It’s been a good few months now since I switched from using a dual SIM Samsung phone to a Blackberry. I decided to jump onto the Blackberry wagon when Digi introduced their new BlackBerry plan. Suffice to say, I’ve been very impressed.
Here’s why:
- The speakerphone on the Blackberry Curve 8520 is amazing. I do a lot of work in conference calls and often have to talk to clients while I am at home or on the move. The beauty about the speakerphone on this device is that it is crisp and clear as well as extremely loud. I can put it on my desk and talk as per normal. This is a huge difference over my old Samsung D880 which didn’t have a good speakerphone.
- Being able to access my email over the phone has been a tremendous liberating experience. I used to think that BlackBerrys tend to destroy your work life balance. However, this phone has enabled me to be far more mobile that I had originally imagined. I get my mail seamlessly delivered (via the BlackBerry Internet Service) and can work from anywhere.
- Easy switching between Wifi and GSM connections has also been sweet while I have been away. It’s fairly easy to switch between the platforms and while you’re travelling avoids unnecessary expensive roaming data charges.
- Extremely good integration with Google Mobile Sync. Specifically what I like is the ability to synchronize my contacts with Google Contacts and Google Calendar. This is an awesome feature to have especially when shit hits the fan and your old phone is lost. For example, when my Samsung phone was corrupted, there was no way to retrieve my settings. With Google Mobile Sync, my contacts are synchronized every 2 hours and I know that if I ever lose my phone, I’ll be able to download a new contacts list in 5 minutes.
- It just works. I’ve used Windows Mobile phones and even a Symbian phone because and nothing defines
There is one thing however, that irritates me.
- The BlackBerry Internet Service has horrible support for the IMAP protocol. Services like Fastmail.fm for example, won’t work well because BIS has a broken implementation of IMAP to encourage enterprises to deploy the BlackBerry Enterprise Server .
In summary, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is an awesome phone. It’s extremely value for money, even if it does not have 3G support.