BlackBerry Curve 8310 Smartphone Titanium (AT&T) - I Love this Phone

Brand: BlackBerry
Category: Wireless

I Love this Phone November 20, 2008
First, let me say that I am a neophyte when it comes to technology. I used to be very technology savvy. Now I am one of the people who I used to talk badly about. I can generally figure things out, but I am not a geek by any stretch of the imagination. That being said, this is a GREAT phone and I think anyone else who is in my class of users will love it too. Let me list the things I love about it:

Size: The phone is the perfect size. It fits easily in your pocket (guys) - even with the protective sleeve. You don't have to look like one of those geeky people with the pocket protector. It has a smooth feel that just feels comfortable in the palm of your hand.

Phone quality: The phone quality is great! I have a slight hearing impairment, so it is important for the phone volume to be loud enough for me to actually hear - especially in noisy surroundings. This phone passes the test with flying colors. I usually only have the phone at 3/4 volume. I have never been able to do that with any other cell phone. The speaker phone also is the best quality I have seen.

GPS - This is a great feature. I thought I would not use it since you have to pay extra for telenav. I already wasn't happy about paying $30 extra for unlimited data, so I definitely wasn't going to pay for the gps. Then I read here that you can download google mobile maps for free. DO IT!!! I know my own city pretty well, so it is only a novelty right now, but it will definitely come in handy when I travel. All you have to do is put in the location of where you want to go, then have the phone track your own location. You can literally watch yourself moving toward your destination - regardless of whether you have asked it to map your route or not. Have you ever been in the vicinity of a destination, but not been able to figure out where it is at exactly (or not sure which way to turn)? Never again.

Voice Dialing - With a blue tooth headset, you can just push a button on your headset and give a verbal command (i.e. "call john," or "dial 555-555). It will ask you which # (mobile, work, home, etc.). Once you respond, it will dial automoatically.

Battery Life: This is one of the reasons I chose the curve over the iPhone. The batterylife is great. I generally charge my phone everyday, but I also use it quite a bit too. I have only had it go down to 50% once, and that was when I left the GPS in tracking mode for several hours. You can change the battery yourself, as opposed to having to have someone else do it for you.

e-mail: Right now, I have only my personal account set-up on the phone, but you can have up to ten e-mail accounts on it at one time. I get e-mails automatically. I can also delete e-mails from both my handheld and from my account with just the push of a button. I wish it would let me delete ultiple e-mails at one time. Better yet, let me get rid of some of that spam all together, but that is a different story.

Camera - I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the pictures. It has a built in flash and takes awesome pictures. Also, by putting a microSD card in the phone, you can literally store all your pictures on your blackberry. I was able to get a 4gb card, which I am told that some phones do not support.

Keyboard - This is another reason I chose the Curve over the iPhone. You geet a full qwerty keyboard. I have somewhat large fingers, but am able to manipulate the keys fairly easily. It helps if I use my fingernails rather than the pads of my fingers/thumbs.

Music - Like the camera, you can put quite a bit of music on your Curve if you use a microSD card. The sound is great.

Protective Sleeve: A protective sleeve comes with the Curve. When you put the phone in the sleeve, it automatically goes into power save mode - not to mention the fact that it protects your screen from unnecessary scratches. Someone said you can actually change the screen, but I haven't figured out how yet.

Password keeper - No more keeping that password list under your keyboard. You can put all of your passwords into the Blackberry (and can even mask them from prying eyes - although it appears to only keep honest people away from them. Its not that hard to unmask). The nice thing is that your passwords are password protected, so theoretically, they're safe.

Attachments - You can open Microsoft Office files, as well as .pdf's. I understand you can also open up .wmv files, although I haven't done it yet.

There are just a couple things I do not care for:

Manuverability - I still find myself pressing a lot of different buttons to get to the screen I want - especially as I switch back and forth between the "full menu" and the "express menu" (I'm not sure what you really call them. Maybe it will just take me getting used to some of the buttons. Even getting to my address book can be a challenge sometimes.

Internet - This is an area where I think the iPhone might be better. The internet capability is a bit slow, and you don't always get the full content of page like you would on a pc. On the fly, it is good to have though.

All in all, this was a great purchase. I wondered if I would regret getting this phone over the iPhone. So far, I haven't. I highly recommend it.