So I ordered this phone couple of weeks ago for £100 one off fee and £32pm but cancelled when RIM pissed me off with the service failure that lasted four days. I wasn't willing to pay so much money for this phone anymore.

Well guess what! Now Vodafone asks £100 and £36pm!
Obviously the demand is through the roof and people will pay silly money just to have a new BB and RIM can't make enough of these. But of course, you won't read that in the news, it's all gloom and doom in the Rimpire.

Anyway, I still want this phone but I will have to wait for price to become realistic again...

You can get it for free with Orange (and probably other carriers) for £31 pcm.

Nicola's contract is up in January. She will pay upto £35 a month for the right tariff and the phone (although not essential) would be better if it's free. She uses an HTC Desire at the moment and seems to like it. She's not a power user or anything but email, browsing, Facebook, etc are perfectly usable on Android for her but beyond that she's not an app consumer.

The thing is although she's never had one before she's convinced she wants a Blackberry. Given her usage and the fact she's a noobie what do you think would be best for her?

If she is dead set on a BB I think there is really only one option (unless she wants a touchscreen): Curve 9360
9360 is a mid-range BB, newly released (month or so ago) with new OS7, can be had for free starting @ £20+ pm.
Bold 9900 is ridiculously expensive and I think only a power user would appreciate it considering value/money ratio.

9360 review
Just make sure she doesn't expect it to be like an Android or an iph*ne otherwise she will be disappointed. I wouldn't recommend a BB to most people but there is nothing better at messaging and security than BB.

Do we know why she want a Blackberry?

I think that's an important question. If she is under some misapprehensions then it could be a terrible decision.

Out of interest, just how good is the Facebook experience on a Curve 9360, compared to her existing HTC desire app which is arguably about as good as it gets?

I don't know about the Curve specifically, but these days the Blackberry Facebook app. is fairly well-featured. For everything else there's the browser*.

*which until OS7 was terrible.

Probably for no other reason than 'it looks nice' as I'm 100% sure she has no clue as to the benefits and downfalls to owning a BB over for example an iPhone or Android. I think her friend has one too. In white. That probably swung it for her

If anything I think she's appreciate the physical keyboard and for phone/texts it's going to be as good as anything else. I'd have to get her to check out the FB app mind you.

That curve does look quite nice btw.

I was under the impression that FB app on android isn't very good at all. I have three friends with HTCs and none of them uses FB apps on their phone as they find it sluggish and inferior to FB mobile website. And from what they told me on Android you don't get notifications pushed to your phone in real time as do with a BB. Feel free to correct me...

If she has friends on BBM that could be a big draw for her. BBM is in league of its own when it comes to messaging. Some says "just use sms" but they haven't tried BBM.
People laughed when chavs orginised riots on BBs but this is the reality: BBs are simply good in communication. They might lack in apps, speed (especially older models) and browsing but there are reason to use them for some people...

White?! Done!!

I have to say that actually (to me, anyway) looks a lot nicer than that mental five grand porsche designed handset they've just announced.

Jon

Don't like the Porsche one at all.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

I am pretty sure it costs $2,000.

I love this headline

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcbabej/2 ... s-burning/

Update:

I have decided not to upgrade my phone but to change my price plan instead and lock myself into 12m contract (sim only):
For £15 pm I will get:
300 minutes
3000 text
BB internet server with 250mb of data
750mb data on BT Openzone (pm)

I am not desperate for a new phone (my trusty Storm2 is doing just fine) and I decided it will be better to wait for QNX phones. Personally I can't see them being available before summer next year so it will be quite a wait. But I might get myself BB Playbook or that Curve 9360 if I start craving for something shiny. I might even consider getting an android phone as my secondary device, use BB for messaging and android for fun...