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stars
"Almost ready for Prime Time" on by dlathem
Pros: Great screen, EV-DO data tether works, good audio quality
Cons: Horrible keyboard, battery cover almost impossible to get off, browser does not play well with sites expecting IE
Summary: There are so many things to like about this phone. I don't mind the silver color except for the keyboard. The combination of the highly reflective silver and the silly blue back light makes this keyboard almost impossible to read under some lighting conditions.
Make sure you save the small piece of white foam in the box because you will need it to get the battery cover off the back. I thought I was going to crack the screen trying to get the battery cover off. Place the phone face down on on the foam as you fight to get the cover off. Be careful you don't rip off a fingernail because you might. It took me an average of 10 minutes each the two times I had to take it off. (once to put the battery in and once to take the battery out when the phone would not work..see info below)
If you are a Verizon customer know that the GPS has been castrated on this phone. Don't be surprised if you have porting and data set-up problems. The problem is if you do, very few folks at Verizon have even heard of this phone much less actually been trained on it. There accounts and billing folks aren't much better. When I called about the phone not working I was told I did not have an account.
No user manual is included in the box. The user manual on the CD is not actually on the CD but links to an on line manual that does not exist yet. Verizon sells and is delivering this phone, but had not yet seen fit to put any support information up on their website.
Yes, I am hammering Verizon. They should have been more prepared to roll out this phone than they were. It took me almost 6 hours to get mine working. The salesperson I bought it from has not seen fit to return my call from yesterday. I guess once the sale is made don't worry about the customer.
Otherwise, the screen on this phone is slightly larger than the G5 iPODS and just as nice. The thumb track ball is very easy to get used to. The unit has great volume (unlike my two previous BBs).
One of the main reasons I wanted this phone was the multimedia features and the ability to tether the phone to a PC as a Broadband modem. The media features are, so far, less than impressive, but the tethering operation is absolutely wonderful! The BB browser just does not work well displaying many websites and one site I need to use streams mono low bit rate audio which the 8830 would not play.
Despite what the sales folks at Verizon may tell you, this phone DOES come with a nice leather swivel case. If you buy the essentials kit understand the case that you are getting has no swivel and looks like it is made of hand-me-down fishnet hose. However, the plantronics wired headset works very well and you get a car charger.
I will be using the 30 day trial period for sure on this one. It is a great improvement over the BB 7290 I had, but for all the hype it is a disappointment in some areas. A poor first performance from Verizon customer and technical support does not help matters either. I was hoping to get away from that mess when I left Cingular.
- 9 replies to this review
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Verizon deserves every piece of criticism from dlathem. I am a long time customer of Verizon (even before they were called Verizon). They treat their customers like dog meat. I have my entire company on their network so moving to a competitor sounds good but costs too much.
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Thanks for the honest feedback - If it’s true that it has not come with user guide then I believe Verizon/RIM released it prematurely with over confidence. I am going to evaluate this product in couple weeks for 30 days trial period. And I found this feedback is definitely helpful….
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First of all let me start with I DO work for Verizon Wireless and NOT some indirect dealer which alot of people these days are buying phones from.... What's the difference? Indirect dealers do NOT get the same training as coporate employees receive therefore they know very little about the product. So...... let me address some issues regarding this post so those of you who are thinking about this device can be properly briefed...<br><br>The bluelight on the keyboard is somewhat lacking in some light conditions. I feel that blackberry should have chosen another color scheme. (Verizon does not make phones)<br><br>Next, the back cover is extremely easy to pull off, you just have to know how to do it... first turn the device upside down, locate the square log that says blackberry, push down on the edge accross fromt the "microSD" and push toward the bottom of the handset... viola!!! back plate is off....<br><br>Next as far as setting up this device with your emai.... follow these steps closely and you will not have any problems what-so-ever....<br><br>1. click on "applications"<br>2. scroll down to "email settings"<br>3. scroll down to "create new account" (you have to create an account if you are a new Verizon customer or have never had a blackberry device with us)<br>4. enter in a log-in and password.... (don't forget your log-in as this cannot be reset)<br>5. log-in using your new account settings.. and click on "email accounts"<br>6. scroll down to "add an email account"<br>7. type in email address (these have to pop3 or IMAP email accounts and you are limited to 9 email addresses.<br>8. type in your email password...<br><br>voila... you have just set up your device... it is really this simple.... to others just click on the add email address and follow steps 7 and 8.<br><br>As far as porting as this guy points out... the problem was not Verizon... he ported from Cingular.... well Cingular sent emails to all other wireless carriers stating that they were closing their servers for a few days to work on their billing system therfore they would not approve any number ports during that time... so how can you blame Verizon for that issue. <br><br>GPS... ummmm load the blackberry maps on the device and you will see that that is blackberry's version of Verizon's VZ NAvigator and it works very well....<br><br>As far as the sales person not calling you back... don't want to make any excuses, but.... remember that you are 1 customer and that sales rep probably deals with several hundred to thousands and if they are off that day, you probably won't get a call back from them. Seriously, would you call a client back on your day off??? Don't think so.... Another thing and this goes back to what I started with... did you go to a Verizon corporate store or a indirect dealer? <br><br>Nice leather case.... your opinion.... some like it some don't.... some like the plastic holster... some don't.... I personally agree that the case that comes with the device is a nice one, but I prefer the holster as it doesn't make the device any bigger like the leather case does. <br><br><br>One more thing... don't compare Verizon handsets with any other companies handsets... looks are where the similarities stop... the internal programming etc differentiates the devices from company to company...<br><br>Hope this helps some of you out there looking to get this device.... oh and this device was not created for the college kid that wants a "cool" phone to make them look "cool"... it was created for the business professional that needs links to emails not someone that wants to take pics at keg parties... so sorry no camera... but there are tons of other handsets that do have cameras....
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I'm not sure what this reviewer was thinking. It took me 3 seconds to get the battery. The lack of manual is not a big deal unless your lazy.
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WOW...you just bummed me out. I hope I have better luck with the 8830 on the way to me. It has been out there since Monday. Perhaps the CS team is up to speed by now.
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I purchased the 8830 yesterday via Verizon and after reading this review was very worried regarding the removal of the back battery panel & the ease of setting up email accounts. The phone arrived today and the back panel comes off in less than two seconds. You just push in on the micro SD label and then slide downward. That's it, really, this review was just wrong. As for the email accounts both my Gmail and company accounts went in with no problems. Blackberry guides you through the process, maybe 5 minutes at most. <br><br>So, if you are considering the 8830 and are worried after reading this review, don't worry!
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No bluetooth and no camera ... no sale. I know BB's are generally not meant to have cameras due to their use heavily in businesses and gov't agencies. Still. I wanna have these two features so I don't wanna have this phone. Most likely.
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I see you say there is no support on the website. Are you a personal user or business user? The personal user release is May 28th the business user release was May 14th. So it looks like the support is limited.<br><br>C
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this review seems half accurate in the description but my activation went flawlessly, I'm on an exchange server and the BES activation took 10 minutes. There IS a manual included on the cd, when you load the desktop manager it is included with that under help. You are correct on the CS reps having little clue about the phone but whatya gonna do, overall I'd say it is a big improvement over the rest of the VZW blackberry offerings...
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