Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos?

   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos? #1  

JDgreen227

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Have a 3 year old Blackberry Curve 8330, heavily used, but still works perfectly and even has OEM battery !!! I send two dozen pictures a week, resolution of the camera is only 2 mp, using Verizon as my provider and with 3 bars of coverage showing, a picture taken at standard resolution (no magnification) usually sends via email in 3 to 4 minutes.

Been thinking about upgrading to a newer model, but I am wondering if a new Blackberry with a higher resolution camera such a 4-6 mp would take longer to send a picture than my current device. I really have no idea what is considered a normal, long, or short time to send pics via a smartphone. For all I know, 2 mp and 3-4 minutes could be really fast, or very slow.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos? #2  
I'm the IT manager at my company and manage our 120 wireless lines. You will not find a better camera phone than the apple iphone4. That's based on image quality and processing speed. However, it is fragile as both the front and rear of the case is slippery, brittle glass. The Motorola Android phones (droid2 and Droid X2) are close contenders in the camera category, but beat out the apple on the application market. Apple charges $1-5 per application whereas the android market is free.

On Verizon EVDO Rev A it takes about 45-90 seconds to upload a hi-res 4-5 megapixel photo. That is a measurement of the network speed and nothing to do with the phone. Data speed is strictly dependent upon network congestion, link technology, and signal strength.

Hope this helps a little!

PS: the data plans for the iPhone and androids are $20/mo cheaper than the blackberry data plans. This is because your data isnt having to be run through a third party (RIM) thus doesn't incur these network costs.
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I'm the IT manager at my company and manage our 120 wireless lines. You will not find a better camera phone than the apple iphone4. That's based on image quality and processing speed. However, it is fragile as both the front and rear of the case is slippery, brittle glass. The Motorola Android phones (droid2 and Droid X2) are close contenders in the camera category, but beat out the apple on the application market. Apple charges $1-5 per application whereas the android market is free.

On Verizon EVDO Rev A it takes about 45-90 seconds to upload a hi-res 4-5 megapixel photo. That is a measurement of the network speed and nothing to do with the phone. Data speed is strictly dependent upon network congestion, link technology, and signal strength.

Hope this helps a little!

PS: the data plans for the iPhone and androids are $20/mo cheaper than the blackberry data plans. This is because your data isnt having to be run through a third party (RIM) thus doesn't incur these network costs.

Thanks for input...I should have mentioned I love my BB as it is so rugged and has VERY long battery life, two things I feel are very important in a smartphone.
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos? #4  
Sadly, no one comes close to the blackberry's battery life. The only way I've found to cope is with an increased capacity battery on the motorolas. They will get me through a busy 16 hour day without charging. The iPhone is a sealed case, so you can't even take the battery out of it. What you see is what you get with that phone.

The android and iPhone have super high resolution screens, and folks tend to load up apps that continuously update data (news, Facebook, weather,etc) harming the battery life.

To be honest, the curve 8330 was the last blackberry we rolled out in mass and were satisfied with. Every BB model since then we had terrible issues with. Reliability problems, constant rebooting and hard resets requiring the battery to be pulled, and the most annoying thing from my perspective is the 5-10 minutes it takes just to reboot on the newer ones.

The Motorola Droid2 with extended battery should give your BB curve a run for its money in battery life. The Droid X2 has a larger, higher resolution screen and eats the battery more quickly.
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Sadly, no one comes close to the blackberry's battery life. The only way I've found to cope is with an increased capacity battery on the motorolas. They will get me through a busy 16 hour day without charging. The iPhone is a sealed case, so you can't even take the battery out of it. What you see is what you get with that phone.

The android and iPhone have super high resolution screens, and folks tend to load up apps that continuously update data (news, Facebook, weather,etc) harming the battery life.

To be honest, the curve 8330 was the last blackberry we rolled out in mass and were satisfied with. Every BB model since then we had terrible issues with. Reliability problems, constant rebooting and hard resets requiring the battery to be pulled, and the most annoying thing from my perspective is the 5-10 minutes it takes just to reboot on the newer ones.

The Motorola Droid2 with extended battery should give your BB curve a run for its money in battery life. The Droid X2 has a larger, higher resolution screen and eats the battery more quickly.

Sure do appreciate your input and advice....sounds like you know your smartphones well. Thanks again, now I know what to begin looking for.....:thumbsup:
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos? #6  
What do you hear about the new droid bionic? and the Droid 3? the Droid 3 from verizon is buy one get one free now. Thanks,:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
What do you hear about the new droid bionic? and the Droid 3? the Droid 3 from verizon is buy one get one free now. Thanks,:thumbsup::thumbsup:

HOOO RAYYYYY.....LOL LOL. Wife has a Verizon LG smartphone same age as mine, right after she got it she bitched "should have got a Blackberry like yours"....now maybe we should go buy a pair of Droids.....
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos? #8  
"....now maybe we should go buy a pair of Droids....."

My daughter and I both entered the smartphone user realm with Droid 3s. It has been a long time since I have been cutting edge (back to my $3000 IBM-PC with the 8088 processor in 1982).

As you are setting up the phone there are numerous options that are presented to allow Google to "remember things" for you. It is a little unnerving to give your entire life over to Google, but I got over it. I figure with Google's reputation they will still store all this information anyway even if you don't give them permission.

I had concerns about battery life, but reading online reviews gave some good suggestions. Be sure the Global Phone selection is set to "off" (otherwise it will just keep trying to look for a European system until the battery gets sucked dry.) The other suggestion is to keep wireless access off until you need to use it.

The hardest thing for me to get used to is the size - these things are big compared to my old LG phone. If you have used a BB before you will be used to that.

Buy a form-fitting protective case (makes it easier to hold while using the slide out keyboard) and a pack of the screen protector films. The charger cord uses the USB Micro B standard (as most major manufacturer's phones since 2009), so if you have an older wall or car charger with a USB Micro B plug you will not need another.

A bit of a learning curve - but I am happy with this phone.
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos? #9  
HOOO RAYYYYY.....LOL LOL. Wife has a Verizon LG smartphone same age as mine, right after she got it she bitched "should have got a Blackberry like yours"....now maybe we should go buy a pair of Droids.....

Last year at this time we finally got rid of the old dumb phones and bought a pair of smart phones. :laughing: We bought Samsung Galaxy S phones. I think it was Amazon that had them for $200 with a two year contract then the price dropped to $150. Newegg had the same phones for $50 if we switched providers.

We switched providers. :D

Not so much because of the price of the phone but mainly because our old provider had expensive data plans that did not meet or needs.

Point being, it pays to shop around. :laughing:

It is a year later so I do not know how our phones compared to the latest. I assume the latest phones are better and faster in comparison. The only issue we had with the phones was battery life and GPS. We knew this before buying but we also knew that the phones would be upgraded to Android 2.2 at some point. They were and the battery life is no longer an issue. We do not use the GPS much but the problem seems to have been fixed.

If Google ends up completing the purchase of Motorola, the phone market is going to get even more interesting. Amazing how useful they hand held, pocket sized, computer, errrr, phones can be. :laughing:

Later,
Dan
 
   / Need input-- new smartphone for emailing photos?
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Last year at this time we finally got rid of the old dumb phones and bought a pair of smart phones. :laughing: We bought Samsung Galaxy S phones. I think it was Amazon that had them for $200 with a two year contract then the price dropped to $150. Newegg had the same phones for $50 if we switched providers.

We switched providers. :D

Not so much because of the price of the phone but mainly because our old provider had expensive data plans that did not meet or needs.

Point being, it pays to shop around. :laughing:

It is a year later so I do not know how our phones compared to the latest. I assume the latest phones are better and faster in comparison. The only issue we had with the phones was battery life and GPS. We knew this before buying but we also knew that the phones would be upgraded to Android 2.2 at some point. They were and the battery life is no longer an issue. We do not use the GPS much but the problem seems to have been fixed.

If Google ends up completing the purchase of Motorola, the phone market is going to get even more interesting. Amazing how useful they hand held, pocket sized, computer, errrr, phones can be. :laughing:

Later,
Dan

From what I read earlier today, Google did the purchase. I had one of the original Blackberries, the RIM 950, back in 2001. It was basically just a 2-way email pager with little else in the way of functions. But at the time it was introduced it was the most advanced of it's type. Ten years later my 3 year old Curve 8330 makes it look like an antique, and today's smartphones probably make the 8330 look like an antique. I do wonder what the next ten years will bring for developments.
 
 
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