Havard Havard Havard Havard-Havard von Havard (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} wisedonkey) wrote,@ 2008-05-12 12:42:00 |
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New Toy: BlackBerry Curve
The scrollwheel on my BlackBerry 8700c jammed up a few weeks ago, making the thing rather annoying to use. I've threatened to buy a replacement for about the same period. Friday I finally made good on that threat and purchased a Curve.
I'd like to state that the average person that goes to buy a cell phone is fucking annoying. For some reason, buying a new cell phone is apparently as big of a decision as getting married or having children or something. Even with the arcane ceremony required for new contracts, it shouldn't take 45 minutes to get things moving. No, it's going to be a 45 minute wait with every single phone available on display, then 20 minutes talking to the sales associate about which phone best matches your lifestyle, ten minutes filling out the paper work for the contract, ten minutes waiting for a response on the credit check, three minutes for the associate to find your phone in the stock room, five minutes activating the sim card, a minute to get the phone active and tested on the network, 20 minutes pondering which accessories to purchase, fifteen minutes learning how to use the phone, and then two minutes to finally make a payment. I just wanted to buy a phone, and oh yeah, get a replacement sim card since mine keeps flaking out. It takes less than ten minutes. I don't want to sit in queue for 90 minutes while five sales critters handle the seven idiots in front of me.
My first impressions with the Curve are overwhelmingly positive. It's smaller and lighter than the 8700. It has two "convenience keys" which can be used to launch any installed app, as opposed to a single button on the 8800 series. Just like the 8800 series, the phone has an integrated GPS receiver. As is standard with the BlackBerry line, the retail kit includes a nice slip case for the phone, a charger, a usb cable, and the desktop software on cd. What really sold me on the phone was the discovery that it used the same battery as the 8700. Spare batteries are always good. On the down side, the keyboard is a bit smaller and one particular app, HanDBase, doesn't work on the phone. Also, AT&T has decided to load the phone with a dozen different launchers, which are basically apps that launch the browser with a particular URL, all for various AT&T-run web shops. Fortunately the OS on the new generation of phones allows one to create folders, move the offending apps to a folder, and then hide the folder so that even when 'Show All' is enabled, the icons won't litter the screen. Then there's the price. The Curve is $150 cheaper than the 8800. For that difference, I can learn to deal with the smaller keyboard. In fact, I already have.
The scrollwheel on my BlackBerry 8700c jammed up a few weeks ago, making the thing rather annoying to use. I've threatened to buy a replacement for about the same period. Friday I finally made good on that threat and purchased a Curve.
I'd like to state that the average person that goes to buy a cell phone is fucking annoying. For some reason, buying a new cell phone is apparently as big of a decision as getting married or having children or something. Even with the arcane ceremony required for new contracts, it shouldn't take 45 minutes to get things moving. No, it's going to be a 45 minute wait with every single phone available on display, then 20 minutes talking to the sales associate about which phone best matches your lifestyle, ten minutes filling out the paper work for the contract, ten minutes waiting for a response on the credit check, three minutes for the associate to find your phone in the stock room, five minutes activating the sim card, a minute to get the phone active and tested on the network, 20 minutes pondering which accessories to purchase, fifteen minutes learning how to use the phone, and then two minutes to finally make a payment. I just wanted to buy a phone, and oh yeah, get a replacement sim card since mine keeps flaking out. It takes less than ten minutes. I don't want to sit in queue for 90 minutes while five sales critters handle the seven idiots in front of me.
My first impressions with the Curve are overwhelmingly positive. It's smaller and lighter than the 8700. It has two "convenience keys" which can be used to launch any installed app, as opposed to a single button on the 8800 series. Just like the 8800 series, the phone has an integrated GPS receiver. As is standard with the BlackBerry line, the retail kit includes a nice slip case for the phone, a charger, a usb cable, and the desktop software on cd. What really sold me on the phone was the discovery that it used the same battery as the 8700. Spare batteries are always good. On the down side, the keyboard is a bit smaller and one particular app, HanDBase, doesn't work on the phone. Also, AT&T has decided to load the phone with a dozen different launchers, which are basically apps that launch the browser with a particular URL, all for various AT&T-run web shops. Fortunately the OS on the new generation of phones allows one to create folders, move the offending apps to a folder, and then hide the folder so that even when 'Show All' is enabled, the icons won't litter the screen. Then there's the price. The Curve is $150 cheaper than the 8800. For that difference, I can learn to deal with the smaller keyboard. In fact, I already have.
