It’s been about a month now since my cell phone upgrade and when looking at which way to go, my main choices were between Blackberry, iPhone and an Android device – I went with the latter.
The reason for my choice was fairly simple:
1) iPhone was too expensive, and;
2) Blackberry was slow.
My Blackberry Bold 9000 (which I moved away from) was a good device at the time of purchase, and I was more than happy to stay with Blackberry. They are simple and they work. And who can look past the fact that the Blackberry server which gives us unlimited device browsing and mail for less than R60 pm, no matter what network you are on?
If I am honest I would’ve like to stay with BB, but this thing of them being slow was really a problem for me. My new device is Red Bull Mobile HD (which is actually a Huawei U8800) and although it is somewhat of an entry-level Smartphone, the specifications are better than any BB that I could find at the time. This was somewhat of a bug for me (read my review on Android to see what my major issue is).
Well it now seems, (albeit a bit late for my upgrade) that Blackberry has gotten the picture in terms of upgrading their hardware (they have used the same CPU for almost 2 years…). The new Bold 9930 has stepped up their game quite a bit with its 8GB of storage, 768MB of RAM and a 1.2GHz CPU it seems to be something of a contender in the field of Smartphone – yes I know it is not Galaxy S II, but those specs aren’t half bad to say the least.
A few other important features include the 5 megapixel camera which can record at 720p as well as the 2.8” 640×480 (no real improvement) touch screen.
If Blackberry can keep up with the hardware upgrading they have started, they might just be able to take back some of the global market they have lost to both iOS and Android. (Secretly I’m rooting for you BB).
To be honest, the blackberies are great phones and their unlimited data usage and blackberry messenger integration have made them quite possibly the best mobile for standard cellphone users in SA. Techies however will probably always settle for Android. I personally recently purchased a Windows Phone 7 device (would definitely not recommend unless you intend to develop for the platform).
Blackberies are by far the best option though for standard mobile users, much to my anger as noone seems to want to spend money sending me SMS’ anymore
I do agree Wessel! What they do, they do well. I guess since they are also a business focused phone, the fact that they dont have the greatest hardware is not such an issue – BB users wont really going to be playing those hardware intensive games on them!