Confused, Which BB should I buy???

Hi all Blackberry users, please bear with me and gimme some advice on this,
I own a 5310 xpressmusic and like it for it's light weight and music capabilities, but it is getting way too old for the times and I wanted a new phone for a while.
Now about 75% of my friends/co-workers own bbs, so for the past month, I've been contemplating buying one thinking it would save me some cash on the medium-long run (bbm service costs around $13/month, which is 10-25% m monthly consumption of a pre-paid plan credit).
Not having much experience with the phone itself except for some of my friends' phones for a few minutes to make calls and such, I thought I'd go the cheaper route. Hence, a couple of days back I went and bought a chrome color curve 3G to try for a month or two and when I opened the box I immediately noticed the chrome color around the edge of the phone looked "cheap". So I refunded my purchase and after some consultation was looking for a graphite grey color as it looks slightly more classy on the 3G. All retailers say it's out of stock for a week but i booked one to have it delivered to me when stock is available. So I kind of got all bugged and annoyed cuz I'm supposed to have had my bb experiment up and running for a couple of days now. since then, I've been all over the web reading about bbs and all the os7/bb orlando (new curve)/9980/9930 news. so I came up with a list of alternatives and hence your opinion is of great value now in the selection process :D

Budget is kind of a concern, but since my "cheap" curve 3G experience I leaned more towards a more upscale phone experience (don't mind shelling out $200 more if it's really worth'd). the 3 choices are:

1. Buy the Grey Curve 3G offer (+car charger+silicone cover+mono headset) @ $313 after 2-3 days (for trial and possibly upgrade to 9980/9930 when that drops)
2. Buy White Bold 9780 offer (+car charger+silicone cover+mono headset) @ $531 and stick with it, unless $$$ comes around (new job/promotion?-wishful thinking :rolleyes:)
3. Stick with the old tattered nokia until the 9980/9930 drops in my region (Region:Middle East>Country:UAE>Carrier:etisalat), how long might that take??)

Waiting for that precious piece of advice I came here looking for!!! :)

My bad, apparently it's 9930/9900 not 9980/9930

if people on this forum ask about which phone to get, i always tell them:
"wait for the 9900/9930"

simply because it'll be the best blackberry, OS 7 looks great, super smooth performance, better hardware, good web browsing experience, new features, best keyboard to date and much much more (touchscreen+best physical keyboard..how awesome is that?!?!?!)
im waiting for it as well, currently using my 9700 (for about a year now), but when the 9900/9930 drops i'll immediately get it, QNX smartphones will probably come out 1 year later, so really.. theres no reason not to get the 9900/9930

on top of it, older devices (9780, torch etc as well) wont be able to run OS 7, and i really think its an OS worth waiting for

the bold 9900/9930 will come out in summer for carriers worldwide, and im not familiar with etisalat, but if it's not a small carrier run by 2 people, you pretty much can assume they'll be getting the new bold

help needed, i dropped my bb torch and i think i got some water damage, the screen went sketchy for a bit now it wont work at all. will an update or new screen do anything or has the water ruined it?

Thanks Seijuro, will take your advice into consideration. I am more leaning towards the 9900/9930 but i might still get a curve 3G just to get into the BB world, i might give it off to someone in the family later, come the 9900/9930... Thanks again :D

Wait.

The new phone is a redefinition of RIM's potential.

Wait.

Originally Posted by izzy_meister

Thanks Seijuro, will take your advice into consideration. I am more leaning towards the 9900/9930 but i might still get a curve 3G just to get into the BB world, i might give it off to someone in the family later, come the 9900/9930... Thanks again :D

you're welcome ! : )
when you made a decision, be sure to tell us !

My opinion is buy the 9300 now, your Curve option, and use it for 3-6 months, if you love the experience spend "big" and get what ever is the nicest BB when you are ready to upgrade.

If you always look ahead to the next phone you'll never buy the phone you need now.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

thats true, but now we actually know of a really awesome supernice (:P) blackberry definitely coming out within the next few months
so i'd say: wait !

there's a difference between "looking ahead and always waiting" and actually "waiting for something"
2-4 months, its not that long

Originally Posted by Seijuro

thats true, but now we actually know of a really awesome supernice (:P) blackberry definitely coming out within the next few months
so i'd say: wait !

there's a difference between "looking ahead and always waiting" and actually "waiting for something"
2-4 months, its not that long

That is 2-4 Months for the North American Market,

NOT 2-4 months for the world wide market we have no idea the time frame to get the 99XX in UAE, so it is very much a perpetual waiting game still.

i thought so too at first, and was worried because i assumed that we (here in europe) would get it months later, but then ive read that it'll drop in summer on carriers WORLDWIDE
so i assume...with a little luck, we could get it about the same time as you guys over there

thanks all for the replies, 9300 still out of stock... I'm currently 90% sure I will get it soon as stock is available, I'm literally checking every day and they keep on giving me the "we have no idea when stock will be available" answer... :(

As for waiting, the Nokia is starting to have way too many hiccups and white screens so I'm pretty sure my patience will run out on and I will throw it into a ditch some day, so...yeah, buying :P

My vote is for

2.Buy White Bold 9780 offer (+car charger+silicone cover+mono headset) @ $531 and stick with it, unless $$$ comes around (new job/promotion?-wishful thinking

Tim

I'll go with the 9780! The New BlackBerry 7 is good but I think it may take some time to have it in your carrier. :)

just bought the graph.grey 9300 running OS 5. Activating my bb service right now... gotta say i'm satisfied with everything so far. :D

The 9780 had a $50 price reduction from last week but in the end I felt more inclined towards the 3G curve...

i think i'll use the OS 5 for a week then I'll upgrade to OS 6.

Thank you all for your precious opinions, they were very essential in my decision making process. :)

Had to do this :D

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

If you like a thin candy-bar style blackberry that is OS 6 capable and comes with OS 5, the pearl 3G is for you.

If you like the spaced keys, a curve 3G that's OS6 capable is for you.

If you don't mind or like the close together keys of the 9700 or 9780, the bold series is for you. Both use OS5*/6.

If you want a combination of the touch screen and the qwerty keyboard, the 9800 is for you.

*OS 5 on the 9700.

Best thing I recommend, try all of them out before you make a final decision.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

You could just get the bold and then buy all the accessories you want from amazon for WAY cheaper than the retail store

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Originally Posted by lax42

You could just get the bold and then buy all the accessories you want from amazon for WAY cheaper than the retail store

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

+1 re: Bold. I really like the 9700. I've had the 9800 and while it was great, my keyboard is always being used so the slider simply got in the way.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com