[MonkSansFerrari]

My personal preference for business phone is Nokia E 90-1 Communicator. Ever since I bought this phone my laptop usage has been reduced to almost 50 %.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by quadra

Off lately i have been thinking (dreaming) of buying a BB phone. A little search here and there revealed that the only BB phone that has the features i want:
> Camera
> Bluetooth
> Wi-fi
> GPS
is BB BOLD which is 34990 on airtel

1. Is there any finance scheme available on BOLD in bangalore ?
2. My main reason for buying BB
> want to check personal e-mail
> Sync with office e-mail every 2-3hrs (i think we can use mobile office)
> click pics (i hope BB has a decent camera)
> browse internet

So basically i want a little bit of everything
Anyone can advice on my situation ?

BB Curve has 3 models, at various price points. The top end model has WiFi, GPS et al. Next one does not have WiFi. Check those out as well.

[discobiscuit]

Originally Posted by quadra

> click pics (i hope BB has a decent camera)

I own a 9000 and the camera isn't all that special. Still underpowered to phones like Nokia; however, it has a very good flash.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

BB Curve has 3 models, at various price points.

You were supposed to get a good bargain on a BB handset right ? What is latest ? Please update the souls here !

Originally Posted by discobiscuit

however, it has a very good flash.

That might be helpful if used as an extra remote flash with a digital camera ! LOL (I think we need to use more than 2 smilies in such situations !!)

[muralisk]

Research In Motion will roll out a touch-screen model of its BlackBerry smartphone later this autumn, thrusting it into direct competition with Apple's popular iPhone.

For details, check this - Touch-screen BlackBerry coming this autumn - RIM | Business News | Reuters

[discobiscuit]

Originally Posted by muralisk

Research In Motion will roll out a touch-screen model of its BlackBerry smartphone later this autumn, thrusting it into direct competition with Apple's popular iPhone.

For details, check this - Touch-screen BlackBerry coming this autumn - RIM | Business News | Reuters

The article calls it a "Storm". Last I heard it was going to be called a "Thunder". Whatever the name might be, I have a feeling it won't get the everyday BB user to switch to this because we are just used to feeling the key we hit. This will definitely tap the market where customers are going to buy the iphone, but with 9000 coming out with a price tag of 34k and the iphone priced slightly above that, one can only imagine what RIMs touch screen gizmo will be priced at.

[prabhuav]

My tryst with the Airtel's Mobile office package and the subsequently the BB plan has been long and arduous.

I had the 140rs per week unlimited plan on my Nokia 9300. When I got my curve (8300). I continued on Mobile office with the Gmail client on the BB for email and Opera mini for internet I was fine.
Downloads were impossible as that needed to use the native BB browser and that works only on the BB plan and not mobile office. One fine day decided to switch to the 449 limited BB plan activated it with a clear instruction to deactivate the mobile office.

Two weeks later I get an SMS confirming the extension of my Mobile Office. Turns out that since I activated Mobile Office vis SMS, even deactication needed an SMS.

One more week passes and I get a bill for 1750 for data usage for the month:

420 - 3 weeks of mobile office
320 - 3 weeks of BB
~1000 for data usage over and above what the BB plan allows me.

I immediately switch to the 899 unlimited BB plan, grit my teeth and pay the bill. Should have kicked up a fuss then. Coz more was in store.

Nex month bill comes - 3300 for data usage.

899 for the BB plan ,
2400 for data usage of 10 days of the previous month - reason given , they got billing data for the last 10 days after the billing happened and hence they added to the next months bill.

At this point I lost it . They already charged be 1750 for data for a month, they want charge another 2400 for the same period.. I complained and complained and complained. Made 11 calls to Airtel, no resolution. Did one smart thing though - refused to pay the bill. Eventually had 3 months outstanding on the bill and ended up talking to a very senior person in Airtel , threatened consumer court and got the "late" billing amount reversed.

While on the BB plan realized that Opera mini would not work with the blackberry.net APN, nor could I tether the curve and use as a wireless modem. Was falling increasingly in love with the Nokia E71 and was trying to justify the purchase by the price differential of 400 bucks a month between the BB plan and the Mobile office plan.

That is when I saw this thread and called Airtel to threaten a BB plan cancellation and switch over to Mobile office. At this time I was told that the Mobile office plan is now bundled with the BB plan (like the rest of the world does). Tried to talk to Airtel BB tech support to see what settings I needed to do. This proved to be a frustrating exercise as the two girls I spoke to flatly refused that Mobile office works on the blackberry. Upon telling them that this is pure bovine excreta and verifying that Mobile Office is indeed active on my account , kept the phone down.

Switched the TCP APN setting to airtelgprs.com, switched off , pulled battery out. Switched it on and lo and behold - Opera mini works now. Yet to test the tethering though.

So - for folks who are on the unlimited plans, try this . It should work

Vijay

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by prabhuav

Switched the TCP APN setting to airtelgprs.com, switched off , pulled battery out. Switched it on and lo and behold - Opera mini works now. Yet to test the tethering though.So - for folks who are on the unlimited plans, try this . It should work. Vijay

That was a fantabulous customer experience there vijay cheers: ! Welcome to the ever-confused and ill-treated Mobile users' gang of India !

More than 90% of the issues come from ignorant customer support guys, hope you agree with me. Rest 10% credit goes to system errors/ technical failures !

Coming to the point, I use 899 unlimited BB prosumer plan. I enquired, requested, begged and later cried pleading for a Mobile Office plan as free with BB unlimited. They dont seem to care

As you said, Opera and many other third party softwares wont function with BB service. I wanted a trading software on my BB and just to test the practicality I have send an SMS request to activate MO 399 plan, now its 24 hours, so far no response. I will run the MO and BB together for few days and see what is to be cancelled for my purpose.

discobiscuit: by mentioning 9000, did you mean BB Bold itself ? You got it on any offers ? Its a cute looking qwerty BB handset, although I find none of the features than a Pearl that I might use as of now.

[prabhuav]

Shajufx,

Just try changing your APN settig to airtelgprs.com do the battery pull. MO unlimited should already be active by default on the 899 prosumer plan.

Any TCP based application can then use that to connect. Check maadi.

Vijay

[shajufx]

Thanks for your quick tip buddy. If you go back 1 page of this thread, you will find what is not done to get this done. I have not heard of anyone using a BB unlimited plan with the Mobile Office active by default. Customer support itself was confusing me telling that the MO will not work on a BB handset. See the extend of the issue ! There are no settings that I have not tried myself, hoping and dreaming something will come free ! But no luck.

[aggressive_anush]

If i was to purchase a Blackberry locked to the vodafone/hutch network and needed to use it with Airtel how would i go about doing it? Is there any way i can unlock a blackberry? The reason i ask is someone is selling a blackberry for a really good price, but its locked to the network

[shajufx]

There are 2 ways to unlock;

1. You can pay for an unlocking software and it will work well (just google it, you will find plenty of sellers for the unlocking software online)
2. Next option is possible only if the handset is still in use with the network. Request for unlocking to the vodafone support, mentioning you are travelling abroad and you want to use the handset with a pre-paid SIM there. Should work.

Other methods, if any, will be posted by experts !

[quadra]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

BB Curve has 3 models, at various price points. The top end model has WiFi, GPS et al. Next one does not have WiFi. Check those out as well.

Hey Nishant, i checked all 4 models of curve and none supports both GPS and Wi-fi at the same time.
Please check this link :
BlackBerry - BlackBerry | Wireless Handheld Devices, Software & Services from Research In Motion (RIM)&

So i have to opt for curve 8320 and add a GPS device.

1. How much a GPS receiver will cost here ?
2. How does it connect to the device ?
3. The GPS device has built in (India) map ?
4. Any other info you would like to share ?

just checked on airtel..we only have 8310 available

[prabhuav]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Thanks for your quick tip buddy. If you go back 1 page of this thread, you will find what is not done to get this done. I have not heard of anyone using a BB unlimited plan with the Mobile Office active by default. Customer support itself was confusing me telling that the MO will not work on a BB handset. See the extend of the issue ! There are no settings that I have not tried myself, hoping and dreaming something will come free ! But no luck.

Dude,

It was not working for me a few days ago. Now it does. Hence try now. see if it works

Vijay

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by shajufx

You were supposed to get a good bargain on a BB handset right ? What is latest ? Please update the souls here !

These were the quotes that I got from a bulk importer of BB in Mumbai. I have not bought from them yet, neither have I checked out their physical store. All my communication with them has been through emails. So please verify before buying and dont go by my word
Blackberry 8320 = Rs. 23,800/=
Blackberry 8310 = Rs. 19,800/=
Blackberry curve 8300 = Rs 15,500/=
Blackberry pearl 8120 = Rs16,000/=
with complete M. V. A. T. bifurcated Commercial Invoice, One Year Warranty on Software & Six Months Warranty on Hardware
Website BLACKBERRY OFFERS FROM BIG DEALS INDIA.

Originally Posted by quadra

Hey Nishant, i checked all 4 models of curve and none supports both GPS and Wi-fi at the same time.
Please check this link :
BlackBerry - BlackBerry | Wireless Handheld Devices, Software & Services from Research In Motion (RIM)&

So i have to opt for curve 8320 and add a GPS device.

1. How much a GPS receiver will cost here ?
2. How does it connect to the device ?
3. The GPS device has built in (India) map ?
4. Any other info you would like to share ?

just checked on airtel..we only have 8310 available

Yes you are right. They seem tobe playing the Nokia game here. Launch models in close succession and add/remove 1 feature to create new demand. I guess it is now your choice and usage which will determine what model to buy.

Personally I would assume you could skip WiFi as you are anyways on EDGE (High speed GPRS) network via BB data service. And on an unlimited data plan, browsing costs are not an issue anymore.

Hence, 8310 or 8330 would be the best choices.

And its not always required to buy from Service Provider. You could buy in grey (unlocked) which would be cheaper. Or as many people suggested, buy from Airtel/Vodafone as locked and ask them to unlock on the pretext of travelling abroad. Will that work successfully, is something that I cannot say as I have not come across any real life success cases for that.