Quick Impressions of my BB Curve
Donald Stidwell
devices, for years. My first PDA was the Palm Pilot Pro and my first
WM device was the H1910. So I expected somewhat of a culture shock
with the Blackberry Curve. It hasn't happened and I'm very comfortable
and happy with the device. I just wanted to share a few quick initial
impressions.
I find that the BB OS is more like Palm than Windows Mobile in its
simplicity and speed. This thing is so much faster than my Wing and I
haven't had any memory issues with it whatsoever. Now realise that I
don't have nearly the quantity of apps on it either. Windows Mobile
for me really has been pretty much a computer in my pocket and the
apps I always have loaded on my WM devices reflect this. The major
emphasis of the Blackberry is communications and there it excels.
The first and biggest thing that impresses me about the Curve
(technically Blackberry 8320) is the screen. It has the same
resolution as most WM devices at 320x240 so that's not a big deal. But
the screen can be read inside and out, even in the brightest sunlight!
I've never had a WM device that I could read outside in bright sun.
This is a major plus for the Blackberry. It also has a light sensor
that adjusts the screen to lighting conditions and it works very well.
The keyboard is also a big winner. I can type quite quickly (remember,
it is a thumb board, so no 100+ WPM on this puppy) and much quicker
than I could on the Wing's keyboard. In fact, after a week of use, I
can easily see me approaching and even exceeding the speed of FITALY
on my WM devices. I do wish the keys were a bit softer though. I can
see where folks get "Blackberry thumb" from typing on those hard
plastic keys. I've never used a Treo so can't compare the BB keyboard
to the Treo keyboard, but I'd have to suspect they are similar.
Push email is the bomb! I get mail on my BB before it even appears in
my Mail application on my Mac. In fact, I'm using the BB for almost
all my email needs and rarely open Apple Mail on my computer anymore.
(Obviously, I did for this email because of its length). The BB will
place messages deleted from it in the deleted mail of my desktop app
if I tell it to and the same for sent messages. Really nice. The only
downside to the BB mail is that it doesn't work with IMAP folders at
all (I imagine this is a limitation of the Blackberry Internet
Service) so I can't access my folders in my dot Mac (oh, sorry it's
Mobile Me now) account. But this is really a minor shortcoming since I
almost never have a need to refer back to old emails. And if I want
to, I can just keep all my incoming emails in the Inbox of my BB. With
my Wing, I had to poll email to get it, which is not true push. Having
true push of a non-Exchange email account really is wonderful - I
never realised how useful it would be.
The Blackberry browser, at least with OS 4.5 (which I installed the
day I got my Curve) is at least as good as PIE, but Opera Mini on the
Blackberry is fantastic. I had Opera Mobile on my Wing and I found it
slow and almost useless, mainly because I had to install it on the
micro SD card and it really was dog slow. I didn't have the memory to
put it in RAM and nothing I did could free up enough. So transferred
my Opera license from my Wing to the HX-2415, where I could load it in
RAM and run at a decent speed. Opera Mini on the BB though runs
fantastically and I'm quite impressed with it. I just wish there was a
way to make it the default browser.
Multimedia is no better or worse than on the Wing (well, except for
the fact that the BB comes with a regular 3.5 mm headphone jack so I
can use my high end phones with it. What genius at HTC came up with
that stupid USB earphone connection?) I don't bother using the Roxio
converter for multimedia. I just copy my music, videos and photos
directly to the device using the mass media mode when connected to the
Desktop Manager. I do convert video using VisualHub on my Mac first to
a BB friendly mp4 format. But overall, multimedia is a draw.
I love the fact that I can switch to speaker phone on a call just by
pressing a button on the keyboard. It frustrated me to no end on the
Wing having to go through a menu to accomplish this, especially while
on a call. Also, the speaker on the Wing is LOUD and clear. Infinitely
better than the Wing speaker that is anemic by comparison. I can
actually listen to music without earphones at a decent level and it
even enough has bass to notice when a song has bass. It's not an
audiophile experience by any means, but it's not bad. Through
earphones, it's just as good as my iPods.
I thought I would miss the touch screen and soft keys on my Wing, but
truly the Blackberry scroll button works wonderfully and I have no
complaints about it.
There are many programs that I have on my Wing and HX-2415 that have
absolutely no equivalent on the BB, or if they do, they are too
expensive. I've only purchased one 3rd party program for the BB (Olive
Tree's Bible program). PI is available but it's definitely in the
infant stages and from my perspective, not a whole lot better than the
native Blackberry PIM, so I'll just stick to the native PIM for now.
It's probably as good as the native PIM on the Palm so I'm not
complaining.
The bottom line is that the Blackberry is a marvelous communications
device and an adequate PDA (primarily due to lack of 3rd party apps
that I would want). So I am using my Wing as a PDA only (since it has
no SIM card now, I put it in flight mode) and have re-retired my
HX-2415. With Windows Mobile, the soft keys really make a big
difference in using the device and since the HX-2415 is WM2003SE, it
doesn't have soft keys and I miss them.
The T-Mobile version of the Curve has a feature called UMA which
allows transitioning voice calls from WiFi to the GSM network and vice
versa. But you have to subscribe to the $10/month Hotspot@Home to use
it and I don't actually use my cell phone for voice calls enough to
merit the expense. But it is an option and I hear it works pretty well.
Overall, I don't regret my purchase of the Curve and it's a keeper.
With the OS update to 4.5, the Curve now does HTML email and includes
Documents-to-Go to read and edit attachments (put you can't create
files with the standard version - you have to shell out $69 to create
files, spell check and some other stuff. Too rich for my blood - the
standard version serves my needs just fine). But in addressing these
two issues, RIM changed my mind about using a Blackberry. (I had
bought one while in Texas and returned it the next day because of the
lack of these two features).
Don
Bert Latamore
That was a very interesting review. I was particularly interested in the ability to use the phone in WiFi or GSM mode. So I could callyour cell, and if you were home or at a hot spot somewhere and wanted to, you could receive the call via WiFi rather than cellular?
That might be an answer to a major issue I have. I just get terrible cell phone reception in my home/office because of the geography where we are. Back in 2000-2005 I was using my cell as my only phone. I gave everyone my cell number, and they could reach me wherever I was (admittedly thaat was more of an issue then because I was moving constnatly from home to office to my aunt's apartment). Then when we moved up here I had to give that up.
My one issue is T-mobile just does not have the coverage nationally or even regionally that the other three major carriers do. But I might look into this, not as a replacement PDA (I have too many apps that I need to function that are not available on BB) but as an advanced communications device.
You mentioned that music quality compares to what you get on your iPods. Can you carry your music on memory cards, or are you limited to what you can fit into memory at any time? And how much memory do you have?
Also, what email systems can you use on it? I would want Gmail and Yahoo mail. Of course if necessary I could set them both to forward to a third BB mailbox, but that could get awkward.
Also, I don't suppose it is possible to access apps on your computer at home via the BB? What about Internte apps like Google calendar, Picassa, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn?
Sorry for so many questions. But this does interest me as a possibility. We are on monthly extensions on our Sprint account right now and could be convinced to switch to another carrier with the right deal.
Bert
Bert Latamore
Editorial Consultant
Donald Stidwell
On Nov 7, 2008, at 17:13 , Bert Latamore wrote:
> Don,
>
>
> That was a very interesting review. I was particularly interested in
> the ability to use the phone in WiFi or GSM mode. So I could
> callyour cell, and if you were home or at a hot spot somewhere and
> wanted to, you could receive the call via WiFi rather than cellular?
>
Bert, I don't have the personal experience, but based on what I've
read, that's exactly the way that it works. Calls received or
originated while on a WiFi network are NOT counted against your cell
call minutes, even if you move out of WiFi coverage and transition to
GSM. However, calls started on GSM will count against your minutes
even if you transition back to WiFi coverage.
I've read varying reports on the efficiency of the handoff between
WiFi and GSM but it seems to work most of the time as designed. Be
aware also that you don't have to get the Curve to have this feature.
T-Mobile has other phones (even cheap feature phones) that can use
this feature and they also offer an optimised router (free after $50
rebate) that is said to work perfectly with the service.
> That might be an answer to a major issue I have. I just get terrible
> cell phone reception in my home/office because of the geography
> where we are. Back in 2000-2005 I was using my cell as my only
> phone. I gave everyone my cell number, and they could reach me
> wherever I was (admittedly thaat was more of an issue then because I
> was moving constnatly from home to office to my aunt's apartment).
> Then when we moved up here I had to give that up.
> My one issue is T-mobile just does not have the coverage nationally
> or even regionally that the other three major carriers do. But I
> might look into this, not as a replacement PDA (I have too many apps
> that I need to function that are not available on BB) but as an
> advanced communications device.
>
So it would seem to be a solution for you. Now, I know that T-Mobile
coverage can be spotty but in most areas that I have trouble with
coverage, it just roams onto another network (no roaming charges).
There are spots in the mountains of western Virginia and even West
Virginia were I basically have no coverage at all. However, for the
vast majority of places I travel, T-Mobile coverage is sufficient.
Regarding apps, I agree, which is why I haven't but my Wing to bed. I
have to have Pocket Bible and PhatNotes (I also use Evernote on my
Curve, but it's nowhere near as good and complete as PhatNotes). I
have several other apps that while not must have are "really nice to
have" that are not available for the Blackberry.
> You mentioned that music quality compares to what you get on your
> iPods. Can you carry your music on memory cards, or are you limited
> to what you can fit into memory at any time? And how much memory do
> you have?
Oh, definitely on memory cards. Version 4.5 can address up to 16 GB
cards. I only have a 4 GB in mine since this isn't my primary device
for music (my iPod is) but 4 GB gives me enough to carry a few albums
if I want to use the Curve to listen to music.
>
>
> Also, what email systems can you use on it? I would want Gmail and
> Yahoo mail. Of course if necessary I could set them both to forward
> to a third BB mailbox, but that could get awkward.
No problem with either of these accounts. And you don't need to set up
forwarding. When you set up your email accounts on the Blackberry, it
takes care of that for you. GMail does have a client for the
Blackberry put it doesn't offer the push of the Blackberry BIS and
from what I've read, most folks seem to prefer the BIS to the GMail
client.
Since I have all my email forwarded to my Mobile Me account I only
have to check one mailbox, put you can set up to 10 email accounts
with the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS).
>
>
> Also, I don't suppose it is possible to access apps on your computer
> at home via the BB? What about Internte apps like Google calendar,
> Picassa, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn?
Don't know about the 1st question. Not something I'd ever want to do
and haven't investigated. On the second, yes - I know there's a
Facebook client (heck the icon is preloaded on the Curve) and I'm sure
there are clients for the other named apps. Or just use the web apps.
For example, Evernote doesn't have a Blackberry client, but the web
interface for mobile devices works just fine.
>
>
> Sorry for so many questions. But this does interest me as a
> possibility. We are on monthly extensions on our Sprint account
> right now and could be convinced to switch to another carrier with
> the right deal.
>
> Bert
>
No problem. Glad to help.
Don
Bert Latamore
Thanks. Tmobile sounds like a very interesting option. I am not excited about thumbboards, but I understand that BB either has recently announced a touchscreen device or is about to. Oh, one other question -- does your BB device have Bluetooth, and if so can it support a bluetooth keyboard? I have one of those great Igo Bluetooth keyboards, and if I could use that with the device to do email on the road it would be very nice.
Bert
Donald E. Stidwell
The Storm is the upcoming iPhone clone from RIM and it looks very interesting. T-Mobile isn't scheduled to carry it, at least not in the near future. Google it - there are some very interesting videos showing it in use floating around the web.
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From: Bert Latamore <bert.l...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:35:37 -0500
To: <wo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [woyp] Re: Quick Impressions of my BB Curve
Robin Taylor
Donald E. Stidwell
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To: <wo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [woyp] Re: Quick Impressions of my BB Curve
Robin Taylor
Donald E. Stidwell
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Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:51:31 -0500
To: <wo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [woyp] Re: Quick Impressions of my BB Curve
Gate
probably get it next week. I'm using the Samsung Omnia now, and while
I prefer Windows Mobile, and hated the Blackberry I had a few years
ago, I think it's improved enough that it might do what I want. I've
got to have a decent calendar and alarms set for several times during
the day (for meds and stuff), and while WM does do this pretty well,
the Omnia has a bad memory leak, and I'm always having to delete
something I'd rather keep. Even though I have 16 gigs internal, you
can't do anything with it but store stuff. I'd probably come back to
the Omnia at some point, but it's a Singapore model, and I've had to
tweak the dickens out of it to get GPRS on it. I finally downloaded
the Network Wizard from my HTC Wizard and messed around with settings.
But that's a bit awkward. And 3G will never work on it, sadly. So, I'm
going to give RIM a whirl. I wish PI was good on it. I do love that
app. But maybe it will get better. Anyhow, thanks for writing this.
It's certainly timely for me.
Gate
On Nov 7, 7:57 pm, "Donald E. Stidwell" <donald.stidw...@mac.com>
wrote:
>
> --
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
> From: Robin Taylor <robin...@comcast.net>
>
> Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:51:31
> Subject: [woyp] Re: Quick Impressions of my BB Curve
>
> Yes, Don. I did. It was one of their earlier models, and I pulled it out of the drawer for quick comparative purposes. I would love a Curve. YOWZA!
>
> Robin
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Donald E. Stidwell
> To: W...@Googlegroups.Com
> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 7:36 PM
> Subject: [woyp] Re: Quick Impressions of my BB Curve
>
> Robin, didn't you have a Blackberry once? I thought you had one a couple of years ago or so...
>
> --
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
> From: Robin Taylor <robin...@comcast.net>
Donald E. Stidwell
I certainly know what you mean about preferring Windows Mobile - it's so darned versatile. But the slow processor and lack of RAM on the Wing was driving me batty. Unfortunately as the machines get more powerful, the feature creep eats up all the power - just like on desktop computers. Also, the weakest part of the Wing is the phone - it's definitely more PDA than phone.
I'm absolutely not willing to change carriers for a phone so the Bold was not an option for me since T-Mobile doesn't carry it. I will be very interested in seeing how you like the Bold if you get it. The VGA screen alone should make for a great device.
Don
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-----Original Message-----
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:29:32
To: Writing On Your Palm<wo...@googlegroups.com>
Gate
sneaking suspicion that I'm getting it so that I can play with a new
technology, but I also have a suspicion that I'll wind up going back
to my Omnia, or something else Windows Mobile. I've been reading all
the stuff about it on the Crackberry forums, and I'm very intrigued.
Do you use Blackberry Messenger? I've never used any messaging device;
seems to me that it's a bit intrusive. I suppose I could learn, but my
only relative with a Blackberry who'd put up with me doing that is a
nephew, and he's a busy guy. None of my buddies here have anything but
dumb phones.
On Nov 7, 10:45 pm, "Donald E. Stidwell" <donald.stidw...@mac.com>
wrote:
>
> - Show quoted text -
Donald E. Stidwell
Also the BB Messenger is for communicating with other BB devices using the BB PIN - I don't think it evens works outside a BB network. But you can use any of the other IM clients included. And I do believe that even most dumb phones can text although that's not the same as IM.
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-----Original Message-----
Date: Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:56:50
Gate
closed club. Anyhow, I'm intrigued by all the stuff it can do, and at
the same time, know that I'll probably get very annoyed at push email.
My Omnia delivers my email every 30 minutes, and that's even a bit
annoying. Wonder why I'm even going to bother with this thing. Still,
I haven't found my perfect solution yet, and until I do, I'll try
anything. I found the N95 to be a good phone, with good alarms, and a
pretty good calendar app (had to buy it, though), but I found the
little keypad thing to be sort of iffy. I think I'd like the full
keyboard better, but I'll see. Anyhow, if it weren't for the memory
leaks, I'd do better with the Omnia. Do you have that issue?
Thanks for your good information, Don. I do appreciate it!
On Nov 9, 1:56 pm, "Donald E. Stidwell" <donald.stidw...@mac.com>
wrote:
Donald Stidwell
I haven't noticed any memory leaks although I've read about it on the
Crackberry forums. However, I'm pretty aggressive about keeping things
clean on my devices - clear caches, not storing messages long term on
the device, etc. I do this on all my mobile devices including a soft
reset every couple of days whether it needs it or not. (Not that it
helps the memory constrained Wing a lot). So if the BB has a memory
leak, I've not seen it yet.
I only get about 10-12 messages a day so the Push email doesn't bother
me at all - in fact I really like it. And it's not like I HAVE to pay
attention to it as it comes in.
I find the keyboard on the BB to be quite nice, as mentioned before.
There's no mobile device I'd want to try and compose long emails on -
but as keyboards go, the BB is about as good as I've found it gets. I
just wish the plastic wasn't quite so hard.
BTW, I didn't realise this but the Storm, which will only be carried
by Verizon at first (the touchscreen BB), won't have WiFi! No way I'll
use a device without WiFi! But this seems to be a carrier restriction
and maybe the next carrier to pick it up will do so with WiFi. The
first Curves didn't have WiFi either.
Don
Gate
home most of the time, (where the WiFi works great) but when I'm at
the doctor or at the hospital in Charlotte, their free hot spot makes
the time go by so much better. Of course, Charlotte has 3G, but that's
really not all that great. It's one of those on-again, off-again
things, and I think that's why the iPhone people have so much trouble
with it. So, without WiFi, you're stuck with Edge or 3G, and neither
of them are wonderful.
Glad memory leaks haven't plagued you yet, and hope they won't. It's a
huge issue on my Omnia. Great gobs of megabytes disappear over
nothing. Usually a soft reset loses a few more, and I really can't
understand that. Clearing the cache helps for a short while only, and
then, even if I don't go on the 'net any more, I lose a bunch more
right away. Just can't get over it, and I don't recommend the Omnia
for that reason. Wish it weren't so; other than that, it's the
greatest phone ever. As for the Storm, I don't think AT&T is ever
going to get it, and Verizon is pretty bad here. They are bad about
messing up a phone, so maybe the Storm does have WiFi with other
carriers.
Jeff Kirvin
Some Treos, notably the 800w, are also optimized for direct sunlight viewing. Oddly, the screen on my HP 2133 netbook (originally intended for the K-12 market) works great outside too.
I tried giving up Exchange on my Treo for Google-based solutions last month and failed. Push email rocks, even if you don't care about email. It's also push changes to Calendar, Contacts and Tasks. (and with Life Mesh, files)
The screen on the Curve is QVGA, the screen on the Bold is HVGA, 480x320. This is the same resolution as the iPhone and the Palm TX, though the screen is a good deal smaller, giving a tighter pixel density. The Bold is also bigger than the curve, more similar to the 8800 it replaces.
On the whole, though, sounds like the Curve might be a good alternative for me should I ditch the Treo, or at least as soon as they release eReader for it.
Donald Stidwell
On Nov 10, 2008, at 11:44 , Jeff Kirvin wrote:
>
> A few random comments, not negating in any way Don's excellent review.
>
> Some Treos, notably the 800w, are also optimized for direct sunlight
> viewing. Oddly, the screen on my HP 2133 netbook (originally
> intended for the K-12 market) works great outside too.
>
> I tried giving up Exchange on my Treo for Google-based solutions
> last month and failed. Push email rocks, even if you don't care
> about email. It's also push changes to Calendar, Contacts and Tasks.
> (and with Life Mesh, files)
>
> The screen on the Curve is QVGA, the screen on the Bold is HVGA,
> 480x320. This is the same resolution as the iPhone and the Palm TX,
> though the screen is a good deal smaller, giving a tighter pixel
> density. The Bold is also bigger than the curve, more similar to the
> 8800 it replaces.
>
> On the whole, though, sounds like the Curve might be a good
> alternative for me should I ditch the Treo, or at least as soon as
> they release eReader for it.
>
Yeah, the lack of eReader on the Backberry platform is a major bummer,
but I knew that going into buying the Curve. I can't believe the
eReader folks broke their necks getting an iPhone/iPod Touch version
out the door and haven't done one for the Blackberry yet. I suspect we
will see one eventually, but I'm not holding my breath on how long it
will be.
I found a replacement for the built-in Memo Pad today that stores
files up to 32K and can store on the external card, so that's a big
plus. As much as I like and use Evernote (which BTW works just fine
with the BB browser), the lack of ability to save files on the mobile
device limits its utility for me. Notes are hugely important to me and
I have some that the built in Memo Pad truncate because of length. On
WM, I use the outstanding PhatNotes (and have since my Palm days).
BBNotepad (the app I just found) isn't anywhere near as powerful and
flexible as PhatNotes, but at least I can save large notes to my micro
SD card with it.
Glad to hear some of the Treos have the ambient light sensor and can
be read outdoors. I don't know why all mobile devices don't do this.
The iPod Touch does as well and is quite readable outdoors. That
should really be considered a requirement for any mobile device.
Jeff Kirvin
Transmissive LCDs are what you're used to in monitors, TVs and most handheld devices up until recently. The screens are backlit, and the brightness of the image depends on the backlight shining through at the viewer. While this makes for the most vibrant picture indoors, it's pretty much useless with a strong foreground light source, like say, the sun.
Reflective LCDs have no backlight and rely entirely on reflected light to illuminate them. While these work great in sunlight, they look washed out indoors and the necessity to sidelight them for indoor viewing leads inevitably to dust in the area through which the sidelight shines, as anyone with a first few generations iPaq can attest. These are rarely used anymore for anything but purely outdoor uses.
Transflective LCDs are the best of both worlds, but with a catch. They are backlit like transmissive screens but are also reflective to a variable degree. The degree depends on the balance between how much light the screen allows through and how much it reflects. Screens can be tuned anywhere along the scale from almost pure transmissive to almost pure reflective. The more reflective they are, the better they'll look outside, but the more washed out they'll look inside. The more transmissive they are, the better they'll look inside, but the darker they'll look outside.
Most phone makers tune heavily towards the transmissive side to make the screens more vibrant. But some, Palm and RIM among them, use a more balanced screen that looks fine inside (if maybe not super bright) but is also perfectly readable outside (if not as high contrast as e-ink).
Bert Latamore
Re the BB and eReader: I also wonder about that. while the iPhone has been getting huge press, the BB is actually taking over a huge chunk of the handheld market. This is mostly because large numbers of large companies are making it their standard handheld platform. I am hearing this constantly from my contacts in the market, and this growth along with the continuing development of new, mroe capable BB models, is attracting a lot of interests and development effort in the handheld software community. I expect we will see a lot of Palm software developers, who are looking for a new growth platform, to enter the BB market over the next year or so. it is just bigger and higher growth than anything else these days.
Bert
Donald E. Stidwell
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-----Original Message-----
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:39:57
Donald Stidwell
On Nov 10, 2008, at 12:40 , Bert Latamore wrote:
> I totally agree about being able to read outside. That is a huge
> issue with many handhelds.
>
> Re the BB and eReader: I also wonder about that. while the iPhone
> has been getting huge press, the BB is actually taking over a huge
> chunk of the handheld market. This is mostly because large numbers
> of large companies are making it their standard handheld platform. I
> am hearing this constantly from my contacts in the market, and this
> growth along with the continuing development of new, mroe capable BB
> models, is attracting a lot of interests and development effort in
> the handheld software community. I expect we will see a lot of Palm
> software developers, who are looking for a new growth platform, to
> enter the BB market over the next year or so. it is just bigger and
> higher growth than anything else these days.
>
> Bert
>
>
Oh yeah - DateBk6 on the BB - That'd be wonderful. Or maybe PI will
get to a useable state. But I think seeing Palm developers start
working on BB apps would be fantastic.
It's only recently that the BB has started moving out of its niche as
a pure communications device and what I'm seeing (as a newcomer) looks
promising. I am actually impressed with the apparent success of their
move from being primarily a business tool to their consumer embrace.
The T-Mobile reps I've talked to indicate that the Curve is doing
extremely well (one rep implied that it's their best seller right now)
and unless RIM does something totally bone-headed, I think that they
can become a really strong presence in the consumer handheld market.
I'm not confident that the Storm will make significant inroads against
the iPhone (will anything?) but I feel the Bold with it's superior
screen is more of a potential winner than the Storm.
Don
Bert Latamore
I was specifically thinking of CESD, among others, when I wrote that note. He is presently alpha testing a new product based on Datebk6 that is designed to be easy to port among different devices. Tentatively named "Pimlical" he is initially developing it on the Windows platform (I am looking forward to having it on my UX), but once it is solid there he specifically plans ports to WinMobile and, I believe, BB. He is unhappy with Apple's iron control of the third party software market for the iPhone and so may be slower to bring out a version for it. And if he does, Apple may not allow him access to the Appstore, which essentially will kill it, if they believe it competes too strongly against software they sell. We have already seen Apple yank one application from the iStore for exactly that reason last summer.
Bert
Donald E. Stidwell
Don
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From: Bert Latamore <bert.l...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:04:40 -0500
To: <wo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [woyp] Re: Quick Impressions of my BB Curve
Bert Latamore
Apple gets the pass because it is basically a niche market player. Therefore, it does not come under the kind of legal scrutiny that Microsoft does in the desktop market. Apple has always been an iron-fisted control freak of a company. Going back to the Apple II, it controlled exactly what applications could and could not run on its platform. It only stopped that when it realized that the plethora of third-party applications available on DOS was a major attraction to users and particularly corporate buyers. It is true that this control creates a much smoother, less complex user experience. You didn't get the kinds of software conflicts and technical problems on the Mac that you did on the PC in part because of that control. But it means you get less choice. Of course today that is not as true as it was -- Microsoft has so dominated the market for basic Office apps, for instance, that no one competes with it effectively in those areas.
I know CESD doesn't like the Appstore situation -- he complained about it on the Datebk SIG on Yahoo. he said that he is hesitant to invest in the development for the iPhone because of this situation. So I would expect Pimlical to appear on other platforms inclduing WinMobile and BB before it turns up on the iPhone.
Bert
Robin Taylor
Just a quick thought as I catch up on messages …
I never had to worry about Cell coverage until lately. Having moved into a house with three sides surrounded by trees and woods has created cell phone difficulties for us. Anyone know how to ascertain the best carrier so I can decide what BB to buy (oh, I will, once we fill our oil tank!)? My daughter has a TMobile, and she stayed with us for three weeks until she got married a month ago, and was never able to use her cell phone in the house. I’m currently using a prepaid, and I also can’t use it in the house. (We have to go to the screened in back porch to use them. It’s getting too nippy for that. She’ll put me on her plan, so I can get a BB sooner than later, but, I hesitate because of the poor reception the both of us have.)
It’s annoying because the coverage maps don’t really mean anything here in the house. (Love the house, hate the cell phone / wifi problems we are having.)
Robin T.
ryanwal...@gmail.com
My wife and I have been Sprint customers for the last 10 years. We get great coverage nearly everywhere and our data speeds are routinely quite fast. Of course, as always the case with cellular service, your mileage may vary...
--ryan
(Sent from my Samsung Instinct)
-----Original Message-----
Date: Sunday, November 16, 2008 8:34:46
To: <wo...@googlegroups.com>
From: "Robin Taylor" <robi...@comcast.net>
Subject: [woyp] Poor cell phone coverage
Just a quick thought as I catch up on messages .
Robin T.
--~--~---------~--~----~--------
Robin Taylor
them in mind. I wish I could have trial runs.
Thanks,
Robin T.
-----Original Message-----
From: wo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:wo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
ryanwal...@gmail.com
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 9:02 AM
To: wo...@googlegroups.com
Chris Miner
Chris Miner
-----Original Message-----
From: "Robin Taylor" <robi...@comcast.net>
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:31:17
Donald Stidwell
service for $10/month. So if you can't get a cell signal, your calls
will be handled by your WiFi network instead. T-Mobile offers their
own router, but you don't HAVE to use it, although they say it's
optimised for use with HotSpot@Home.
I don't use the service since I don't make or receive that many cell
phone calls, but it sounds like it would be ideal for you.
Robin Taylor
Robin Taylor
the doctor's or something, and my husband wants to keep checking on me. I've
thought about this since my post yesterday, and with my calls, whether
sending or receiving, I never even use my minutes that I have automatically
added to my phone monthly. I guess I just posted this thread because I
*REALLY* want a BB Curve or Bold. *sigh* And, I did go out the other day,
and have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I just grab my cell phone
and PDA, and that's not too much of an issue anyway.
Bert Latamore
If you use email, IM and similar computer-based communications rather than phone (as I do), and you need to keep up with them while out of the house, then a BB makes sense. Of course if you just want it and have the money, go for it. Perhaps if you get very little use out of your cell phone you might want to trade that in for a BB, which is more about text communications than voice remember. If you are going to spend a lot of your time in your hose and, as you say, have poor cellular reception, then you might want a model that uses WiFi as well as cellular. But make sure that you can read the screen easily before you buy. Obviously with your vision issues this is a problem. However, if you are going with a BB that does not have a touch screen, you could try covering its screen with one of those plastic sheet magnifiers. That should make the text larger and easier to read.
Re your cell reception -- the sad fact is that moving to another carrier is not a guarantee of something better. It all depends on where you are. We live in the country on a steep hillside. All the carriers share the same tower on the top of the hill, and they are oriented toward the south side of the hill, because that is where I-66 is. We are on the north side and are partially blocked by the hill, so our cellular signal is intermittent regardless of which carrier we use. So check out where the cell towers are. If you have on in range that has a clear line of site to your house, find out which carrier that is and go with them.
I think someone suggested a microcell -- putting your own antenna on your house. Unfortunately that is a very expensive solution. You are much better off going with something like Tmobile in that case which works over an inexpensive WiFi router.
Bert
Laura Conrad
Bert> However, if you are going with a BB that does not have a touch
Bert> screen, you could try covering its screen with one of those
Bert> plastic sheet magnifiers. That should make the text larger and
Bert> easier to read.
Has anyone done that successfully? I got one of the plastic sheets,
hoping it would make using my MP3 player easier, and so far it hasn't.
The directions for the plastic sheet say that it should be about 4
inches from what you want to magnify, and when I use it like that, it's
useful, but right on top of the screen it isn't.
--
Laura (mailto:lco...@laymusic.org http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
If I had been the Virgin Mary, I would have said "No."
Margaret _Stevie_ Smith
Robin Taylor
Thanks much, Bert. I think the WiFi solution would be really helpful to me. At my doctor’s appointment this afternoon, my youngest used my cell phone for about an hour talking to her sister – with no problems, and even with incoming calls from my husband.
For all practicality’s sake, I guess, if I get pretty good reception out of the house, then it is just as well that I stay with what I have, since my home phone service is perfectly fine.
(And you are right about seeing the screen – when I use iSilo I usually have the text large and bold.)
Robin T.