[Quackington]

Hi guys,

I've been thinking about getting a Blackberry phone for the past month or so...and have kind of made a decision to get the 8900 Curve as my first one. Before I do so though, I have a couple of important (well, to me anyway!) questions...

1. I currently have a Nokia phone. Now, I am not crazy about phone features, so I'm not that fussed if a phone can do a gazillion things. I like to check my e-mails, make phone calls and send texts, and do a little browsing now and again. Text messaging is EXTREMELY important to me. I play football on a weekly basis and am the organiser, and therefore send regular updates to 11 people. On my Nokia phone, I have a group set up in my contacts called 'Football'. I just type out my message, and pick the group in the 'To' section. It automatically lists all the people in this group and I can hit send. It starts sending, and I can go about doing other things on my phone whilst it sends. If it has an issue sending to a certain number, it'll skip onto the next one without hindering anything I'm doing with the phone. I can check my sent messages folder in a minute or two to see that they've been sent. I NEED Blackberry to be able to do this for me. I have avoided iPhone because of this and have stopped using Android because it lacks this feature (and it keeps crashing). It's not just football updates, but I have a group of friends who text each other in groups, so it makes things so much easier. Can someone please confirm whether I will be okay with this on Blackberry, or if it's not possible? I find it quite shocking how some phones can get this horribly wrong or completely lack this feature (even some of the newer, more N-series Nokia phones only let you have a max group of 20 people and even have trouble sending to those without crashing).

2. I am primarily a Mac user. I remember reading a while back that there isn't any first party software for syncing with OSX. Is this still the case, and if so, is there software out there that I can use for OSX? This is less important, as I have access to Windows...but would prefer to use OSX if I can

I'm sure I will have some more questions. Many thanks for your time

-Q

[Dubdub]

2. RIM recently released Desktop Manager for the Mac. Check our Mac section for more details or do a search.

Can't help much with #1, however, keep in mind that for email and decent browsing, you will need a BB data plan, not a generic one.

[MidnightDraven]

you can create groups of contacts, generally for email, but I believe it could be done for a text.

[Quackington]

Thanks for coming back to me guys. Any chance that someone could try this? Create a group and send a text message to the group at once, that is.

Re. data plan - I am already on an unlimited data plan

[icurschwartz]

A quick Google and:

How to Create a Group On a Blackberry | eHow.com

#7: A nice feature of the blackberry is that you can organize all of your contacts into groups. For instance, if you need to send the same messages to coworkers, create a group for all of your coworkers, find the group in your address book, select the group and press "sms message to group." This will now send the same message to everyone listed in the group. This is much easier than individually texting each contact.

[Quackington]

Many thanks for this. Now, any recommendations for protection? I'm looking to maybe get a silicon cover, but am open to something else if highly recommended.

[Quackington]

Hello,

So I recently got a BlackBerry Curve 8900 and quite like it so far. The group texting works very well

I have some issues which I hope someone will be able to address:

I can't seem to add POP3 e-mail like G-Mail or Yahoo? I bought this phone brand new, from Expansys. I am currently on a T-Mobile contract where I pay £40 a month for unlimited browsing, 800 minutes talk time and unlimited texts.

I called T-Mobile to ask them to send their settings to my phone (I assumed I just had to update or install their settings, like previous phones), but the rep tells me that I have to pay extra for a Blackberry service (£7 or something like that per month). I think this is a bit of a joke, seeing as how I pay so much already. I accept this though, as POP3 is something I didn't get with my previous phone. What I was able to do with my old phone was to install the Gmail app and access my e-mails through it (I don't think it counts as POP3). I downloaded the GMail app, but it can't connect to the internet. I even downloaded the Goolge for Blackberry app today, but it won't work because it can't find a suitable connection or something. I used to be able to use the GMail app for phones on my old Nokia just fine, with no problems. I already pay for browsing via my line rental...surely I shouldn't have to pay extra just to be able to use apps that access the internet from this phone?

Browser - I know the 8900 is 2G only, but this browser is just awful. Extremely slow and clunky. I used to use an old Nokia phone (5700, I think it's 2G only like the BB), and the browser on that is so much better and faster. It takes forever to just access google.com on this. I'll be lucky if the page even loads without having to retry. It's not just Google either, non graphic heavy pages like the BBC Mobile site take forever and don't work half the time. For a phone that is supposed to be connected, and your all in one, this is pathetic. Now, I know I am new to Blackberry, so is there anything I may have missed or some settings I should fix to improve things (though I don't see why it's not working well out of the box). If not, is there an alternative to this frankly awful browser?

Looking forward to your replies

[MidnightDraven]

You NEED the Blackberry Email Booster from t-mobile UK for internet to work.
But you need the unlimited browsing for the internet and apps data.
They are stupid, but it comes down to the fact that you need the Blackberry email booster to get internet, email and data for apps to work; but the email booster only deals with data for email (50MB) and data for internet and apps comes out of internet plan.

Yup the blackberry browser can suck.
Two alternatives at the mo: Opera mini, and bolt.

[Quackington]

Wow, thanks for the fast response. I guess I should have done research beforehand for this. So basically, I cannot get ANY app to use the internet (bar the browser) unless I have the e-mail booster? I guess I'll pay for it (my contract is due to end in April, so as long as they don't force a 12 month thing on me, I'll be happy). Are you aware of other networks in the UK forcing something like this booster pack? If not, I'll be happy to switch in 6 months time.

Question re. wifi. I have added my phone on my home wifi network. It says I am connected, but my pages still load extremely slow on my phone (I assumed this would at least speed things up). I have a feeling that my browser may still be connecting via the mobile network as opposed to my wifi network. Is this possible, even though my phone is connected to the wireless network, and if so, how can I overcome this?

Many thanks

[MidnightDraven]

Nope.
You need a blackberry data plan/booster/bolt on on ANY carrier to use a blackberry for internet/emails and apps.
Its something the blackberry needs to work, not something the carriers say you need to get more money out of you.

Make sure the browser is set to HOTSPOT browser
(options - advanced - browser - default browser)
Then it will ONLY use wi-fi.

[fjfisher601]

Originally Posted by Quackington

Many thanks for this. Now, any recommendations for protection? I'm looking to maybe get a silicon cover, but am open to something else if highly recommended.

I am real Happy wit hmy Seidio 360 nad I also use a slip/ Pocket case from eAccess- I used the Bold ver as my Tour "grew" with the 3670 case on- the two work great- real safe and secure.

I was a new bie recently too- he Tour i great and I have alwys loved Verizon service.

Good luck
Fred

[Quackington]

Thanks again

I just noticed this post (Does Basic Consumer Use Harm The BlackBerry Image? thread, post #22 - sorry, I can't post links yet) where someone menioned that some people are able to use GPRS for BBM, Facebook, MSN etc. Is this completely locked out for UK users?

[MidnightDraven]

No, that was not someone saying "I can use..." it was someone mocking people who ask about using it.
Its NOT possible.
You NEED the blackberry email booster.
Also, you're on a Flext contract I assume? or combi...either way, it will be only £5 a month for the length of the contract.

[Quackington]

Ah, I see.

I changed my browser setting to 'hotspot' and browsing is a bit faster, thanks

I have called T-Mobile a little while ago and added it (£7.34/month) - was told I can cancel it, not in a contract for it. I rebooted my phone and saw that I received an message on the e-mail part of my phone saying the Blackberry service has been activated. I went to the setup wizard to set up e-mail, but I still only see the 'Blackberry enterprise server' e-mail setup option...not personal one. Do I have to change anything else to be able to access this?

I have also gone to my downloads folder and clicked on the Google App. I get a screen saying 'finishing installation', but get an error message about 10 seconds later which says that the app can't connect to the internet. 'Please check network settings and restart'. I've been going through the settings and can't figure it out, as I am able to browser okay.

[MidnightDraven]

Go here:
https://bis.eu.blackberry.com/html?brand=tmobileuk
Setup email here.

Does it say GPRS/gprs or 3G/3g at the top right?

[Quackington]

Thanks, just set up my Gmail address

It says GPRS - I don't think I can get it to say 3G, this is the Curve 8900.

[MidnightDraven]

Oh yeh! lol sorry forgot that.
Ok, then data should be working.
If not, then go back to the page I sent you, log in, go to help on the left hand side and click the resend service books button.
If data still isnt working, call t-mobile back, ask for Technical support and talk to them.

[Quackington]

Thanks once again for your help.

Data is working...but not for certain apps. My e-mail is all connected now, and works fine. I have downloaded AIM and have logged on, no problems. I downloaded the Google and GMail apps for BB, but both of them have connection issues. With the Gmail app, I get the following message:

This program requires a working data connection. Please check your signal strength and connection settings and the restart the application.

I know my data connection is perfectly alright though. I tried T-Mobile, but they tell me they can't help because it's a Google app and they only provide support for this on Google phones :-/ Is there some kind of application permission setting that I can amend? I recall seeing an option to edit application permissions somewhere, but not sure where exactly.

Thanks

[MidnightDraven]

possibly.
check options - advanced - applications
highlight the app, click menu - edit permissions
change connections to ALLOW.
then try.

[Quackington]

Hmmm...

I tried running the Google App again a little while ago, and a prompt came up saying I needed to change permissions. I allowed everything, and it's working now. I can't get the GMail app to do the same though - it still gives me that error message, despite changing the permissions in the settings. I have tried accessing GMail through the Google app, but it tries to run GMail and I get the same issue. Any other possible solutions?

Also, I have downloaded BB App World, and have tried to run it, but get the following message:

Upgrade your service to a plan that includes browsing and discover... etc. etc.

I have the BIS enables and have unlimited browsing on my plan. I don't understand why it wouldn't work...unless the App Store hasn't been enabled for UK users?

Thanks