Ok, so I have had an iPhone 3G for 2.5 years and I do love it, but it is a bit worse for wear (it has been very durable but I have abused it) so it needs replacing.
As much as I’d like one I just can’t afford a 4G which is what I’d like, but I am thinking about a Blackberry.
I don’t like phones which need a lot of faff, such as OS’s with gltches, programs that don’t work etc etc. I also like a nice reliable phone that won’t let me down.
I need email and a reasonable camera, internet would be good too but I am trying to cut down how much I use it (it was so easy with iPhone) so it’s not the most important thing, just occasional use hopefully.
I was looking at Blackberrys as they are used a lot at my work and seem reliable, always seem nicely made.
Any experiences of BB’s would be good especially the new ones and if you’ve swapped from Apple.
I don’t want a HTC/Android/W7 phone etc at all.

Our blackberrys at work are crap. Of the 12 we have in use at any time, they’ve all been replaced at least once a year due to failure or breakage.

Would that be due to the huge usage they would have been through though – in your opinion – and would any other phone been any better?

I had a BB Storm 2 for a week never looked in an instruction manual so much in the end i had to send it back as it kept dropping calls and having a look around on the net it was an issue they seemed to be plagued with on that particular model…

Not sure why you don’t want a HTC Android as i’ve currently got a Desire HD which is awesome, the normal Desire can be had on pretty good tariff’s at the moment, I had an Iphone 4 before the Desire HD for a week to try and it was a nice phone but i prefer the desire HD, my sister has a BB Bold and loves it but she literally just uses it for texting and as a Phone, so depends what you wanna do with it 🙂

Got a curve and mainly use it for email, never dropped a call but I don’t make that many calls, internet with Opera is fine if slow (2G), but again I carry a laptop with mobile 3G for internet so not an issue.
On the downside, I have a student who is some sort of boffin at Samsung and he rates the iPhone4 as the best thing since sliced bread and uses one as his personal phone.

Rob, yes heavily used but no more than other non-bbs we have which don’t break anywhere near as much.

Rob, I had to help Kirsty’s mum’s lodger set his BB up to wireless internet. What a bloody palava! Seriously, it’s like going back to a horse and cart from a car. I’d get a used 3GS instead, or an Android phone, but you’ll miss the iP too much, honestly.

Currently using a BB Pearl (quite an old one I think) and it’s good. I mainly use it just as a normal phone but also for emails and facebook/twitter. Compared to friends iPhones it’s obviously rubbish for games etc, but I much prefer typing on keys to the touchscreen. It feels less fancy and more “businessmanlike”, whilst the iPhone is more of a toy, if that makes any sense!

Can’t speak from personal experience, but our office has blackberries on contract. 80% of the staff using them have got so fed up of them being generally sh!te, they’ve laid out their own cash for iphones.

Blackberry works as a device to make phone calls and do email from…I think it does other stuff but not as well as others. Not sure about the brand new Blackberry out (Blaze or something?) but the Blackberries I’ve had a play with have real poor cameras…good reliable and robust units, but the camera is terrible (but for calling and emailing they are superb).

Rob, just repair your 3g. 🙂

I had a blackberry bold (the last incarnation not the newest).

I really liked the e-mail. Instantaneous yahoo delivery. Battery life was 3-4 days depending on call usage (I was never that heavy a user). Never had any issues dropping calls or breakages although the ‘n’ key got ‘sticky’ after about 18 months and finally drove me to get a new (i)phone.

The real downsides are:
a) camera – I was used to a nokia 3.2 zeiss thing that I used all the time and was ace. I used the bb camera about 3 times. It was crap. New one is supposed to be better I believe (but I doubt good enough).
b) hinternet – jeez, sloooooooooooooow. you could get married, have kids and get divorced all before it would load up. If you want to cut down your usage then this is definitely the phone for you! Also the screen size doesn’t lend itself to prolonged usage.

I have a mate who is even more vehemently anti-b/b than clubber (for the same reasons it would appear).

After a couple of months with the iphone they would need to seriously sort the internet access and have a decent camera before I could be tempted back.

I’m not really vehement just see the whole pic. They’re fantastic functionally for email and since we get free replacement (corporate contract) the breakages are only an annoyance but I wouldn’t own one as a personal phone.

Can’t afford to repair my phone I’m afraid. I’d like to spend less a month than the £35 I do now. And yes, I do know you can get iPhone simplicity sim card for less a month but it doesntninclude unlimited data.

I was thinking about the blackberry torch, latest one.

I’ve used a blackbery for a while since puting my old phone throught he wash.

Crap

Utter crap.

The interface is like a miniturized version of windows, and even zoomed in some websites are unreadable. I much prefer smart phones where the touchscreen is the keypad, fitting the QUERTY under there makes the screen unreadable even with 20/20 vision, my dad took one look at it, held it upto his eyes, moved it away, played arround for about 10seconds and laughed as he couldnt read the keys let alone the screen! And the keys are so small you can relaisticaly use your thumbs to type, which makes it even more useless! And the Trackerball was even less sensitive than those crapy joysticks that were all the rage on phones a few years back.

Get something that uses android or an iPhone, seems the two best systems.

Use a blackberry for work and an iPhone for personal. To be honest. They both do little bits better than the other. But the fact that I replaced my iPhone 3G with a 4 means I prefer it to the Blackberry, it’s the screen size that does it, however, my blackberry is the phone I’d choose for work. The battery lasts, I’ve dropped it, thrown it, spilled coffee on it. Emails are easy to read and reply to, it doesn’t drop calls, unlike my 4 without a case.

So, iPhone for net and arsing about.

Blackberry if you Want a phone first and foremost that does the other little bits.

Ive just got the Blackberry Bold 9780 and its been fine for the last couple of weeks.

It took some getting used to coming to from an old Nokia but I’m liking it so far. The keypad takes a few uses to get used to but once you get used to it it is very quick. There is no trackball on the newer ones, it uses a small touch sensitive panel instead.

I have made a lot of calls and it hasn’t disconnected once. Decent battery life too.

You can get the simplicity sim with unlimited data for £17.50 a month – I use one.
Went from iphone to Sony Xperia mini pro and I’m very impressed with Android. My new phone has too small a screen to do it justice but the OS is better than Apple IMO.

I’ve also noticed that apps in Android are often cheaper than Apple, or you get a lot more for your ££.

I’d say writing off Android phones would be a huge mistake.

clubber, maybe you aint but my mate is! He detests ’em.

Forgot to add that I tried to get the bb wifi’d but gave up in the end. With the iphone, however, was a piece of piss…

I think paulosoxo has hit the nail on the head though.

I’ve also noticed that apps in Android are often cheaper than Apple, or you get a lot more for your ££.

How much cheaper that free can you get, or 59p for that matter?

I have an iPhone 3Gs for personal use and a Blackberry Curve for work email.

I find using the Blackberry a pain compared to the Apple. The newer ones may be better but on the Curve the screen is too small and data download speeds too slow. Also I really don’t like the keypad. It may be that I have big fingers but I find the Apple much easier to use.

I been given a HTC Desire HD and it’s amazing – no problems and does virtually everything I don’t think you can better it IMO

How much cheaper that free can you get, or 59p for that matter?

As an example, I downloaded Angry Birds on my Sony, and my son did the same on his ipod touch. Free versions mind you. He got 12 levels, I got about 50!

The ‘seasons’ version is free on Android, 59p on Apple.

Going to cost me £140 to get an iPhone 4g 16gb. Crikey.

My wife got a Samsung galaxy s which has been a good iphone alternative and was free plus £25 per month

I do know you can get iPhone simplicity sim card for less a month but it doesntninclude unlimited data.

look at the t-mobile sim only plans you get to pick the added ‘booster’, free internet being the obvious choice.

i would look at a s/h 3gs now and then a s/h 4 when the new iphone comes out next year.

I have a Nokia E72. It has been in daily business use for almost 6 months now, I don’t put it in a case and it’s all still working perfectly.

It syncs exchange without problems, has perfect call quality, the sat nav is very good, the camera is fine and the battery lasts well. 35 quid gets a high free minutes, free phone, unlimited BB contract from O2.

I tether mine quite regularly and it’s perfectly able to stream media to my laptop.

I’d take it over a Blackberry any day.

I don’t like phones which need a lot of faff, such as OS’s with gltches, programs that don’t work etc etc. I also like a nice reliable phone that won’t let me down.
I need email and a reasonable camera, internet would be good too but I am trying to cut down how much I use it (it was so easy with iPhone) so it’s not the most important thing, just occasional use hopefully.

My HTC does all this, it’s been reliable for the last 8 months. It’s also easy to use, few noticeable glitches, & does lots more besides.
What’s your problem with them?

robdob, you already said what you want, anything else is a compromise.

I use a BB curve for work and for texting and e-mail its great and so is the battery life. But for personal use I got an iphone4. I spent a long time deciding what phone to get, I also looked at the android phones but for what I wanted the iphone suited me better.

Going to cost me £140 to get an iPhone 4g 16gb. Crikey.

.

Damaged iPhones sell for £100 or more….

It’s a no brainer, it really is.

Damaged iPhones sell for £100 or more….

It’s a no brainer, it really is.

hmm.. what’s the minimum monthly contract cost for using an iPhone? I’m currently on £20 a month for my blackberry.

Watch this.. very funny about Apple and Blackberry

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI

Going to cost me £140 to get an iPhone 4g 16gb. Crikey.

I presume thats a payment ontop of your normal monthly subscription fee.

Visit Techradar they do pretty good reviews on most phones, the new Torch is supposed to be an improvement for blackberry but as mentioned web browsing and game playing just don’t match up to the latest offerings from Apple and HTC…

I’ve got a Blackberry Torch, paid for by work. I shudder when I see the cost of an iPhone, both to buy and the monthly payment.

I’m not into games, so can’t comment on that. Email, text and camera are all as good as I need them to be – battery life is shorter than previous models I’ve had though, but I suspect the GPS probably has something to do with that. The touchscreen is good, took a day or two to get used to but I really like it now.

Two things I don’t like about it – the slide out keypad is needless and makes it thicker than it needs to be IMO, and the browser (because its a full browser) doesn’t automatically select mobile versions of sites, making the content of most sites unreadably tiny. Zooming is easy enough but annoying to have to do so often. If I was accessing the web all the time it’d bug the life out of me. There might be a way of auto-zooming or something, but I haven’t found it.

If I was paying for it myself and cared more about web usage, I’d probably go for the iPhone unless the price difference was significant. Blackberry’s still very much a business tool.

i’d say moving from an iphone to a bb you’ll be back to an iphone very soon, or you’ll be regretting it for a year until you can upgrade.

yours,

former iphone hater 🙂

Echo most of the comments here. In the last three months I’ve had a Bold, Torch and now an IP4. (All for work, wouldn’t buy them myself!)

The Bold was excellent for email/phone usage, but using the web was painful. If I didn’t want to use the web I’d have one of these back tomorrow.

The Torch didn’t do anything for me, hated it. Too thick, too heavy, not as good as the Bold for email, not as good as the Ip4 for web.

The IP4 is brilliant for all the media bits, eg web, gaming etc. Email is alright, it functions, but still a little clunky. For me I think it’s just the lack of a physical keyboard, makes it a little slower to type with. But that could just be me.

For lots of email I would still take the Bold, otherwise the IP would win out.

Can I have yer old one then please?