BlackBerry Curve 8300 (silver, AT&T)
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"Pretty cool device...but...." on by 67UMSM
Pros: PERFECT for using email, surfing, PDA...easy to set-up & fugure out
Cons: as a phone it sucks
Summary: Grabbed this a couple of weeks ago because I thought it answered my need for not carrying both a BB AND a cell phone...its basically the size of a cell plus the added benefit of a powerful PDA.
The latter does not disappoint...really, its fantastic. However, there is a bit of Emperor's new clothes here if anyone thinks if one intends to use it as their main cell line they will not be jumping back to the mid-late '90's as far as call quality and experience goes. Traditional cells work great in my area so I know its not the service. Also, I keep getting a SIM card error...the store keeps telling me to simply take the card out and put it back in which I do. This resolves the problem temporarily however it has happened 6 times in the past 3 days...and I am not exactly jogging or playing catch with it. I admit this may be specific to my device but I thought I would let you know.
To sum up...utterly fantastic PDA, throwback as a phone.Updated
I posted an earlier summary and loved the PDA functions but hated the phone service (I switched from Verizon to Cingular/ATT to get the device). I returned the unit today thinking perhaps I had a lemon but I gotta tell you...I experineced the same poor call quality (I live in the Santa Monica, CA area...not exactly on the outskirts of bumfu$#%&-ville...a town with no coverage). Either Cingular(ATT) sucks in LA and this thing is a fantastic PDA, or it is a horrible cell phone. Nevertheless...going back to the evil Verizon tomorrow AM, thanks to the 30 day test run. -
"I've got thumb advice for you..." on by westnedge
Pros: Ergonomically perfect
Cons: Your thumb will still be reaching for the wheel and your phone carrier will not be on the learning "curve" yet...
Summary: Looking to bring your thumb back into the fold of your hand to play with the other fingers? Have you ever thought of using your device with your left hand? Have you ever wanted voice dialing? Have you used the Ethernet feature of the 8703e and liked it? Have you wished that your screen had the resolution of your pc monitor? Didn't you always wish you could scroll faster through your email list and delete multiple emails instead of one at a time? Did you want your device to be a quad phone when you travel abroad? Did you ever wish it was slimmer and sleeker, and had a better holster instead of that God awful plastic geek holster?! If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are in for a treat!
Finally, RIM has offered up some useful improvements. Having the SD micro card for an additional 2 gigs of memory is a nice to have as well. Now I can watch a slide show of my little baby daughter while I am traveling. Very cool.
So the basics:
Email and texting: Has improved because the track ball is so much easier to work with. Having the dedicated convenience key to assign an application too was good planning too. Very convenient indeed to press the key on the side to bring up an application. Spell check is a must have as well.
The phone: Easier to hold and lighter makes it much more comfortable. Clearly the quad-band is great when you’re over seas. The voice dialing is a nice gadget when your hands are busy. Sounds good, nice reception, great speaker phone. And a host of sexy things like ringtones and mp3 tones if you care for that stuff.
Tethered Modem: Had it in the 8703e and loved it, used it all the time with my laptop. Great connectivity, and save $ on buying a card or subscribing to the Starbucks ISP.
Lots of other fun features to explore and use like the expandable memory card you can insert the map, the camera if you care for that, and IM if you use that too.
All in all, a huge improvement, and must have. Get one and you'll never use the wheel again! -
"Great device for email, internet, and mp3" on by yort710
Pros: pop email, mp3 support, compact size, camera, 3.5mm input jack, micro sd expansion
Cons: lack of wifi, price of BlackBerry service, highly addictive
Summary: I previously had an 8700 and loved it. The pop email is amazing. The reason I wanted the Curve was because I wanted a BlackBerry with a camera and the full Qwerty keyboard. I love the fact that it is smaller and offers so many more features. I would say that it probably is the perfect compact size. It's easier to hold in my hand as a phone than the 8700 and lighter too.
I was a little worried about switching from the trackwheel to the the pearl. It didn't take that long to switch and master it. There's even some feedback to it that makes it easier to operate.
I use it as an mp3 player as I ride the train to work. The sound quality is really quite good and it can hold a lot of songs with a 2gb micro sd card. I picked one on ********** for $23.
I will say that I have noticed that the operating system seems a little slower than on the 8700. Sometimes there is a little delay of a second, but it has never frozen or needed to be reset. The OS is super stable. I use it as my primary phone and have have had no issues.
The internet loads fairly quickly. My friend has a 3g Verizon BlackBerry and I didn't notice a tremendous difference in download speeds. I will say that I have had to recharge it more frequently, but that is only because I've been using it for so much more. This Crackberry addict is more addicted than ever. -
"Excellent phone with a case upgrade on a Professional level" on by rickjones2007
Pros: Great quality , a much more durable case and easier to use key board
Cons: no GPS or 3G
Summary: This is an great improvement over the 8800.
I owned an 8800, a 8100 pearl which I still have and now this 8300.
The case of the 8300 is much more professional in quality than the 8800. The casing is not slick and slippery to touch like the 8800 and has rubber skin edges for a better gripping surface similar to professional camera bodies. The overall casing of this phone is much more durable than the 8800 but with less weight and size. This is a phone you can take with you anywhere and subject to a more harsh enviroment. The key board is much easier to use, lights up brighter and reminds me of a palm treo that I once owned.
The functions of this phone is identical to the 8800 with the major exception of the GPS. I have found that the Blackberry maps program still works great on the 8300. There are a few programs on this phone not on the 8800 such as spell check.
The over quality of the 8300 is as to be expected first rate and lives up to being a blackberry.
I fail to understand how anyone such as the others below can write a review about a phone that they have not even owned, handled or tested. I strongly recommend upgrading to this phone if you are an 8800/8100 user and want a better grade/professional case and keyboard. As far as camera phones being a security risk in corporations actually a GPS device is far more of a risk as it can give someone the abilty to place or identify an area to be a target of intrest or distruction more so than a photograph also a GPS device can be actived and you can be tracked anywhere in the world while the phone is on. Anyone in the field of corporate security knows what a threat that could be to a CEO of a major corporation.
I highly recommend upgrading to the 8300. -
"A newbie to the whole Blackberry and hybrid phones" on by dukefuji22
Pros: Initial review - a good phone
Cons: None yet...
Summary: After my contract expired, I decided that I would jump into the "hybrid" phone market. I wanted something to replace my IPAQ (especially since I lost all my data!!) and cell phone. After reading reviews on cnet and other websites, it was down to the Curve and the Samsung Blackjack. I decided to purchase the Curve (based on the reviews) and jump ship from another carrier to AT&T.
Since I've only had the phone for less than a week, my review is far from comprehensive. This is only an initial impression. I'll break down the functions that I've used and review them briefly:
Phone calls: Since I'm using the phone primarily for phone calls, call quality was important. At first, I hesitated on the Curve as I've read reviews complaining of the "hollow" sound. I haven't had that happen yet and am pleased with the overall quality. No dropped calls yet either, so that's a good thing!
Email: Accessing email away from my computer wasn't of high importance in deciding to buy a new phone. But, I have to admit that being able to view messages is convenient. Sending messages is easy as well.
Keyboard: I'm still getting used to it but so far, it's pretty easy to use.
Calendar and contacts function: I haven't used the calendar yet, but from what I can tell, it should be fairly easy to use. Like my old pda, the Curve has multiple views (daily, weekly, monthly). I haven't sync it yet with my Outlook. Hopefully, that won't be a problem.
Adding new contacts has been pretty simple, so no complaints there.
The Curve is working out to be a good fit for me. I like that the Curve is both a phone and pda in one gadget. It may not have features that a business person might need (wi-fi, ability to edit Excel, Word, etc) however. But, for a "regular" consumer, it might be a worth a look when buying a new phone.
I hope to give a more thorough and updated review down the line. Good luck!Updated
I'll try and update my review that I posted almost a month ago.
Call quality - still pretty good, except that the signal doesn't seem to be as strong in my house as the other carrier. I've had very few dropped calls, but what cell phone doesn't have that issue?
Keyboard - Easy to use so no complaints there.
Camera - takes some pretty good pics, but not enough memory to store them on the phone. Will probably need to insert a sd card to hold the extra pics. But, I didn't buy the phone just to take pics either!
Synching w/Outlook - thought I had a problem doing this at first before someone pointed out to me that I had installed the BB Desktop Mgr software incorrectly (duh!). Now, no problems in synching w/Outlook. I've heard that there is software out there to synch the Curve with Google calendar. If anyone knows about this and info on its realiability, let me know!
Cons - I'm sure they'll pop up at some point or another. But, as of now, can't report on any since I haven't run into them.
No phone is perfect - but, for me, the Curve has been the best so far.Updated
This is an update of my review that I posted almost a month ago.
Call quality - still pretty good, except that the signal doesn't seem to be as strong in my house as the other carrier. I've had very few dropped calls, but what cell phone doesn't have that issue?
Keyboard - Easy to use so no complaints there.
Camera - takes some pretty good pics, but not enough memory to store them on the phone. Will probably need to insert a sd card to hold the extra pics. But, I didn't buy the phone just to take pics either!
Synching w/Outlook - thought I had a problem doing this at first before someone pointed out to me that I had installed the BB Desktop Mgr software incorrectly (duh!). Now, no problems in synching w/Outlook. I've heard that there is software out there to synch the Curve with Google calendar. If anyone knows about this and info on its reliability, let me know!
Cons - I'm sure they'll pop up at some point or another. But, as of now, can't report on any since I haven't run into them.
No phone is perfect - but, for me, the Curve has been the best so far.Updated
Overall, I'm pleased w/the phone. Call quality remains the same - I hear more static on this phone than on previous phones, but it's tolerable. Hardly any dropped calls, so that's good. Haven't had to contact AT&T for customer service, so can't vouch on that end. One complaint: I've had to lock my phone while not using it. This is because I've accidentally hit various keys that are on my speed dial list. As a result, I've called either family/friends by mistake one too many times!
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