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Old 12-06-2008, 09:58 PM   #1
dolo
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All,

Please post all reviews/thoughts/impressions here. Law started up a nice thread on his.

Some thoughts for those that are without the device:
- how does it compare to (bold users) and (iPhone users)
- lag? how is the OS?
- quality of product vs. others?
- EDGE compresssion - noticeably slower than 3G?
- BOLD users - now that you have the 8900 - which is preferred?

Welcoming other thoughts as well.

Regards,
dolo
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Old 12-06-2008, 11:44 PM   #2
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Hmm, lets see if I can field some of your points...

- how does it compare to (bold users) and (iPhone users)
I have had the pleasure of using both a Bold (my best friend has one) and an iPhone (previous owner). Bold first. To me the Bold was BIG. It's a WIDE phone. The individual Keys of the Curve 8900 I find are much easier to type on. While on a call the Curve just feels great in your hands. And the aluminum/metal back looks so much more elegant than the fake leather-like texture of the bold. I don't like comparing Blackberries to iPhone. Simple reason: Business users will love the push, responsiveness and ease of use of the Blackberry. not to mention Networking and PIN. Consumers will like iPhone better. The cool apps that you can have on your phone, combined with a media powerhouse that only Apple can do makes it a perfect consumer phone. Simply: Business = BBerry, Consumers = iPhone.

- lag? how is the OS?
Lag? What lag? lol, j/k. But seriously, the new processor of the 8900 makes the OS totally lag free. Pull it out of the holster, home screen is instantly there. Click an icon, screen changes instantly. Compose an email, flawless timing. The OS is more elegent than 4.5 on the 8300. It takes getting used to the new icons (since they all have the same look/theme compared to the old one which had colourful icons for everything). But its a small trade-off of the elegance of the new OS.

- quality of product vs. others?
Somehow my 8300 felt more like a tank than the new 8900. Maybe it's because the 8900 is thinner and lighter. But the 8300 I could drop onto a tile floor and know that it will work when I pick it up. I'm not planning on dropping my new 8900, but if I do, the first fall will be quite the scare. Now don't get me wrong. I don't think the device is poorly built or anything like that. But I guess I'm not used to it yet.

- EDGE compresssion - noticeably slower than 3G?
Yes. it is noticeably slower. But I wouldn't say it's unbearable. I don't know really how to describe it. But here's an analogy. Once you go Broadband, you can't go back to Dialup. But if you are on a low-end broadband, and upgrade to highest, then downgrade again in the interests of saving money... THAT is what going from 3G to EDGE is. Except you don't save money, you get more reliability. I bought the phone because Rogers' EDGE network is far more stable and reliable than their 3G network. Rogers has a lot to do to improve their 3G reliability. And until 80+% of phones in North America are 3G, I don't think Rogers' 3G network can be considered as reliable as their EDGE network currently is.

- BOLD users - now that you have the 8900 - which is preferred?
Having only used a bold and not own one, I'll keep this short. Bold users will find the Curve 8900 a wee bit slower than it due to the lesser processor; and perhaps the device a little small, especially if you have big thumbs. But I'm sure if the 8900 came in 3G, Bold sales would suffer enormously. The proof of that is in History. Both the 8800 and the 8300 were EDGE phones. How many 8300s do you see around vs 8800s?
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Old 12-07-2008, 10:36 AM   #3
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I think I'd take issue with your analysis of BB versus iPhone.

But I have the advantage of reviewing tons of BB applications and a lot of them are drop-dead cool.

My short description:

A BlackBerry (especially the Bold) is a for-real handheld computing platform that can do more kinds of keeping you in touch & a bunch of other things, from better-than-in-dash navigation to tuning your guitar, from watching movies to recording them, from putting MS Office in your hand to controlling your own office from your hand, from listening in stereo to browsing the Web to opening your garage door to being a remote control for everything in your house to giving you more than a thousand channels of music, comedy, news & more.

An iPhone is a cross between an iPod, a cell phone & a handheld game machine with a lot of applications, few of which make you more productive or let you get real work done when away from your computer.
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Old 12-07-2008, 10:51 AM   #4
dolo
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Default great feedback Law

Law - thanks for sharing.

Great feedback. All in all it sounds like you're pretty satisfied with your javelin.

Will this become your main phone?

A buddy of mine is sending me a Javelin to use in the states. I'll unlock and use on ATT. I currently use the iPhone.

Regards,
dolo
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Old 12-07-2008, 10:56 AM   #5
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Law - one other question.

How is browsing on WiFi? Painfully slow? Compared to Bold and iPhone?

Thanks,
dolo
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Old 12-07-2008, 01:44 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dolo View Post
Law - thanks for sharing.

Great feedback. All in all it sounds like you're pretty satisfied with your javelin.

Will this become your main phone?

A buddy of mine is sending me a Javelin to use in the states. I'll unlock and use on ATT. I currently use the iPhone.

Regards,
dolo
Yes, i am very satisfied with my Javelin. And yes, it will become my main phone. I plan on keeping this phone for a long time. It's afunny how I came across getting this phone. My previous phone was an 8300. Fantastic phone. And being an Apple guy I got an iPhone. Then Roger's 3G performance forced me to switch back to my 8300 (which, if I thought about it wasn't all that bad). But fortunately, I was able to sell my iPhone on Craigslist for $400, and I found a buyer for my 8300 for $50, and (thanks to my lucky girlfriend) I won a PS3 and sold that too for $400. So I actually bought the phone outright for $549+tax. It is the perfect replacement for my 8300.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dolo View Post
Law - one other question.

How is browsing on WiFi? Painfully slow? Compared to Bold and iPhone?

Thanks,
dolo
Browsing on Wifi is just as fast as any other G-band wireless phone. Downloads are quick and painless. Very similar to download speeds on the Wifi of a Bold or iPhone. A little faster than a 3G connection, as expected. You are still going to be restricted to the Blackberry browser tho. So unlike iPhone, you can't expect full HTML pages, although some pages look the same. I'm not exactly sure (to be honest, i don't browse on my phone that much, hence the reason why I don't mind an EDGE phone). I haven't done that much exploring on the web through my Javelin.
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Old 12-07-2008, 05:01 PM   #7
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Default Thanks Law

Thanks so much for the feedback Law.

Regards,
dolo
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Old 12-08-2008, 08:24 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dolo View Post
All,

Please post all reviews/thoughts/impressions here. Law started up a nice thread on his.

Some thoughts for those that are without the device:
- how does it compare to (bold users) and (iPhone users)
- lag? how is the OS?
- quality of product vs. others?
- EDGE compresssion - noticeably slower than 3G?
- BOLD users - now that you have the 8900 - which is preferred?

Welcoming other thoughts as well.

Regards,
dolo
Well, I had a good weekend with it so it's time to do a review. First off, a point of clarification. "Javelin" is not a term used anywhere is the packaging. For all intents and purposes this is an upgraded Curve model 8900 and seems like a direct replacement for the 8320. Here on out, I will call it the Curve.

While I am a current Bold user, I'm finding it difficult to find points against the Curve but we'll talk about that later. If you have a Curve and would like Wi-fi, a GPS, UMA support (if your carrier does it) and an overall multimedia rich 2G (Edge in this model) phone in a tiny package, this phone is for you. If I only had a previous Curve, I would upgrade in a heart beat.

I don't have the 8320 in front of me so I can't compare size but it's definitely smaller than the Bold in width, height and thickness. I currently hold my Curve in the Bold holder (I hate the pouch that the Curve comes with) and it flops around in there. Unfortunately, there were absolutely no available accessories in the store I bought it at or I would have purchased a belt clip holder and a charging pod immediately.

Build quality is quite good. It's kinda hard to pull the SIM card out and the microSD card fits in really easily (it's the 8GB one from my Bold) but it did take me a second or two to figure out how to remove the backing. It wedges into the top of the phone and closes with a clasp on the bottom which makes this really solid. I've dropped my Bold a couple of times and I have had the back fly off. I'm not about to drop this purposely but I think it will stay on quite nicely. The Curve has a slightly rough back cover with vertical lines that protrude ever so slightly (if you rub your finger nail along the back, you can fell them). It does, however, show finger prints but not as easily as a smooth back cover. I do like the fake leather backing on the Bold because it doesn't show finger prints at all.

The new Curve comes with a micro USB connection for charging and syncing so your old accessories won't work. Luckily, it's not a proprietary connector so I imagine that this will be used from now on in newer devices. The keyboard is much improved over the 8320 in my opinion. I tended to use my finger nails on the old Curve. With the new Curve, I use my finger tips and I am pretty quick already. It is an excellent keyboard and is probably a little more defined than the Bold because there are hard sides that the key depresses into. The Bold keyboard is a little flatter and it seems just slightly easier to hit the wrong key. However, the Bold keys are bigger (because of it's form factor) so I am quicker on the Bold.
For those familiar with the Bold keyboard and button layout, it's very similar except for one thing that had me stumped. I locked my phone and could not find the lock button. I expected a hard, well-defined button on the top of the unit but didn't see one. After fumbling around with enough keys on the phone, I finally unlocked it but I had to check the owners manual on where the mute key was. Oddly enough, it pointed to the top of the phone but there were no visible buttons there. On closer inspection, the top of the phones bezel can be depressed on either side so that the left side is the lock button and the right side is the mute button. Since the top of the phone slants from back to front, this is actually quite cool. I used to have the use my finger nails to depress the mute button before but now it's a very easy press on either side of the top of the phone.

Two other things to note. For one, the scroll ball does not light up on this model. Rather than have the ball light up (which does tent to get dirty over time and looks darker and darker) the Curve has a ring around the ball that lights up. Not sure if I like that yet but I'm sure I'll get used to it. The other thing is that I find it really difficult to read the red numbers on the keypad in darker lighting conditions. I don't remember having trouble with this on the Bold but I did notice it on the Curve.

The OS is almost identical to the Bold. The same Precision Zen theme is on the Curve and I have already set up my applications in the same order as the Bold. All of the applications I have work the same on both devices except I get more screen real-estate on the Curve. Yes, the Curve has better resolution than the Bold. I think the difference is 480x360 vs 480x320 on the Bold. The Curve comes with a John Mayer video sample which looked pretty dark and not exactly flattering. I copied the Bold's Speed Racer video sample over using Bluetooth between the two phones and, let me say, Both screens look very much the same to me except the Curve had black bars on the top and bottom (due to the increased resolution). Oddly enough, there was a studder or two on both phones during video playback but the Curve was smoother. This is a little surprising since the Bold has a 624Mhz processor and the Curve has a 512Mhz processor. While I did have some initial slowness when I first unboxed the Curve, this quickly disappeared after the first few hours of usage. I sort of expect this on a Java phone as those module you use load and become cached for usage.

Since we are comparing numbers, free memory on the Curve is amazing compared to the Bold. I develop Java applications and know what garbage collection is and how to stream-line it on large servers. Unfortunately, end users can't do so on a device like this (nor would you want to) so I don't subscribe to the "there's a memory leak" "issues" that are reported. Memory fluctuates and that's a fact of life on these devices. Pulling out the battery will clean it up but it will make your phone slower because you just cleaned out the objects in memory and it has now has to reload them as you use them initially. Anyway, on the Bold OS version I'm on, I get approximately 44MB of free memory. On this Curve, I have 118Mb. Yes, I didn't hit the "1" too many times by accident. According to Phoneegg.com the Curve has 256MB of internal memory vs the Bold's 128MB. I think that with the numbers I'm seeing, this is indeed the case.

I haven't tried the 3.2 mega pixel camera yet or really gone too deep into the operating system application and settings but I did spend some time getting my network router set up for UMA. This is the reason I bought the phone. At work, I don't have cell network coverage but I do have wi-fi because we are in a basement. Sadly, my 8320 was not available in Canada at the time of my purchase and an unlocked version from a different carrier did not work. Just moments ago, I finally placed my first phone call through UMA and I am now reachable at my desk.

Curve 8900 vs Bold? The Curve does not to 3G and is only an Edge device. If you have to have 3G, this phone can't deliver. Edge phone calls are not as clear as 3G. You can't get email and talk on the phone at the same time, as the Bold can and the Bold is slightly faster because I can flip through multiple applications with ease and no hesitation. The Bold is truly a business device and cameras and resolution are not really that important. Over 3G, web browsing is probably faster and smoother. I didn't test this as I generally browse over wi-fi but this only seems logical.

If 3G is not essential or you are not in a 3G coverage zone, there is absolutely no reason why the Curve is not for you. You won't wonder what a Bold is like because the OSes are almost identical. I would imagine that the two phone would leap-frog in versions so it's not a factor. For me, the Bold doesn't do UMA or I would be all over the Bold and the Curve would not be a contender. Reason being, size is not that "big" of an issue to me. The smaller the device, the smaller the keyboard and screen is. There is a delicate balance there.

Now that I've used the new Curve, I need to figure out which one will be my phone. I guess I need to figure out how important UMA is to me. If I can't live without it, I may stick with the Curve. If there is any doubt that I maybe don't really need it, I'd go with the Bold.

Sorry, I won't compare the iPhone. I have one and it makes a great expensive iPod. I need a keyboard and I found that out quickly after I got my first gen iPhone.

So, 3g? Bold. UMA? Curve. Anything else? Personal preference.

Hope this helps,
Santo

Last edited by santo; 12-08-2008 at 08:25 AM..
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Old 12-08-2008, 10:51 AM   #9
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Does the Curve 8900 have "Bedside Mode" like the Bold?
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Old 12-08-2008, 10:55 AM   #10
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Does the Curve 8900 have "Bedside Mode" like the Bold?
Yes it does.
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Old 12-08-2008, 11:32 AM   #11
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Yes it does.
Cool, Thanks. It is,obviously, not a deal breaker but I really like it on the Bold.
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Old 12-08-2008, 12:06 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by johnfromphilly View Post
Cool, Thanks. It is,obviously, not a deal breaker but I really like it on the Bold.
It is a nice feature, have it on my 8310.
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Old 12-08-2008, 12:25 PM   #13
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Bedside mode is a feature of the OS -- so as long as the device is OS 4.5 or later, it should have a Bedside mode.
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Old 12-08-2008, 02:30 PM   #14
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Bedside mode is a feature of the OS -- so as long as the device is OS 4.5 or later, it should have a Bedside mode.
My Curve is OS 4.5.0.81 and does not have it.

I am just happy that it is standard now as I really think it is a cool option.
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Old 12-08-2008, 05:20 PM   #15
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Can anyone comment on battery life of the new Curve?
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Old 12-08-2008, 08:18 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon View Post
Bedside mode is a feature of the OS -- so as long as the device is OS 4.5 or later, it should have a Bedside mode.
Where might one find this Bedside Mode on an 8320 with 4.5.0.81?
Thanks
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Old 12-08-2008, 08:26 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lrdiaz View Post
Where might one find this Bedside Mode on an 8320 with 4.5.0.81?
Thanks
i think he meant 4.6 and up... no 4.5 i have seen has bedside mode
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Old 03-01-2009, 08:37 PM   #18
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Does the keypad light up at all on the 8900?
Almost every review and picture I've seen shows the screen lights up but the keypad is either not lit at all or very dimly lit.
Even a few of the store models I played with so far all have keypads that never seem to light up at all even when my 8320 Curve's keypad light up automatically in the same lighting conditions.

I'm assuming the keyboard doesn't have the automatic light up feature as the previous berries
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Old 03-01-2009, 11:49 PM   #19
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You're assuming incorrectly. The keyboard lights up just like every other BB. The only time it doesn't is if you choose the bedside clock mode and put it into the charging dock.
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