Blackberry - Curve 8330 Cell Phone Review

I recently upgraded to the Blackberry Curve 8330. This is my first experience with a smartphone. After considering the iPhone (service provider and total touch bothered me) and the Blackberry Storm (total touch and in-store testing did not like) I went with this phone. It can be a bit overwhelming at first...trying to find simple things such as how to change the various alert sound options (ringtones, email, messaging, etc) was not the easiest thing compared to "regular" phones. Also, additional cost required (Data plan is a must and with most carriers costs more). At first I thought that Blackberry's had features useless to me...I have never been a fan of using the internet on a cellphone and I didn't have a need for push email access. But I discovered that internet use on this phone is much better than others I have experienced...and it makes me use more than I could have imagined. It came in especially handy during one of the extremely severe weather situations that we have had recently. I was able to keep up to date with weather radars for my area and new warnings once the power went out in the house. Another "plus" is the Blackberry Messenger feature. It allows you to have "conversations" with other Blackberry users without using your text message plan allowance. For some people this is cost saving if they don't subscribe to unlimited text plans or only have a low plan.

A few issues I have noticed are more preference things versus real problems with the phone. I like to "lock" some of my text messages that I want to keep permanently yet I don't see this as an option. User error during the learning curve time period can also cause huge headaches. My erro caused my phone to wipe all of the data clear as a security measure...which meant that my phone book contacts were also deleted. This isn't a big deal if you had the chance to back it up via the DeskTop Manager on a computer or if your contacts are all located on your computer in MS Outlook, but for me this was not the case. Also, if you use Windows Vista you may have trouble syncing your contacts since Vista uses Windows Mail instead of MS Outlook (Outlook is not installed on Vista no matter what type of MS Office suite you use). So far my research has not found an answer for this "issue".

I personally have not had an issue with battery life, but I am in no way a "heavy" user. Although many complain about it's battery life I have found that I can go 2-3 days between charges with no problem. Once I get out of the "new toy" phase I may get better battery life since I won't be constantly playing with it to learn new things.

Overall, I like the Blackberry Curve although I admit that there is still a lot for me to learn.