I have an upgrade available in the first week of July with AT&T and im looking to get a Blackberry. Im between the Bold and the 8900. I like the fact that the bold has 3G, however its size is really deterring me at the moment. My only concern with the 8900 is the lack of simulatneous voice and data due to no 3G. However, If I browse via WiFi rather than EDGE, am I able to recieve and/or make phone calls simulatneously? Also, If anyone has any input on which device, bold or 8900, they prefer and why it would be much appreciated. Thanks!
The thing is I have searched and have found that the 8900 does not have simultaneous voice and data. Now some people have said they do not miss calls while others say they only miss calls when data is being actively transferred. That is not my question, I understand that. My question is if I browse using WiFi will I miss calls while actively transferring data? (I apologize if this has been answered before, as I searched for quite some time last night and could not find anything.)
The 8900, as with all EDGE devices, can't do both voice and data simultaneously over EDGE, but you can make phone calls on EDGE and use wifi for data at the same time, yes.
If you use both radios on the device you will be able to use data and voice simultaneously. By both radios I mean the WiFi connection and the mobile network connection. There is a caveat here since you are with AT&T and that is that the WiFi connection will be limited in this case and you will only have the ability to surf via the browser or use 3rd party applications that work over WiFi. Anything else will not work simultaneously because AT&T does not support UMA as T-mobile does. This includes push mail, BBM, 3rd party applications that require a data plan, etc.
If you truly need to do all of these things specifically simultaneously and can't rely on the WiFi connection when it is available then you will want to consider the Bold. The fact of the matter is that most people do not need all of these things like they think they do. Really only professionals who do support on the go and need to do complex things such as tether and talk on the phone simultaneously really need 3G.
Thanks that helps alot! I do not intend on doing heavy amounts of browsing, mainly just email and messaging, so the need for simulatneous voice and data is not a large one. All in all, the size of the 8900 is what is leading me to get it. Thanks again!
