[DMitch]

Had to share...After 10yrs w/carrier (paid fee to terminate) joined Verizon, goy Iphone4 for my wife & I $99 ea. Rep @ Verizon assured me BB is dead and Iphone4 is best for my business needs.

Took it home, test drove it for 4days. I REALLY REALLY tried liking this phone and for $99 I tried to convince myself to keep. I am not here trying to bash Iphone4, it's actually a pretty decent phone and I enjoyed surfing the net and reading articles.

However, I just could not fuction efficiently on this phone. Maybe i could of kept it longer but even my wife noticed the difference between when I first got my BB 7yrs ago...i couldn't stay off it! Iphone4...I just didn't want to get on it cause I got so frustrated using it. It's NOT the phones fault because few things it sure did better than my Bold 9700...it's more me i guess.

The keyboard on Iphone drove me nuts, I couldn't group text w/o buying an app, setting apptments & task just took too long (for me). I'm sure eventually I could have become efficient but i didn't want the down time learning.

went back to Verizon store told the initial rep I wanted to return Iphone4 to buy BB9930 at $230. They were actually surprised (shocked)! I had no less than 3 rep tell me they have never had a customer do this. One rep who's been working ther over 5yrs sd he NEVER had this happen. BB for Iphone many times but not the other way! I began to question my judgement...$99 Iphone vs turn in pay $35 restocking fee + $229 for BB. Thanks to my wife (I Love her) she reminded me how unhappy I was w/Iphone.

So, I walked out w/a brand new BB9930!! Man, I never felt so good about spending the extra cash ($ is tight)...I felt soooooo happy, releived...liberated!!

Anyways, thanks for allowing me to share. As you can see I do not post here or anywhere else although I visit here to read...I just felt a deep desire to share w/this great community of BB users.

Thanks,DMitch

Sorry, I noticed placed this post on Playbook Thread...I'm rookie at posting. If someone can move this to more appriopriate thread or tell me how to move it.
Thanks!

[jafobabe]

Welcome back!!! And thanks for sharing your wonderful story...

[alnamvet68]

Good for you. Now, I must say I am very happy with my iPhone 4S from Sprint, and cannot find fault with it yet, BUT, I still have the Curve 8330 on the account because even though it's an older model, it is a perfect compliment to my Playbook when I Bridge. Also, the 8330 build quality is second to none, and mine is as pristine as the day I got it back when ever. The Playbook does everything and more then what I expected, and it has all the apps I'll ever need or use, and I could care less about game apps. The 8330 is just one fine piece of kit, and I'll only upgrade when we get either the BBX phone or the Curve Touch. As for the iPhone, it has a few apps that are not available for the PB, has the same aesthetics of my Playbook, solid and heavy build quality (though the glass front and rear needs extra care) and I couldn't be happier.

[ralfyguy]

Every time I hear somebody say BB is dead, get an i-whatever it pi$$es me off. This is nothing but trash talk and I just have no friggin idea what is up with that hype crap.
That rep is an for even saying something like that to a customer. Very unprofessional. And there is thousands like that dude. It is not because I have BB equipment, it is the trash talk. Mouth murdering something is pretty much the lowest drawer. I don't hate Apple, in fact they have my admiration for getting the most money out of their products, but this I cannot stand.

[ubermanx]

I did the EXACT same thing! I tried an iPhone for a full week. Tried my absolute level best.

All the fun apps were there and worked very well. App for my favorite hockey team as an example. But the actual productivity apps were not my cup of tea. Sending emails and texts and such were a pain. The virtual keyboard was not my friend with auto correct being a major pain in the side. I actually had clients ask me if I hurt my hand or broke my fingers as there were soooo many errors in my emails. I also hated the lack of integration between email, texts, contacts and calendars.

Anyways, switched back to my 9810 and I am so much happier. Mind you that hockey app doesn't work at all even though I got it in AppWorld.

And just another bit of praise for my BB ... I was away for New Year's Eve. I sent a BBM to my one daughter wishing her well and she received it no problem. My other daughter has an iPhone so I sent her an SMS and she didn't get it as the network was obviously busy. "retries exceeded". Aside from an outage or two BBM has always been more reliable for communications that SMS.

[bitek]

problem with iphone is that all look the same. at least you have this bb or that bb. they all look different

[rjgjr]

i have had a few blackberrys and enjoyed them.Being an ipod touch user i really wanted the iphone 4 which i got last summer and i enjoy the bigger screen and alot of the apps... not too many games surprisingly.my wife said i waz on it all the time.....until i got the playbook...now my iphone is jealous! i still love the phone even tho i miss the physical keypad and cant type nearly as fast. i really thought i needed an ipad for the longest time but it was really too much money and was looking at the lenovo a1 tablet.then i saw the playbooks on sale and knew it was a quality item...im very glad i jumped on it and im liking it more each day...who knows,it might bring me back to bberry phones.

[ErnM]

My wife also went from BB to iPhone4S. She's some what happy with it. She says that the 1 yr old 9700 I had given her couldn't handle her "needs". Which she used for tweeting and writting/reading her fan fiction stuff. And mostly surfing the net. So we'll see in the coming months......

[derekjdech]

is verizon the of the cell phone carriers

[derekjdech]

is verizon the of the cell phone carriers

*idi0t
crackberry removed the other way of spelling it

[FF22]

Well, they were the ones who late last week announced that they were going to start charging people a montly fee for paying their accounts ONLINE. Backlash was huge and instantaneous and they rescinded that plan. They are one of the largest (largest?) cell services in the US with very good coverage and generally good customer satisfaction. But they are big and a bit arrogant.

[sjefferson21]

i did the same thing. had a 9780 on tmo, paid term fee and went to vz for iphone 4... had it for roughly 2months and came running back to bb. picked up the 9900 eventually and couldnt be happier.

[PondHockey]

Good for you. Now, I must say I am very happy with my iPhone 4S from Sprint, and cannot find fault with it yet, BUT, I still have the Curve 8330 on the account because even though it's an older model, it is a perfect compliment to my Playbook when I Bridge. Also, the 8330 build quality is second to none, and mine is as pristine as the day I got it back when ever. The Playbook does everything and more then what I expected, and it has all the apps I'll ever need or use, and I could care less about game apps. The 8330 is just one fine piece of kit, and I'll only upgrade when we get either the BBX phone or the Curve Touch. As for the iPhone, it has a few apps that are not available for the PB, has the same aesthetics of my Playbook, solid and heavy build quality (though the glass front and rear needs extra care) and I couldn't be happier.

If you like the curve you would love the Bold 9930 on Sprint! As far as Playbook I agree it is an awesome device Bridged. Spent 4 hours playing with an Ipad yesterday and I just don't get it. That device has nothing on our Playbooks! It's heavy and the reason why it has soo many aps is because the browser is flat out terrible! I was extremely surprised at how unpolished the device is after many people claim its the end all to end all. I also realized how important having a home screen is that can be customized. Why look at a bunch of app icons when you can have a specific screen for current info displayed like weather? Iphone and Ipad may be for some people but after a fair test run they are without question not for me.

[jamesbondOO7]

For me the iPhone is like the Porsche Cayenne: good products but somehow I just don't like them and I would not want to be seen dead with/in one. One of my close friends has both.......I always ask him to drive carefully....

[berry4life99]

This is both why there are so many devices out there AND why BlackBerry is far from dead.

Not everyone needs the same thing. Not everyone LIKES the same thing. Certainly, not everyone values the same thing.

I have been heard to say, "if RIM goes out of business, I'll get an iPhone" because I feel comfortable with a Berry in my pocket. The iPhone is a slick device, but its focus isn't where my focus is. I love communication. I have a BlackBerry because communication is easy for me on it. I have always had difficulty handling the iPhone. It doesn't seem to understand me, as I'm not as trendy as the device.

I'm also not an app addict, so Android is pretty much out of the question for me. Many of my friends have Android phones, and all I ever hear about is how many apps are on Android market and how many games they have. Isn't there more to a smartphone than apps and games?

I have no hatred for either platform, as both have excellent specs and capabilities. But I will be long dead before I say I prefer either of them to a BlackBerry. BB 5, 6, and 7 appeal to me. They let me make the device uniquely mine, and have an understanding for what I need.

IOS and Android often feel like they're telling you what you need and like in my opinion.

But there's multiple platforms for this reason.

[kilted thrower]

Every time I hear somebody say BB is dead, get an i-whatever it pi$$es me off. This is nothing but trash talk and I just have no friggin idea what is up with that hype crap.
That rep is an for even saying something like that to a customer. Very unprofessional. And there is thousands like that dude. It is not because I have BB equipment, it is the trash talk. Mouth murdering something is pretty much the lowest drawer. I don't hate Apple, in fact they have my admiration for getting the most money out of their products, but this I cannot stand.

lol...
I feel the same way when someone tells me Adidas is better than Nike. It makes me so flippin mad. I mean, c'mon...whose brand is the U.S. National team wearing out on the field? Oh, that's right! Nike. And my high school soccer boys are always pushing for Adidas and they bad mouth the Nike brand and say it's dying brand for soccer! It's like they see all the hype from these expensive club teams all wearing those stupid 3 stripes. Ridiculous hype.

JK. I think some of y'all get wound up just a tad bit too much.

But for what it's worth, I do avoid ordering Adidas.

[llllBULLSEYE]

Some good stories here.
I came from an iPhone to BB and never looked back.
Had an iPhone for almost 3 years 2G,3G,3Gs.
Went to the Galaxy S for 3 months and then finally tried a BB
And I was hooked from the beginning. This is a Phone
I truely believe Rim still has something good here.
iPhone has tons of apps and I enjoyed them , but take away
Those apps and leave 50k and now take those remaining 450k apps
And put them on the BB. How many people wanna bet
RIMpire will strike back in mere months to take #2 spot.
Its all about apps in America. A shame cause Blackberry has
The best communication device.

[tack]

I went from BB to Android to iPhone. I can use all 3, and I adapted just fine. I happen to prefer the software keyboard, even on a BB. If I was still a BB user, I would have a 9860. I will say the 9930 is a sweet device, especially if you like the hard keyboard (I don't).

I will say that I don't think anything under two weeks is enough time to judge any phone, period. I came from Palm OS to BB years ago, and I hated the BB for weeks. It took 2 to 3 weeks before I started to love it, especially have I learned all the ins and outs. You won't learn how to efficiently use and iPhone in 4 or 5 days. The Droid took me some time as well, and I am a nerd and power user.

I don't think RIM is dead, but I think they are on the ropes. They need to grab mind share in 2012. I seriously believe that if reviewers and news channels started to say positive things about BB, that alone with help RIM come back in terms of market share. You cannot call RIM's market direction positive in North America and even other parts of the world. Overall, they are not doing bad. People use the market share in NA to project their future, and right or wrong, it is what is used for most companies. They have not hit the mark in terms of marketing in the last few years, and need to make some changes. Any one that says otherwise and pretends everything is great, is hiding their head in the sand. That said, I hope they do what is needed to come back as the leader.