On another board, someone who claimed to be in the BB camp was wondering about how this new phone compared. I know a lot of people come to these boards wondering which phone might be a better choice for them.
I posted my take on both phones and thought it might be useful to post here. I've only been in the BB camp since the 8300 came out so I have much more experience in the Windows Mobile world. The old adage, as I suggested in my post, applies: YMMV. These are simply my takes on the phones.
___________________________________
Previously, I had never been in the BB camp. I've had WM (and before that, Palm) phones for many years. In that camp, most recently I'd been using a Verizon Q. Loved it.
But I strayed into the BB camp when the Curve (8300) came out on AT&T. I now have a Q9 in my hands and I must say, I'm vacillating between the two. IMO, there's no doubt that the Q9 can be "tricked out," modified, customized and added onto much more than the BB. And, in that tricked out condition, my Q9 is a "sexier" phone than the Curve by far.
On the Q9, I have 100's of home screens, providing numerous functions available to me. Certain aspects of Outlook sync are better with WM than with BB (and I'm on BES which is BB's best sync.) Photos attached to contacts sync much better with WM than with the BB. I have problems with all-day, recurring events (like birthdays) triggering alarms on my BB although standard, timed appointment reminders always work.
If you want to "play" with your phone, tinker with it, the Q9 is tops.
HOWEVER... Do I really use my photo caller id? In truth, no. I have custom ringtones set which let me know who's calling long before I look at the screen. And though I'm not happy about it, the birthday reminders fire off on my desktop PC enabling me to remember to buy gifts and keep the few friends I have.
As I sat with my Q9 the other night I realized that, for many functions, the ones I use most -- email, texting, making phone calls -- there's a lot to love about the BB. One keypress brings me right to my email. No keypress is needed to bring up my contact list when I'm filling in the TO: field on emails and texts. One keypress puts me into a reply form, etc. etc. I found myself clicking and "scrolling" in the Q9 (as I had on the Q) a lot more than on the BB. Two or three clicks and/or scrolls for every one on the BB.
Opera on the Q9 appears pretty slick though I have to be a few blocks from my house to pull in 3G and really appreciate it. And if I want 3G the BB is a no-go. They don't make any US 3G phones... yet.
One of my biggest pet peeves is that, when traveling to Canada with my Verizon Q, I couldn't dial from my contact list or voice dial (which is how I almost always dial) because Canada requires a 1 before the area code. None of my contact entries use that format (and I sure ain't gonna go edit them all.) So every time I made a call, I had to look at the number in my contact list and manually enter it, prefixing the 1. Now
that's annoying! Unless I'm missing something, that hasn't changed in the Q9, albeit it's with AT&T, not Verizon like my previous Q. If this is the case, it's very disappointing. It seems so simple to provide a setting where you could tell the phone to prefix a number. The BB has "smart dialing" and couldn't care less about the darn 1 and will adjust to each location's specific dialing requirements. Sweet.
The BB has an add-on program so that if I miss a call (or email or text or whatever) the phone can be set to flash its LED (in a particular color depending on just what you missed) and make a sound. I never knew how valuable this was until I had it. There's no effective way to do that on the Q9 without picking up the phone and checking the screen. (The Q9m has a half-hearted version -- "missed email alert.") The only add-ins I know of for the Q (Phone Alarm and Don't Forget) either don't work at all or are troublesome.
I really miss the left shift (caps) key on the Q9. I like the BB's ability to create "shortcuts" for words so can simply type "ive" and the BB will make it "I've," etc. The Curve has spell checking, etc.
So, in the end, it's going to have a lot to do -- as it always does -- with features, functions and just plain old personal taste. The avid surfer might love Opera on the Q (better than Opera mini on the BB, etc.) The "geek" in me adores the Q9 but when I'm just out and about, for texting and emailing and navigating the phone, not thinking about how "cool" the Q9 is (and it
is cool) the BB is the champ in my camp.
Hope some of this helps.
8300 vs New Motorola Q9H (Global)
