Thinking about jumping on board

Hey all,
This is my first post on crack berry forums and hope it isn't my last :)

So guys I'm thinking of getting myself the new bold 9900 when it hits the Australian stores.

I've always wanted a blackberry, but when it came down to it there were just simply better options in regards to mobile contracts etc at the time of when I've gotten a new phone.

Since the new iPhone is coming out soon, I will most likely be choosing the bb or the iPhone. I currently have a previous generation of the iPhone but I'm kinda over the whole craze and am wanting to try something new. The purpose of this thread being is that I'd like you, the power users of black berry devices to put forward points to why I should get one.

One feature that I do like about iOS is that it seamlessly works with my email,calendar, contacts and music. How does the bb compare with that? Another question being how is the music player on the bb?

I've also never quite grasped the exclusive features that blackberry off (eg. BBM). If someone could please touch base in regards to what bb can offer.

Pretty much I just would like to get a better understanding of the bb platform and make a decision that I am happy with and not take a step back.

If it's any extra value I have also got a MacBook pro and an iPad. But to make things clear, I do not have any sort of bias towards any sort of brand, I'm open to all options (except android, simply because it just seams to me as a clutered iOS). The purpose of my phone is to make calls, send SMS, check emails and calendar... The rest I can do on my tablet and pc.

I hope you guys don't mind spending the time in giving me this crash course in owning a black berry, the lust is there haha :)

Cheers all

I've played with my sister's iPhone and I wasn't impressed. I don't like having to use iTunes to do EVERYTHING with the phone. I have an iPod and I hate iTunes. If I never had to go another day without using iTunes, it'd be too soon.

My BB's music player works well. I can hook it to my computer speakers and blast music all through my house when I'm cleaning or out in the barn with the horses.

I don't use calendar, so no help there.

Emails are push emails which is something the older iPhones don't have. When an email hits my inbox on the computer, it hits my phone seconds later. That's one thing I love about BB is not having to wait half an hour for the phone to update and check for emails.

If you're into apps and the flashy stuff an iPhone can do, you'll be disappointed. The apps for Android and iPhone are leaps and bounds beyond the BB app selection.

BBM can be a useful tool, but most of the time I prefer just to text but that's me.

Welcome to CB an hopefully to BB soon. As coldsunshine said if ur into the games and app the BB wont compare to the iphone but on the email an messaging front its leagues better. Not sure if iphone does this but Calendar syncs with Facebook if you want it to (the only way i remember anybody's birthday anymore). BBM is gr8 if your like me and most of the ppl you interact with are also have a BB, since getting my bb i cant remember send a SMS.

Email is hands down the best on BB. Music play on older devices OS5 etc is fair... but i heard the new OS7 is better. My biggest plus for blackberry is themes. I hate having my phone look like every other phone (like the iphone etc)... and themes can complete change the look and functionality of the phone. Granted, it will be a little while before we can make themes for OS7 (have to wait for RIM to release a new theme builder) but , when it does... you will have a wealth of options. Especially with the power of the new devices.. themes with hidden docks and more should FLY.

Welcome to CB!

Originally Posted by StaticFX

My biggest plus for blackberry is themes. I hate having my phone look like every other phone (like the iphone etc)... and themes can complete change the look and functionality of the phone.

I can't believe I forgot themes.

I really want the 9900 :o, i believe the new bolds and curves coming out will give you a immense if not hopeful reason to hop aboard.

iPhones are basic and overrated to me.

The first day I got my blackberry I knew this was it, I hate when people say "RIM is going down, go get a android or iphone". YUCK

sorry for ranting :D

OK - media in BB is improving rapidly. However, it still lags behind my iPod.

Email integration works perfectly for me. I'm on Hotmail and I get all the notifications sent to me as needed.

Where I prefer BB is in its reliability and security. I've tried other platforms and BB is the best one for me and my uses.

BB used to lag way behind in the browser and multimedia. Browser works beautifully on OS 7 and it really matches the experience I had on other platforms that I've tried.

So....my suggestion to you is to try out the device. Don't know what time our carrier gives you to try something. What I find to be deal breakers may not be yours. Example - having a million apps or games. I prefer BB's security, among other things.

Good luck with your search.

It really depends on what you want/need out of your phone.

All your media needs the Iphone would win hands down (music,videos,camera,browsing) but that's not to say you won't enjoy what BB has to offer.

With OS7 the web browsing is close to par with the iPhone maybe slower by 1 second (due to going through BIS first?); but with that it's much more data efficent as the data is compressed. So essentially you'd get more out of your data usage and browse twice ad much.

As for e-mails, BB is the undisputed king.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

The music player on the blackberry is awesome. That's actually the thing that I like the most about it. Navigating the music player on the blackberry is easier than navigating on the iphone because I usually type the artist that I want to listen to using the full keyboard instead of scrolling up and down. I usually listen to music in the car while I'm driving and scrolling on the iphone was a pain in the ***. Another thing I like about it is not having to deal with itunes. I could just plug it in to my laptop and drag and drop the songs I want. It takes me about 2 minutes to do. Just opening itunes took me about 2 minutes and transferring songs took me about 30 minutes. I could never understand people who have blackberries and use an ipod touch as their music player. Honestly, the only thing the iphone has over the blackberry is more apps/games. If you aren't going to miss two of those things, you should go with the blackberry. All of my friends have iphones and I find that all of the apps that they use are useless and pointless.

In my case, Gmail calendars and contacts work great using Google Sync. This synchronization can also be done natively for a while also.

Well that's the thing. I never really got into games or apps for that matter on the iPhone. Except for playing solitaire on the train every now and then. An app that I would like to see is dropbox, however not that important but good if I want to get. Cheeky study in before a test at university haha.

I used to have a phone with a physical keyboard and I just loved it. So I know I'm already going I'm with a plus in that regard.

How does bb sync up with Mac? Will I run into any troubles? That only time I can see when I'd wAnt to sync the phone is to do software updates or add some music here and there.

Also what advantages does bis provide? I've never really understood it and it always cost a lot more when wAnting it on a contract.

Last step I guess is just to go into the store and play with a demo model. But like I've said before, I just want a phone to SMS, call, manage my four email accounts easily, light browsing and calendars.

Originally Posted by Cnips

How does bb sync up with Mac? Will I run into any troubles? That only time I can see when I'd wAnt to sync the phone is to do software updates or add some music here and there.

Also what advantages does bis provide? I've never really understood it and it always cost a lot more when wAnting it on a contract.

Last step I guess is just to go into the store and play with a demo model. But like I've said before, I just want a phone to SMS, call, manage my four email accounts easily, light browsing and calendars.

BB syncs well with Mac, so don't worry about it. You can only do official OS updates though, so if you're into the leaked OS or hybrid OS thing you need to have Windows on bootcamp or VM.

One advantage I can think of off the top of my head is better battery life, since the BB does not need to poll e-mail servers for new mail.

If you have more than one calendar it is going to be a pain to manage it on the BB. You can read my comments about it here.

Originally Posted by ColdSunshine

I've played with my sister's iPhone and I wasn't impressed. I don't like having to use iTunes to do EVERYTHING with the phone. I have an iPod and I hate iTunes. If I never had to go another day without using iTunes, it'd be too soon.

My BB's music player works well. I can hook it to my computer speakers and blast music all through my house when I'm cleaning or out in the barn with the horses.

I don't use calendar, so no help there.

Emails are push emails which is something the older iPhones don't have. When an email hits my inbox on the computer, it hits my phone seconds later. That's one thing I love about BB is not having to wait half an hour for the phone to update and check for emails.

If you're into apps and the flashy stuff an iPhone can do, you'll be disappointed. The apps for Android and iPhone are leaps and bounds beyond the BB app selection.

BBM can be a useful tool, but most of the time I prefer just to text but that's me.

With ip5 itunes is not needed for updates at all from what I understand. And I have gmail set up through exchange on an ipod touch and it is just as fast as my BB. Just don't want people to be misinformed :)

I as well have my email sync'd through exchange on my iPhone And it does work well. Simply Im just over all the hype that has came with the iPhone. Although it does work very well I just feel like a change, however in saying that I don't want to punished too much by going to another platform. The new features of iOS5 such as the wireless sync do appeal to me, however when I think about it, it's not that big of a deal for my phone as I've already got An iPad which I use the iOS features to it's full extent on. I guess probably the most logical decision would be to wait till the iPhone 5 comes and then decide.

As I am completely disconnected from the bb ways. In regards to updates and new features.... Do these sort of things happen often? As well Resale of the devices? How do they fair after 2 years.

Haha it's a little pathetic that I have to ask other people to convince me to buy a new phone however there is just such a big market out there for them it's just hard to make an informed decision.

Thanks to every so far that have contributed to this thread...it's good to know that there is a helpful community backing blackberry devices. :)

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Originally Posted by Cnips

Well that's the thing. I never really got into games or apps for that matter on the iPhone. Except for playing solitaire on the train every now and then. An app that I would like to see is dropbox, however not that important but good if I want to get. Cheeky study in before a test at university haha.

I used to have a phone with a physical keyboard and I just loved it. So I know I'm already going I'm with a plus in that regard.

How does bb sync up with Mac? Will I run into any troubles? That only time I can see when I'd wAnt to sync the phone is to do software updates or add some music here and there.

Also what advantages does bis provide? I've never really understood it and it always cost a lot more when wAnting it on a contract.

Last step I guess is just to go into the store and play with a demo model. But like I've said before, "I just want a phone to SMS, call, manage my four email accounts easily, light browsing and calendars."

That describes BB to a t! The only thing that I will say about the email is while it is very good the one thing that is missing compared to the iphone is your email folders. That, imo, is the nicer part about email when comparing iphone to BB....