Pre-Newbie to Blackberry

[Desperado]

Hi all

I have seen guys with blackberry's before, had a few of my workmates that had them, i was always into i-mates, O2's etc. although i have had nothing but trouble with them, and finally gave up and went for a seperate PDA and mobile phone.

then a couple of days ago a mate showed me a demo on his blackberry (and he is VERY un-techie). i was amazed at the push-email technology. so desided i GOT TO HAVE ONE!!!

doing some research tells me the latest is the 8800, however some concerns are that it does not have 3g so would be significantly slower... and that it cannot be used as a modem for my laptop... so am thinking of getting the 8707g instead...

any comments/advice will be MUCH appreciated!!!

Cheers
Steve

[JSanders]

Greetings, Desperado, and welcome to the Forums.

[cliffr39]

sorry I'm not familiar with Optus (says it is your carrier in your profile), so couldn't tell you about what they offer. Look around and see if they have the BB 8300 (the curve)

[Desperado]

Originally Posted by cliffr39

sorry I'm not familiar with Optus (says it is your carrier in your profile), so couldn't tell you about what they offer. Look around and see if they have the BB 8300 (the curve)

i am from australia so it is one of 2 (i think) carriers here. on their site they only have the 8100 (Pearl), the 8707g (with 3g and able to act as modem), the 7130, 7100g and 7290, but i called to ask if the 8800 was available and they said it was, so maybe the 8300 is also available... is the 8300 the best one, does it also have 3G?

it is great to find a site like this... so cool!!!

Online forums are GREAT... i have met hundreds of guys & gals off the motorbike clubs here in australia and it is all based around the online club (all based on forums!!

any help would be appreciated!!

[brucejr]

Welcome to the Forums Desperado!

[cliffr39]

Originally Posted by Desperado

i am from australia so it is one of 2 (i think) carriers here. on their site they only have the 8100 (Pearl), the 8707g (with 3g and able to act as modem), the 7130, 7100g and 7290, but i called to ask if the 8800 was available and they said it was, so maybe the 8300 is also available... is the 8300 the best one, does it also have 3G?

it is great to find a site like this... so cool!!!

Online forums are GREAT... i have met hundreds of guys & gals off the motorbike clubs here in australia and it is all based around the online club (all based on forums!!

any help would be appreciated!!

Here in the US, on GSM, most of the country is still on EDGE, not UMTS/HSDPA...

As for those devices, I know the Pearl, 8800, and Curve are all EDGE.
The 8707g (as you know) is 3G/UMTS
The 7100g is only GPRS (slower than EDGE) and The 7290 is also GPRS.

EDIT: ok did some research into Optus and seems you do have 3G/HSDPA there (LUCKY!! Video calling is what I'm waiting for here). As for the above BB's only the 8707g seems to be 3G
BlackBerry

(and seems you have 4 carriers: Hutchinson, Optus, Telstra, and Vodafone) GSM Roaming - Australia