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View Full Version : My opinion of 8830 so far


forevergreen
05-21-2007, 07:47 PM
Just went from 8703 to 8830 and here's my gripes so far

Keyboard
it's very compact, but doesn't seem to be a problem
it could use a lot more clicky clicky, some of the keypresses are silent
the backlight/key reflection is pretty bad

battery
jury is out, but I'm not optomistic. i had the extended battery for the 8703, very fat, but pretty amazing

speaker phone
when you dial a number, the phone automatically switches to speaker phone just for a second so you can hear a fake phone dialing, then switches back to earpiece. I used to be able to press send and then immediately press speakerphone, that doesn't work anymore. you have to wait a few seconds and it's a pain in the azz

incoming call screen
when a phone call is coming in, the number/name is shown over a background that can make it difficult to read the name/number

when I press "m" for messages, it includes all sms's in the same folder?


To be sure, I love all the improvements as well, I just don't keep track of them.

packetknife
05-21-2007, 08:12 PM
I don't have the same speaker phone behavior you describe, nor do my two other 8830 colleagues. Odd.

Under mail options there is a new(er?) option for showing or not showing the SMS messages in the main folder.

Cheers, -Pk

forevergreen
05-22-2007, 05:40 AM
Yeah, it's definitely weird. Can't find any options re: sms as you described, I did look. Two other tweaks I'd like to see: backspace/del is very slow, could be sped up quite a bit, was perfect on 8703. Also, when I'm putting in a calendar entry and i go to change the date or time, the trackball works opposite the scroll wheel, why? It's counter intuitive. Anyone think these things might be changed in the near future?

packetknife
05-22-2007, 05:48 AM
The trackball should be an option, I completely agree. EXACTLY opposite in alarm, calendar, etc. and it's really frustrating.

Good luck, -Pk

BBWrangler
05-22-2007, 04:11 PM
Regarding the trackball, it's not really operating any differently than the scroll wheel did. I think the orientation is throwing you off.

Consider that the wheel only moved things on screen to the left or right unless you held down alt to get it to do up and down as well.

The wheel duplicates this literally; the only difference is you don't hold the Alt key to get vertical movement.

With some practice you'll get used to scrolling left or right in areas you used to scroll up and down in. It does take a little while to get used to though.

BBDummy
05-22-2007, 04:34 PM
Almost a week, and I'm really liking the BB8830. Coming from a Moto Q, it's much more stable, and seems to function just as well as a phone. I sort of miss not having a camera, and I somewhat miss not being able to sync to my home computer as well as OTA to the Exchange server, but I'm adjusting to that. It definitely does e-mail, and does it well.

I can't speak to how the BT integrates with my car, since my car is in the shop being rebuilt after being run over by the county garbage truck. :x But I may be the first person here to test the international functions--headed to St. Bart's this weekend.

jwerges
05-22-2007, 04:56 PM
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Make sure and report back after your vacation. Inquiring minds want to know.

Runamuck
05-23-2007, 06:17 AM
I'm in France this week with my boss. I got an 8800 from Tmo the same time he got his 8830 from VZW. I'm using prepaid SIM's and having no issues getting signal and service, although data services are a bit spotty with prepaid SIM's on occasion.

Unfortunately, he's not having much luck using his phone over here at all. He can get numbers to dial out about 1/4 of the time, the rest of the time they simply seem to hang. He's also getting about 20-25 SMS alerts per day from the local service providers who are trying to tell him that he needs to use special codes to access long distance. Thus far, he is NOT happy.

On a positive note....the GPS function on the 8800 works great over here with Google Maps!

roofus
05-23-2007, 06:21 AM
Almost a week, and I'm really liking the BB8830. Coming from a Moto Q, it's much more stable, and seems to function just as well as a phone. I sort of miss not having a camera, and I somewhat miss not being able to sync to my home computer as well as OTA to the Exchange server, but I'm adjusting to that. It definitely does e-mail, and does it well.

I can't speak to how the BT integrates with my car, since my car is in the shop being rebuilt after being run over by the county garbage truck. :x But I may be the first person here to test the international functions--headed to St. Bart's this weekend.

I hope you weren't in it at the time;-)

forevergreen
05-23-2007, 07:09 AM
re: the speakerphone issue, I just realized that it only happens when I use speedial from homescreen. If I press send from recent calls list, or address book, it works fine and I can immediately turn on the speakerphone after pressing send. When I use a speed dial from the home screen, my phone automatically switches on to speaker, just for a second so that you can hear a quick dial, then back to earpiece and won't let me turn speaker back on for a second or two. Minor pain in the azz

forevergreen
05-23-2007, 07:14 AM
if you go to calendar and press enter in a time slot, you can quickenter an entry. if you want to adjust the time, you scroll or ball down to go later in the day. However, if you press "c" to compose a calendar entry, which I do if I want to add an alarm, you have to go in the opposite direction with the ball to go later in the day.

forevergreen
05-23-2007, 07:19 AM
I was just putting another calendar entry in and realized that scrollling left, or "back" moves the date forward, definitely counter intuitive.

LarryH
05-23-2007, 09:48 AM
I'm in France this week with my boss. I got an 8800 from Tmo the same time he got his 8830 from VZW. I'm using prepaid SIM's and having no issues getting signal and service, although data services are a bit spotty with prepaid SIM's on occasion.

Unfortunately, he's not having much luck using his phone over here at all. He can get numbers to dial out about 1/4 of the time, the rest of the time they simply seem to hang. He's also getting about 20-25 SMS alerts per day from the local service providers who are trying to tell him that he needs to use special codes to access long distance. Thus far, he is NOT happy.

On a positive note....the GPS function on the 8800 works great over here with Google Maps!
Has your boss called VZW's 24/7 Global Support number? I'm curious because I'm headed overseas next week and his experience isn't something I'm looking forward to.

Runamuck
05-23-2007, 12:17 PM
Yeah, he's on the phone with them right now. BUT he had to use MY phone to call them as he can't reach them with his own. He's furious. I know he enabled international roaming but it's possible that VZW just didn't "flip the bit" in their system. But it's equally possible that they haven't got all the bugs worked out of their "world phone coverage plans" as well.

LarryH
05-23-2007, 12:28 PM
Let us know how it turns out. I was told that I had to "do" a *228 after the card was inserted to re-program the phone with the card. Obviously, that had to be done stateside, not overseas.

Hopefully, his experience will help the rest of us. Thanks.

whoscalling
05-23-2007, 12:43 PM
Yeah, he's on the phone with them right now. BUT he had to use MY phone to call them as he can't reach them with his own. He's furious. I know he enabled international roaming but it's possible that VZW just didn't "flip the bit" in their system. But it's equally possible that they haven't got all the bugs worked out of their "world phone coverage plans" as well.

Well this is exactly the same experience I had with the VZW Samsung CDMA/GSM world phone they had(have). I used this phone about two or three years ago with excitement since I travel overseas so often. The exact scenario you are describing of your boss is what I dealt with from Europe to Australia, to Asia, to India. VERY frustrating. I was hoping they improved and fixed the bugs but it sounds like they have not. I kept telling myself that the next trip will be better, but it never got better. I don't think it is the phones problem, but more of the problem with the switching on the network. Just my opinion though.

KenU
05-23-2007, 01:52 PM
I'm in France this week with my boss. I got an 8800 from Tmo the same time he got his 8830 from VZW. I'm using prepaid SIM's and having no issues getting signal and service, although data services are a bit spotty with prepaid SIM's on occasion.

Unfortunately, he's not having much luck using his phone over here at all. He can get numbers to dial out about 1/4 of the time, the rest of the time they simply seem to hang. He's also getting about 20-25 SMS alerts per day from the local service providers who are trying to tell him that he needs to use special codes to access long distance. Thus far, he is NOT happy.

On a positive note....the GPS function on the 8800 works great over here with Google Maps!

Did he contact the 24/7 HELP number that Verizon touts as part of the 8830 package?

Edit: Sorry, didn't scroll down to see this question answered already.

woodi68
05-23-2007, 05:30 PM
Could this roaming issue be solved by assigning the network manually? I know stateside that won't be possible, but I would assume once you are overseas you MIGHT be able to assign it to the GSM only network? Perhaps it's spotty service because it keeps trying to switch back to CDMA as the "preferred" network?

whoscalling
05-23-2007, 05:34 PM
Don't think so. It is more like the phone can't, or the provider VZW/Voda hasn't registered the handset on the network correctly.

vzw8830
05-23-2007, 08:40 PM
this worries me .... :?

Runamuck
05-24-2007, 06:04 AM
Well this is exactly the same experience I had with the VZW Samsung CDMA/GSM world phone they had(have). I used this phone about two or three years ago with excitement since I travel overseas so often. The exact scenario you are describing of your boss is what I dealt with from Europe to Australia, to Asia, to India. VERY frustrating. I was hoping they improved and fixed the bugs but it sounds like they have not. I kept telling myself that the next trip will be better, but it never got better. I don't think it is the phones problem, but more of the problem with the switching on the network. Just my opinion though.

I suspect you are right. He spent over an hour on the phone with VZW's global support...in addition, we are a global provider of wireless infrastructure services with VZW as one of our clients, so we pulled some pretty high level strings.

Net result is nobody at VZW can help him connect. He did all the things he was supposed to in advance...registered his SIM stateside, etc. But it appears that Vodaphone/VZW doesn't have their own collective infrastructure cross-billing/cross-roaming agreements in place properly so you just run into activation issues when on global roam.

I suspect it's because it's a new service model and, true to form, the sales and marketing team didn't get the memo to the implementation teams in time. I'm sure it's a short-term problem but for now, the phone is a GPS-less, voice-less, data-less brick that he can use to look at pictures of kids pre-loaded from home....nothing else.

The 8800 with Tmo is working like a champ...we used it to go sightseeing last night and found a great little restaurant way off the beaten tourist path. I have my Garmin Nuvi with me also and frankly, haven't turned it on more than once or twice just to check how accurate the 8800's mapping software has been....very good!

packetknife
05-24-2007, 07:15 AM
Odd I just saw this thread. ~Yesterday~ I got a SMS from Verizon to call Global Support and register my SIM. This was a few days after activating it all. When I called the lady said their DB ended up with a long of wrong SIM IDs for their recent shipments somehow and they needed to verify the SIM ID versus the phones.

So I suggest, when he gets in touch, for him to verify the SIM ID with VZW too. And next time he is in the States do the *228 option 1 again.. -Pk

Runamuck
05-24-2007, 07:53 AM
Interesting info...maybe they are actually looking over their user support logs then. As of right now (3PM GMT+1) it's still not working. He was on phone with support again this morning and they were offering to ship him a replacement phone and SIM to try and help, but by the time it gets to us, we'll be winging our way back home.

Guess we'll have to wish for better luck next trip over. Poland in 2 weeks, Italy in 4.

Runamuck
05-24-2007, 08:02 AM
BTW, the *228 thing is just a front-end into the same utilities available to their advanced support team. They actually re-did that themselves yesterday with him on the phone by asking for some information from the phone and SIM. Apparently, when you do it the first time (as he did) it fills in the database field on their side. So they already had it and "reset" it a few times. Still no go.

I really think the phone and SIM are fine, but they don't have their partners over here set up to recognize the phone as a valid GSM subscriber.

ofelas
05-24-2007, 08:03 AM
Let us know how it turns out. I was told that I had to "do" a *228 after the card was inserted to re-program the phone with the card. Obviously, that had to be done stateside, not overseas.

Hopefully, his experience will help the rest of us. Thanks.

Hey LarryH - you mean *228 OPTION 1 to reactivate the phone or *228 OPTION 2 to update the PRL/Roaming List?
Have you done either after the SIM card was inserted?
Thanks, keep us posted.

LarryH
05-24-2007, 01:25 PM
I've actually done both though I believe that option 1 is the one you need to do.

ofelas
05-24-2007, 03:57 PM
So you reactivated the phone a second time? Hmm.

rudyo
05-24-2007, 07:19 PM
Here is my take. My experience is based on 8703, 7130 and 7250

Battery: Weak. at least 35% worse than 8703
Keys: Slightly smaller but much less tactile than 8703. They feel stiff to me. They are quieter though, which I like. I've been using it for a week now and still not up to the same speed as before.
Key backlighting: Poor. I'm not sure who decided to use neon blue key backlighting, but it is much harder to read than the 8703.
Trackball: Perfect! This is my favorite feature. Much easier to use on a desk or in my lap when in a meeting. Much quieter than the scroll wheel. If I switch back, I will miss the trackball more than anything else.
Case: I like the look, but noy is it slippery! I will have to order a skin or a Vaja case for it. I'm also not sure how well it will hide a drop to the concrete or pavement. The 8703 was great in this regard.

All in all I think it is a keeper, but I'm really puzzled how they could have missed on so many points. Some things could be fixed easily.