There was another thread up here from back in March/April where someone provided a very thorough review of the Nokia 9300. The consensus from that thread was that the Nokia had a lot of great features and was a solid phone, but that he wouldn't be trading his BB 8700 for it anytime soon! (Of course asking a dedicated BB user to switch to another device is probably the equivalent of asking the Pope to renounce Catholicism!...).

Anyway, as I have not yet taken my first "dose" of Blackberry, I find myself attracted to the Nokia 9300 simply because of the form factor of the phone. In fact, my very first cell phone 8 years ago was a Nokia, which I loved and only ditched when I changed carriers. While I will be traveling for business and will definitely have a need to get e-mail (and perhaps browse the web a bit while I wait for my plane to show up), I can still say with certainty that (a) I'll use the phone portion much more frequently than the data portion, probably a 85%-15% split or more; (b) when I am accessing e-mail it won't be while driving, eating, etc, hence I have no need to be able to text one-handed, and (c) since I only want to carry one device, including on the weekends, I want something that easily slips into the pocket.

So my question: Is there anyone up here who can share their personal experiences with the 9300 vs. the 8700c?

Thanks,
Chris

...maybe you can shed some light on my conundrum?

If you'd have said the 9300i, it would have been a really close call as WiFi is very attractive on these devices.

Though there's absolutely nothing wrong with the 9300, I'd say the 8700 (I have the Voda version) is first over the line here.

They both have good screens (the 9300 is full width of course), decent QWERTY keypads, and several operators are starting to offer push email for the Nokia although I haven't tried it and something tells me it won't be as robust as BB Connect using BB hardware.

The software on the 9300, like BB's, is mature and robust. I particularly like the way you can view HTML email, and you have an excellent implementation of Adobe Reader so you can view PDFs properly. Not so the BB.

What tips it for me is that the 9300 carries the overhead of a second screen, hinge etc, whereas the BB is a simpler proposition. And in IT, simple is usually best. Well, on a BB forum anyway.

Hope this helps.

Indeed it does help, thank you.

Unfortunately I don't believe the 9300i is available in the US. Cingular here though does offer the push e-mail on the 9300. Of course the sales rep says it's just as fast as the 8700, but who knows.

Thanks again.