[JessK]

I know a ton of these topics get made, but I spent about 2 hours searching the forum and still didnt get some of my questions answered. Maybe you guys can help.

I am using Verizon, and get my 2-year upgrade this week. My first problem lies in the fact that my mom is the account holder, so she is the one that gets the largest upgrade discount. Assuming I get a Blackberry, would it cause any problems to set the phone up for her (with txt, data, etc., plans), and then transfer it to my number through the online manager?

For the past 6-months, I was going to get the Voyager. But after looking into Blackberries, I decided that I want one instead. My main draws are the 3.5mm headphone jack/mp3 player capabilities, Internet browsing, and texting. My friend has a Curve, and the Internet looks pretty decent on it, but I think the Curve is too large and wanted to get a Pearl. How well can you read and browse the Internet on its smaller screen? I am not worried about SureType, in fact I think I might like it better; in the 20 minutes I spent using a Curve, I thought the buttons were too hard to find. Are there any other major hardware differences between the Curve and Pearl? (BTW, I am not really interested in the Storm)

I keep reading about memory problems with Blackberries, especially Pearls. I cant seem to figure out, though, if this is about system-memory (RAM), or file-storage-memory. If it is the latter, would most problems not be solved with a SD card? If the former, would an SD card help it? I have plenty of the micro ones, so that is not an issue.

I also just found out about the flip-phone Blackberry, and I REALLY want it. I prefer the flip style to the brick style by far. But it seems to be a TMO exclusive, correct? Is there any chance of it coming to Verizon in the near future? With the release of the Storm, I am thinking not... Is there no way to get the Flip Blackberry on Verizon?

I also heard somewhere that you can read books on your Blackberry. Is this true? What formats do they need to be in? Now that I think about it, I have a lot of e-Books in .PDF's.... do Blackberries support that format?

Also, it seems like there are a lot of new Blackberry models in the works right now. Is this the way it usually is, or will I immediately regret getting stuck with a year-old version is I went with what Verizon is offering at the moment?

[free2bee]

Wow, a lot of great questions! Hope they all get answered bcuz I'm curious about a few!

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[luvitlo]

Ok I am not Verizon but I have an 8130 pearl and I have no memory issues since I followed a thread on here to expand the file free memory you can run a search. Basicly you delete the apps that you will never use and keep only the ones the phone needs and you use regularly. I got my file free up to 20xxxxxx or 20MB. I think you will love the pearl once you get used to the key layout and SureType rules once you get the hang of it.
I want the Kickstart too aka the pearl flip but until they make an 8230 CDMA we out of luck.
Anyway welcome to the world of blackberry
P.S. I scored my pearl used off eBay for just little over a hundred if your mom don't think the upgrade and switch will work look on eBay

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[fonebrkr]

Remember it's an extra $29.99 for a BB data plan.
After Friday, there will be a lot of vzw pearls for sale. I've had one for a year and love it.

[JessK]

I am kinda leery about getting a used phone. After all the abuse I have put my LG VX5300 through, I am surprised it works at all right now (infact it is only just starting to die, after slamming it as hard as I could against my car dashboard 15+ times last week). Thus, I dont want to risk getting something someone vented on.

With the Data Plan, is it per phone? Like, if someone else in my family's account got one too, would we have to pay ANOTHER $30/month? Or could it go off of the same plan?

And I just thought of this: When listening to music with headphones, what happens if you get a call? Does the ringtone blare over the music? Will I go deaf?

[luvitlo]

Well I got my phone used from a seller whom offered a 30 day warranty and had the option to get an one year extended warranty from a company for 20 bucks but didn't get it.

I don't use head phones much but I do use a FM transmitter and no the ring tones play normal not over the earphones but I can hear the conversation loud and clear over my radio lol

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[Godshairpiece]

Get the curve, bigger screen, qwerty, and more memory. I went from a Lg flip phone to the curve and I never looked back. At first with the qwerty I thought I had made a huge mistake and it took some adapting. I was really fast on the LG with T9 word heh. But trust me within a few days my fingers were blazing on the qwerty lol.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[JessK]

Thanks for all the help so far. If I tried reading an ebook, would the Pearl's screen be hard to use due to its size?

[Reed McLay]

Welcome to CrackBerry.

I use the free Mobipocket reader for BlackBerry.

It does not read PDF documents, but the desktop version does convert them into the correct ebook format. Reading is fine, you can select the font size as needed for ease of viewing and paging.

I keep reading about memory problems with Blackberries, especially Pearls. I cant seem to figure out, though, if this is about system-memory (RAM), or file-storage-memory. ...

Memory is a limited resource in a mobile device. The Pearl 8130 has 64 Mb while the Curve 8330 has 96 Mb. The vast majority of complaints are due to the space consumed by preinstalled samples like the video, tune and especially the background pictures.

It is simple to remove them and free up a lot of memory, plenty for normal operation.

I don't know how Verizon shares the BlackBerry data accounts, but Rogers allows me to add additional devices to my existing account for $5/Month plus the cost of the voice line.

[OHCop]

Thanks for all the help so far. If I tried reading an ebook, would the Pearl's screen be hard to use due to its size?

For me this was an issue with the Pearl. I had one for 7 months and the screen was just so small that it really bothered me. I decided to go for the Curve instead and I absolutely love it.

The small size is what appealed to me at first, but it is why I ended up getting a Curve. I have big hands and long nails, so I had an awful time handling the Pearl.

[johnmorganjr1]

Curve but that's my opinion.