[louiskkchan]

I lost my Treo and I am looking for a stable smartphone. WM is too slow on UI and PalmOS is too old. I am thinking for a BB Curve with GPS.

If I got a unlock phone with unlimited data plan, can I do the following on the phone?
- gmail app from google? will gmail app keep polling my inbox for new mail even i am using other app on BB?
- calendar? contact?
- BB map or google map?
- im client?
- browser?

Any features I can't use on BB without BIS / BES? i am balancing the need for the BB plan.

Will Curve have one with WIFI + GPS soon? Who can tell?

[Bla1ze]

wireless carrier?

[Darth_Doug]

Hopefully I can answer your questions-

Gmail: The Gmail app would work on the curve, but you could just set up your gmail account on the curve so that all your email goes to your messages as soon as it is recieved.

Calendar/contacts: There is an organizer and a phone book.

BBMap/Google Map: BBMap comes standard on your phone, and you can download google maps, however, the curve (right now on AT&T) does not have GPS, so you would have to get a separate bluetooth gps receiver to use the gps functionality.

IM: I dont know for sure, but I'm pretty certain the curve comes standard with IM, if not you could download it for free.

Browser: Yeap, it definitly comes with a browser.


If you dont have a BB plan you will not be able to receive EMail or surf the web. The Plan is a seperate one through RIM's servers, not your service providers.

I'm not sure what service provider you have, I assume AT&T since you had a treo and are considering a curve. The rumblings I'm hearing are that the T-Mobile curve will have wi-fi, not sure on GPS, but I bought my gps receiver for 80 bucks, so its not that huge of a cost. T-Mobile also has the best BB plan pricewise, I'm not sure on AT&T's price, but T-mo has a 20 dollar unlimited.

Hope this helps!

[louiskkchan]

Thanks both.

Actually I am in Hong Kong. I am thinking for vodafone or '3'. I am not comfortable on per K charging on using BIS, but it seems the built-in browser need to use BB plan in order to access Internet. (or I have to install Opera)

As per crackberry headline, 8310 is out (curve + gps). not sure if there will be a wifi coming soon.

[Darth_Doug]

Wow, a curve with gps, thats just about everything I could ever ask for in a phone...

[rrrebo]

BlackBerries without data plans are like lost puppies. BBs are primarily messaging devices and lose a lot of functionality without a data plan. You will have to have some sort of data plan from your provider in order to use e-mail and internet anyway, and your provider should have a BlackBerry Unlimited Data plan.

A good portion of the BlackBerry's data usage goes over RIM's BlackBerry infrastructure (like PIN messaging, for a big one) and will NOT work on a standard carrier data network.

Any IM client you use on a standard data plan will most likely cost you an SMS text message each time you send or receive an IM. JiveTalk, and some others, including BlackBerry Messenger, use the BB data network and do NOT incur SMS usage charges per message.