[Frob24]

Hi all. This is kind of long so cut me some slack.

I was hoping to get some advice here. I've had a XV6700 Windows Mobile device for several years, probably over three years at this point. I've really liked the phone overall and am very used to it but there are a few things that bother the crap out of me. What I really do like is the LARGE slideout keyboard and touch screen on the XV6700.

I have a friend who is a Blackberry blogger and he says I need to get off WinMo and get a Blackberry. He's been telling me to wait for the Tour or Storm 2. I'm really just unsure whether I want to switch or not. This is probably not the best place to get unbiased opinions but I thought I'd ask.

What I can't stand about my WinMo device:

1) Battery Life. I know I can get an extended battery but it will make the phone even bigger than it already it is and probably not last throughout the whole day. Battery runs low by mid-day.

2) Slow/locking/freezing - I downloaded an app to shut down all the running programs but it still runs slow. Like Windows on your PC it needs a "reboot" to get up to speed sometimes. I also type faster than it can handle, which kind of sucks.

3) Every ~6 months or so it becomes almost unusable and I have to do full reset back to the factory install. Like re-installing OS on your PC. I don't really lose much since everything is on the Exchange server at work but still a pain in the ****.

4) Mobile IE is not that good.

Weird that I can't stand this stuff but haven't really minded having the phone. I really think the ease of typing and touch screen have outweighed the other crap. Anyway, I'm thinking about getting a Tour because I think most of the stuff above is a non-issue and there is much more I can do with the device with apps and so on but I'm worried that coming from WinMo, a large keyboard and touch screen that I will be annoyed wiht the Bberry.

-Any thoughts?
-Will the 4 items above be non-issues?
-Why is a Tour much better than a WinMo device?
-Have any of you switched from WinMo device to Blberry? How was it?
-Has anyone gone from a touch screen phone to a Bberry? How was it?
-Are there more apps for Bberry than WinMo devices? I don't really use many now but reading about some of the apps available I can see myself using some.
-Will my fat thumbs have a hard time with the small Bberry keys?

I'm sure it's just something that would take getting used to. I have only had three phones since I got my first one in 1999-2000 so as you can see I don't buy many phones and want to make sure I make the right move here.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

[noaim]

Hi all. This is kind of long so cut me some slack.

I was hoping to get some advice here. I've had a XV6700 Windows Mobile device for several years, probably over three years at this point. I've really liked the phone overall and am very used to it but there are a few things that bother the crap out of me. What I really do like is the LARGE slideout keyboard and touch screen on the XV6700.

I have a friend who is a Blackberry blogger and he says I need to get off WinMo and get a Blackberry. He's been telling me to wait for the Tour or Storm 2. I'm really just unsure whether I want to switch or not. This is probably not the best place to get unbiased opinions but I thought I'd ask.

What I can't stand about my WinMo device:

1) Battery Life. I know I can get an extended battery but it will make the phone even bigger than it already it is and probably not last throughout the whole day. Battery runs low by mid-day.

2) Slow/locking/freezing - I downloaded an app to shut down all the running programs but it still runs slow. Like Windows on your PC it needs a "reboot" to get up to speed sometimes. I also type faster than it can handle, which kind of sucks.

3) Every ~6 months or so it becomes almost unusable and I have to do full reset back to the factory install. Like re-installing OS on your PC. I don't really lose much since everything is on the Exchange server at work but still a pain in the ****.

4) Mobile IE is not that good.

Weird that I can't stand this stuff but haven't really minded having the phone. I really think the ease of typing and touch screen have outweighed the other crap. Anyway, I'm thinking about getting a Tour because I think most of the stuff above is a non-issue and there is much more I can do with the device with apps and so on but I'm worried that coming from WinMo, a large keyboard and touch screen that I will be annoyed wiht the Bberry.

-Any thoughts?
-Will the 4 items above be non-issues?
-Why is a Tour much better than a WinMo device?
-Have any of you switched from WinMo device to Blberry? How was it?
-Has anyone gone from a touch screen phone to a Bberry? How was it?
-Are there more apps for Bberry than WinMo devices? I don't really use many now but reading about some of the apps available I can see myself using some.
-Will my fat thumbs have a hard time with the small Bberry keys?

I'm sure it's just something that would take getting used to. I have only had three phones since I got my first one in 1999-2000 so as you can see I don't buy many phones and want to make sure I make the right move here.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

I will try and answer as non biased as possible (I am a crackberry fan)

1) Battery Life. I know I can get an extended battery but it will make the phone even bigger than it already it is and probably not last throughout the whole day. Battery runs low by mid-day.

I can make it fine through the entire day on my storm and the tour will be similar this is with pretty heavy use IE tons of emails keeping up with social networks and browsing the occasional website.

2) Slow/locking/freezing - I downloaded an app to shut down all the running programs but it still runs slow. Like Windows on your PC it needs a "reboot" to get up to speed sometimes. I also type faster than it can handle, which kind of sucks.

there is no doubt that any blackberry person knows that we need to reboot the phone every so often (mostly do to memory leaks of other applications) but blackberrys are very very good at multi tasking. I have went over a month without rebooting my phone but sometimes it just needs to be done sometimes you need to reboot at the end of the day. I typically only reboot once a day or every few days (the time I went over a month no applications were giving me memory leaks)

The tour is a pretty speedy device also you can always see whats running on the phone via the app switcher and can close out of the applications right from within the os.

3) Every ~6 months or so it becomes almost unusable and I have to do full reset back to the factory install. Like re-installing OS on your PC. I don't really lose much since everything is on the Exchange server at work but still a pain in the ****.


The entire time I have owned a blackberry I have never had to completely delete the device.. Some people do it all the time for reasons they claim fix it. this is really a non issue.. people have been known to brick there blackberry and have to reload it by messing with things they shouldn't be messing with IE changing system files and such but really this shouldn't be a problem if your just using the device as intended.

4) Mobile IE is not that good.

the blackberry browser is decent its nothing ground shattering it works but there is also alternate browsers available that work well too opera mini, bolt and skyfire on the way. Bolt is closer to a browser similiar to the iPhone or pre.. skyfire you may have already seen on windows mobile.


----------------------------

thing thats you may not know about is that a blackberry is truly the ultimate messaging device.

IE email, instant messengers, facebook, myspace, all that type of thing noone does it better.. at first it may seem weird how it collaborates but I assure you that once you get used to it you will want nothing else in that aspect.


also Blackberrys tend to get the best reviews when talking about a keyboard. I personally believe that noone does a keyboard like RIM


they also have very intuative shortcuts for getting your tasks done and can speed up your day drastically.


Keep in mind I may be somewhat biased but I for one believe that microsoft windows xp does not make a good user interface for a mobile phone..

they have potential to make a good product but microsoft has to realize that a windows interface is not ideal for a mobile phone.


from a bloggers perspective you will enjoy just how easy it can be to do those things on a blackberry.


some others will probably post there insites on it as well but this is how I feel.

[cwa777]

You go noaim!

[JustinD2473#IM]

-Will the 4 items above be non-issues?

the issues you mention with your WinMo device sound like alot of the problems people have with the blackberry storm1. which is why so many people are axiously waiting for the tour. Blackberry's full qwerty keyboard phones run extremely fast and stable. and the tour is the blackberry with the most OS/application memory ever, so it will no doubt run well.

-Why is a Tour much better than a WinMo device?

I had a Verizon WinMo device...the motoQ and i hated it. it's been along time, so i don't remember details. but the OS was very buggy and slow and the internet browser was garbage. i returned the phone and went back to my enV

-Have any of you switched from WinMo device to Blberry? How was it?

yes, see above answer i suppose.

-Has anyone gone from a touch screen phone to a Bberry? How was it?

I have gone, Blackberry Curve, Blackberry Storm (touchscreen and hated it), now back to my Curve until the tour comes out.

-Are there more apps for Bberry than WinMo devices? I don't really use many now but reading about some of the apps available I can see myself using some.

There are TONS of apps for Blackberry devices. Games, Utilities, Business Apps....and more...and you can find alot of useful ones for free even.


-Will my fat thumbs have a hard time with the small Bberry keys?

I also have some pretty good size fingers...and i can type pretty fast on the blackberry curve which has much smaller buttons than the tour. so i think you will be fine. i personally can't wait to get the tour and the bigger keyboard and bigger screen are two of the main reasons.

[Roo4x4]

I went from a HTC touch to the Blackberry. Gotta say I love the BB. I get 2 days easy out of the BB with a lot of surfing. I tend to charge on second day just in case I'm not near a charger.

I loved the touch screen but gotta admit I love the QWERTY keyboard also.

I'm just finding the apps out there for the BB and am finding quite a few I like.

The Blackberry was a great way to go and I'm just waiting for my next one to arrive (Tour 9630). Love the BB.

Hope this helped some

[princessfortheday]

I just wanted to throw in that I went from a Motorola Q to a BB and would never go back. I liked my Q (had it for almost 2 years), but that's because I had no idea what I was missing. I had the Curve, and now the Storm, and will be sticking with Blackberry from here on out.

Best of luck!

[mozy]

I currently have VX6850 VZW Touch Pro, which runs on WinMo with a touch screen I can hardly wait to get out of it and onto the Tour. The BB OS is supposed to way more stable than Win Mo.

[Frob24]

This is awesome information! Thank you all so much. I'm 90% sure I'm getting the Tour. I mostly use the phone right now for email, texting and some browsing but I know me and when I get something new and interesting I try out all different aspects of it. I think this will be a good move and all these reponses are helping.

[Frob24]

2) Slow/locking/freezing - I downloaded an app to shut down all the running programs but it still runs slow. Like Windows on your PC it needs a "reboot" to get up to speed sometimes. I also type faster than it can handle, which kind of sucks.

there is no doubt that any blackberry person knows that we need to reboot the phone every so often (mostly do to memory leaks of other applications) but blackberrys are very very good at multi tasking. I have went over a month without rebooting my phone but sometimes it just needs to be done sometimes you need to reboot at the end of the day. I typically only reboot once a day or every few days (the time I went over a month no applications were giving me memory leaks)

The tour is a pretty speedy device also you can always see whats running on the phone via the app switcher and can close out of the applications right from within the os.

Several of my friends with the Curve have an app that does what is equal to a battery pull every night. Not sure what battery pull does but....

[boomhower1820]

Hi all. This is kind of long so cut me some slack.

I was hoping to get some advice here. I've had a XV6700 Windows Mobile device for several years, probably over three years at this point. I've really liked the phone overall and am very used to it but there are a few things that bother the crap out of me. What I really do like is the LARGE slideout keyboard and touch screen on the XV6700.

I have a friend who is a Blackberry blogger and he says I need to get off WinMo and get a Blackberry. He's been telling me to wait for the Tour or Storm 2. I'm really just unsure whether I want to switch or not. This is probably not the best place to get unbiased opinions but I thought I'd ask.

What I can't stand about my WinMo device:

1) Battery Life. I know I can get an extended battery but it will make the phone even bigger than it already it is and probably not last throughout the whole day. Battery runs low by mid-day.

2) Slow/locking/freezing - I downloaded an app to shut down all the running programs but it still runs slow. Like Windows on your PC it needs a "reboot" to get up to speed sometimes. I also type faster than it can handle, which kind of sucks.
This is mainly do to the very little memory your phone has. The newer versions(i.e. Touch Pro) do not suffer from this issue. The Curves had similar ailments but the Tour has plenty of on-board memory and should not have any issues.
3) Every ~6 months or so it becomes almost unusable and I have to do full reset back to the factory install. Like re-installing OS on your PC. I don't really lose much since everything is on the Exchange server at work but still a pain in the ****.
An aftermarket rom would serve you wonders. The BB OS certainly has its share of similar issues. The fact there is a very popular app that simulates a shut down should tell you a lot.
4) Mobile IE is not that good.
For your current phone download Opera Mobile and you will love it, by far the best mobile browser short of Safari. When you get your BB download Opera Mini and Skyfire. Opera mini for normal mobile browsing and Skyfire for when you need a full desktop experience or flash.
Weird that I can't stand this stuff but haven't really minded having the phone. I really think the ease of typing and touch screen have outweighed the other crap. Anyway, I'm thinking about getting a Tour because I think most of the stuff above is a non-issue and there is much more I can do with the device with apps and so on but I'm worried that coming from WinMo, a large keyboard and touch screen that I will be annoyed wiht the Bberry.

-Any thoughts?
-Will the 4 items above be non-issues?
-Why is a Tour much better than a WinMo device?
-Have any of you switched from WinMo device to Blberry? How was it?
-Has anyone gone from a touch screen phone to a Bberry? How was it?
-Are there more apps for Bberry than WinMo devices? I don't really use many now but reading about some of the apps available I can see myself using some.
-Will my fat thumbs have a hard time with the small Bberry keys?

I'm sure it's just something that would take getting used to. I have only had three phones since I got my first one in 1999-2000 so as you can see I don't buy many phones and want to make sure I make the right move here.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

I am making a very similar move to you. I have been a long time WM user finally making the move to Blackberry. I just have lost all faith in MS making a decent mobile OS. 6.1 is decent, I hate 6.5. I have flashed my current phone with north of 50 ROM's trying to find something decent. It is just ridiculous at this point.

So I am also very interested in the responses to this thread.

[mozy]

2) Slow/locking/freezing - I downloaded an app to shut down all the running programs but it still runs slow. Like Windows on your PC it needs a "reboot" to get up to speed sometimes. I also type faster than it can handle, which kind of sucks. This is mainly do to the very little memory your phone has. The newer versions(i.e. Touch Pro) do not suffer from this issue. The Curves had similar ailments but the Tour has plenty of on-board memory and should not have any issues.

I have the touch pro and it does go slow/lock up/ freeze often.

[noaim]

Several of my friends with the Curve have an app that does what is equal to a battery pull every night. Not sure what battery pull does but....

it simply reboots the phone IE like rebooting a computer..

on keyboarded devices you can also push a button combo to reboot...

[Bittersweet BB]

I can't really be non-biased considering I am a loyal BB user and I could never use any windows device, including their computers (because I'm a major Mac user).

However, I would strongly suggest that you get into a VZW store when it's released and play around with the test model just to see if you can even deal with it right off the bat (for basic functions like the keyboard, trackball and overall software).

After that if you think it's something you're interested in, don't forget that you can get the phone and try it for 30 days and return it if it's just not for you. I think you have nothing to lose and I must say I've never met a person yet who has tried a BB and not loved it (except for some storm users).

[diableri]

Like you, I used the 6700. The 6600 before it and currently the 6800. I have to admit, the 6800 is the best hand held device I've ever owned and has replaced my laptops ~75% of the time that I used them (an EEE makes up the other 25% now). However, like the 6700 before it, after about a year's worth of hard use it started to have hardware issues. After going through a few warranty replacements from VZW and a recent IT policy change at work; I'm waiting for the Tour (Perot systems IT guys have advised me against the Storm from their experiences and I don't want to give up a physical keyboard but I will miss the bigger screens).

I went through everything you are talking about on my 6600/6700 and to a far smaller extent on the 6800. The 6800 has been a truly great device for me, I just wore the thing out.

I'm pretty excited to start using a BB as they are pretty much the standard of the industry that I work in. Sorry to hop on your thread when all I really have to say is: I'm right there with ya!

[Frob24]

I can't really be non-biased considering I am a loyal BB user and I could never use any windows device, including their computers (because I'm a major Mac user).

However, I would strongly suggest that you get into a VZW store when it's released and play around with the test model just to see if you can even deal with it right off the bat (for basic functions like the keyboard, trackball and overall software).

After that if you think it's something you're interested in, don't forget that you can get the phone and try it for 30 days and return it if it's just not for you. I think you have nothing to lose and I must say I've never met a person yet who has tried a BB and not loved it (except for some storm users).

I've used my brother's Curve a bunch of times and don't mind it. It is just different than I'm used to. I forgot about the 30 days so I will definitely try it out. Thanks for the reply.

Like you, I used the 6700. The 6600 before it and currently the 6800. I have to admit, the 6800 is the best hand held device I've ever owned and has replaced my laptops ~75% of the time that I used them (an EEE makes up the other 25% now). However, like the 6700 before it, after about a year's worth of hard use it started to have hardware issues. After going through a few warranty replacements from VZW and a recent IT policy change at work; I'm waiting for the Tour (Perot systems IT guys have advised me against the Storm from their experiences and I don't want to give up a physical keyboard but I will miss the bigger screens).

I went through everything you are talking about on my 6600/6700 and to a far smaller extent on the 6800. The 6800 has been a truly great device for me, I just wore the thing out.

I'm pretty excited to start using a BB as they are pretty much the standard of the industry that I work in. Sorry to hop on your thread when all I really have to say is: I'm right there with ya!

No worries. I really appreciate people sharing their stories. This is what the thread was all about. I wanted to hear about different experiences that were along the same lines as mine.

Thanks to everyone else who replied as well. I've been emailing with the person who handles purchasing devices for my company and he said I should be able to get a Tour for under $100 with my upgrade discount and the corporate discount. He gave me the form to fill out and I'm ready to go once the pre-order is announced. As I stated above I've only had 3 phones in 10 years so this is exciting! Can't wait to get it!

[mkurz12]

Hey just wanted to chime in wth my 2 cents....
I used the 6800 for a while, a very short while. At the time, I didn't want to go with a BB because in my head it was synonomus with work.
After talking with a few converts (winmo to BB users) I decided to give it a try. I haven't looked back and don't plan to.
It is a big difference when camparing physical form. The large keyboard and screen where nice, if that s something you find you can't live with out, you may want to check the Storm2 when it comes out.
If you can make the change to the standard BB form factor you will simply be very pleased with how the BlackBerry runs/works comared to a winmo device.
If all you want to do is use it as a phone, for all types of messaging, surfing the web and running some apps you will be much better off with a BlackBerry.
As far as missing the Touch Screen...I have a storm (my back up), had the 6800 and the LG Voyager (both fr very short times). I don't miss the touch screen one bit when I'm using my Curve. The only thing I do miss occasionally is a larger screen but everything else I get with a BlackBerry specifically the reliability, makes up for it times 10.

[BIGdean3x8x]

i say tour all the way FTW. the only thing is with any 3g device your battery runs down. however bb puts in such good betteries that the life seems like a normal phone even with 3g constantly running.

[Discoverdubs]

Frob24 being that I am currently a sales rep w/ big red I'll tell you right now I don't even recommend a windows mobile device. I've worked for the company now for just about 2 years, and from what I have seen thus far is that windows mobile devices come in way more than bb devices for IT issues. Actually its very rare that a bb device comes in for issues. Unless its a person who bought the storm and doesn't have the patience to learn how to use it

As me being bais about windows vs. bb yeah i'm a little toward actually I change that I'm alot toward bb lol believe me make the switch it'll be the best decision you've made. I suggest the tour being that you have used a physical keyboard for about 3 yrs and it would be a rough switch to the storm. I currently have the storm and will be moving to the tour on the release date. Hope that helps, if you have any questions go to a vzw store and ask for a rep that actually has a blackberry device. Most sales reps not all but most that do not have a pda device bs their way through a sale and basic functions of the phone

[pkcable]

Not much I can add here, sounds like you already have received some great advice. However I did want to take the time to welcome you to Crackberry, and to point out the Blackberry Help link on our site's menu-bar. You'll find a CB New User Guide as well as access to our excellent BlackBerry 101 series.

[Frob24]

Not much I can add here, sounds like you already have received some great advice. However I did want to take the time to welcome you to Crackberry, and to point out the Blackberry Help link on our site's menu-bar. You'll find a CB New User Guide as well as access to our excellent BlackBerry 101 series.

All such really great responses. Thanks so much. I will use those links when I get the device.

It's great to hear the others who had WinMo at some point and successfully switched to Blackberry.