[AvocadoRivalry]

Hi all,

I apologize in advance for this being long, but there's a lot of factors in my decision!

I've been a lurker for a while, getting all the news on the new BBs coming out. I need to get a blackberry for various reasons:

-I need my work e-mail to come to me
-My company will pay my phone bill
-I am sick of a lot of things that the iPhone does/does not do

That being said, I also love my iPhone for many of its features, but I can't afford an 100 dollar phone bill when my company will reduce that to nothing and they won't allow work e-mails to be distributed on the iPhone due to security.

My decision is between three phones and three ideas--I'll discuss some reasons beneath. First, staying with AT&T and switching to the Bold. Second is going back to Verizon and getting a Curve. Third is going back to Verizon but getting a Storm in the next few weeks.

I love the iPhone mainly for its OS, browsing the internet, and its dual functionality as a music/video player (of which I use the most and find its interface impossible to match out of what's out now). I HATE the iPhone for its lag when typing/texting, terrible service (I'm on a 1st gen, so no 3G), no MMS, and the usual issues.

I've definitely decided on going BB. It's the best option; now just to pick the right one. Here are some factors that come into play and hopefully you can help me sort through them and address issues/concerns.

-Pricing: I'm not worried about paying for the phone initially (I can get a discount through my company and make up the costs/ETF by selling the iPhone), but I am worried about monthly pricing IN THE CASE that I am no longer with the company in the upcoming months/years. On AT&T, my plan WHEN NOT covered by the company would be about $100 per month, where as on Verizon, I would be on a family plan and pay about half of that. This is a minor point since it's not likely that that will happen in the near future.

-Service: I do not get service in my apartment in NYC right now with the 1st Gen iPhone. I'm worried that if I stick with AT&T this will continue. Verizon is usually considered the best in terms of service, and although I would have thought service would not differ greatly in a city like New York, I'm worried that I'll still have bad reception in my own apartment. Is this claim true, or is the service on BB's a lot better than the iPhone with AT&T?

-Features (Specifically touchscreen vs. QWERTY): Here's a big factor obviously. I like the touchscreen and it is very intuitive, but I don't LOVE the touchscreen. Handsdown, if the Bold was out now on Verizon, that would be my decision over waiting for the Storm. I am worried about the Storm's SurePress technology and whether I will be happy with it or slowed down by it. To me, the most important things in a phone are: Speed in which I can type (I'm a huge texter/e-mailer), speed of the phone overall (I hate when I have lag on my phone, whether it be in texting, OS, etc.), and multimedia capabilities (since this is about the same on the Bold and Storm, it's not a huge issue--I might just go out and get a separate MP3 player). While the touch screen is "cool" and the trendy thing these days, I think a good old qwerty keyboard might be better for me in terms of speed and in terms of use. The camera is another nice feature, and I know that the Storm's is better, but anything's a step up from the iPhone. As long as it has flash, can record video, and maybe auto-focus (which I know both have the first two), I can deal.

Finally, memory leaks/restarts. I had a phone on Windows Mobile for about a week before I got so sick of memory leaks/restarts that I switched to the iPhone. I cannot stand these things--am I going to be subject to this kind of stuff--restarts, memory leaks, etc. on a blackberry? Are these issues more common with certain models than others?

So, there's my epic tale of how I'm stuck between three phones. Please help and thanks for reading if anyone's made it this far!

[berry me with it]

Quite a post.. Without touching each and every concern you have about which bb to purchase, I recommend the Storm. It has the touch screen, more memory, better camera, faster speed and sleeker design then both the curve and iPhone. I will not be changing out my curve personally, but based on what you've tole me I highly recommend the Storm.

[thepaintedpony]

I have the Curve and I'm VERY happy with the phone. My suggestion would be to look closely at the Curve - everyone I've seen on these threads LOVE theirs!

[wagtails]

Would not trade my curve for a BMW!