Question About Getting a BlackBerry

[Ro_Laren]

I have had the same cell phone with Verizon since 2005 and thought I might get an upgrade. They have a program where you can get a new $100 cell phone every two years if you renew your contract. Now I am a bare minimum cell phone customer- I only pay for 450 minutes a month, barely text, don't send photos or access the internet, download music, etc. However, I saw that I can get a BlackBerry for free... so why get the cheapy phone for free if I can get a nice one?!?!

Anywho, I have some questions about BlackBerries (or BlackBerrys or BlackBerrie's). If I am doing some bare minimum call plan (meaning I don't want to access the internet, GPS, etc), I don't have to pay any additional fee just to have the honor of owning a BlackBerry do I? Also, in all of the reviews of the different BlackBerries (or BlackBerrys or BlackBerrie's) the reviewers always say that their phones have a poor battery life. Have you found this to be the case? The battery on my current phone only lasts like 30 minutes if I am lucky and I don't want to replace that phone with another phone with crappy battery life. Also, do you find that the screen of this phone gets scratched a lot? That kinda scares me!

 

[Sledder]

I've got a Blackberry Pearl and I love the phone, works great and the battery life is good. I don't know about your provider but you can get the phone up here with basic plans but I'm not sure why you would get a Blackberry and not get email on it.

Mine has taken a lot of abuse and the screen looks fine, doesn't scratch very easily at all.

Hope that helps

 

[John Picard]

You sound like myself, Ro. It's for making a phone call. I bought a Nokia phone after my last free upgrade (an LG flip phone) turned out to be such a turd. $100 out of my pocket and it's my primary telephone. Upgrading every couple of years is (IMHO) ridiculous.

 

[Candlelight]

My Blackberry Curve has a nice protective case which due to a #$%@^&-up design flaw already has cracks in it. Still, great phone, using the qwerty keyboard is fun, having my texts, work email and gmail all in one place is great, plus the net if I need it.

The battery on my phone lasts five days. I don't know what that reviewer is talking about.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

I don't see the point in getting a Blackberry if all you're going to do is make calls. The phone is capable of doing so much more. It'd be like buying all of the gear you'd need to play a full blown game of baseball, but then just playing catch with one friend. I have a Curve and use all of the functions (GPS, email, texting, organization) so it's well worth the money for me. Also, I don't know about Verizon but some carriers require you to be on a data plan in order to activate a Blackberry.

 

[Timby]

Also, I don't know about Verizon but some carriers require you to be on a data plan in order to activate a Blackberry.

I've never heard of a carrier denying a customer the purchase / activation of a BlackBerry due to not purchasing a data plan ... but it is common to tie the phone's purchase rebate (usually at least in the $100 range) to a data plan.

 

[cultcross]

If I may say so, it seems a bit redundant to get a Blackberry and not have at least email on it - the sort of 'all round life organiser' thing is the point of that sort of device. If you just want a phone that phones, there are better 'higher end' options out there that maybe wouldn't be as cumbersome as a Blackberry.

 

[Ro_Laren]

I don't see the point in getting a Blackberry if all you're going to do is make calls. The phone is capable of doing so much more. It'd be like buying all of the gear you'd need to play a full blown game of baseball, but then just playing catch with one friend. I have a Curve and use all of the functions (GPS, email, texting, organization) so it's well worth the money for me. Also, I don't know about Verizon but some carriers require you to be on a data plan in order to activate a Blackberry.

Well I want to get a new phone 'cause mine has lots of scratches on it. Plus it needs a new battery (I know I could always buy one, but what is the point when I can get a brand new phone for free?). Anyways, why shouldn't I get a BlackBerry even if I don't want to take advantage of all of its functions? It is like being offered a free car, but since you don't drive a lot choosing the Kia over the BMW. Why get a free crappy phone, when I can get a much nicer one?

 

[Arrqh]

Why get a free crappy phone, when I can get a much nicer one?

How about getting a nicer phone that isn't designed for something else? Just because smartphones and Blackberries have more features then a normal phone doesn't mean that they're better and the normal ones are crappy.

Personally, I'd probably get a smartphone or Blackberry unless I actually planned to use some of their features on a regular basis... otherwise I think one would just get bogged down. As an example, most Blackberries have a full keyboard. If you don't actually need the keyboard then you're essentially sacrificing a smaller form factor of the phone for something that you don't need. If you're just using it to make phone calls, you're also sacrificing ease of use because you're going to have to deal with the interface that was designed to do other things then just phone calls. Battery life is another thing... why get a phone or Blackberry with a big color touchscreen, for example, when a more traditional phone with a smaller screen will use less juice?

If you're set on getting something just because it looks cool... well, I can't fault you there. I almost did the same thing last week. But there's plenty of good and cool looking phones that you can get, so if you want something cool why limit yourself just at Blackberries and run the risk that something like the full keyboard will eventually just annoy you?

 

[RoJoHen]

I don't see the point in getting a Blackberry if all you're going to do is make calls. The phone is capable of doing so much more. It'd be like buying all of the gear you'd need to play a full blown game of baseball, but then just playing catch with one friend. I have a Curve and use all of the functions (GPS, email, texting, organization) so it's well worth the money for me. Also, I don't know about Verizon but some carriers require you to be on a data plan in order to activate a Blackberry.

Well I want to get a new phone 'cause mine has lots of scratches on it. Plus it needs a new battery (I know I could always buy one, but what is the point when I can get a brand new phone for free?). Anyways, why shouldn't I get a BlackBerry even if I don't want to take advantage of all of its functions? It is like being offered a free car, but since you don't drive a lot choosing the Kia over the BMW. Why get a free crappy phone, when I can get a much nicer one?

Hey, if it's free, I say go for it. I had a Blackjack for a while that I used solely for calls and text messages. It could do a lot more, but I didn't feel like paying for the data plan. It worked fine as just a phone.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

I don't see the point in getting a Blackberry if all you're going to do is make calls. The phone is capable of doing so much more. It'd be like buying all of the gear you'd need to play a full blown game of baseball, but then just playing catch with one friend. I have a Curve and use all of the functions (GPS, email, texting, organization) so it's well worth the money for me. Also, I don't know about Verizon but some carriers require you to be on a data plan in order to activate a Blackberry.

Well I want to get a new phone 'cause mine has lots of scratches on it. Plus it needs a new battery (I know I could always buy one, but what is the point when I can get a brand new phone for free?). Anyways, why shouldn't I get a BlackBerry even if I don't want to take advantage of all of its functions? It is like being offered a free car, but since you don't drive a lot choosing the Kia over the BMW. Why get a free crappy phone, when I can get a much nicer one?

Well for one thing, you can always get one of the free phones that *doesn't* suck. And somehow I don't feel the BMW/Kia analogy is quite accurate. It'd be more like choosing between a Kia and...an M1 Abrams. The would be so much on that phone that would be going to waste that it just doesn't seem practical.

Also remember, with the free phones you still pay sales tax. So you'd be paying tax on the full price of the Blackberry, which is probably around the ballpark of $500-600.

 

[An Officer]

The hardware is rather poor quality from what I've seen, and do you really want to have a Paris Hilton phone?

 

[LaxScrutiny]

I saw a cheap Nokia in the 7/11 that didn't do photos or play music or anything else, but it had a built in flashlight, and I though "That would be handier than anything else I've seen..."

Right now I have a Motorola that is built to Mil Spec, it works in -40 temps (which actually applies to me outside in winter at times) you can drop it down the stairs and it is fine, there was a promotional video when it came out where they run it over with a truck and it still works. You can leave it outside sitting in the rain for half and hour and it is fine. It has a built in 2 way radio that works with other Motorola's with the same feature. I keep meaning to get my daughter one, but I keep forgetting and putting it off. The 2 way would work even if there is a blackout and cell service is cut off, with a 5 mile range.

I use it to make calls, and occasional (once or twice a week) texts. The only thing I'd appreciate about a Blackberry or similar is the keyboard, I might text more and call less, although that would mean adding a $5 increase to my bill for the unlimited texting feature. So i would pay more to type the same thing instead of saying it... hmmm...

 

[Small White Car]

Anyways, why shouldn't I get a BlackBerry even if I don't want to take advantage of all of its functions? It is like being offered a free car, but since you don't drive a lot choosing the Kia over the BMW. Why get a free crappy phone, when I can get a much nicer one?

No, it's like being offered one of 2 free cars, a pickup truck and a sports car. The pickup truck gets worse gas milage but you can haul a lot of stuff in it.

Then you say, "I never haul stuff, but I'll take the pickup truck anyway."

Why wouldn't you pick the smaller car with better millage life if you're not going to use the one advantage the truck has?

Regular phones are often smaller and have better battery life than Smart Phones. People are willing to give those things up in order to get web and e-mail on a BB. You're willing to give those things up but then get nothing in exchange for it. Why do it?

 

[RoJoHen]

Anyways, why shouldn't I get a BlackBerry even if I don't want to take advantage of all of its functions? It is like being offered a free car, but since you don't drive a lot choosing the Kia over the BMW. Why get a free crappy phone, when I can get a much nicer one?

No, it's like being offered one of 2 free cars, a pickup truck and a sports car. The pickup truck gets worse gas milage but you can haul a lot of stuff in it.

Then you say, "I never haul stuff, but I'll take the pickup truck anyway."

Why wouldn't you pick the smaller car with better millage life if you're not going to use the one advantage the truck has?

Regular phones are often smaller and have better battery life than Smart Phones. People are willing to give those things up in order to get web and e-mail on a BB. You're willing to give those things up but then get nothing in exchange for it. Why do it?

Yeah, this is definitely a better car comparison.

Just because the Blackberries are more expensive does not mean they are better machines. They do a lot of extra stuff, but if you're not going to use that stuff, it's silly to own one. There are a lot of very nice cellphones out there. I suggest shopping around.

 

[Ro_Laren]

Why don't you guys like my car analogy? *LOL*

Well, it doesn't matter anyways. I went to Verizon's web-site and if I got a BlackBerry then I have to pay for a minium $30 a month data plan. No thanks!!!

 

[Star Wolf]

The hardware is rather poor quality from what I've seen, and do you really want to have a Paris Hilton phone?

She changed her phone? I normally come her on the original Paris Hilton phone and one worry is if you don't purchase the plan you may be tempted to use that technology, and then it will be at the per minute price instead of the flat rate plan. You end up like parents who buy their kids the cut rate plan only to be presented with a million dollar bill from their child's text messages.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Why don't you guys like my car analogy? *LOL*

Well, it doesn't matter anyways. I went to Verizon's web-site and if I got a BlackBerry then I have to pay for a minimum $30 a month data plan. No thanks!!!

Hmm...I seem to remember someone mentioning that most carriers require a data plan.



Like I said upthread though, you also would have ended up paying a lot in taxes on the phone.

 

[Starbreaker]

Why don't you guys like my car analogy? *LOL*

Well, it doesn't matter anyways. I went to Verizon's web-site and if I got a BlackBerry then I have to pay for a minium $30 a month data plan. No thanks!!!

It's not the same with AT&T. I was so !@#$ing pissed. It's not even unlimited usage either.