Monday, May 21, 2007

Day 6 with the Verizon Blackberry 8830

Well I love it even more and I am still disappointed with GPS... Mostly with Verizon I guess. Even though GPS looks enabled in the advanced settings every app I have tried simply can't get a signal lock. Google Maps doesn't get a lock, Spot doesn't get a lock, Find it! doesn't get a lock... very disappointing. I guess what recent articles have said about Verizon nerfing GPS must be true... I will try to get official confirmation though.

On the plus side I am quite impressed with the ambient light-sensing backlight (although I haven't figured out how to dim or turn off the trackball light) as well as the configurability of profiles.

I found a free theme or two but they didn't excite me too much... I may have to give making them a try myself... I want a specific set of info, app icons, and transparency (so I can still see my background image) on my home screen.

Last note for the day is on the matter of protecting my investment- and my pretty little toy. I had the Invisible Shield for my Q and was dissatisfied with its lack of protection for corners and sides, so I went looking for a better solution for the 8830. I'm very picky and rarely happy with most cases. I want the best of all worlds- good looks, good protection, and something that doesn't make the phone look huge.

After some research I decided to bite the bullet and buy the Hybrid hard case/holster combo from Seidio Online:

http://www.seidioonline.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=751

I received it today and ... drumroll ... I am very impressed! It is very thin and low-profile, and fits perfectly. It feels very solid and doesn't make the 8830 feel much bigger, and in combination with the combo holster is actually significantly slimmer and svelter than the OEM Blackberry leather holster.

I hope that helps anyone else facing the same decision.

So far so good with battery life... with very heavy usage and an hour or two of charging a day it has stayed around 3 bars of battery life. I'll try to do a full charge to rundown test soon... for a "normal" occasional usage rundown test you will have to wait until the newness wears off. :-)

If I get anywhere with GPS I will of course post again.

Cheers!

3 comments:

Berried223 said...

Mike, sorry to hear the GPS isn't working out. But a big thanks for trying and posting about it, especially re: Find It!.

Probably won't stop me from getting one myself, but at least I'm making a more informed decision now :) Thanks!

Mike VC said...

Yeah its worth it for the EVDO imho since I am a speed freak.

Anonymous said...

Anything new with gps? I spoke to a vzw agent and he says it will only work with VZ Nagivator!!!! You have to pay 10 a month for something you have by default, but verizon chose to disable it!