Cell phone provider change

[Apoc]

Yeah, I know on Rex's phone, we are extra careful about going into the task manager and killing the applications when we aren't using them. That way they aren't running in the background draining the battery.

Maybe it's just me... but that seems like a huge PITA.

[JustinG]

Trust me it was

[Jewels]

Yeah, I know on Rex's phone, we are extra careful about going into the task manager and killing the applications when we aren't using them. That way they aren't running in the background draining the battery.

Maybe it's just me... but that seems like a huge PITA.

It would seem that way wouldn't it. I don't feel like its a huge pain, but it isn't my phone either.

[Evan]

you can set it to kill the program when you hit the X if you want and the task manager is always available in a dropdown next to the X. its hardly a pita, but maybe if you're an apple user its hard to figure out

Ive had tons of programs running at once which didnt have any affect on battery life. Its the persistent data connection that kills your battery.

winmo is a very powerful mobile OS with a very shitty UI.

[Jake]

i know they run Winmo 6.1 so they are definately software upgradable.

My friend has the old-skool Q, this one:



on Alltel, and he can't upgrade from WinMo 5.x to 6. We've tried and there's no way. I think they fixed a lot of things on the Q9m/c compared to the O.G. Qs.

[WRXtranceformed]

I tried Opera Mini and deleted it shortly thereafter. Really didn't like that zoomy box thing. I've familiarized with the hotbuttons for the standard BB browser and it's just fine for me.

I did however get a sick theme from crackberry.com. Definitely addicted.

[Jake]

Looks like a good layout. I like how you can still see your wallpaper but you get more icons on screen.

Other than the web browser, how are you liking things? I'm one of those who syncs contacts/calendars/bookmarks compulsively, plus I use my iPhone for music. Any plans for that? How are the included PDA-ish apps?

[WRXtranceformed]

That L layout was the best change so far, that's the same reasons why I like it. That's just a generic screen shot, but I've got my messages, email, texts, browser, address book, calendar, blackberry messenger, gchat and facebook on the front page.

So far I really like this phone. Sprint's service is DEFINITELY more hit or miss than Verizon's, especially indoors. It's not enough to bother me though. I've got Google Sync set up so my emails and calendar automatically sync over every now and then which is nice. I've been looking at aftermarket apps when I've had the time but haven't really found any that I'd find useful. I won't be uploading any music or anything onto this phone because until I find something better I've got my iPod touch.

The one standard app I was really happy with was Sprint Navigation. It is REALLY good! I was surprised. It also comes with a map program that seems alright. I really like how you can customize everything on it, even hotbuttons. My buddy reprogrammed his Storm's side buttons to open up different programs.. I'm not sure if you can do that on the Curve or not but I want to look into it. I'm not a big fan of one touch camera phone.

[Apoc]

FWIW, you can change Opera Mini to "Mobile View". It's nice to have in case there's a page you need/want to preserve the original layout. Things like MM get whored on the Bb browser and I think it's nice to preserve the layout for navigation purposes.

To change the side buttons:
Options > Screen/Keyboard > Convenience Keys

One thing you have to be careful of, and this is where most Blackberrys fall flat, is app storage is on the phone. I think your phone only has 96mb and you can't store apps on the expansion memory so you can fill that up real quick.

[WRXtranceformed]

What actually gets stored on the expansion memory? I threw in a spare 2gb sd mini card I found lying around. Is it just for songs / videos?

[Apoc]

Is it just for songs / videos?

...plus ringtones and pictures (it's a setting).

[WRXtranceformed]

I was searching through the settings in media options and the general settings, but I didn't see where you could designate those things to be sent to the sd card. Sorry for the newbness, I just hate reading manuals :lol:

[WRXtranceformed]

So far so good with the new phone. One thing I'm learning is that it's a tradeoff I guess for having a computer phone instead of just a phone (with Blackberries anyway). It gets marginally slowed up sometimes, even when I dial out. I try to keep it cleaned up from messages and such as much as possible and that seems to help. I really dislike the trackball, but I know from experience with my iPod Touch that I would really really hate to have a phone that operates in the same manner so it's something I can live with. The click-touch of the Storm would probably be the best compromise if I was to go the touch screen route in the future, but all of my friends who have Storms absolutely hate them so that's a no go.

I emailed the Sprint sales guy I worked with because I finally got Verizon's early termination bill. He sent me a response back that he couldn't remember the exact amount that he was going to credit me to make up for the fee so he credited $136 to my account :thumbup: That covers the fee + activation fee + a little extra, so I'm satisfied. Moral: If one store tells you no to buying out your contract, go to another store to find a salesperson that knows what they're doing.

Sprint's service is noticeably worse than Verizon's, but I guessed as much since it costs literally $50/month less. It's not to the point where it bothers me, but especially when I'm indoors in certain areas it just struggles to find coverage. I'm pretty excited for Sprint's 4G network to come out (Charlotte is one of the designated cities for it) and I like the fact that I get a $100 credit toward a new phone every year instead of every two years.

Google maps / latitude on the BB is the SHIT BTW! I use it a ton for work, and my girlfriend and I can stalk each other it's kind of fun! :lol: I also downloaded a GPS driven range finding program for golf but I haven't played around with it much.

If anyone wants a really good golf game for their BB 88xx series, hit me up! Don't want to reveal the name in case it would get this site in trouble haha

[Apoc]

Google maps / latitude on the BB is the SHIT BTW! I use it a ton for work, and my girlfriend and I can stalk each other it's kind of fun! :lol:

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Latitude as well. It's nice because the wife knows where to find me if I go out riding and something happens. I could see it being huge if you and a bunch of friends live in a proper city could meet up with whoever is close because of it.

[WRXtranceformed]

Google maps / latitude on the BB is the SHIT BTW! I use it a ton for work, and my girlfriend and I can stalk each other it's kind of fun! :lol:

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Latitude as well. It's nice because the wife knows where to find me if I go out riding and something happens. I could see it being huge if you and a bunch of friends live in a proper city could meet up with whoever is close because of it.

Yeah that was my first thought when I installed it. I've found that it's got a correct radius of about 1100m (according to the program) so sometimes it's a little off. But, it will obviously put you in the right general area, just not exact enough to say "hey, i'm going to meet you at the bar you're at"

[Evan]

Picked up a Palm Pre over the weekend. So far I am in <3. Without a shadow of a doubt the best phone I have used.
My initial interest was the small size - considerably smaller than an iPhone and very pocketable, yet still with a qwerty keyboard which is a must have IMO. I like that it slides down instead of out like my past winmo phones, and despite the smaller keys i actually type faster.
what has really blown me away is the OS. palm's new "WebOS", very intuitive, the 'cards' analogy works extremely well especially for multitasking and all the gestures are very natural. integrates seamlessly with your google calendar, gmail, contacts etc which is great since i use those as my primary email and calendar, and everything is searchable. web browsing is actually nice to use as opposed to mobile IE and lightning fast as opposed to skyfire.
built in turn by turn navigation is nice, and surprisingly the SprintTV is super cool. Has live TV (not just clips), I was watching windtunnel with Nicky Hayden yesterday while I was waiting for a doctor appointment.

I had forgotten how much clearer and cripser voice calls are on CDMA,which is a nice surprise, and I do notice the signal bars fluctuating a little more than Im used to its never affected anything.

only complaints are that the phone is very slippery which makes it a little harder to slide out the keyboard than it should, and the edges of the keyboard have a plasticky feel that seems cheap. battery only barely makes it through the day which probably has more to do with me playing with it all the time :p

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice did you get the Touchstone charger for it? It seemed kind of pricey for a charger but the concept is pretty cool.

[Evan]

Yeah its a little more $ than Id pay just for a convenience item, Ill wait for the $20 chinese knockoff to get the touchstone. really slick charger though, especially if you mount it in your car.

[WRXtranceformed]

Speaking of which, I finally set up a Pandora radio station. Wow this is probably my new favorite app for the BB. The sound quality is surprisingly clear when its on speakerphone, we were listening to my brother's at the pool the other day. I have XM radio in my car but they don't always play good stuff on the dance channels, so this morning I plugged the aux input into my phone and streamed my station into my car. Pretty sweet!!

[JustinG]

yea i love pandora, if it didnt rely on cell signal i would cancel my Sat radio subscription