Jamz3k

Well I did something stupid today and walked into a phoneshop and totally lost my ambitions of no longer having a contract phone. I would like a blackberry and it seems i can get a 8520 for £20 per month on a contract that would suit me fine or the 8900 for £25pm although I really think i could get it for £20pm if i pushed them.

So what are the pro's and con's of each.

bigsinky

wrong one. 9700 is where its at my man

Jamz3k

Can't justify the 9700 mate, for all i use a mobile it would be overly expensive per month.

bigsinky

then the 8900 is the better phone. more memory, better camera.

Jamz3k

just been checking on Phones4U's website, apparently I can get the 9700 with 300/unlimited texts and Internet for £25. Thats quite very good!

What makes the 9700 so much better compared to the 8900?

bigsinky

more memory, and faster. will operate the new operatring system 6 when its released later this year. post me the link for the £25 per month tarriff. who is that with. my taffif is 40 for 600 mins unlimited txt and free internet. it the provide 3 or orange?

Jamz3k

Just rereading over it, i failed the "reading all the info" test

http://www.phones4u.co.uk/shop/shop_...4749&NetKey=11

"Unlimited Email and Data browsing + Unlimited access to over 7,500 hotspots through BT Openzone & The Cloud WiFi"

bigsinky

thats not a blackberry tarriff mate

bigsinky

you need Blackberry Internet Services tagged on to your tarriff as well.

alloy

just got the 9700 on 02 18mth contract 600 cross network minutes, unlimited texts and the full data package for £30 a month! good deal in my eyes

Snazy

My turn lol

A middle man will give you a 9700 on a reasonable tariff for £20 a month, with the network direct more like 25 a month.

As for the comparisons...

In order of preference.... 9700, 8520, 8900.
Touchpad is a nice thing to use and makes the ball seen crap and cumbersom once you have used a trackpad.
Camera on the 8900 is better than the 8520 for sure, as is the screen resolution. So that really gives it the edge on the 8520, but not to my liking still lol.

Ultimatly as the Stink says, 9700 is where its at. All 3 have 256mb and all 3 can and do run OS5.

The Curves have a different style keyboard to the Bolds, which some people dont get on with. Took me a while.

Either way you will indeed need BIS with whatever tariff you get. Some providers include this in some tariffs, like Orange with Panther.
I have all 3 handsets, so if you want to know anything specific, just say

End of the day though, to answer the initial question, 9700 wins hands down. Even though it was not in contention originally lol

Snazy

A few options here.
http://www.bestdealsmobile.co.uk/mob...blackberry9700

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

the 8900 and 8520 I believe are not 3G - they only do EDGE.

Nothing major but when you do a lot of downloading, youtube or downloading of attachments on your Berry - trust me, it makes all the difference.

I have the original 9000 Bold and it's still going strong and still fetches a fair price on the 2nd hand market

8520 is the simplified version of the BB for mass-market kiddie appeal IMHO

Petem95

The 8900 has GPS, a 3.2mp camera instead of a 2.0 but otherwise no major differences. The 8520 does lose the annoying tracker ball which is replaced by a little pad which is much nicer to use - and I expect newer versions of the 8900 will get this.

I'd choose the 8900 just because the GPS feature could potentially be handy for street directions when walking say in central London, but not a massive plus really.

As it happens I've got an 8520 waiting for me in the office. We're replacing our BB Pearls with 8900 or 8520's and it's hit and miss which model you get. I would've prefered the 8900.

Snazy

I dont actually find the GPS a massive plus tbh, the cell site is enough to get you a local map on google or BB maps and from that you can easily make the directions you need.

lol im sure you agree anything is a good boost from a Pearl. As for the 8520's place. Its the direct replacement to the 8320, not meant to be in the same league as the 8900.

Downsides for the 8520 to me are lack of flash, and lower res screen.
It is indeed without 3G but an EDGE connection is actually rather impressive when available.

Personally though as a private customer I would happily pay a couple of quid a month extra to get the 9700 over any of the above.
Trackpad, 3G, GPS, a flash, OS5 (soon to be 6) great build quality etc

Jamescsti

I own a 8900 too,
My advice is definately get the 9700 if you can, technically the 8900 is better thatn the 8520 but the track pad on the 8520 is better than the trackball of the 8900 which can stick from time to time

Snazy

Wondered when you would pop up lol.
Personally I would not get a new 8900 now as most networks are dropping them.

9700 or bust!

Adrian F

I have just had my work berry replaced as i have had a new one bought for me the previous had no camera but did have a tracker ball so which ever model but i found the keyboard really difficult to read as the letters and numbers appeared to merge every time i glanced at the phone so i couldnt type quickly

i now have tracker ball and 3.2m camera so assume 8900 and the red numbers on the keys with the qwerty letters in white is much easier to read but i would make sure you get on with the keypad before buying.

I have also recently bought a Motorola Milestone as my personal phone with a slide out keyboard and i dont like that as it is still full of bugs and the touch screen is very poor so be very carefully about what you choose.

Snazy

I have to say going from an 8320 to an 8520 to a 9700, and using an 8900 during this time, I have found the appearances of the keyboards getting worse.
I agree the Curve 8900 is the the best of the bunch, well second to the 8320 which was well thought out and appeared well.
The 8520 improved the side buttons which was thankfully carried over to the 9700, but I STILL dont like the numbers and letters on the numerical part of the keypad being all white and on the same colour background. A cockup if you ask me.

I also use a MotoDEXT, with full qwerty, and while I get on with it, I dont like the shape of the buttons one bit.
Remember, the Bold's have a sort of "all in one" keyboard, with raised sections to distinguish them. The Curve's have completely seperate keys. Both are fine to use, but personal preference is Curve.

Jamz3k

Well i'm in a fighting mood today, so I may be coming home today with a 9700 What do you think my chances are of getting a 9700 over 24 with 100mins a few texts and BIS for £20?

Snazy

Well you can get that online, so worth trying to battle it out instore I guess. Not sure you will get it quite that low, but Orange seem to have the best deals atm. http://www.bestdealsmobile.co.uk/mob...blackberry9700
Like I said before though, even £25 a month makes it worth it, but if you only need a little talk plan, its well worth a shot.

Good luck, and if you have any questions there are plenty of us about that can help

Jamz3k

Couldn't get them down to £20 no matter how i tried and as i know the *real* price of the 9700 from working for Vodafone, i kinda understand why.

But I got one anyway! Just getting her charged and then I'll have a wee play!

Snazy

Aaah Voda, says it all lol
Yup not a cheap handset at all, how much did you end up committing to?
Share than PIN when you are up and running and we can annoy the hell out of you lol And of course help and get you up and running lol

Welcome to the minority.

Jamz3k

Went with o2 and got 300mins unlimited text and Data useage for £25. Got the phone for free as I gave them my old one (they wanted £100 in store for the phone) I got £20 on a prepay credit card to spend, a car charge and a pack of skins to try and keep it scratch free!

Overall I'm pretty happy even though i didn't get the exact deal i was after but I had it in my head i was coming home with a phone regardless.

Phones4U were actually very nice to deal with too!

Snazy

lol as per my earlier post, I would say the extra fiver is well justified, and seems like an alright tariff too anyway. Good little goodies pack too, get a screen protector on, NOW !! lol
If you need anything, any hints or help etc give me a shout
I dont use a case on my 9700 as its pretty robust, I just protect the screen. Keeps the phone less chunky lol.
Get that BBM set up and loading up the must have apps

Jamz3k

I'll send ya a PM with my PIN onit!
What App's are worth having?
Just ordered some screen protectors off Ebay!

Jamescsti

Still lurking on here mate, got an Xbox 360 now though to waste my time with! lol

Jamz3k

Whoop whoop this mobile internet aint bad at all!

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Not sure if you can but try sign up for the Telmap 5 beta for free Sat nav. Works well.

http://www.telmap.com/tmug

Edit: or register with this link.

http://global.telmap.com/tugpcbeta/

TIP: you have to disable predictive text to be able to type in Telmap.

Snazy

I get them from ebay too, 6 for about 2 quid lol.
PM me that PIN then. We can chat on there rather than upsetting apple people
As for apps, the list is on another thread but there are a few good ones.

GoogleMaps
GoogleSync
BerryBuzz
Snaptu
Poynt
BeeJive
SmartBBattery
Shazam

Then there are themes, OS's etc lol

Aaaah wondered where you had got to lol. Xbox ya saddo!

its not too bad