Recently we came across an article on the Wall Street Journal about the joys and pains of switching your phone to a smartphone.  Specifically a Apple iPhone or Blackberry.

It was a very good article but there are a few issues that we’d like to bring up.  First off the person writing this post is a Blackberry user and more specifically uses the Blackberry Curve 8900.  This is going to be as unbiased as possible as the author thinks both manufacturers have great products.

Like the article mentions it comes down to preference.  If you like Blackberry phones then you will likely stick with them and the same goes for iPhone users.  There are iPhone users that get the new iPhone every year when Apple releases it.  The only really difference is that Apple only has three phones all that look similar (slight look variations every year) and Blackberry has five or more active phones.  The choice isn’t necessarily a good thing as some people don’t want to have to from so many.

A couple of things the article said were true although they aren’t a big problem.  The first one was “The iPhone automatically changes its time when you enter a new time zone. BlackBerrys remain set to their home time zone for time stamping all emails with that time—unless you change the time in settings.”  While this is true it takes a total of fifteen seconds to go and change it to Network time.  This means that every where you go your phone will update its time based on the network.  So if you are on the east coast you will be on east cost time if you are on teh west coast your phone will say the time in the west coast.

The other issue was “The BlackBerry’s AC adaptor takes up two power outlet spots, while the small, square iPhone plug occupies only one outlet, making it more versatile and able to charge in more locations.”  We aren’t sure why they would say that.  Yes the iPhone has small one inch charger but the prongs are not retractable.  This means if you travel with it there is a chance they can bend or break.  The Blackberry charger is larger and by larger we mean the same size as every other charger.  The advantage is that the prongs are retractable and make for nicer travelling.  It only takes up two electrical outlets if you place it in the top socket.  Although an annoyance it is something that is common with a lot of plugs.

Overall we would highly recommend reading the article if you are thinking of either getting a new smartphone (Blackberry or Apple in particular) or if you are thinking about switching from a Blackberry to an iPhone or vice-versa

So a few months back we learned that BlackBerry was coming out with a new Curve.  Basically it was going to be the “true” successor to the Curve 83xx series of phones.  Not that the Curve 8900 series isn’t a Curve, but the new Curve 8520 would be more affordable.

Basically the Curve 8520 will be an upgrade to the 83xx series and a mid-level change to the Curve 8900.  It won’t have the exact same.  The screen won’t be as good as the Curve 8900 and the camera will only be a 2MP instead of a 3.2MP, but it will be good for people who are looking to get a new curve but don’t want to spend the 500$-600$

Well thanks to Crackberry.com it looks like the new Curve 8520 will be available in August, which hopefully means that PureMobile will have it shortly afterwards for all you.  Also it looks like it will be available in different colours like red, blue, black, white, etc… but that’s just a rumour.

So like everything else it’s still not sure exactly when but hopefully the Curve 8520 will be out in time for people to enjoy the new phone over the summer

[image courtesy Crackberry.com]