| My Review on the Curve 8900
I just recently bought the Curve 8900 using AT&T’s service. Until now, I have been using the Curve 8330 on Sprint’s service. I’m here to tell you about the pros and cons with the 8900 from a non techy point of view.
Firs t of all let me tell you I am a true Blackberry fanatic. I might not utilize each and every feature, like some power users do, but I think that I use the average that a normal person would. When I first picked up my 8900 at the local Radio Shack, I fell in love. Ok, well maybe not in love, but in lust? I had that baby in my hands finally. I was torn between this phone and the Bold. I decided on this phone because of the smaller size. I didn’t want to feel like I was carrying around a brick. Ok, so now I got sidetracked. Back to the 8900. So I chose the 8900 and now I finally had it in my hands. It was a bit heavier then my previous Curve 8330 but it was thinner and it felt solid in my hands. It was a good start. Then I turned it on. Wow! The screen is amazing. So clear! The resolution on it…OMG! It was like using a real computer, not a phone. This really impressed me. It really did. I was all giddy now.
So then I started to play with the phone itself. It really has some great features. First, the memory. This is the first thing that I looked at. It feels like I have unlimited memory. Coming from the Curve 8330, the free space has tripled. Don’t get me wrong, the 8330 has a huge memory improvement over the regular 8300’s or even the Pearls, but this amount of free memory is staggering. It impressed me! I’m thinking that I can download anything and everything that I could possibly want now, and I will! Now just to find all the apps I want.
Next, I make sure that I have all my icons where I want them and start playing with the apps the phone comes with. I have to turn on the media player. Now let me tell you, I am impressed with the sound that comes out of this little phone. The sound is clear and the volume can be raised to as loud as I like it. I mean, my husband was able to hear the song in the kitchen while I was in the living room. Mind you, the rooms aren’t on separate floors but there all walls in between them. The volume and clarity on this phone is so much better than the 8330. To me, the volume rocks.
Now on to the camera! Besides being a 3.2 mp camera. It has autofocus!! This is incredible to me. The pictures come out clear!! No blurriness (now this is a huge issue for me). I have yet to download the pictures to my computer, but from what I can tell, they are very sharp and clear. I’m actually pretty happy with the camera.
The browser is next. This is a very important feature for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I have just used the regular Blackberry browser. I haven’t downloaded Opera Mini or Bolt yet because I actually am used to the regular browser and I like it. I just love being able to use Wi-Fi, the pages load so much more quickly. On my 8330, there is no Wi-Fi, so this feature was a big bonus to me. Even when using the regular EDGE network, I’m not finding that it’s that much slower, but the Wi-Fi is a vast improvement. And I can’t forget about YouTube. It actually works, and fills out the entire screen, unlike on my 8330. I’m going to be watching a lot of Jeff Dunham videos in bed now. LOL.
So now I’ve been playing with the phone all night, and I’m having a little problem. The trackball doesn’t seem to be scrolling smoothly all of a sudden. I’m scared at this point. What did I do? I yell for the hubby! He comes a running. (Ok, not a running….more of a slow walk.) LOL. I hand him the phone and ask him to scroll. He does and he’s now agreeing with me. I’m now sad at this point. If it’s doing this after only a couple of hours, what will it be doing in 6 months? I now go Googling and see what I can come up with. Googling really does work. Now, not only did I find all sorts of posting about the trackball problem, I come up with tons of other stuff that could possibly be wrong with my new baby. This might not be a good thing!
After reading all the different posts about the trackball issue, I decide to give it a few days to see if it loosens up. It doesn’t so off to Radio Shack I go back. No problems there. The switch it out for a new phone! I walk out of the store extremely happy. The trackball is soooooooo much smoother. It’s actually glides. I’m ecstatic!
Ok, so I think I got a little sidetracked. Let me get back to my review. Now I don’t know if this part of my review has to do with the 8900 or AT&T, but I seem to get more dropped calls with the AT&T service then I did with Sprint. I need to do some side by side comparisons with a non 8900 on AT&T’s network to see if it’s the phone or the service provider in my area. I have to grab my mom’s dumb phone to test out this theory. I’ll post another article when I do my testing! But in the meantime, I’m running all around my town yelling into my wonderful 8900, “Can you hear me now?” Ok it’s not that bad, but I thought that would be an amusing vision.
The volume on the phone is pretty good. I can hear the person I am talking to with no problems, and according to the people on the other end, they can hear me just fine. Now for the ringtones. Very loud and very clear. I have a ringtone set and I can tell you, when my phone is ringing in the other room, I can actually hear it! Thumbs up for the speaker!!
Ok, all in all I actually love my new 8900. It does have a few drawbacks but the positive outweighs the negative. It’s a great phone with a great screen for browsing and watching videos and then for doing all the normal things a Blackberry does. I recommend this phone to anyone who is looking to upgrade and wants a sleek, sexy phone!!!
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