orioles35's Full Review: RIM BlackBerry 8310 Smartphone
Its so strange how things end up sometimes. Back two jobs ago, I wanted a Treo smartphone more than anything...so much so that I volunteered to be the organization's trainer, just so they'd issue me one. I got mine and the more I got to use it, the more I DIDN'T like it, mainly because of the Windows O/S and the instability. Once I left that job, obviously I had to get a phone and couldn't dream of not having one with similar capabilities. Narrowing things down, I had to have a full keyboard, calendar, task list, camera, text messenging (thanks to my 13 year old daughter), custom ringtones (my brother's being the theme from "Jacka$$") and the ability to store contacts and various bits of information. After considering a few options (Palm Centro and an iPhone), I decided on the Blackberry Curve, even though I had never owned a Blackberry before. I purchased it for $200, and got $100 rebate in the form of a Visa gift card. If you buy a phone today and press the sales people, they will give you the same rebate form, although they have since changed their policy where they will only give you the $100 rebate if you sign up for six months of the data plan, which is obviously more than $100 rebate)
(This was all about a year ago...I was told at my new job that I would not be issued a company phone, so I bought this one. Then I WAS issued a corporate phone...a Blackberry Curve, just like this one, with company paid data plan. So I gave the phone I bought to my significant other. My position was eliminated at that job a few months later, so I had no phone...worked out so well for me. Her contract was up this month, so she bought another Curve and gave me my old one back. That is all besides the point of this review, but there are points where I'll reference the "new" Curve, which is the one just purchased recently.)
Upon getting the Blackberry home, it was time to investigate what came with it and how to get it set up to my preferences. Opening the box I found the phone, a storage pouch, wall charger, sync cable, CD and instruction booklet. I started charging the phone, as Blackberry typically sends the phones to dealers with very little "juice". I loaded the CD to install the synchronization software, which was very important given that my contact information was now stored on Yahoo (there are also other synchronization options available with the Curve), so I had to get that info off of there and into my phone. I installed the software, only to find out that there was already an updated version on the Blackberry website. So I uninstalled/installed the updated version, which turned out to be a lot more user friendly. Once the Curve was connected with the USB cable, I opened the software and proceeded to set up how I wanted the synchronization to work. The settings included Calendar, Tasks, Contacts and Notepad. Originally, the settings should be FROM Yahoo to the Curve, since everything was on Yahoo. Depending on how you choose to use your Blackberry, from that point on you can switch the sync to update Yahoo FROM the Curve, backing up all your data. This process on my desktop, running Windows XP was very straightforward and simple. However, our laptop, running Vista, was not easy at all. The new Curve was going to be synced on the laptop and after installing the software, going into the application to change settings to pull info from Yahoo, lo and behold, Yahoo isn't even among the choices to sync from/to!!! After fiddling with all the settings, I finally resorted to searching the internet for a solution. After an hour, running something as Administrator and changing various settings here and there, I finally had it resolved. This is the kind of thing that really irritates me about technology...if I didn't have a degree in Computer Science and lots of experience, there's no WAY I could have figured that out. So your average user is stuck calling customer support and relying on that. Also included with the Desktop Manager software is a Media Manager application and the ability to backup/restore or transfer information from another Blackberry.
Using the Blackberry, for the most part, doesn't take a whole lot of effort. The functions and software are laid out in a manner where everything is fairly easy to figure out. The menu, trackball (that rolls AND presses to select or save) and return keys do take a little getting used to, but navigation of the Curve is pretty easy to pick up. There have been a few instances where the trackball has "stuck" in one place for awhile. I don't know of any tricks to help take care of this issue and mine has unstuck on its own after I've fooled with it for awhile. The rest of the keyboard is laid out in "QWERTY" format with an "alt" key for the additional characters and numbers. There's also a "sym' key for even more symbols not shown on the keyboard. Each side of the Curve has a button that can be programmed for whatever application you desire, however I rarely use those. I do see the advantage of making one of them pull up the camera if you need to take a picture quickly for some reason, but that's not all that often. As Blackberry has always done, each application has it's own icon. Some of these are certainly ones that each user will never utilize, so you are given the option to hide ones you don't use. If those are needed later, you can 'unhide' icons or show hidden ones, but this feature allows you to ideally have just the applications you use the most on your main screen and not have to search for what you want to do.
Turning the phone on for the first time, you are guided through the Blackberry Setup Wizard, which allows you to set various parameters as a way of getting started using your Curve quickly. Running through this application only sets the bare minimum up on your phone, as there are many, many other options to explore as you see fit, have time or the desire to play with.
First things first, how does the Curve work as a phone? I'm pleased to say that it does very well just as a phone. The sound is clear and crisp and unlike those free phones companies issue to get us hooked, it very rarely drops calls. One thing the Treo would do was to beep three times when a call was dropped (how it would know, I have no idea). This is a great feature, when you stop and realize how many times you continue to talk into your phone once the call has been dropped, OR when you're talking and can't hear anything coming from the other end and say, "You still there?" More convenient call features include custom ringtones and using a picture to display who is currently calling. Also, when you're on the "main" screen, you can start typing the person's name you want to call and the Curve pulls up whatever alphabetical match as you type letters. From there you can move the cursor to select the correct contact, then again select the correct number (home, mobile, work, etc) from the list shown. Text and MMS messenging is solid and easy to read and respond from/to on the Curve.
Another very important feature is the Calendar application. Without this, I'd forget half of what I needed to do each day, birthdays, appointments, games...stuff I know I won't remember on my own. The Curve's calendar allows for viewing by day, week or month, daily agenda, allows for setting start/end of each day, first day of week and more. Entry of each item is quick and simple, although dates take some getting used to by scrolling through months and days, versus having a drop down to select which month or day to set an appointment. One interesting change I made was to set the default to 'no reminder', as its originally set to remind you of every appointment. Another was to change the default for each appointment to ZERO hours, otherwise you have gaps in between each appointment from 9-10, then a gap, then 10-11, another gap, etc. To show them back to back at 9 and 10, the value of "Duration" should be zero hours, zero minutes.
Contacts are the other big application I needed in a smartphone. I don't carry around a huge list of people I need to get in touch with, but with 150 or so, but I need some kind of way to remind me how to call, text or email someone. The Blackberry Address Book does just that. Opening it you'll see a list of contacts, sorted by your preference of first or last name. Selecting one of your contacts and choosing edit allows you to see just how many fields and bits of information you can save for each contact: name, picture, multiple email addresses, company, job, work/home/mobile/fax numbers, work/home address, web page and notes, which can be any other bit of info you desire (GUYS: This is a great place to store clothing sizes if you're in a store, say Victoria's Secret or something). Pulling up one of these contacts allows you to call any number or email any address stored there, completely seamlessly, at any time.
Tasks and Memopad are two other applications that are similar, but can be used in a slightly different manner. What made sense to me was to use the Tasks application as a long-term "to do" list, for things that I want to accomplish at a much later date, but really don't have any idea when I'll start. For instance, I have "Learn to Play an instrument" as a task, but I also have "Start retirement and emergency funds" as another. So you can see those are both long term goals, with different importance. The retirement goal needs to be sooner, rather than later...learning to play hand drums will be "as I have time", but is definately something I want to do eventually. Memopad is more of a short-term "to do" list. For example, I track my car maintenance (oil changes, etc), movies I want to see this summer, purchases for the future, quarters needed for my daughters collection, vacations, gift ideas and even another 'to do' list for the weekend. I've tossed around the idea of putting grocery lists on Memopad, but I don't know how well that would work.
The camera included with the Curve is excellent for a phone. Provided are up to a 5X zoom, large (1600x1200), Medium (1024x728) or small (640x480) size pictures, stored to internal memory (not a good idea, there isn't much room there) or to a memory card. You can take pictures using the full screen, zoom pictures or view pictures as a slideshow if you have several saved to your memory card. The desktop software allows for synchronization of media files, including mp3s, ringtones, pictures and video. Viewing pictures taken by the Curve on my PC shows the level of detail captured by the camera application. While it isn't nearly as good as a regular camera, it certainly rates above average.
Other final thoughts/applications that I haven't used:
Battery life: Up to four hours on one charge. Push to Talk Media Net browser Voice Dialing Blackberry Messenger Password Keeper TeleNav Maps (GPS)
ISSUES: Thankfully, there have been very, very few issues with the Blackberry Curve. As stated earlier, the trackball has locked up on me twice and later freed itself as I continued to try and use it. As with most smartphones (or computers in general), from time to time they simply lock up and stop working. This has happened several times with the Curve, where the solution is the usual take-the-battery-out-and-put-it-back-in-again. However this is nowhere near the frequency that I had to do this with my Treo, which seemed like nearly every day. I have also noticed from time to time it seems the Curve will reset itself, as it will be sitting on my desk at work, I'll look over and see the white screen/spinning hourglass when I haven't touched it in awhile. Not sure why this happens, perhaps it realizes it has a problem and needs to be reset? Is this a wireless command sent from my cell provider? Have no idea, but it does happen sometimes.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100 Recommended for: Professionals On-the-Go - Internet and Email is a Must!
Blackberry 8310 comes unlocked and ready to use GSM Phone is compatible with any GSM carrier worldwide such as AT&T, T-mobile, Rogers, Fido and others...More at Overstock.com
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