[Bamellis]

I love my BlackBerry. I have the 8350i right now but I am sick of direct connect. My mom is the ONLY reason I've stayed with it. I hate that no matter where I am, a booming voice can come out of nowhere.... especially since my sister swears like a sailor!

Has anyone switched from Nextel to Sprint? Are the 3G speeds noticeably faster? I love the Wi-Fi and I travel A LOT because I work for a rock band so the GPS is great! I heard that this phone has a tethered modem... I am taking online college courses so I thought that while on the road I could work while my friend who usually travels with me drives. A Sprint representative told me that since I already have the BlackBerry plan, I can activate the phone as a modem only during the months that I am traveling and turn it off when I am home. That's nice because it does cost extra. I love that the phone doesn't have a trackball. My 8350i has got lint or dust caught in it on many occasions. While it's fixable, it's annoying.



I'd love to know how everyone feels about the phone? Also, If you have it, did you find a nice protective case?? I want to make sure I get that right away. Within a week of getting the 8350i, the clip released and it fell. The phone was ok but it had a big scratch across the back.

[Noodle22]

What is direct connect?

I have the 8520 and I enjoy it, I've tried using trackballs on other's blackberries and it just feels weird, the trackpad feels more... right. It's just like using a laptop, move your finger and click.

Best of luck and hope you get the answers you need You yourself would probably be the best tell of what coverage works best in areas you travel too.. maybe they can do a trial period for you?

[Bamellis]

Direct Connect is the Nextel Beeper. It's annoying!

I walked into Best Buy and bought an 8530 today! So far I LOVE IT!!! I have been really impressed with how easy it was to set up. I backed up my 8350 before I bought the new one and used the back up file. Everything but my twitter application transferred. The phone saved all all of the wi-fi hot spots that I have logged in to and saved. The Sprint Navigator even saved the addresses that I had programmed into my address book. I didn't expect that. I am impressed by the 3G speed. Nextel was very slow! I love the Sprint TV and Pandora. I know there are so many features that I probably haven't discovered yet but so far I am giving it a thumbs up!!

[Noodle22]

Glad to see your happy!

[Raptor_01]

Originally Posted by Bamellis

Direct Connect is the Nextel Beeper. It's annoying!

I walked into Best Buy and bought an 8530 today! So far I LOVE IT!!! I have been really impressed with how easy it was to set up. I backed up my 8350 before I bought the new one and used the back up file. Everything but my twitter application transferred. The phone saved all all of the wi-fi hot spots that I have logged in to and saved. The Sprint Navigator even saved the addresses that I had programmed into my address book. I didn't expect that. I am impressed by the 3G speed. Nextel was very slow! I love the Sprint TV and Pandora. I know there are so many features that I probably haven't discovered yet but so far I am giving it a thumbs up!!

I am impressed with this phone too...it is a good value for the money!

[paulgl26]

i have the 8350i
my kids 8530 is 10 times faster
i am switching to sprint on the first

[david9962000]

Congrats! And the 8530 is much thinner than the 8350i

[juwaack68]

I just got one for a test device at work and it's very light and very thin. I'd switch my regular work account over to it (from the Tour), except the camera is not a good and it has no flash.

...but I don't really take a lot of pics with my work device, so I'm torn

[david9962000]

I don't really use my camera either and I like having a light & thin device it makes a difference on long calls.

[Bamellis]

I would love for the phone to have a better camera and the 8350i did have a flash but I so rarely use it for pictures that it was not even something that I considered when making my decision. I figure if I am going somewhere that I might like to take pictures, I will just take a camera. I do go to a lot of concerts and I tried to take pictures with the 8350i at one of the ones that didn't allow cameras last year. The pictures turned out awful!