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  • Alfa launches Unlimited Blackberry Internet Service (BIS)

Hey battikh,
it's the curve with the black square sensor navigation button.
3G is supported by almost all smart phones, too bad they stripped it from the curve.
GPS is a nice thing to have too for maps
Camera is not really a problem (even if it's missing a flash)

Can you please provide a list of available BB devices and their prices in Lebanon (to the best of your knowledge)? thank you
and regarding the 'whatever sim he has' part: if he switches SIMs, then the new SIM must be subscribed to the BB service in order to get your BB messages, no?
the prices are from dubai (i live there), but i think the prices are very close to lebanon.
also, for the older devices, it might be a bit cheaper now are these were their prices before the new models got launched. but you can get a rough idea. can get the correct prices later on. and yes, the higher end models are not that cheap :P but still as much as the iphone 3gs or a high end htc.


curve 8520 (new one, the one your friend has):
320 x 240 pixels, 2.46 inches screen
2megapixel cam
256mb rom
512MHz processor
no GPS
no 3G
wifi
330$


curve 8900 ("old" one):
480 x 360 pixels, 2.4 inches screen
3megapixel cam
256mb rom
512mhz processor
GPS
no 3G
wifi
490$


bold 9000 (old one):
480 x 320 pixels, 2.6 inches screen
2 megapixel cam
128MB
624MHz processor
GPS
3G
wifi
675$


bold 9700 (new one):
480 x 360 pixels, 2.44 inches screen
3 megapix cam
256MB
624MHz processor
GPS
3G
Wifi
810$


tour 9630
480 x 360 pixels, 2.4 inches screen
3megapixel cam
256MB
GPS
3G
NO wifi
dont know $$
duckster wroteand regarding the 'whatever sim he has' part: if he switches SIMs, then the new SIM must be subscribed to the BB service in order to get your BB messages, no?
yes, OR connect to a wifi network. but for people who travel a lot, they usually spend 20 extra $ and subscribe for the international bb service, so no need to swap sim cards, was just an example to show that it is not sim related and that i can reach you even if i dont know your number :P
duckster wrote3G is supported by almost all smart phones, too bad they stripped it from the curve.
my bad, was never available in the curve.
and yeah, but in lebanon it doesn't make much sense yet, we're still on gprs, we still have a long way to reach 3g :P
plus, i have 3g on my phone, but have horrible coverage at home, so i just have gprs home. on a cellphone, it doesn't make much more difference, you wont be doing big downloads, i don't feel much difference in everyday use.

duckster wroteGPS is a nice thing to have too for maps
here 3g matters if you want turn by turn gps (but edge is enough, which is available in the curve). if you'll be using google maps on the road, you need something fast enough to download the maps in real time. forget it in lebanon and on gprs.
or you'll have to buy a 3rd party gps app other than google maps. don't know how good they are on bb, people usually use google maps on bb as its free.
im a BB person as well , a proud holder of the BB pearl . but would not connect to the shitty network in Lebanon .

commenting on the battery thing: my BB runs for a week without a recharge with moderate use making/receiving calls and sms . and recharges fast as well ! / extremely stable and capable OS .
Thanks battikh for your input, I had a small overview of BB caracteristics, and even though I prefer it over the iphone, I bought the iphone coz I wanted to test it for myself. And the most annoying this with the iphone, its the non multitasking feature, and the battery life over 3G.

Will do the same thing with BB, google phone etc..
duckster wrotebattikh,

i still don't fully get it. If one has a smart phone other than a BB, and is connected via a 3G or GPRS data network, then he/she can have email applications running in the background and constantly checking for new messages and notifying him/her when one is found.
As for chatting, there are many IM clients for smart phones, in addition to other VoIP applications.

I know in Lebanon we only have GPRS for now, but still, I don't get the fuss about blackberry.
Same for people outside Lebanon. I mean, they got 3G networks that can be used to do all what a blackberry device does, as far as I understand.

Someone enlighten me please:)
Blackberry are foremost targeted at businessmen. So unless the organization you work for provides you with one, I believe you're better off buying an iPhone (if you don't need multitasking), or an Android phone (the best on the market imho).

I'm not going to compare my experiences with each of these, as it will probably be biased (I love Android), but bare this in mind: I agree with you, I don't get the fuss about blackberries either.

Now as a manager, if you need to buy something for an employee who you need to be in touch with at all time, (and you don't want to bother into learning how to use the stuff), BB is the answer for you. But for general users who want to show-off (God knows we have those in Leb), BB are a big no-no, (once again imho).

Btw, anyone using an Android phone in Lebanon care to give us a review of the services?
btw, was a bit wrong about the bb prices, they are a bit cheaper:

bold 9700: 730$
bold 9000: 650$
curve 8520: 320$
curve 8900: 440$
@ battikh : if you don't mind , can you tell us about the bb connection in Dubai ? i have a friend there who uses the bb she said its fast but does not know more than that LOL . so can you tell us about the speed , quota services, whatever you wish :) thanks in advance :)
rahmu wroteBlackberry are foremost targeted at businessmen. So unless the organization you work for provides you with one, I believe you're better off buying an iPhone (if you don't need multitasking), or an Android phone (the best on the market imho).
why? using this logic, if that was the only advantage of a blackberry, why wouldn't the company provide you with an android phone and subscribe you to 3G?

rahmu wroteNow as a manager, if you need to buy something for an employee who you need to be in touch with at all time, (and you don't want to bother into learning how to use the stuff), BB is the answer for you.
it's not true at all. companies that hand over BBs to their employees are usually companies who use BES and not BIS. BES comes with a lot of learning required. you have to install blackberry servers in your infrastructure, you need redundancy, you need security, you need maintenance, you need to configure the whole thing, ...

rahmu wroteBtw, anyone using an Android phone in Lebanon care to give us a review of the services?
i dual boot it on my htc, but i'm not in lebanon...
widgets are awesome, customizing your desktop and having the widgets you want just there waiting for you.
multiple desktops is also very nice
applications are well integrated with the notification system of the os. not as closely as in BB, just with notifications.
everything syncs automatically with your gmail account (which actually sucks when you use multiple accounts, when you try for example to login to gtalk, it automatically logins with the primary email you configured. i don't know if they made it possible to attach multiple emails in newer releases)
their app market already has 20,000 apps, so you'll probably find anything you need.

in my opinion, android is very promising, it has great potential. but it's still early, it's still in heavy development, and it's just now that the good features are poping out. that's why i think it's better to wait a year before buying one.
during the 1st half of 2010 there are around 50 new android phones planned for release, so lets wait and see. plus many companies will be customizing it like htc does, so we might see some creative stuff. the big ones are in (sony ercisson, motorolla, htc), so they will definitely not keep using android raw as it comes and will do some development of their own.
plus, google is releasing in january their own 100% google phone (the nexus 1, will be google branded, a true google phone). so google will definitely pump money and development in android like hell.
so for android, just be patient, the good things are still to be released.
jadberro wrote@ battikh : if you don't mind , can you tell us about the bb connection in Dubai ? i have a friend there who uses the bb she said its fast but does not know more than that LOL . so can you tell us about the speed , quota services, whatever you wish :) thanks in advance :)
for speed, we have 3G coverage almost everywhere. and where we don't, it's edge.
i'm currently home, have edge coverage here, when i'm on 3g i'll do a speed test and let you know about the actual speed. but when i used to have a 3g card, i know i used to get 3-4 Mbps

subscription fee is 35$ for the national service (works only in UAE, if you use it abroad you pay for the roaming)
and 70$ for the international service (works in any country that has BB services at no extra charge).

DU (one of the providers) has a 1GB fair usage policy.
for etisalat, they say nothing about it...

for the services, well, it's the normal BB services, basically push email and internet. then it all depends on what your phone can do with internet...
no wait, lets be clearer, not internet, UNCENSORED internet. here many sites are blocked (flickr, israel's domain, porn, ...), but with BB's internet the ISPs have no control at all on the traffic (all your traffic is proxied to rim's servers), so everything is open...

even flickr, they block it in a weird way... all sites that are blocked, are COMPLETELY blocked, no way around without a proxy or a vpn. but with flickr... the just blocke the domain name... if you access it through its IP, it works... all it takes is just a small greasemonkey script on firefox to replace the urls in a page from flickrs different servers to their actual IPs and your done...
why? using this logic, if that was the only advantage of a blackberry, why wouldn't the company provide you with an android phone and subscribe you to 3G?
Classic case of open-source vs proprietary models. Android is an open-source platform that constructors are allowed to use. Blackberry make their own product from scratch. From a business model, BB can cut deals with companies (and they are doing it) to equip their employees with their phones. Traditional businesses are still reluctant to trust an open-source software backed by Google, bundled by a phone constructor, maintained by the community ...
it's not true at all. companies that hand over BBs to their employees are usually companies who use BES and not BIS. BES comes with a lot of learning required. you have to install blackberry servers in your infrastructure, you need redundancy, you need security, you need maintenance, you need to configure the whole thing, ...
You're right there, however my point is that to get a grasp of the true power of Android, you need to have a developer customize it for your needs. Once again Android is not an out-of-the-box product, or at least its true power doesn't lie there.
plus, google is releasing in january their own 100% google phone (the nexus 1, will be google branded, a true google phone). so google will definitely pump money and development in android like hell.
This rumor has been circulating for a while. It's not the first time we've heard about the purely truely branded Google phone. But nothing official from Google has been said about it, and everyone on the #android IRC channel seem to deny it. Still I agree, the best is yet to come for Android.
rahmu wroteThis rumor has been circulating for a while. It's not the first time we've heard about the purely truely branded Google phone. But nothing official from Google has been said about it, and everyone on the #android IRC channel seem to deny it. Still I agree, the best is yet to come for Android.
???
then what's this? http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/14/exclusive-first-google-phone-nexus-one-photos-android-2-1-on/
plus, it was officially approved by the FCC, so how can it not exist?
battikh wrotehere many sites are blocked < israel's domain>
WOW ! here .co.il is open and we should be the first ones blocking ! i want to do something about this...
???
then what's this? http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/14/excl … id-2-1-on/
plus, it was officially approved by the FCC, so how can it not exist?
Yes so there's a new Android phone. Until I see Google explicitly say it's theirs, then I'll believe it.
I read that the new google phone is going to be released early 2010 and some sites even claim january 5th in the US.
additionally, they say that it is going to cost $99 only (after $100 rebate) - check http://www.androidguys.com/2009/12/14/reuters-nexus-one-available-directly-through-google-website-january-5/

if this is true, then they will get a big market share in no time.

now, a side question, given that i'm almost illetrate when it comes to phones: when they say that this is the first real google phone, they actually mean google produced it? but i heard HTC has to do something in it.
what's the difference between this phone and the GPhone released more than a year ago? is it just the fact that this new one is not going to be locked to a provider?
1- no way it will be 99$, it's a high end phone. oled touch screen, 5megapixel cam, 3g, bluetooth, wifi, noise cancellation, accelerometer, light sensors, proximity sensors, stereo speakers, opengl capable graphic card, ...

2- the G1 was a phone fully made by HTC and branded HTC that just had android as os. no special involvement from google, they had no say in it.
when they say real google phone, it means it's google branded (no htc logo on it, just a google logo). it's still manufactured by HTC (they do lots of phones for many brands, like imate, o2, and even they did the sony ericsson xperia 1. initially that's what they do, they used to make phones even before there was an htc brand). it would mean also that google was involved in its design, spec-wise and all, and that htc is just manufacturing it. it's like getting a contractor, telling him what you want, how you want it, ... and they do it for you.
thanks man. you educated me well today :)