Quote:
Originally Posted by paulrh
I received my first BB phone a month ago due to a position change, a cheap Blackberry curve, and now have a decision to make: stick with it, upgrade the BB phone or ditch BB altogether?
I have BES, BIS and a "Global Unlimited" package from the mobile operator. The only advantage I can see in using a BB device over an Android/iPhone device is the fixed data costs when roaming for retrieval of company e-mail and internet browsing. Looking at operators costs for normal data they appear to be in the region of $10/Mbyte which is astronomical. Where I live no operator appears to offer an unlimited data download package for Android/iPhone.
Now I hear that BIS is being discontinued (albeit not for a few years?) so going forward only a fixed cost BES will be offered.
I guess I need some clarification: Is BES e-mail retrieval available to all BB subscribers anywhere or do you need to have a plan for use when roaming?
The Q10 looks interesting but that much cash for a phone that I will only use to pick up e-mails is difficult to justify. I would not consider the Z10 as it's already 4 years out of date with my current personal phone. The Q10 is different enough for me not to compare it.
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You can expect BIS to be available for some years after BlackBerry stops selling pre-BB10 devices. Corporate users of BlackBerry devices don't upgrade with the same frequency as people who buy phones to have the latest and greatest capability. It wasn't that long ago that my corporate IT devision decommissioned its last 4700 for example. The 9900 is a nice device, my current corporate device is a 9810, but it sounds like what you may be looking for is a 97xx. For just keeping in touch by email, BBM, PIN-to-PIN and some corporate web surfing it may have the features you need at a more attractive price point. But only you can make that determination.
If you want to take yourself off your BES then an iPhone or Android may suit you needs better. In that case check with your admin people to make sure you can use them to get email. The same advice if you decide to go with a BB10 device. The technology is certainly available to make that happen, but your company may or may not have implemented it, and may or may not want to.
Finally, the current long term relationship between BB10 and BIS is, unfortunately, not entirely clear at all. The Z10 and presumabley the Q10 don't need BIS but can use a BlackBerry data plan (though what benefit, if any, the user gets from that plan is unclear, probably none at all). BlackBerry has left it up to the carriers which way they want to go. Thorsten Heins has made statements that there may be BIS features to come for BB10. However, if you decide to stick with BlackBerry either the Curve or some other Java based device, you can be reasonably confident that BIS will be around for the useful life of the device.