I know there are still a lot of hardcore Sprint/Nextel iDEN BlackBerry users out there who are going to appreciate this post...
The BG got his hands on a Sprint 08/09 roadmap, and inside is a first look at the new BlackBerry 8350 iDEN device. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse made mention of its coming back at CTIA, and Jibi gave us a few early details, but this is the first fairly "official" look at the new iDEN BlackBerry which... well... looks a lot like a BlackBerry Curve 8330. Big news for the Curve form factor though is the inclusion of autonomous GPS and WiFi in the same device (who said you couldn't fit both within the Curve's frame?!), internal antenna (yeah!!) and OS4.6.
Good specs all around and I'm sure a lot of Sprint users are going to be happy about this, but at the same time it's not doing all that much to keep up with the Joneses when compared to the awesome specs of the BlackBerry Bold or Javelin, especially if you consider this won't hit the market for a couple of months.
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26 comments
The thing that irks me... is that Nextel's Curve will have OS 4.6. How is that even fair, haha :(
I just moved from Nextel to the Sprint side because I wanted a BB. Oh well, I'm staying put. I love my Curve.
" if you consider this won't hit the market for a few quarters. "
Um, October is the start of the 4th quarter '08. Maybe you meant a couple of months?
yeah, typo! fixed. thanks!!!
Is there any way we can dowload bollywood ringtone as well please...........
hmmm notice on camera it says optional. So are there going to be two models of this device. one with and one without camera
Does anyone know if the WI-FI feature can used to make phone calls with like the T-mobile version, or would it strictly be for data usage? If you can make calls over the wi-fi I may have to switch back, I love my 8330 but I miss PPT- having both would be great
I'm guessing it would be data only. You'd have to have the infrastructure for UMA, and Sprint wouldn't set it up for a single phone, and a iDEN phone at that.
They arent exactly placing wifi and gps in the regular curve form factor. The device in that picture is way thicker than the current curves, and the iDen radio is pretty hefty too. so, not to be a pain, but they could never put the iDen radio, gps, and wifi in the curve form factor. I may be wrong, but thats just how I see it. looks great though
THANK YOU FOR THE AWESOME NEWS!!! I CAN FINALLY RETIRE MY 7100i ONCE THIS IS OUT!
As far as not being up to par with the newer Berry's, i think its enough for anyone that was still using iDEN. I mean the stuff that comes with it will be a BIG improvement compared to what the 7100's lack. All we need now is a date and i'll be the first in line waiting to upgrade!
Great news on the wifi but on the direct connect.................bigggggggggggg deeeeeeaaaaaaaallllllll It costs me 5 bucks a month for pcs to pcs/nextel phones and I can make all the clear phone calls I want without disturbing people in restaurants sounding like I'm on a walkee talkee. Plus, how many people with direct connect do you really know??
not trying to put you our or anything, but I know a lot of people who are Mexican (no racism, I just play a lot of soccer, I am from Spain, and a lot of the people I play with are Mexican), but a lot of Mexicans use the walkie talkie, because there family is in Mexico, and thats the cheapest way for them to use. They use it A LOT bro. But if you're not Mexican, or aren't into construction working, then you're right, not a lot of people lol
It's not that popular among the consumers, but a lot businesses still rely on the technology. Fields that require rapid communication (No, not sales. Your vendors don't need to talk to you that urgently) such as security (private and public sector), construction, facility maintenance, etc heavily rely on it. It enables one person to send out a directive/message to large groups of people reliably.
I used to work as a stagehand for a part-time job when I was in high school. Everyone used them. The venue even loaned out nextels for its part time guys. It was extremely helpful when you were on a catwalk and you could simply beep a guy in the shop to send someone up with lamps instead of shouting across a large room and relying on others to relay the information correctly. The guy in the shop would hear it immediately. We couldn't have to wait for him to stop what he was doing pick up his phone. Now, I know this could be done with regular walkie talkies, but it's not the same being able to isolate who you talk to. It was even nicer when rentals came into receiving. You could tell five trucks where to go and in what order they were needed. All the drivers would hear each other's instructions so they knew to make room for each other. The best part of all is we didn't have to give them walkie talkies or anything. They rental company used them and would give us the numbers of the drivers for all shipments. Basically, direct connect is like one giant paging intercom. You can inform/direct a lot people easily without them waiting for them to take their phones out of their holsters, opening the phone, hitting talk, and saying "hello, what can I do for ya?"
The Pope's visit to the US this past spring was a famous example of direct connect use by security personnel.
any news or rumors on expected release dates?
I was just called by my local sprint store and I will have mine tomorrow!!!
what is this pcs to pcs/nextel phones plan your talking about? doesit allow nextel users to talk to pcs users using their 2-way?
Well all I can say is bravo. I have been waiting for this, it will be much better than the 7100i. The specs look great, I look forward to this becoming reality. I will be the one at the door, pecking on the glass saying,open,open, open. lol
it's all well and good, except, uhh.....iDEN is garbage.
i personally like sprint's new idea of taking a regular CDMA phone with EV-DO, adding QCHat software onto it, and using that for direct connect.
however, the phone itself is really nice, and those who live or work in an area with good iDEN coverage, enjoy.
Does it have MMS?
anyone know what the size of this phone, length, width, depth
and when i will be out
thanks
How about SMS? That has always bugged me about the 7100i; not being able to text... Does this phone have it? Thanks if anyone knows...
Got mine yesterday......love it.....
I upgraded from a 7520 and let me tell you it is nice to finally have a decent phone!
SMS works great, way better than the old phone....Wifi is nice, and the web browser is worlds better!
I JUST GOT MINE AND I LIKE IT. IM SURE I WILL LOVE IT WHEN I LEARN EVERYTHING. I CANT SEND SMS MESSAGES AND THATS BUGGING THE HELL OUT OF ME.BESIDES THAT I LOVE HOW IT FEELS AND LOOKS.
yeah...i've had my curve for a couple of days and i love it, but i can't send text to EVERYONE and the internet doesn't allow videos to load and it takes for ever to load...but I still love the other features.
The sprint/nextel wedsite says its 500 something
but then at the bottom it says 150? How much did you
pay for yours?? I really want this one i need a neww
phone soon!
The sprint/nextel wedsite says its 500 something
but then at the bottom it says 150? How much did you
pay for yours?? I really want this one i need a neww
phone soon!