About Blackberry:
Of late it has been noticed that Blackberry smart-phones and Blackberry mobile operating system have taken momentum in the market, owing to a large chunk of mobile operating systems’ pie. In fact, as per reports of surveys by several organizations, Blackberry is the third most loved mobile operating system after Android and iOS.
Well, this Blackberry’s growth phenomenon is not just limited to Canada – the country of its origin or in the United States. Even in India, more than 80% of elite Indian businessmen, bollywood celebs, cricketers and politicians are found using a Blackberry Smartphone. One of the biggest reasons for the popularity of Blackberry mobiles in India is the fact that the Blackberry prices in India is not as prohibitive as that of Apple products while it provides a certain exclusivity as is not too low to be used by the drivers and maids. Mobile operators too, are trying to woo its customers with TV commercials dedicated to Blackberry smart-phones like the Blackberry Boys TVC from Vodafone India and Blackberry Messenger TVC by Airtel.
Here in this post, we’ll take you through the in-and-out of Blackberry smart-phones, the USPs of Blackberry, its pros & cons and brief review of few blackberry phones that would fit best in your pocket and budget.
The Blackberry Benefits:
Listed below are few of the key benefits of blackberry:
- Best messaging system:
Either it be emails, instant messages or notifications from your social networks like Twitter or Facebook, blackberry pushes all your data onto your phone within seconds. On top of it, Blackberry has something called ‘unified inbox’ that gathers all your emails, instant messages and other notifications in a single inbox. That’s the USP of blackberry phones thus far. - QWERTY keyboard:
Believe it or not, blackberry phones have got the best ‘hardware’ QWERTY keyboard making it easy for email and messaging addicts to easily communicate with their peer. - Blackberry Messenger (BBM):
Wanna be in touch with your clients, friends or the special one round the clock? Blackberry messenger is something that should help you out. Specialties of BBM over any other instant messenger like Gtalk or AIM is, you can track when did the recipient of the message received and read your message. Smart, isn’t it?Though several other cross-platform instant messaging apps like WhatsApp has cropped up in the market, none of them have managed to beat the popularity and ease of use, of Blackberry messenger yet! - True Multi-tasking:
Unlike several other popular mobile OS, Blackberry smart-phones have the capability of true multi-tasking. Implies that you can easily switch between apps without having to close and start over once again!
Disadvantages of Blackberry Phones:
So far we know about the good things of owing a blackberry, lets now discuss some of its cons:
- Fixed monthly Blackberry charges:
I do agree that you’ll have to pay a fixed monthly charge for accessing emails and using Internet on your mobile device. But, if you are using blackberry services then you’ll have to avail special blackberry plans that cost 4-5x more than what you’ll have to pay for a normal GPRS/EDGE service. Hence, we would suggest you go for Blackberry device only if you are really a messaging freak and wish to stay connected and get your emails pushed to your Blackberry inbox within seconds - Lack of Multimedia Capabilities:
If you love using your phone as a multi-media device and often need it for playing games, recording videos or listening to the music, then Blackberry will probably disappoint you a bit, as it lacks capabilities to be used as a robust multi-media device and also doesn’t have as many games as iOS and Android! - Low Quality Camera:
There are handsets from manufacturers like Samsung and HTC with cameras ranging from 8 MP to 12 MP but surprisingly the best camera on any Blackberry device yet is a mere 5 MP camera.
Brief Highlights of Available Blackberry Models:
Impressed with the advantages of Blackberry over its disadvantages? Wooed enough to buy a blackberry device? Here you go. We are listing some of the devices that should solve your purpose to stay connected 24X7:
Blackberry Curve:
Blackberry Curve are the basic entry level blackberry phones and comes in 3 GSM models with slight variations among each of them.
Curve 8520:
This is the entry-level blackberry handset available currently, with basic features such as a 2 MP Camera, dedicated volume rockers and multi-media keys for moving music back and forth. The phone lacks 3G capabilities and reasonably priced at Rs. 8700. Should be best fit for you if you are looking for a cheap blackberry device and do not click lots of pics. You’ll also have to compromise with 3G features in this phone.
Curve 9330:
Successor to 8520 with minor improvement in functionality and comes with 3G support. Priced at Rs. 14990.
Curve 9360:
Latest entrant in the Blackberry Curve family and has features at par to the Blackberry Bold. Improved camera of 5 MP, high resolution screen, latest Blackberry OS, etc. Basically the specs of Blackberry Curve 9360 are similar to that of Blackberry Bold 2 9870 but the major difference is the keyboard build. Curve models have keys separated from each other whereas bold models have keys that overlap one above another.
Blackberry Bold:
‘Bold’ line of products from Blackberry is usually considered to be slightly on the upper side as compared to Curve. And, as discussed earlier, they are primarily different from Curve range in respect of their keyboard and looks. There are currently 2 models of Bold that are officially produced and marketed by RIM – Bold 9780 and Bold 9900, also called as Bold 3 & Bold 4 respectively.
As you can guess, Blackberry Bold 4 is the successor of Bold 3 and has several improved features like touch capabilities, bigger screen size, latest Blackberry V 7.0 OS. Bold 3 & 4 are priced at Rs. 21,000 and Rs. 30,600 respectively.
Blackberry Torch:
Torch is again the high end Blackberry phone with sliding form factor. They come in 3 versions or models namely Torch 9800, 9810 & 9860 with little variations and upgrades. Price of Blackberry Torch models range from Rs. 24,000 to Rs. 30,000 approximately.
Should you have any other questions relating to blackberry phones, do not hesitate to drop a line below and we’ll be happy to help you out.
