So, after hearing all the buzz about the BlackBerry I decided to take the plunge and decided to buy one. I wanted a low cost model, just in case if it all turned out to be a big mistake. I bought the 8520 knowing that it was positioned at the lowest end and my expectations were really low. Boy was I in for a big surprise.
Anyway I want this to be a review and do not want to sound like a BlackBerry fanboy. So I’m gonna list out all the good and not so good aspects of this phone. Now, I’m new to BlackBerry’s, so this review is not limited to the particular phone. It also includes my observations about the platform as well.
First the phone:
Looks:
The looks of the phone is somewhat laid back. The images don’t do it justice. In real life this phone is really shiny and a fingerprint and smudge magnet. You will be wiping it on a regular basis to make it clean as the smudges are very clearly visible on the shiny surface. It lacks the bling of the higher end BlackBerry phones. But the design is functional and not in danger of being called ugly.
Keypad: The qwerty keypad takes some getting used to. I used a touch screen Windows Mobile device before and I was typing slower on my BlackBerry than even on my oh-so-slow Windows Phone. But get used to the keypad and you will find it the best, I repeat, the best keypad you have ever used - on a phone that is.
Screen: Screen is good with bright colors and great brightness. The resolution is a lowly 320x240. But that is acceptable considering it’s price. The light sensor has a mind of it’s own though. It dims screen and brightens it up whenever, well, it feels like it. Thankfully the sensor can be completely turned off. But this will definitely hit the battery life.
Call/Signal Quality: Nothing to complain. The phone maintains good signal strength like most other phones and call quality was good.
Camera: Camera is a non auto focus 2 mega pixel one with a very small but definite shutter lag. Don’t expect your Kodak moments to come from this one. It need proper lighting due to lack of flash. But compared my old HTC, this one is infinitely better. The colors are good enough too.
Performance: The phone is quite snappy in its performance and I did not encounter any significant lags or lockups.
Memory: The on board memory is around 256MB, which is sufficient for installing all the apps. The memory card should take care of your MP3 collection. Speaking of MP3’s, the device also have 3 short cuts keys for media playback on the top. Which I have to admit is very unusual for a BB. This point to the consumer positioning of the phone rather than the hard core business use.
Battery: After making calls for around 40 minutes and surfing the net for about an hour and listening to music for two, the battery lasts for around 1.5 to 2 days. So can’t complain about it.
On on to the OS side of it:BlackBerry is the largest selling smartphone in the US(and the world if I am not mistaken) and it’s easy to see why. The device is a pure joy to use. The navigation is straight forward and quick with teh trackpad. Add to this the various shortcuts that you will discover while using it, and it gets really fast to do any task you can think of. Like, on the home screen you can press B for browser, L for calendar, etc(Note that you need to tweak your settings to enable this). The whole OS, even though it lacks the bling of the new OS’s like the iPhone(What do you call it’s OS anyway?) or Web OS, is very functional and gets the job done in an amazingly straightforward and non-intrusive way.
EMail is what made BB famous. But ironically enough, it should be the last reason why you would buy a BB for personal use. Why? Every other platform has finally cracked the push e-mail puzzle too and it is the least of what your BB can do. But make no mistake, BlackBerry is still the king of messaging and the unified inbox makes it easy to see all your sms, mms, email, IM’s etc on one screen. The only catch is - only new mail is shown on the device, which means when you first configure the device you start with a zero inbox.
3rd party applications are plenty and you should have no trouble finding an application for your needs. Be it Twitter, IM, Facebook, Travel apps, Blogging. The iPhone app store might trump it all, but seriously, how many of those are really useful?
After using the BB for a few day’s I realized why Microsoft, Google/Android, Nokia/Symbian, Palm/WebOS and all others are getting really concerned. I have used Windows Mobile and Symbian and I have to admit that usability wise, the BB OS is light years ahead of both of them. The only other platform which provides the usability of the BB OS is iPhone, and that costs at least twice as much as this particular model and targets an entirely different segment of the market.
Like Windows Mobile and Android, the BB firmware is upgradable. The 8520 is expected to have the new version of the OS(Ver 5) released somewhere near the end of the year.
The BB platform has a few quirks also. The quirks are really strange if you ask me.
You cannot install applications on to memory card(! WHAT? WHY RIM? WHY?)
It takes ages to restart. At my first restart I thought I had managed to brick the phone after only a day. Resorting to the web forums, I realized that there was nothing wrong and the phone takes anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes! to startup depending on the no of applications installed.
The BB makes use of the internet in a very strange way. Strange at least for a non-technical person like me. All the data traffic is routed through RIM’s servers. Now in layman terms, this means that the BB will not work with your regular gprs data plan, it need a’special’ plan called BIS or BlackBerry Internet Service which unfortunately in India costs a lot.
4. No bundled PDF reader. 3rd party apps are available aplenty. But this is a very serious overlook for a business phone. PDF attachments can be viewed on the browser and email though. Still, I miss a dedicated PDF application.
Finally, should you buy a BlackBerry? Depends on what you use your phone for. If you want a stable and productive platform that does not need to be recharged twice a day, go for the BlackBerry. If you slant more towards the entertainment side, you would be better off with an iPhone. Then comes the question - should you buy the 8520? If this is your first BB phone and want to take your baby steps into BB or even smartphone world, go for the 8520. Long time users of the platform and other advanced phones might be disappointed by the lack of 3G, GPS and the basic camera and screen. In that case a higher end BB like the 9700 Bold or the Tour world phone might suit you better.