[K Bear]

I am glad you found the device that fits your needs as droids are most definitely better for your situation...but I couldn't disagree more with your assessment of blackberry. I run a business and do a major portion of it with my blackberry. I don't necessarily need the web access you do, but the communication part is essential and in 3 years of using one it has never let me down. I do like droids, i admit that. But I just can't switch away from blackberry as it has been great and me a lot of $$$.




Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

That's why I preferenced my statement that Blackberrys make sense for business, but not so much outside of business and that's strictly due to the differences in BES vs. BIS. BES users have a completely better user expierence than BIS users.

[Aphlatminor]

I recently bought the Blackberry 9330 (Feb 2011), a definite upgrade from the horrible LG Rumor Touch.

I got the BB for a myriad of reasons, the main one being an extension and combination of my laptop and paper day planner. I'm a music major in college, but a non-traditional student over the age of 30. I have children, so keeping track of their activities plus my activities is a must.

I use the calendar and task manager and set reminders so I don't lose track of time. I still use the paper day planner, but it has turned into a backup of the BB and a quasi-journal. I keep the calendar as one of the side keys for quick and easy access.

Four of my friends suggested the BB for the ease of use of email. Two are busy business professionals, and have to have email on the go. I rarely check email online anymore. I have four separate email accounts (for various things - normally a nightmare to keep up with) and they are all on the BB and give me quick notification that I have an email.

Both my brother and boyfriend have the Bold, and allowed me to play with it before I bought the Curve. Since I had to pay full price (was not eligible for an upgrade--yet desperate for a new, functional, phone) I did not feel I needed the international capabilities of the Bold, and the higher processor speed was not that big of an issue for me.

The only problem I have with my BB is that I didn't get one sooner.

[FuzzyB]

That's why I preferenced my statement that Blackberrys make sense for business, but not so much outside of business and that's strictly due to the differences in BES vs. BIS. BES users have a completely better user expierence than BIS users.

I am not on BES....but I will say, you're right, if I wasn't in business I probably would have a droid.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Judson50]

I originally chose my Blackberry 9700/5.0.0.979. For the wrong reason.

I was using Windows Mobile and it drove me crazy because it was buggy, laggy and just down right terrible. I couldn't stand it. So I walked into AT&T and asked for an iPhone and the rep asked why and I said because it is the only phone I knew of that people were happy with. (Over 95% of Northwest Indian has an iPhone. I an count on one hand who has a Blackberry and 2 of them are in my family).

The rep told me that Blackberry would be a better choice, so I bit.

Now, I know I couldn't leave Blackberry for the following reasons:

Productivity. No one can compete with the productivity of Blackberry (for a heavy user; defined as, managing 6 emails, 4 Twitter accounts, 2 facebook pages all for local businesses). The push email is critical.

Communication. Like I mentioned above, communication is so productive, anything else would slow me down and I don't have time.

Customizations. I can lierally customize any and everything on this phone. You name it, I can change it. And if I can't there is an app that can do it.

Build. I can drop my phone and not hrender it useless.

Operating System. It is quick, NEVER lags and is reliable. That show integrity and passion.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[rollingrock1988]

23 year old- just recently graduated from college

Chose BlackBerry because:

1.Superior Keyboard
2.Battery Life
3.I have no need for front facing cameras, HD video recording or 250k apps.
4.Easy to use
5.Customizable
6.I feel like the other phones are just gimmicky and I am not going to pay so much money for a gimmick. I am going to pay for a phone that has proven itself. I'm in advertising, so I realize I am desensitized to Apple and Droid ads. This makes me a little different than other phone users.
7.I feel that most phone manufacturers are pretty garbage when it comes to their hardware. I have personally owned motorolas, LG phones, Nokias and Samsungs. Of all listed, the only phones that were quality were Nokia phones.
8. Android is too immature to me at this point and I hate the fact that people aren't getting the updates. I'm not going to buy a $300 phone that will not get the update that is coming 1 month away.
9.MOST IMPORTANTLY: A smartphone is supposed to be a COMMUNICATIONS device first and foremost. BlackBerry allows me to communicate efficiently and with ease. It's an enjoyable communications tool, however, I get the benefit of a web experience and other multimedia tools (mp3 player and semi-decent camera.)
10. BBM is the best thing I have ever used.

I am a first time BlackBerry owner, so this isn't something that is ingrained in me from years of use.

[pr1nce]

I'm a mid 50's independent contractor/small business owner. This is my fourth BB. I use it mostly for business, but some personal use also. I'm a pretty heavy user with lots of emails, texts and phone calls everyday.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[FredericL]

I use it for work, personal and for school too. I had the HTC Tilt; which was windows mobile and is in the top 3 of my most favorite phones. As for the notifications, I like being able to change the color of each notification message that comes thru.

Are the notification(s) you mentioned the reason why you choose BB above Windows Mobile? Because your old Windows Mobile phone also had a keyboard and still you go for BB. Why WM was not your number one phone? The answer to that question could be the reason why you choose BB above WM phones

I hope to hear it from you soon

[FredericL]

That's why I preferenced my statement that Blackberrys make sense for business, but not so much outside of business and that's strictly due to the differences in BES vs. BIS. BES users have a completely better user expierence than BIS users.

Please tell me what BIS and BES is, I don't really understand that terms.

[FredericL]

@ kbz1960; What do you mean by a normal consumer? Does it mean you don't use your BB for work? And if not, when or for which reason do you use your BB? May I know what kind of work you do or in what sector?

@ tkwolf; Really fine answer one question for you left. Why not an Android or Symbian smartphone with keyboard? When you can answer that question I think I got the perfect answer of which features your main reasons are to choose BB and not another smartphone.

@ MrXpress; So you have chosen an Android. You mentioned that you use your smartphone just for personal use. May I ask you if you are a student or an employee? And do you use your smartphone often a day?

@ FuzzyB, canook and agp423; Clear answer, do you use your S2 only for business or also for personal?

@ the_game969; You said the BB matches with your personality. Can I conclude that you use your BB for business/study most of the time and after work/school for fun? And what functions cover fun for you?

@szotz; what kind of main functions do you use with your BB and are these standard functions or do you have to download these or some other way to use it on your BB?

@K Bear; Thank you for your answer, can I conclude that the browsing you mentioned is for business occasions?

@ moiselles; Maybe a stupid question, but what are LED notifications? And is that the only reason you came back to BB? Why not another smartphone with a large battery and keyboard? I think that answer give me a good conclusion why you prefer the BB above other smartphones.

@ Aphlatminor; Can you tell me what the main reasons are for choosing the BB above other phones? If I'm correct other phones also have the option to use calender and the ability to synchronize it.

@ RollingRock1988; What are communication functions the BB has (which you need) and other smartphones don't or lacks?



Thank you all for your reaction, great to get so much response.
For the onces I don't quoted, I also read your answers


To all the people which didn't mentioned it before. What functions do you use @ work/school; I.e. BBM or browsing or just calling to colleagues/companies?

[FuzzyB]

I use mine for both business and personal

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[_StephenBB81]

I am 29 years old, in Business to business sales primarily, for a multinational corporation.

I carry a Blackberry 9300 issues by the Company connected to a BES, and a 9800 personally purchased,

in 2008 when the Company I am with moved to BB from Palm with Windows Mobile I was NOT happy, I really enjoyed Windows Mobile and was using a personal and business Windows Mobile, it took me about 6 months with my 8330 to start buying my own Blackberry's of which I've had a few, what I love about Blackberry is the keyboard first and foremost, the LED notification light, the size/shape of the candybar form factor, and the very useful OS, my information is quickly displayed so I can take a quick peek while trying to not get noticed in a meeting.

Between business and personal I easily achieve 150 emails per day, and have upwards of 10-15 BBM conversations going, I continue to try other devices, and am considering starting to carry a 3rd mobile phone just so I can better evaluate the other devices when traveling out of the country instead of having to get the data details from associates.


For Work my Primary uses are
email (reading/replying)
Excel file Viewing/editing (Price lists, backlog reports, Global raw material reports, expense tracking)
Phone calls (1000-1800 minutes per month)

For Personal my Primary uses are
BBM
email
Excel - (grocery lists, ROI on purchases, "traffic light" comparisons)
SMS/MMS
Web Surfing
Phone calls
in that order.

[FredericL]

I use mine for both business and personal

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

And what functions do you use for business? and which of these functions are standard functions on your smartphone

[rdiddy_25]

Are the notification(s) you mentioned the reason why you choose BB above Windows Mobile? Because your old Windows Mobile phone also had a keyboard and still you go for BB. Why WM was not your number one phone? The answer to that question could be the reason why you choose BB above WM phones

I hope to hear it from you soon

The notifications weren't the main reason i switched to BB. It was mainly for the push email, BIS service, for me.

[FredericL]

in 2008 when the Company I am with moved to BB from Palm with Windows Mobile I was NOT happy, I really enjoyed Windows Mobile and was using a personal and business Windows Mobile, it took me about 6 months with my 8330 to start buying my own Blackberry's of which I've had a few, what I love about Blackberry is the keyboard first and foremost, the LED notification light, the size/shape of the candybar form factor, and the very useful OS, my information is quickly displayed so I can take a quick peek while trying to not get noticed in a meeting.

Thank you for your clear answer, this is very usefull.

What I wonder is, if the reasons you mentioned (keyboard, size, etc) are also the main reason to also switch your personal WM for a BB? And were there no other smartphones (I.e. iPhone, Symbian) which fulfil your needs for personal use?

[FuzzyB]

And what functions do you use for business? and which of these functions are standard functions on your smartphone

Mainly email communications with clients, prospects, colleagues and viewing documents sent to me by companies I represent. Also phone calls when on the road many times using the blue tooth in my vehicle. I use my calendar that is google sync'd with my office and my partners bb...use bbm to communicate with my partner. All important contacts are stored in my bb as well.

I "train" people (mainly clients) to contact me via email. This way when I'm at my son's baseball game I can respond to important inquiries.

[MrXpress]

@ MrXpress; So you have chosen an Android. You mentioned that you use your smartphone just for personal use. May I ask you if you are a student or an employee? And do you use your smartphone often a day?

I graduated a couple years ago, so I'm employee-only at this point. I didn't have a smartphone through all of college, actually.

I use my phone quite a bit. Mainly messaging, voice calls, Gmail, Facebook, reading RSS feeds through Pulse or Twitter, playing Words with Friends. I'd say in a given day my phone has around 3-4 hours of time where the display is actually on and I'm using it, or so my battery stats tend to tell me.

[anon(3733516)]

I chose a Blackberry Bold 9780 because of the exelent battery life, BBM, superb keyboard, and email support.
I use my device all the time. I especially like to have it when I'm out and about (school, public transportation, etc.) because it is great for when you're bored or need to contact someone easily.

Looking forward to seeing the project

[T�nis]

@ Tonis: Does all of what you said about password protection only works on BB? And what do you mean by "highly customizable notification profiles feature"? Does it mean you can customize how your BB looks like?

Sorry, I didn't see this till now. I'll elaborate.

Though password protection is common on phones, I believe that BlackBerry's password protection is unique, because the device will automatically wipe all device data if a prescribed number of wrong passwords (maximum of ten) are entered. People will often tout applications that can be used to remotely wipe a lost or stolen device, but those applications will only work if the device's connection is on. I prefer the added peace of mind afforded by BlackBerry's password/wipe feature which doesn't depend on a network connection.

But there is one extremely important security feature that goes hand in hand with BlackBerry's password/wipe feature: encryption (content protection) of device and media card data. It's my understanding that a phone's (including a Blackberry phone's) password itself is not extremely difficult to circumvent or remove when the device is plugged into a computer and certain readily available utilities are run. But because of BlackBerry's design and its use of unbreakable AES (encryption), files on a locked BlackBerry will remain encrypted even if someone successfully removes a BlackBerry's password; he'll just end up with useless, encrypted files. If properly applied, and if the proper settings are used, a BlackBerry's encryption is unbreakable, even by RIM. Though I don't know for sure, I would venture to guess that for these reasons (design, AES) no other commercially available device's data is as secure as BlackBerry device and media card data.

As for notification profile customization, I was referring to the ability to customize the sounds, etc. for each type of message (phone, sms, emails, mms, level 1, im applications) and the BIS service that comes with BlackBerry. Through BIS, I have push email and the ability to set up Level 1 messaging filters for important emails that are pushed to my BlackBerry.

[Callumlord]

I am 15 and part time network engineer, I use blackberry with Vodafone, and love it, it helps with my day to day life and also my part time job. Everything on it I don't find problems with and love bbm! As these are made to be 'Work Phones' they do a really good job! Keypad takes a little getting used to but is awesome when you get used to it. And love the easiness of upgrading OS through 'BlackBerry Desktop'.

Hope I help!

[FredericL]

I chose a Blackberry Bold 9780 because of the exelent battery life, BBM, superb keyboard, and email support.
I use my device all the time. I especially like to have it when I'm out and about (school, public transportation, etc.) because it is great for when you're bored or need to contact someone easily.

Looking forward to seeing the project

Thank you for your response.
You say it is great for when you're bored, what do you do with your BB if you're bored? Messaging? Games? Other?

[FredericL]

I am 15 and part time network engineer, I use blackberry with Vodafone, and love it, it helps with my day to day life and also my part time job. Everything on it I don't find problems with and love bbm! As these are made to be 'Work Phones' they do a really good job! Keypad takes a little getting used to but is awesome when you get used to it. And love the easiness of upgrading OS through 'BlackBerry Desktop'.

Hope I help!

Thank you for your response.
May I ask what features you use on your BB? And what about other smartphones with a keyboard? If I'm correct there are more smartphones which have a keyboard and are easy to upgrade. What was the main reason you have chosen a BB instead of an android smartphone with keyboard, or a WM.
I think that answer would help me a lot.

[Callumlord]

Well... I use Facebook, Twitter, Email and others I forget, I will post when I remember.
And I don't really or have ever used a phone with a keypad like this but I like it and it looks good and feels good.

[moiselles]

@ moiselles; Maybe a stupid question, but what are LED notifications? And is that the only reason you came back to BB? Why not another smartphone with a large battery and keyboard? I think that answer give me a good conclusion why you prefer the BB above other smartphones.

On every BlackBerry there is an LED light that flashes whenever you get a message/BBM/Facebook/Twitter/App World update, etc. It's one of my favorite features of BlackBerrys.

As I stated in my original post, I do very much enjoy the BlackBerry keyboard and battery life as is. I've never owned an Android but have heard their battery life is not adequate. I don't recall having a battery issue with my previous iPhone, however.

There's not one particular thing that keeps me with BlackBerry. Everything rolled into one make it perfect for me.

[tkwolf]

to the OP. you asked me:


@ tkwolf; Really fine answer one question for you left. Why not an Android or Symbian smartphone with keyboard? When you can answer that question I think I got the perfect answer of which features your main reasons are to choose BB and not another smartphone.

It all went down between iPhone or blackberry at first. I actually never considered android because i did not like the reports about battery life and i didnt have much time to waste and experiment. Symbians? I wasn't that sure of symbians. I've had one or two nokia phones in the past and never really was amazed or contented with what nokia offered.

Now, i had to choose between iPhone and Blackberry. 1.) the iPhone is quite expensive and while it is rich in multimedia and that i can get cheap deals somewhere else, I already have an iPod touch. For me, iPhones are like ipod + a phone. So i thought i'd try blackberry since my cousins and a couple of friends use it and for smartphones, RIM offers cheap entry level devices like my first 8520. From there, I was not disappointed with everything it offered so i upgraded. Right now, I am a happy consumer

[_StephenBB81]

Thank you for your clear answer, this is very usefull.

What I wonder is, if the reasons you mentioned (keyboard, size, etc) are also the main reason to also switch your personal WM for a BB? And were there no other smartphones (I.e. iPhone, Symbian) which fulfil your needs for personal use?

after pounding out 30-50 emails a day on the 8330 keyboard, you get accustom to things, my Windows Mobile phones with Landscape keyboard, or touch screens just couldn't compare with the speed I was learning to achieve on the 8330, the fact that the 9630 had a different keyboard was something I really wanted to try, so I up and purchased the 9630 migrated any non business BBM contacts to that phone, and learned the awesomeness of the "Bold Style" keyboard, it truly is something that makes me stay with Blackberry, on the personal level I am always punching out texts, size isn't as BIG of factor with my personal phone as it is with my business phone, which is why I can carry the Torch as it is rather large.

Something I brought up in a thread recently that I assume was deleted as it's premise seemed to be trolling in nature, was Familiarity!, the 8330 became a familiar device, the BBOS was familiar, some aspects it certainly was inferior to Windows Mobile but in others it was superior, and since I work far more than I play I became familiar with BBOS and that helps in the buying decision, Something RIM has done very well is keep OS4,5,6 soooo very familiar you always feel at home, even if it did get a full make over.