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Thumbs Must Hurt
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Wales, UK
Model: 8800
PIN: 205b61b7
Carrier: TMO Uk
Posts: 100
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BB8800 3 Months In. My thoughts
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The Blackberry 8800 three months on
So here it is, It's been three, well four really, months since I got hold of my first ever blackberry on T-Mobile UK.
The point of this little artice is not only to review the phone based on my personal usage, but for other people to comment on
weather things I want actually exist in the world. I'm not slating it, it's a direct review based on my own oinions
Theres a few reasons why I chose to go with the Blackberry, rather than some all singing all dancing fasion-esq phones. Mainly email, but also for the sheer integration in my day to day life. I didn't need a device with a camera, since I spent around 900 pounds a year ago on a pro SLR to match my semi professional photography hobby.
I also wanted to get away from the size aspect of my last phone which was in no uncertain terms, a brick. The IMate Kjam phone, running windows mobile. Though I do actually miss alot of things, some ofwhich I'll cover later.
So here it is, after three months with a black and silver acrylic and plastic phone. Initial impressions were that it would pick up scratches and scuffs like some kind of magnet, along with the inveitable smear marks from greasy fingers, however this far down the line I'm actually pleasently surprised. The back case, has somehow manaeg to pick up marks around certain areas, namely in the center, and I am at a loss as to how they have actually got there given that it's either in a trouser pocket allon its ownsome (which happens to be quite soft thank you) or in the supplied holder and case. I can only think that it's the supplied holder and case causing scuff marks which is quite a dissapointment.
Luckily the rest of the unit has survived quite well. Theres one ortwo small and hardly visible scratches around the earpeice (and by hardly visible its a case of a touch of metal polish would take them off in about 5 seconds) again, unknown how they got there, but it's still pretty clean and looks almost new.
USER INTERFACE
It's the first device I've ever used thats had a trackball, and I have to say, that whilst it does take some time getting used to it, I actually have found it pretty intuitive for what it is. Thats not to say I like it, beause actually I don't. It works well, yes don't get me wrong, but there are times It was nice to have a menu of say 9 distinct icons, and be able to choose a number on your phones keypad. Lets take samsungs old phones for example
1. Messaging
2. Profiles
3. Internet
4. Media
5. Games
6. Settings
7. Sim Options
and to be honest the other two I can't remember, but you get the idea. I would have found that more intuitive, for some commonly used applications, and whilst yes, you can shrink 6 of your popular icons to be used on the front screen without expanding the whole list, I still would have probably liked to have one or two buttons to press.
I can live with that however. It's no biggie and it is just a bit of a personal preference, what I absolutley catagorically cannot stand is the expanded menu. I know seasoned blackberry users are going to slate me for this, but what a mess! I can hide apps surey, but thats not the point. it is almost impossible to read on anything other than a white background or a background with little or no patterns. And whilst each icon has had alot of time devoted to it to make sure it's recognisable, the "yellow blob" that surrounds the damn thing is a curse on the world. That is very hard to see. My mother, is lucky enough to be blessed with perfect sight, unlike me. She can't even see it, even on other profiles and T-Mobiles default pink interface, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is your about to open. Yes I know I can implement profiles to change it, but should I really have to?
Intuitivley it would be nice to actually simplify the interface, have applications in folders. (Something I miss from Windows Mobile), it would allow clear descriptions. This Folder is for my contacts and calenders. This folder is for all of my messaging accounts. This folder is for... and so on and so forth. That would be a clever little idea.
The interface on teh whole though is decent, it's a little basic, and could do with a little of a refresher (just some added functionality here and there, HTML email for a start, mayber even in the All Mail folder being able to clearly identify which email address it came from) It's purley functional though,which is great, and it isnt clunky, it's almost exactly what you need, just needs a tune up.
NETWORKS
My carrier, isnt exactly great, but then, neither are the locations I go into. So why when I spend a night in a hotel room where I get no signal, do I find that I come out to the car, and have to sit for 5 mins straight manually getting the phone to find the dammned GSM carrier. Even if it's set to automatic, I've found that in some cases Ive had to do a battery pull to get it to find a network. This is it's worst feature. The inability it seems to have to automatically redetect networks is so infuriating, I have nearly thrown it out of the window. Fortunatley when it does work, it wastes no time in getting a good strong signal, and it's usually very good on that.
On the other hand, every now and then the system almost freezes with a little Hourglass symbol as it updates my hotmail. Im told I should delete my hotmail account on the phone. Why? why should I have to do that just to get it to work properly? It is, afterall, primarily designed for email.
Despite these comments, Im actually very impressed with it. Email on-demand as I call it (thats 'push' to you) is very impressive, and whilst a staple feature of the Blackberry, it's a damn sight more impressive than watching Windows Mobile trundle along with the forever loading GPRS connection dialogue box.
Call quality is excelent, and I have never had any problems with that. I'm very impressed I have to say.
MEDIA FUNCTIONS
Theres a surprising lack of free programs available for this. I'm told that being able to watch the news on demand is a big thing in the states, and I agree that it should become pretty big in the UK as well, yet the UK's number one and two news providers, stream their content, in WMV, Flash or Real Player format. And of course unfortunatley, noone has yet created a codec that plugs into the existing players to actually play these types of files, and the actual players themselves, arent available. I find that odd because of course, for the busy exec, being able to watch the news on his Blackberry whilst sat on the train would be a godsend for some rather than read through pages and pages. It's unfortunate, but not a 'deciding factor' in the design of the phone. What I do like though, is Viigo. A free application that downloads RSS feedsfrom popular news sources in the US and the UK. That is impressive, and theres normally always content available, even if it isnt always news related. (Digg is by far the most interesting).
The built in media player is however a dissapointment. It plays playlists, and music well enough, but the functionality and being able to choose a track from it's list is pretty awful. But then the phone isnt sold as an all in one device. It's sold as an email platform. Still I think back to the exec on the train who's waiting to get to a meeting and might choose to listen to a Podcast or something from the companies previous newsletters, but alas, they might think twice about doing it. Then again, with no podcast support they wouldnt be able to anyway. I'd actually like that feature though, It's available on Windows Mobile, Palm, and even some of the latest nokias have plugins allowing you to download and listen to podcasts so why not the blackberry?
Video Playback however is a different story. My impression is if your going to include something in your device, don't do a half baked job of it. It's either there or it isnt, and no where in between. In the case of the Blackberry, its exactly that, In between. Video Playback is pretty good, for One video, but a surprising lack of support for MPG files. It's not exactly nice. A lack of full screen options isnt particularly good, considering theres quite a large area to be filled screen wise.
ACCESSORIES
Now bear in mind, im in the UK, whilst we seem to be mobile crazy, we get naff all in the way of decent accessories. It's the same with the BB8800. I'm either greeted with the response "What is a Black Berry?" or they point me to a dusty shelf with a singular lone accessory on it. Usually an in car charger for a motorolla (mini USB I guess). The web is a different story. Theres a few cases, and even some in car holders, but a distinct void is still present which is actually quite dissapointing, becase there are two things I want for this phone. One is a smaller slimmer case (which is available but at high prices) and an in car Holder, only from Brodit.se it appears.
Software though is neither here or there, and there are some apps available usually from the States, which is actually quite surprising, because I've been doing my checking and apparently, RIM is actually part British and has a large share in the business market here!
CONCLUSION
It sounds damning doesent it. I've slated many things here, and okay,maybe I have. The actual fact is, I really like the phone, and it's clear RIM has done an excelent job on concentrating on it doing what its suppost to do and not much else, which is fine really, But I do really wish that if a manufacturer implements something like a media player for instance, they do it. Not "shove one on there" asa quick fix. As I said if somethings going to be implemented it should be done fully and properly.
The interface needs a little touching up here and there, and HTML emails should be standard in a world thats almost constantly using them rather than having to pay for an add on. A full Desktop style web browser wouldnt go amiss either but then theres mini opera for that.
On the whole, it's great, it just needs a touch of modernising. I'd still buy another one, and I'll still keep it and love it. It still brings smiles and coos whenever I plonk it on the desk or on the table in the pub. But that connection issue, means I sometimes cannot take a call. Shame
P.S. I've never actually used the blackberry messenger feature. Can someone add me or something so I can see what the thing is like?!
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Never Hold In Your Farts. They travel up your spine and into your brain... That's where you get crap ideas from
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WAINE06
