[vegasphotog]

I am considering upgrading my 8310 to the 8900. I like it has a better camera and I do not really care about the 2G versus 3G. Pretty good step down model from the Bold or do I really need to drop the bank for the Bold? Thanks in advance.

[newberry52]

I moved from the Curve 8320 to the 8900 and I am perfectly satisfied that I made the best decision. I have GPS now and a phone with a really great form factor. The screen is fabulous and I just keep looking at the background I put on just to see the clarity of it. I was in love within the first half hour. It is all set up and today my Fortte case came and now it is fully protected. I passed the 8320 onto my hubby and he is very happy although still learning to work it.

[MidnightDraven]

If you dont care about 3G and prefer the better camera, get the 8900.
There no other reason to get the bold unless you prefer the way it feels in your hand and how you can type on the keyboard.

i.e. small hands prefer the smaller 8900, but big hands may have trouble typing on the 8900 keypad.

[vegasphotog]

ok...thanks for the feedback. "preciate it.

[bdibene]

I've had the 8900 for about two weeks now. It replaced my 8320, which I had for 2 years.
LOVE the screen. I debated between this and the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G and the 8900. 8900 has a higher quality screen and a qwerty kb, and I thought I'd give the cellular networks more time to build up their 3G infrastructure, so I went with the 8900.

the picture (as in camera-taking) quality is noticeably better on the 8900 over the 8320, but definitely slower in taking pic's. But I also had a lot of blurry, low quality pic's taken on the 8320 and the 8900 makes up for its slowness by giving a more consistently in-focus shot.
The folder/app icons take some getting used to. they aren't quite as obvious in what the icon represents as previous models.
Its also supposed to have a faster processor, but I think its actually slower than the 8320 (but not by much). And I don't have a bunch of crazy app's installed. Internet email and Gmail are the only things constantly running.
Major complaint is the keyboard (almost enough to make me consider going back to my 8320). I would swear the width is fractionally smaller on the 8900, but the spec's show both being 60mm. I have fairly small hands/fingers, but typing is noticeably and annoyingly more difficult on the 8900. The model I tested in the store had more severe angular keys with a little ridge at the tip, which were fabulous to type on. These are more smooth and flat and I'm not enjoying composing emails on this thing (and it is primarily a business phone, so I do a lot of typing).
RIM also put the external audio jack (on right side of phone) above the volume rocker, so I find it more difficult to adjust volume by touch and not sight.
and, of course, they changed the cable format to microUSB, so I had to buy new car chargers and spare USB charger cables.

Vibrate mode is much more subtle, which I don't like. If I set the phone on my desk and a phone call comes in, I can't hear the vibrations as I could on the 8320.

ah yes (geez, I keep thinking of more nagatives), and the speaker is terrible. Using speakerphone is an ear-straining exercise to decipher what the other person said; the quality is atrocious. I always thought the 8320 speaker was pretty good.

but I get more talk/standby time with the standard battery, a moderate improvement to camera quality and a sexy new phone, so I'll probably stick with it.

Hope this helps.

[sean76]

Great phone! I've had em all, and I'll tell ya now that they all have there fair share of issues! Not a fan of the size of the bold, and I happen to have big bands. The 8900/Or Tour have felt the best IMO. The only difference is carrier related. The Tour is a beast, but call quality is terrible. And the 8900, which feels similar has no 3G. I wound up cancelling my vzw account, and am very happy with my 3G-less curve 8900...

[vegasphotog]

thanks for the subsequent reviews......sean76 - great review. I am going to go down and buy the phone today.

[vinmontRD]

Originally Posted by vegasphotog

thanks for the subsequent reviews......sean76 - great review. I am going to go down and buy the phone today.

Good choice IMO, as long as T-Mobile has the coverage you need. It is ideal for me, and I've had dozens of mobile phones, and half a dozen blackberry's -- this is the best to date.

[vegasphotog]

Ok...I picked mine up from the AT&T store this morning. They installed my old SIM and memory card, booted and got me rolling. It took me a secondary trip to the store to figure out that after 'restoring' my phone from my 8100, I needed to visit BlackBerry Internet Service and create a new login based on this new PIN number. Even though on my restore I got the appropriate icons for my various 3rd party POP email accounts, the new 8900 still did not see them. Even the store did not realize that.

Ok...these are the things I really dig -

• Great Screen - Very vibrant and legible
• After installing the Facebook module, when accessing Facebook I can connect my 'friends' to my Blackberry contact which reflects the appropriate avatar by the friends FB page.
• On the 8100 it seemed limited on how to customize the variety of ringtones to include a new SMS message. Now I can tweak all of that. I have a LAUGH.wav file that makes me laugh everytime I get a message. Makes other people laugh too.
• This phone seems easier to customize my background image.
• Much better camera and video.
• Auto wi-fi is great.
• Chicks now dig me cuz I have an 8900. LOL

I still cannot figure out how to have my SMS message come through my messages folder like my 8100.

Thanks everyone for their feedback and I hate to admit I get so much gratification out of a phone. LOL

[MidnightDraven]

If you Have a BIS account, then you dont need to create a NEW account.
You log in and use the CHange DEvice Option to enter the new phone's PIN and IMEI.

[sean76]

The 8900 does everything I need it to do, and well! Yes it's not a speed demon, but that's what I have my personal line runnin an iphone 3Gs for. For email, great call quality, texting, mms and bbm, the phone is steller! I was going to wait for the new Bold 9700, but to tell u the truth, I luv the 8900's keyboard! All in all, a good decision by picking one up!