BlackBerry Curve 8900 Reviewed; Has me Thinking

curve1

Lately, I’ve been feeling dissatisfied by my first-gen iPhone. I can’t put my finger on the malaise, though. Maybe it’s due to having the same phone for over 18 months now. I still like the user interface immensely, but I’m slowly starting to search around for a new handset. Just testing the waters, as they say.

I often get e-mails telling me that I should switch to a RIM device. Oh, you readers know who you are, so I won’t call you out by name. ;) All joking aside, I appreciate that feedback and opinion. And maybe some of you got to me: I just read Gizmodo’s first-impressions of the BlackBerry Curve 8900. Note: I didn’t scan it through RSS, like I often do as the result of time constraints. Nope, I really read it. (Twice, in fact!) Enough for me to start outlining my thought process on if it, or another BlackBerry, is in my future.

For starters, my current phone account is on AT&T’s network and due to Barb’s iPhone, I’m unlikely to change carriers. The 8900 is coming first to T-Mobile, although Giz has had an AT&T-branded model since October of last year.

I like the impressions I’ve read about the keyboard and the screen. In fact, the 480×360 display seems to be a killer feature, but I worry about the physical smallness of it. I’m fairly used to the larger display on my iPhone at this point. The lack of 3G is almost a deal-breaker for me as well. No, I don’t have 3G on my current iPhone, but at this point any upgrade for me should have the fast wireless WAN connectivity.

The Bold might be a better option for me since it addresses the 3G concern and is already available on AT&T’s network. Om loves his Bold, although he’s already chomping at the bit to switch to the 8900. I’ll have to dig deeper into the web browsing experience since I use my current handset with the web very often. In fact, web surfing is probably the number one activity on my iPhone. Too bad there’s not a mobile version of Wakoopa to tell me for sure!

E-mail is certainly important as well, and RIM devices traditionally excel at that. I’m getting by OK with my iPhone and two Gmail accounts for now. A better experience here would be nice, but it’s not the sole driver for a new handset for me. I’m still going to kick the idea of a BlackBerry around. As nice as the 8900 looks, the lack of 3G is hard for me to overlook.

Slideout keyboard

Slideout keyboard

The other play here is to wait for the Palm Pre, of course. With the Mozilla-based WebKit browser and 3G connectivity, my number one need would likely be met very well. It too offers a large screen but adds the convenience of a slide-out keyboard; something I truly appreciated on my old Verizon XV6700 device.

Would I switch to Sprint simply to use the Pre? Perhaps. I’m expecting that we’ll hear more about GSM versions of the Pre at Mobile World Congress next month. That may give me more time to think about my plans while I wait for AT&T to get the Pre. I believe that Sprint has a 90-day exclusive on the Pre, and since I liked what I saw in the Pre at CES, I can definitely wait it out. Decisions, decisions. :)

Be sure to check out the hands-on over at Giz if you’re even remotely interested in the BlackBerry Curve 8900. It looks like a contender, depending on your needs of course.

loading

Comments have been disabled for this post