BlackBerry 8830
Average Ratings
One of the best phones I have had
It is a great phone I just upgraded from the blackberry pearl and the signal is way better with the 8830.
Pros:
Great Signal
Travel around world with alltel sim card
upgradable memory(I have 4gb in there right now)
Cons:
No camera
Overall a great phone. Will definitely be able to keep for 2 years.
Why mess with perfection?
I am a hard-core Blackberry business user and the 8830 is probably the best piece of equipment I've ever (or will ever) have. I carried my 8830 daily, through rain, sleet and snow (no, I'm not a mailman), across the ocean and back and it never let me down. Probably one of the saddest days of my life was when my company switched over from the 8830 to the Storm.
With a perfect display size, a QWERTY keyboard that is easy on the fingers (and the eyes), this is a great phone for anyone sending lots of emails or texts. Phone calls are darn-near land line quality, even in remote locations. If this phone had a camera, I have no doubt it would have continued to dominate today's phone-geek market.
RIM has made some deviations recently, but tne 8830 was such a solid performer, it's no coincidence the Tour, Curve and Bold are shockingly similar to the 8830.
The phone is heavy, but it's a solid, dependable tool. If you're considering this as a purchase, go for it.
4.5 Update Now Available!
Bell Mobility now offers a 4.5 update.
It fixes all the problems other reviewers complain about the most. Such as... MMS Messaging, streaming video, voice recorder, docs2go, and the ringer issue.
Best Overall Business Smartphone for Voice and E-mail Today
I received this phone back in Oct '08 from my company. It is on the Verizon Wireless network, which, according to the great majority of surveys, and my own personal experience over the past 8 years of having my own phone, has the best overall data and voice network in the entire country.
In the past, I've seen Blackberry phones not perform very well during phone calls, but this phone has a rock solid voice quality on both ends, and I have yet to drop a single phone call.
The strongest feature this device has is indeed the Blackberry e-mail system, which still dominates all other competing e-mail functions from other manufacturers (Palm, Apple, etc.). The push e-mail service, as implemented on an business enterprise server, is instant, and in most cases faster than my own desktop at work.
The display is bright, colorful, sharp, and responsive to every input, making reading and composing e-mails incredibly easy, fast, and actually addictive. It is really nice to see how the screen responds to ambient lighting by increasing or decreasing its brightness.
Some have complained about the keyboard being too scrunched together, but for my use, the tactile response is frankly better than even the raved about virtual keyboard on the iPhone.
The built-in browser functionality is certainly inferior to other devices, such as the iPhone, but is only a minor issue, since I use this phone for e-mail and voice calls.
However, after installing the Mini Opera browser, I am feeling a lot more comfortable browsing on the 8830.
Many will complain that there is no camera/video features on this Blackberry, but I'd rather take pictures using a real digital camera. Will RIM come out with a camera version of this? The Storm does not count.
The ability to have separate, easy to read, boxes for my Yahoo, Gmail, and even SMS (text), is very impressive.
This phone has increased my productivity, organized my life, and given me the ability to stay in touch with whoever and however I wish.
Gets The Jobs Done
If you have never owned a BB or was afraid to get one, have no fear since this model wont hurt you.
I have had my fair share of BB going all the way from the 6750 with the easy to break scroll wheel(remember that, you old BB users?) to the innovation of a color display on a 7250. Those were made to discourage the average user to purchase one. The 8830 on the other hand, was not made to do that.
I like this model for the simple reasons,
1. Easy to hold (great for those with larger hands)
2. Easy to see color display and hand placement for the trackball.
3. World edition so when I leave the states, I have the ability to roam.
4. Decent multimedia player
Now here's what I don't like about it
1. Low ringer (software rumors didn't help this problem)
2. No video output and selective video formats are allowed to be watched.
3. No picture messaging (per VZW)
Other than that, I would endorse this phone
Wow!! Best phone I have ever used!!
I have been a Verizon customer for 3 years now, previously with sprint and tmobile. I am all about trying new things and I decided to try the Blackberry 8830. I was a little upset that the unlimited data package costs 30 dollars per month and it is mandatory but the salesrep at the store made alot of sense in explaining why this was necessary. The anaology he used was "you wouldn't go to a car dealership and ask for a Corvette with a 4 cylinder engine would you? It would make no sense." He then said what is the sense in having the blackberry if you aren't going to use the features this powerhouse of a phone is designed to do?
I had never used internet or email on a phone before but I do email alot on a computer. So i decided to try it out and set up my email on the phone. holy cow it works so well!! my emails come in very fast and the text is so easy to read on the screen. It took me a while to learn the functions and menus of the phone but now that I have it's like second nature. I bought the Red version and it is absolutely an awesome looking phone. I have never dropped a call or had signal problems, I mean after all I'm with Verizon so that's a no brainer.
Pro's:
Great productivity phone
Reliable internet and email system (no push)
Great calender and memo pad
Bluetooth works flawlessly
media center for music and videos with memory card option
Phenomenal keyboard
Fast text messaging i average 10k a month
excellent reception and battery life
come with a nice carrying pouch
Cons:
no camera (oh well I never take pictures
anyway)
overall, this is absolutely an amazing phone and I will never go back to a regular phone again. Blackberry has a solid product
Opinion from an 18-month user of an 8830
Overall, in the past 18 months, I've enjoyed the 8830. My single biggest complaint has to be the over-sensitive microphone. For what this device is, primarily an e-mail delivery device, it excels. The phone leaves a lot to be desired, especially compared to the sound quality of most regular phones, and hopefully RIM will improve this in future models.
Don't buy this phone if you want to use it primarily for browsing the web. Very slow. Then again, so is the new iPhone...
Let's just presume that smartphones are still in the growth phase, not yet at the mature phases of product life cycle. A 2010 Blackberry is going to blow away one of today's models; keyboards may be obsolete by then, for all anyone can be sure.
Anyway, as an e-mail device; excellent. If that is your top priority with a smartphone, this is your device.
Verizon 8830
Brand new to the blackberry world ...
pros
setting up shortcuts was rather simple.
phone quality and speaker phone --AMAZING!
battery life.. really great.
cons
instead of blue lights on key i would've preferred white. it would be easier to read.
ringtone volume is extremely low even at its highest.
bought 8830 after owning 5 treo 700w 700p/wx
I went through 5 different treos with nothing but headaches 700w,700p,700wv. After my 5th I went back to verizon greeted by a mgr who by now spoke to me on a first name basis. I traded for the BB8830; relunctedly I might add. I liked the windows features and ease of compatability. Well i began enjoying my new BB. I love the magnetic holter. phone feature works great except for quiet ringer. batterylife good. Fonts too small on menus after upgrading to a blackberry block theme. I miss the camera and video a lot. I wish it had stereo output. I have had nothing but headaches trying to sync features with vista programs. Calender syncs with ggogle.. Contacts with no program and email syncs with windows mail. You can see the problems. But I am looking for the day when this will be solved. I still love the device but the Voyager does look sweet. By the way my major complaint with the 8830 is the keyboard. You can't hardly see anything lit or not. they need to copy the 700w keyboard.
Not really a world traveller
PRO's:
- Stateside, this phone is wonderful!!
- The data capability is outstanding
- E-mail, and messenger service (AIM and Yahoo) work well
- A little larger than my old phones (they weren't PDAs)
CON's:
- Doesn't work in all overseas locations
- SIM is supposed to be unlocked overseas..its not
I bought this phone for two reasons. I needed it for work and I needed it to travel for work. I thought this was the best solution for me to keep in touch with my family while I was travelling overseas. Well, the phone has been put away. I've tried SIM after SIM, tried customer support and was told that I had to use the Sprint SIM on Sprint's international plan. Ummm, I thought I could use this with any SIM since it was supposed to be unlocked overseas?
I love this phone stateside. It has lived up to my needs but, I'm thinking of dumping sprint due to its horrible customer service and sketchy service in my area. ATT gets my vote and my money once my sprint contract is up...maybe their international claims will actually work for me.
