Well, it seems I find myself falling on and off the Blackberry bandwagon every few years, but I think this last jump may have been my last.

I’ve gone through so many blackberries over the years.. Starting with the 7,000 series one I had (can’t remember the exact model), then the red curve (back then that was the only color you could get) then a Bold 9000… From the 9000 I jumped to the 9700 thinking the upgrade would be such an amazing leap in technology. The truth is that the 9700 was barely a jump and only included a ram update, and smaller screen and keyboard. I really would love to meet the guy who decided to put the Bold 9000 on a weight loss plan in a back alley somewhere… POW! Right in the kisser!

Anyway.. From the 9700 I became jaded constantly waiting on rumors of a webkit browser. Heck it became a running thing over the years… I went from getting a Google Nexus One, then from the Nexus one to, a Curve 8520 (dont’ ever buy one of those things – Garbage!).. Then from that to an iPhone 4… Then from the iPhone 4 to a 9780 (thinking they’d finally added the webkit browser they promised!)…

Then from the Bold 9780 to the HTC Desire android smart phone.

There are some things I’ll forever wish my phone had… Like physical keyboard. There’s nothing better than the Bold 9000 physical keyboard and convenient screen size… For some reason that was ideal for texting or writing a novel on a Bold 9000.

You know the weird thing about what made me get rid of the Bold 9780 would probably surprise people. No it wasn’t the stupid Blackberry OS 6.0 menu system that always made me hunt for my programs… No, it wasn’t the smaller buttons, and the crappy web browser that really doesn’t cut it compared to modern web browsers.. or the fact that they’ve made us use a Marvel 624Mhz processor for 4 straight years RIM!!!!

(no, i’m not mad.. really I’m not..)

What made me get rid of my 9780 was primarily the lack of Viigos and the horrible RIM feed reader that replaced it. My two primary activities on my smartphones… Besides Facebook and browsing the web from time to time, was reading my RSS feeds and phoning people.

What makes the HTC Desire a descent phone…

Well, really any android will fill the desire for someone who reads RSS feeds and Facebook on a regular basis. The applications are well supported, the screen is great if you need to go to a web browser, and if you miss the hockey game because you’re out and about and can’t possibly make it, well no problem! You just fire up a web browser and you have full flash support. Something that I actually missed when using an iPhone 4. I can’t believe some days that I’ve owned an iPhone 4 and got rid of it.

The iPhone 4 has an amazing display, nothing beats it really. The clarity and resolution are unmatched. It’s also pretty snappy and it’s implementation of multi-tasking in my opinion is much better than the Android version of it. It’s apps are easy to understand and always function as you expect… yet something seems wrong about knowing in the back of your head that you can’t do anything you want with it. I mean that specifically the company holds back all development of the phone.

With android, you don’t need the manufacturer’s approval to launch a new program that produces 720P video recording and the ability to tether your phone.

That’s the other issue, on all blackberries (with the exception of the Playbook) you can’t really tether to just any device you want. With the android I can… Heck even only SOME iPhone 4’s allow that.

Bottom line… Choosing the right phone for you can be tough, but if your not a BBM fanatic, and you can live with typing on a glass touch screen, it could be the right thing for you…

I take back what I said ages ago that with a touch screen you don’t get solid muscle memory and speed in your typing. That’s not totally true. While you don’t feel the buttons as you press them you certainly do get muscle memory in that your brain begins to remember where the buttons are on the screen so you could do it blindly to a certain degree.

Sonic.

Pretty cool to see some of the odd and interesting Blackberry Torch accessories that are coming out…

Look at this one here where it docks on it’s side, likely could display it’s clock in landscape mode. Strange?

Kinda interesting news, the Blackberry Curve 9300 has come available at rogers… I’m beginning to wonder why RIM makes the curve series… I guess college students don’t need much out of a phone…

They have gone to the full 624mhz processor in fact it feels like RIM is stuck on this processor and never seems to use any faster than this. This however, is yet another device incapable of OS 6.0 as it doesn’t quite meet the ram requirement.

I’m a big fan of lots of what RIM has in their devices, but you’d think you’d want things moving forward not backward.

Resolution is still 320×240 – Much like the 8530 and 8520 Curve’s.

Still 2 megapixel camera, still has no flash. It does have GPS though, but still it seems like a tiny upgrade to the curve line to call it a 9300 series when it’s really an 8530 with 3G internet access. It may recieve a limited version of 0s 6.0 at some point, but with only 256mb of RAM, it’ll be slower than a Torch or Blackberry Bold 9650.

Well – I couldn’t stand the android Google Nexus One any longer, so I decided to move back to Blackberry. However, I didn’t want to shell out a ton of money for a Blackberry Bold 9650 something or other, so I got a cheap Blackberry Curve 8530 temporarily.

If money were no object, a Bold 9650 would have been a much better choice… With slightly more ram than a Bold 9700, it’s slightly bigger and the higher resolution screen would have been brilliant.

The Curve’s lower resolution screen makes some text hard to read and certainly feels like there’s not as much screen real estate. The lack of 3G is pretty noticable when trying to open websites, but OS 5.0 itself runs quite nicely on it (using the Wind download).

Overall, it’s a nice calendar and email tool where I can actually type on buttons (Sheah, buttons! not glass!) and get something done.

What’s driving me nuts and why I’d say stay away from this if you have the budget for something $100 more.. is the sound it makes when your typing, the battery door seems to have that styrofoam plasticy squeel when you squeeze the unit as your typing which makes it sound very cheap. It also feels too light to be taken seriously.

Happy to be back in Blackberry Land.
Until Next time,
Dan

With all the features promised in Blackberry 6, This new smart phone set to debut sometime this May 2010 seems to be what the Bold 9700 really should have been from day 1. Sharing the width and full typing keyboard the Bold 9000 once had, the Bold 9650 shares more in common with the 9700 than it’s cousin the 9000.

The 9650 has a 480×360 resolution screen, very similar to that of the 9700, 3.2 mpixel camera (again same as the 9700), GPS, Wifi, Trackpad, and more. Other than the size and keyboard width, the other element that really sets it apart from the Bold 9700 is the memory. While Bold 9700’s currently have 256mb built-in, the Bold 9650 will have a full 512MB (rumored to be for running Blackberry 6)

With the Bold 9700, the major complaints heard across the forums from Crackberry to BlackberryForums.com was the insanely small keyboard. While I can attest to the fact that you do get used to it, I do sometimes see my Bold 9000 in my night stand drawer and dream of all my 9700 features (and battery life!) on that old keyboard which was obviously a little easier to type on.

It will be interesting to see what carriers want to charge for this new phone and how well the new operating system and web browser function. When the phone truly is released, I’ll see about getting a preview phone and doing a video of the entire feature system including seeing just how fast we can typ eon the new Bold 9650 and how it compares to the 9700 overall.

For more information, see http://www.blackberry.com/bold

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The Bold 9700 Fresh out of the box.

Last week, when I first got this phone, It was a surprise and a blessing. It came 3 weeks late, but I was happy to have it regardless. I was almost ready to cancel the order actually, thinking it was never going to come.

The battery cover door was really frustrating at first, but then after opening it about 3 times, it can now be done with one hand. Operating system 5.0 doesn’t appear any different at first glance, but the upgrades are some-what under the skin and un-noticible until your looking for them.

Upgrades like the calendar, changing the date spins just like an iPhone. Changing the time on the clock spins like an iPhone and I can prove the browser is upgraded from previous in some very dramatic ways on OS 5.0.

For example – My blog loads all of it’s CSS and twice as fast. Bookmarks now ask you how you’d like to bookmark them (With options to have Java off when you visit that page, to show yourself as IE, Firefox or Blackberry Browser) all phenomenally useful if you’ve ever had sites that just wouldn’t load right for you.

I was a little bothered by the charging jack being made smaller, forcing me to use new accessories instead of the old ones in my car, house and office… But that’s progress I guess. It now uses a Mini-USB which is a bit smaller than the original blackberry charging jack they’ve been using for like 8+ years on the old Bberries. I believe this is something invented by Motorola, but I’d have to check.

The trackpad is genuinely a remarkable experience, kind of like using an iPhone although it is pretty hyper sensitive, it takes a bit of getting used to but it’s very responsive.

I’ll Write more on my review of the phone later.

Daniel J Deyette