My first Blackberry Impressions

I wrote a review for my brand-new Blackberry 8830: World Edition on eBay... here are my thoughts:

THE GOOD:

• Open platform: You can easily connect to the phone via USB and transfer over MP3s, Ringtones, Photos, and even Videos.


• Good placement for the Micro SD card, it looks stylish on the back.


• The Scroll-ball is very easy to use and navigate around the device.


• You can run multiple applications at once, and switch between them whenever you'd like.


• Tons of support from 3rd party developers, including: Google Maps, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, ABC News, FOX News, Opera, and even Facebook. Now I just need that Netflix Watch It Now app...


• You can install any number of different themes for your device. Personally, I use the free theme called "bPhone" (an iPhone theme).


• The screen is very crisp, and I have no problem reading the text.


• The number of options available (from font size to how you want your coffee) is daunting at first, but quite nice once you figure everything out.


• PUSH EMAIL! Something the iPhone lacks. You don't have to wait 15 minutes to check your email. When synced up to my Gmail account, I sometimes receives messages on the device before they appear in my Gmail inbox.


• Option to delete email in Gmail inbox when you delete email on device.


• The keys are spaced our far enough for someone with big hands to type, it just takes a bit getting used to having to "shift-click" to enter numbers.


• Tons of built-in shortcuts for nearly everything. Might take some time to learn everything, but comes in very handy down the road.


• Copy. And. Paste.


• Has ability to sync the Blackberry Calendar with your online Google Calendar.


• Access to Verizon Navigator (for $10.00 / month), but can also use the Google Maps, My Location(tm) to guesstimate your location using cell towers.


• It doesn't crash. Ever. Except that one time. Which is a dozen times fewer than the iPhone.


• The amount of emails and text messages you can store on your device is limited only by the available memory. Buy a 4 gigabyte Micro SD card, and you should be good to go for a few years. I recommend eBay.com for that purchase.

THE BAD:

• For some reason dollar sign ($) gets a dedicated key, but period (.) does not.


• The shift-clicking to enter in a number gets tired.


• The available ringtones are not as "loud" as I would like, even on the loudest possible setting. Sometimes I miss calls when the phone is sitting right next to me in the car. Could be my lack of hearing.


• Only has built in 64 megs of memory. You'll need a Micro SD card to do any serious iPod-like listening.


• Due to the microphone placement, and my right-handedness, I appear to sound muffled to most everyone I speak to. It's just the way I hold the phone, as the voice quality is crystal clear on speakerphone, but old habits are hard to change.
  
• No Wi-Fi, so internet access is slow over the Verizon network.
  
• No access to the VCAST Live TV service (which is VERY cool).
  
• When you switch to a new theme, you have to re-order all your icons again, and moving icons around the home screen can be tedious.
  
• Lots of games to choose from (both free and pay to download), but since they are written in Java, they tend not to be as "quick" as more native applications.
  
• No HTML email support, however, a small application (Empower Email, $30.00 download), fixes that issue very well.

THE UGLY:

• When I start typing from the desktop to find a contact, I can call, email, or SMS hem... but for some reason, I cannot edit their contact info. The device forces me to go through the "Address Book" application instead. What the...

Overall, I am satisfied, although I am very curious as to how the rumored Blackberry 9000, featuring a touch-screen, will turn out!