[Closed] Blackberries

There's lots of analysis suggesting that Blackberry won't survive as a hardware supplier beyond 2012. I'd be considering Android or iPhone, with Windows Mobile as an outside bet.

Well I only need to get the phone once, is there any reason I should care if they go bust or whatever?

I keep having to replace mine cos I keep throwing them at my staff.

Yes I [i]am[/i] Naomi Campbell and you [i]can[/i] claim your five pounds!

I've got one here you can have, RealBoy; the battery's swollen and don't work, and you'll need to get it unlocked.

Yours for just two hundred pounds. 😐

Well I only need to get the phone once, is there any reason I should care if they go bust or whatever?

Probably not. It's not as app-centric as the others, though the question is really "what are you going to be using it for?" Email is the killer app on the Blackberry. If you want a full-featured smartphone I'd be looking elsewhere.

I have a Blackberry as a work phone; as a work phone there's none better, but as a personal handset I wouldn't have one. Horses for courses, and other clichés.

Tenner?

I don't particularly want to play games on it or music or anything, I just want to have email, texts, calls, fb, and a usable browser all in one place.

And I don't particularly like touch screens.

Well I only need to get the phone once, is there any reason I should care if they go bust or whatever?

If they go bust, will their BIS BES servers still be around?

More likely that they'll just stop making hardware and concentrate on providing a Blackberry App for other handsets.

BIS BES

[img] [/img]

If my son and all of his mates are anything to go by, BBs are king of phones amongst teenagers...

And with both organisations I work for miles away from using anything but BBs for business, are they really that doomed?

If they go bust, will their BIS BES servers still be around?

Shouldn't need BES for personal email. Corporate might be another matter.

Is the bold worth the extra money over the curve? What is the difference between the two?

Are the newer models worth it over the older ones?

Anyone...?

🙄 😀

If they go bust, will their BIS BES servers still be around?

We use Curve for work, and it's fine. My lad has the next curve up (9300 with 3G) and there is nothing he wants to do on it that he can't.

I suppose it depends what you want it for?

Tenner?

Oy vey how's a mayn sposed to make a living? Me, with fourteen children to feed?

Go on then, and I'm robbing meself....

Sigh....

🙁

Have you actually got a bb for sale..?

It's an old one RM; an 8800. I've never used it, although it did work until the battery swelled up.

I can't be fussed with fancy 'phones. Too gimicky for me. My twenty pound Samsung plays music and radio and internets, but i never use those features anyway.

Nah I'm good, cheers though.

I have a BB Curve as a work phone but as I'm not 15 there's no way I'd want it as my only phone. Email and phone stuff is great but the rest isn't even a patch on a cheap Android phone.

but the rest isn't even a patch on a cheap Android phone.

The rest being..?

BB fails as a usable browser

having had 2 BB and now on a android I would never go back to BB.

It depends on what you want it for I guess - web browsing, app availability etc the iPhone takes it (or maybe even an expensive Android phone like the Galaxy S2) , but if you have to use it as a business tool, none of the other smart phones come close. Just picked up a 9900 Bold, it makes the Iphone 4 I had before it look like the toy it is. I'm an old grumpy shit though.

Just picked up a 9900 Bold, it makes the Iphone 4 I had before it look like the toy it is.

They're all 'toys' for most folk though really, in't they?

Although I do see a lot of businessy type folk round Canary Wharf with BBs. Saw a lady on the train t'other day, fiddling with her BB, then another woman came and sat down started fiddiling with her iphone; first woman looked wistfully at the iPhone, and looked almost [i]upset[/i].

'Phone envy is a terrible thing....

Ok then, anyone want to recommend me a non touch screen phone with a proper keyboard, that isn't a samsung (cause they're useless)?

Elfin, yup it's weird isn't it, they're just tools to me but some of my mates obsess over their phones and always have to have the latest blingest model of whatever is available. I thought phones stopped being status symbols back in the late 1980s 🙂

I thought phones stopped being status symbols back in the late 1980s

Ok then, anyone want to recommend me a non touch screen phone with a proper keyboard,

That requirement there severely limits your choices. I'd strongly recommend that you reconsider it.

I was exactly the same for months and months, and clung on to my old TyTN II because there simply wasn't a decent phone keyboard on the market. Having finally given in and got a non-keyboard handset (and am now on my third), I wouldn't necessarily say that I'd "never" go back but I did eventually get used to. In the end it wasn't the show-stopper I'd perceived it to be for months, and I certainly don't miss the bulk.

Touch-screen keyboards have come a long way. The iPhone one is very good, and with Android you've got the pick of several. I'm using Swype, and finding it pretty revolutionary for day-to-day typing if I'm honest.

Unless you're an Android obsessive

You appear to have mis-typed "Apple" there.

I've used iphones, and find them very easy to use, and I can get on the touch screens fine (I've got one of the new nanos, with a touch screen, and it's a joy to use).

I just don't want my phone to have a touch screen.

That requirement there severely limits your choices.

Yeah, to a curve or a bold I think. Hence the thread 😉

Desire Z? I think Motorola did a keyboardy one or two too.

iPhone and Blackberry user, use both daily but for different things. Both do what I want them to do very well.

Edit

The best thing about the Blackberry (at least the one that I have) is that it's not just trying to be an iPhone. There is already a perfectly fantastic phone that does that.

I'd say if you want a Blackberry, for what a Blackberry does well, then look no further.

blueberrys are 99p in aldi at the moment

I have a Blackberry curve 9300, or something and my friend has the Blackberry bold.

the Bold has a better camera , but i dont see what else it does that mine doesnt.
Then again,i don't use a lot on my phone. just use it for facebook and emails really. never figured out the whole bbm messaging thing yet either

Edit; main reason i got mine was because i do not get along with touchscreens , just cannot like them. but if you have fat fingers on the blackberry then you might struggle

Use a Curve for work. Great for emails and can do gogle maps and browse slooowly the internet. Has a good battery life compared to all the touchscreen phones but as it is a work phone I don't bother with apps etc. Browsed the app store and seems shy of what you can get on android or Iphone.

Bold looks nicer and tinks is more solid and metal in it. However my curve seems virtually indestructable based on what my toddler has subjected it too.

My own money would go on an android or Iphone though as the touchscreens are now very usable. If however you want something to email and be solid a Curve would be cheap.

I moved from a blackberry to an iPhone and to be honest some parts are good, such as the apps and the music but when it can't cope with a whole days use without a charge and struggles to pick up a signal I suspect I won't keep it until the end of the contract.

The rest being..?

Internet browsing, apps & games. The main thing for me is the fact I can use decent mapping software on my Android phone where as on my BB it's slow and awkward.

You appear to have mis-typed "Apple" there.

I've got a Blackberry and it's alright. Works for me as something that I can use as a phone, texter and for emails when I'm not at home. Not sure if web browsing is better in newer models but it's pretty crap on this older Curve model, very slow.

Have a Curve 8520 for work. For email & calendar with Outlook its good. Wouldn't want one as my main phone though. I'm typing this on a HTC Desire HD, that's like a 42" plasma to the blackberries 14" CRT screen.
Battery lasts 6x longer on the BB though. Mine had a full charge when I finished work last Thursday, & its still buzzing away in the drawer, picking up emails. The HTC has to be charged every night.

I have a 9800 (Torch is it?) Don't like it. It's miles away from an iphone, the touch screen keyboard is horrible to use so I always flip out the normal keyboard which is a bit small for me.

If you are after a BB alternative try the Nokia E71. Has the Ovi Store for a limited app base and has GPS.

Can sync to multiple mail accounts etc. I really like mine. Only problem is I get bored of phones quickly.

app ecosystem

WTF?

Blackberries are quite unreliable...

If you are interested I'm selling my son's 9300- 3 or 4 months old, case and screen protector from new and on Orange.

The best thing about the Blackberry (at least the one that I have) is that it's not just trying to be an iPhone. There is already a perfectly fantastic phone that does that.

This.

I have an iphone 4s, wife has a BB bold 9780. She has no interest in maps, finding train times, checking the news, playing iplayer, flying birds or throwing paper a bin in a windy office. For text,email and you know..actually using it as a phone it's great and can do some of the rest after a fashion. She also seems to be glued to facebook on it too.

If you ask the average iphone user about the state of their battery they will nearly always be able to tell you to within 10% of what's left as it has to be so carefully managed (even on the 4s). My wife's BB battery lasts for days between charges. That is a major advantage for some - you don't have to be half as anal.

BB fails as a usable browser

Opera mini is really good on the Blackberry

Just picked up a 9900 Bold, it makes the Iphone 4 I had before it look like the toy it is

Total agree with that. The 9900 is fantastic phone

Ok then, anyone want to recommend me a non touch screen phone with a proper keyboard, that isn't a samsung (cause they're useless)?

If you want the best Blackberry available then go for the 9900 above you wont be disappointed

Can't really afford the bold unfortunately, have got a curve 9360 arriving today hopefully. I would say this means you lot can stop arguing, but that's not really true..

Thanks for all the advice anyway.

Also, one thing I don't like about iphones is I think they look and feel like toys. They just feel like their for kids. BBs look so much more sophisticated IMO. Might just be the people who I've met who have owned them though.

used to use BB's at work, switched to iPhones 18 months ago - given I don't use it much as a phone and only occasionally read emails on it I much prefer the iPhone. I do struggle to understand the appeal of BB's for email though, we support them for one of our clients (as well as a BES server), the keyboards seem much more of a hassle to use vs the iPhone's touchscreen keyboard, although I do have big hands/fat fingers :p
RIM/BB won't fold, they're likely to get taken over next year though although what impact that will have is unclear but they can't go on as they are so something will need to change.

the keyboards seem much more of a hassle to use vs the iPhone's touchscreen keyboard, although I do have big hands/fat fingers :p

I find it the other way round. I can type really quickly and accurately on my BBs keypad, but struggle to get any where near the speed or accuracy on my iPod Touch..

Personally I find apple products more of a toy rather than something reliable to use on a daily basis.

BBs are very popular with the yoof of today - that must say something about their prospects...