I Got A Crackberry

For a new project I'm working on, I need a Blackberry to test the java code. So I finally broke down and got one. It's the new Curve 8310 with AT&T.

Here are some initial thoughts.

Pros:

The Blackberry has an active GPS, the camera also has flash. It's very bright. When I used it to take a self-portrait, I forgot to turn the flash off and I was blinded for about 5 secs. The form factor has also come a long way, I remember they used to be so big when I saw them being "the rage" in San Francisco. The phone itself is smaller, but thicker than iPhone. The screen is 320x240. It's bright, the font even supports subpixel antialiasing. That makes it better than Treo, but frankly, the text clarity can't touch iPhone. The 8310 has GPS and 2 megapixel camera, but EDGE only, no wifi. I could've gotten 8320 with T-mobile, in which case, I get GPS and wifi, no camera.

The keyboard is good for a thumbpad. I think it's on par with the Treo. The email on it is both nice but sort of dumb at the same time. The push mail is of course what makes it a crackberry. The thing is, the email client only knows how to "receive" email from a blackberry server. So this leaves you with two choices: either use a company server with BES server software, or use BIS which is a round about way of saying you create an email account with blackberry.net and have your email go there, and RIM push it down to you. You can also setup the BIS system to "pop" up to 10 other accounts to push it back down to you. For someone like me, who is used to having email client that I can setup imap or pop3, and be done with it. It's sort of weird. On the other hand, the push does work very well.

The speakphone is also very clear and loud. Much louder compare to iPhone. The phone has full Java ME porfile. So I was able to install Google Maps, Google News, Gmail app, Y! to go 2.0, Google Talk 2.0 mobile, and Y! IM for it.

It has a slot for MicroSD. I slapped in a 4GB card. The media player is rather basic, but you can set any media to your ringer for anything.

It has the same voice dialing software that Samsung phones also use. I love it, it's accuracy, fast and requires zero training.

The battery life is also quite good. After almost 24 hours of messing with it lots, it still has 20% battery.

The bundled in Blackberry Messenger is a really good idea. Since most people don't have unlimited SMS, but Blackberry plans always give you unlimited data. So this is a good solution to have real time IM with other Blackberry owners using only data packets. The setup is simple, and appears to work quite well. Too bad I don't know anyone else that uses Blackberry. :)

It also has full support of MMS, which is still one of the annoying thing about iPhone. The curve's camera only takes pictures, no video. So same as iPhone in that regard.

The phone also supports Stereo Bluetooth. And uses USB port both for syncing and charging. This is something I also love about my Razr2 v9m.

Cons:

The camera seems to be rather grainy at times. Since I also have a iPhone, the Blackberry by comparison is feels sluggish. From time to time, the screen would freeze for a sec, and I'd be left wondering if it crashed or something.

The SMS app is also poor in terms of UI compare to Treo/iPhone's threaded interface. It sort of has a threaded view, but it just doesn't work very well.

The brower is a joke, compare to iPhone. I can't bare to use it.

The trackball is ok for some apps, but for things say like Google Map. It doesn't compare to touch screen.

I also miss the auto correct as you type figure on iPhone. On Blackberry the closest thing is you can set it to auto run spell check when you press send. For someone like me who sucks at spelling, this is not great.

The unit itself feels light, but somewhat cheaply made.

Also no support with iSync. Boo.

It also doesn't support asian languages. I like the fact on iPhone, I can read Japanese/Chinese/Korean websites/emails/SMS. No go on Blackberry. I'd have to go find a different firmware to flash, etc etc.

Final thoughts:

I think if I didn't have a iPhone, I might have like it more. It does compare better than Palm's new Centro. At least this will be an amusing java programming device.