I was thinking about writing this blog entry this afternoon, and then by an amazing coincidence Ed Brill penned 30 days with the BlackBerry Bold. However, whereas Ed’s love affair continues, mine is coming to an end. Sadly, following our joint customer event, I have to give the Bold back to RIM. They’re not the villains, I have to tell you… the Bold is in such demand that RIM themselves are experiencing supply problems internally. Judging by the number of people I’ve seen carrying Bolds on the train and around London, I can understand why. And I can understand why people want them… this is a gorgeous device. A crisp, clear screen, an easy-to-use keyboard and an excellent user interface.
Another coincidence was that today I received a BlackBerry Curve (8310 for model number freaks) – this was my choice to replace the 8800 as part of the network switch-over at work. A Bold wasn’t one of the options (huh, typical), it was a Curve, an 8800 or a Pearl. Having used an 8800 for 18 months, I selected the Curve.
I’m setting it up now, it’s SIM-less at the moment but it’ll go live some time tomorrow. First impressions… very light, smaller than the Bold and 8800, a good keyboard, a nice screen, but overall not a patch on the Bold. I’ve just upgraded the Curve to OS 4.5, and deselected the horrible Vodafone theme, which makes it several times better than it was out of the box.
If I’d never seen a Bold I’d be very happy with the Curve… but I have, so…
Darren, I’m feeling the pain too. I switched from my Bold to the Curve last night… the Curve’s nice but it ain’t a touch on the Bold…
Curve Schmurve! I’ve had one for a year or so, and it’s nowhere near as relaible as the old 8800. Occasional sticky keyboard and problems with the little toggly-nipply thing (scroll down, no scroll up!) and now an intermittent problem with the phone. Phone rings, I answer the call, and the Speakerphone turns on automatically (embarasing if you’re at work and it’s an irate Mrs. L moaning about my inability to carry out some task that is currently deemed to be important). At this point the handset locks – none of the keys work, the only way to shut it off is to remove the battery!
No new Blackberry’s for us for 3 months, so I am now wondering about getting a Nokia and using Traveler…
John, I refuse to believe there’s any task that you couldn’t carry out. The woman must be mad.
😉