BlackBerry 8830 Cell Phone Reviews

by Al Guyton -- March 6th 2008 -- Chicago, IL

After about 5 weeks, I turned in my "LG- Voyager" on 01/24/08, and purchased the "Blackberry 8830". I did this primarily, because of the functionality of the address book, and appointment scheduler. It also integrates with "Outlook". The total integration of the phone is "awesome". I miss the "T.V." option, as well as the "Touch Screen", and "Camera" that the "Voyager " had, but the Blackberry has better a "Navagation System", in that it doesn't freeze or crash. The "Roller Ball" takes some getting used to; I just have to slow down a bit, when I use it. I also like the idea that I can place the cursor on any phone number right in an e-mail message, or any "Notes" section, and press the roller ball to actually make a phone call! I can also go to my address book via the Navigator, and integrate that information into mapping, and communications. My Service Provider is "Verizon Wireless", which I have had for several years now, and intend to keep. Their service is fine, and the Blackberry Plan is great. The plan is so reasonable, that I actually thought that they had made a mistake. I had to double check with them to make sure that I was understanding it correctly.

by Jman -- February 24th 2008 -- Stafford, VA

Lets remember, we are here to rate the PHONE, not the service provider. You can get the same exact phone on at least 2 other service providers. I can't help but believe that the reviews on here are tainted with people's dislikes in their SP. If you don't like your SP, then switch, but don't rate the phone poorly because of your dislikes in your SP. I'll try to keep it simple... :-)) I broke down the phone based on my opinon below, otherwise just read this-- Overall this phone handles all business needs and I rate it 9/10 if thats your main concern. However it lacks in flashy features that come with a lot of the other smartphones devices that are similar so I rate it 7/10 for those who are just planning to buy the most expensive device they can... trying to look cool. What you don't know is having a BB is very expensive, you can't use it to its full capabilities without having a decent base plan and then having a DATA PLAN strictly designed for use with the BB devices. Those data plans carry a nasty rate (depending on carrier). Expect to pay $45.99 for your voice plan and $39.99 for your unlimted BB data plan. That doesn't include insurance etc... and you still have to pay for texting!!!!!!!!! Well that may vary depending on your SP, but as far as SPRINT goes... All of the above applies! Those who are lucky enough to get reimbursed for the rates from texting and data are in good shape (like myself). You don't have to have a data plan, but all smartphones would be sort of useless with out them... 1. COMMUNICATION 10/10 - This device as a means of communication is second to none. Compared to other smartphones I have owned, such as the PPC-6700, the BB8830's simple interface and messaging system makes emailing, sms texting, instant messaging and all of the above a breez. The voice comes in clear and the speaker phone is high end like the ones in Nextel's phones. 2. BATTERY LIFE 9/10 - This is probably reason number 2 why I even bought the device, if not one. Again, compared to a device such as a PPC, there is no competition. My PPC's battery life was terrible and continued to get worse as time went on. You can feel safe about leaving home without your charger if you own a BB8830. With moderate use, and by moderate I mean normal every day use, you get a solid 48 hours of use before you would want charge it again. And everyday use for me includes talking, texting, email, games, web browsing, GPS activated while using the built in maps. Great deal for some what heavy abuse right? 3. DESIGN 5/10 | EASE OF USE 8/10 - I like this device, but it is poorley designed in my opinion. With all the other phones on the market that cost this much, a touch screen would have been nice and because it lacks a touch screen, it makes doing some things a pain. This is where this phone loses to the PPC and TREO, but maybe this is why the battery last so long??? a) Web browsing on the BB8830 is somewhat lame and very boring but it serves its purpose. Having to use the trackball to scroll down pages makes me sick, I need to find out if there is way to skip down pages by half. Use of a stylus to select and copy things on the screen is amazing, RIM needs to work on that. b) The keyboard is small and thats because of the design. I really like the idea behnd the slide out keyboard. However, it doesn't take that long to get used to it, as with any phone. c) No camera, sometimes its just easier to take a picture rather than upload them. And since everything else has a camera on it, why not this? For the price jeez... d) The buttons on the side are just terrible. Poor location is the problem and the same goes for the charger port... that should be ont he bottom with a pull out cover. Good thing the hot button on the left can be set to do other things. e) Im not sure if there is one, but there needs to be an auto lock function. Other than those 4 things, the BB8830 is pretty much straight foward. The GPS is accurate, the device doesn't lock up and crash on you and it can do all the things the other devices can do. I suggest the main focus be the batterey life

by Mark -- November 22nd 2007 -- Atlanta, GA

I purchased 3 BlackBerry 8830's from the Sprint Website for my business. It took over a week to get the order in. Sprint charged my corporate credit card $700 but the order never processed. 2 weeks later that was cleared up and the order was finally processed. The phones arrived but the Blackberry plan was not what I ordered. I spent 3 days trying to get the Blackberry Worldwide Data plan but the Sprint rep in India kept signing us up for the wrong plan. We canceled the service and sent the phones back to sprint. 3 months later still waiting for our refund. WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE we have ever seen.

by Robert Bennett -- November 14th 2007 -- Tallmadge, OH

The BlackBerry 8830 features were average at best. The particular phone supplied to me would not engage Sprint web services and would not enable me to access personal email accounts. Sprint customer service to abysmal. I spent no less than 7 and one-half hours on the phone trying to get these and other issues resolved. Sprint's customer service and tech service was totally inept and useless. Service with Sprint was terminated out of total frustration. In my opinion, Blackberry would do well to end its ties with Sprint.

by Cody Loving -- June 21st 2007 -- Sherman, TX

This has been a great edition to the Blackberry Family. I must say I upgraded from the 7520 (which was a good one too). First, the 8830 is sleek looking and more "up to date" It has wonderful battery life, and it is loud easy to hear when driving down road. Great edition, and good and job Blackberry "RIM".