are talking about a Storm...right?
Did you mean it boots up with 40...megabytes?
I thought the Storm came with (1) one gigabyte of internal memory (that's about 1024 megabytes).
If it boots up with 40mb, where's the other 960mb?
Seems like 40mb is kind of low for a device that comes with 1gb.
My Cellular South 8230 Flip boots up with about 50mb and by the end of the day winds up with about 48mb. (not really a memory leak IMHO)
I was just wondering if you meant something in the hundreds of megabytes...
msblueline06-20-09 07:25 AMLike 0 -
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They do have an extended battery for the flip...My storm didn't make it to noon so I got an extended battery. That did the trick. But I'll charge the flip for a full night tonight and I'll report back tommorrow about battery life. I'm a very heavy user so it will be a good test for this phone
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
ElectraSpan Extended Battery for BlackBerry 8220 - bw-103-3410-0 - Buy.com
I am thinking about getting one, but, I think it will surely make it a lot more bulky.
msblueline06-20-09 07:34 AMLike 0 -
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I have to ask. You said that it boots up with 40 and ends up with about 15.
You are talking about a Storm...right?
Did you mean it boots up with 40...megabytes?
I thought the Storm came with (1) one gigabyte of internal memory (that's about 1024 megabytes).
If it boots up with 40mb, where's the other 960mb?
Seems like 40mb is kind of low for a device that comes with 1gb.
My Cellular South 8230 Flip boots up with about 50mb and by the end of the day winds up with about 48mb. (not really a memory leak IMHO)
I was just wondering if you meant something in the hundreds of megabytes...
msblueline
Yeah I was talking about the Storm. Its the free app memory in megabytes. I would very rarely boot up with anything higher than about 40 Meg of memory. As far as where all the other memory goes I have no idea. But all I know is that I had to have quick pull scheduled to reset my phone every morning so that it wouldn't be that sluggish.
I think the storm flash memory is only 128 like the flip.
By the way thank you for that link I'm going to have to look into that. I will see how my battery holds up today after a full charge
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-20-09 10:10 AMLike 0 -
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Part of this may be just me coming off an HTC 6800 (which I could kill in a day, easily, even with my moderate usage), but I'm impressed with the battery life. I killed the battery the first day, but that was the whole brand new toy thing. Now (I've had it a week), I'm still using it much more than my HTC (the biggest use it got was email and Pocket Uno), and I still have 3 of 5 bars of battery at the end of the night. I use it quite often for test calls at work.
One other thing that I love is that I *don't* have to power it off every day. In fact, I've power cycled once in the week I've had it, with no sluggishness at all. And that power cycle was mostly just reflex from having the 6800.06-20-09 10:18 AMLike 0 -
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I just checked the gps with google maps and it gave me my location within 1100 meters. I guess that's more or less crippled. I'm not sure about other apps but that's more or less what I had with my 8330. I think my Storm was pretty much spot on if I remember right.
It's not so much the device though as it is with the software. At least that it is my thoughts on it.06-20-09 11:53 AMLike 0 -
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There is apparently known issues with GMaps and BB's, especially MEID Curves (8330m).
Sprint Blackberry 8330 internal GPS is not working with Google maps 3.0.2 - Google Mobile Help06-20-09 03:19 PMLike 0 -
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I just checked the gps with google maps and it gave me my location within 1100 meters. I guess that's more or less crippled. I'm not sure about other apps but that's more or less what I had with my 8330. I think my Storm was pretty much spot on if I remember right.
It's not so much the device though as it is with the software. At least that it is my thoughts on it.It's not the software, it's VZW. The only phones that have GPS enabled for anything other than VZ Navigator or BB Maps is the world phones (i.e. 8830 & Storm and soon the Tour). The world phones are unlocked because of a class action lawsuit by users not being able to use GPS oversees where VZ Nav is not available.There is apparently known issues with GMaps and BB's, especially MEID Curves (8330m).
Sprint Blackberry 8330 internal GPS is not working with Google maps 3.0.2 - Google Mobile Help
As far as the previous question regarding memory, the Storm and 8230 have the same OS memory available of 128MB but the Storm uses more for the OS so it only has about 40 MB available and the memory leak eats that up quick. The rest of the 1 GB on the Storm is used for internal storage of music/videos etc.
I just switched from the Storm today to the 8230 and so far I could not be happier. Going back to SureType is like riding a bike, you don't forget and I find I type 3x's faster on the flip than the Storm.06-20-09 07:33 PMLike 0 -
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The memory on a Storm is split up, 128MB of it is application memory; the remaining ~870MB is useful for the same types of things the SD card is useful for..... Pictures, videos, music; and is called Device memory. Out of that 128MB of Application memory, installed apps plus the OS and associated built-in apps account for the missing memory.I have to ask. You said that it boots up with 40 and ends up with about 15.
You are talking about a Storm...right?
Did you mean it boots up with 40...megabytes?
I thought the Storm came with (1) one gigabyte of internal memory (that's about 1024 megabytes).
If it boots up with 40mb, where's the other 960mb?
Seems like 40mb is kind of low for a device that comes with 1gb.
My Cellular South 8230 Flip boots up with about 50mb and by the end of the day winds up with about 48mb. (not really a memory leak IMHO)
I was just wondering if you meant something in the hundreds of megabytes...
msblueline06-20-09 10:49 PMLike 0 -
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Hmm, this is an interesting point that I hadn't considered before, my 8130 obviously only works with BB maps (I REFUSE to buy VW nav), but in my tour vs flip decision I hadn't considered this, might need the tour after all, just for the GPS, I'm directionally impairedIt's not the software, it's VZW. The only phones that have GPS enabled for anything other than VZ Navigator or BB Maps is the world phones (i.e. 8830 & Storm and soon the Tour). The world phones are unlocked because of a class action lawsuit by users not being able to use GPS oversees where VZ Nav is not available.
As far as the previous question regarding memory, the Storm and 8230 have the same OS memory available of 128MB but the Storm uses more for the OS so it only has about 40 MB available and the memory leak eats that up quick. The rest of the 1 GB on the Storm is used for internal storage of music/videos etc.
I just switched from the Storm today to the 8230 and so far I could not be happier. Going back to SureType is like riding a bike, you don't forget and I find I type 3x's faster on the flip than the Storm.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com06-20-09 10:53 PMLike 0 -
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Awesome news, these work -- > Innocell 1250 Extended Life Battery, had one in my old pearl, the flip and the original 8130 use the same battery, so I dug out my old seido, charged all night and it fits and works great.
I've been tinkering and resetting all morning and still at 90%
06-21-09 12:19 PMLike 0 -
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I got my 8230 this past friday. The battery life goes about 2 days before charge. Might be more if i didnt use the bluetooth though.06-21-09 10:13 PMLike 0
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My thoughts on the BlackBerry 8230 (Verizon)
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