Blackberry Phones ~ All Hype ?

[JimmyTheMook]

Are these good phones or basically a kids toy ?

I ask as my kid is bugging the heck out of me for one and looked at a few and they seem cheesy compared to a Nokia.

[HDRIDER]

Nokia, where have you been the last 10 years a place without news,

but yes go buy a iphone for your kids they will love it or if you have 2 kids buy a Nokia and a Iphone then you will see

[PomPui]

The reason the kids love the Blackberry's Instant Messaging that is free world wide.

Of course the iPhone and Andriod phones have way more apps etc.

Cheers

Pompui

[Gigabyte]

Nokia, where have you been the last 10 years a place without news,

but yes go buy a iphone for your kids they will love it or if you have 2 kids buy a Nokia and a Iphone then you will see

The OP is talking about Blackberry (made by RIM), not iPhones (made by Apple). You can't compare black berries with apples.... :-)

The reason the kids love the Blackberry's Instant Messaging that is free world wide.

Of course the iPhone and Andriod phones have way more apps etc.

Cheers

Pompui

Correct - Many thai staff at my office are using Blackberries because they are told by their friends to buy one so that they can stay in touch 24/7 on Facebook and Twiter and let the whole world know that they won't be available for the next 5 minutes because they have to use the restroom.

[nikster]

BBs suck compared to iPhone or those few Android devices that are actually good.

But BB has BBM, BlackBerry Messenger, and that makes it an absolute 100% must-have for any teen or twen in Thailand. If you want to be cool, you have to have BBM. It also helps that the basic BBs are way cheaper than iPhones. The combination of BBM and 1/2 price or less makes the BB the phone that all students have. Those students that have iPhones likely have a BB as well, just for BBM. It's not just that BBM is free, it's also the social component - you have group chat and everyone in the group can update everyone else. You don't have BBM, you're left out. It's not like you couldn't do the same thing with Twitter or Facebook but BBM is much more seamless. And free, no internet package required.

If your kid wants one, give them one. Nokia in 2010 is the cheap phone brand that poor people use. 1000 baht and works great. But not exciting for kids.

Edited September 21, 2010 by nikster

[JimmyTheMook]

OK , so anyone with a BB for sale PM me.

[lovebkk]

BBs suck compared to iPhone or those few Android devices that are actually good.

But BB has BBM, BlackBerry Messenger, and that makes it an absolute 100% must-have for any teen or twen in Thailand. If you want to be cool, you have to have BBM. It also helps that the basic BBs are way cheaper than iPhones. The combination of BBM and 1/2 price or less makes the BB the phone that all students have. Those students that have iPhones likely have a BB as well, just for BBM. It's not just that BBM is free, it's also the social component - you have group chat and everyone in the group can update everyone else. You don't have BBM, you're left out. It's not like you couldn't do the same thing with Twitter or Facebook but BBM is much more seamless. And free, no internet package required.

If your kid wants one, give them one. Nokia in 2010 is the cheap phone brand that poor people use. 1000 baht and works great. But not exciting for kids.

I don't think it's really free. You can use BBM without BIS?BES service.

I bought my BB in Thailand and the service was great, for little money. When I came back in Vietnam I learned that the whole BIS/BES thing was very expensive. I decided not to pay for it but subsequently lost 95 % of the phones functions.

Conclusion: you need the BB service package. Otherwise you better buy a Nokia.

http://www.ais.co.th/blackberry/

[nikster]

I don't think it's really free. You can use BBM without BIS?BES service.

I bought my BB in Thailand and the service was great, for little money. When I came back in Vietnam I learned that the whole BIS/BES thing was very expensive. I decided not to pay for it but subsequently lost 95 % of the phones functions.

Conclusion: you need the BB service package. Otherwise you better buy a Nokia.

http://www.ais.co.th/blackberry/

Really? I had no idea - I thought BBM was free everywhere BBs are sold. But clearly it needs some network support, and operators will hate to lose any text / SMS revenue... apologies if I was misinformed there. So BBM only works on post-paid, or what? How much do you pay for the service?

[Sarpedon]

You need to have the Blackberry services to make full use of a Blackberry. For individuals you will have to get BIS and for companies, they will usually have BES. I think you have to have this package to be able to use BBM and also have push email. If you send an sms then thats still charged to the network provider. My current set up is that I have a talk plan and sms plan with DTAC which suits my requirements and then I have signed up for DTAC BIS which is 650 thb per month unlimited access.

The Blackberry is great for email but apart from that its a very average phone. Even some of the email has limitations. I cant download and open any attachment which is larger than 2.9mb and also on BIS, IMAP email accounts are not supported fully. Its only fully supported on BES.

[moo9]

My BB 9700 Bold works flawlessly, no freezes, it is a great device especially for emailing. I don't use the BB Messenger, but Facebook. All in all, at today's prices, it is a good deal. Battery life is much better than most of the touchscreen phones as well!