A very sexy looking phone. In my opinion, it’s the Bold’s younger sibling. Same generation, only smaller.
It is quite comparable to the Bold in terms of appearance (i.e. dominantly black color scheme), but with a few exceptions. Such included a thicker metal lip around the bottom, and the back has a brushed black metal appearance, rather than the simulated leather feel of the Bold. This seems as though it would scratch quite easily. When I first saw the Bold, I thought it to be the sexiest phone possible because of its back, but the vertical lines on the back of the Javelin, along with a camera in a matching color that does not protrude from the surface give it a much cleaner, streamlined appearance.
The #1 thing I noticed when looking over the phone was the camera. Not just in how well it blends in with the body, nor the fact that it has flash, but the fact that it is 3.2 megapixels – 37.5% better resolution than the Bold’s camera.
Looking up and down the sides, I came into something that broke the norm of all BlackBerries for me. I’ve used pretty much every model in recent existence. I’ve sold hundreds of older BlackBerries. Every single one of them used a mini USB plug for charging and syncing. This phone used a USB interface that I have only ever seen on one other phone (Nokia N81) – the Micro USB. Internet rumors indicate that the Micro USB port will take over the cell phone market gradually. From my experience using it, it’s a much better port than mini USB. The performance rate does not differ, but it is also much slimmer, allowing for more compact adapters, and it holds its place a lot better physically. To remove it, you really need to give it a good tug – much like the difference between the charging ports on the PowerBooks and iBooks, as opposed to the new MagSafe adapters that hold the port in magnetically on the MacBook line.
Something I found interesting about this phone is that it has dedicated keyboard lock and silence keys. The silence key is nothing new, but I find the lock one to be the most interesting. It leaves the left and right convenience keys to be programmed – whereas on any other BlackBerry I have used, I have had to sacrifice a convenience key in order to have a keyboard lock on the fly. Disadvantage: The lock key can also be used to UNLOCK the phone, which, in essence, kind of defeats the purpose (to prevent it from being operated while in your pocket). After having used it for a few hours, I found that it’s almost impossible to press the lock button inadvertently – and is quite possibly my favorite feature of the phone. It’s designed so that the lock key is right near where your finger is depending on where you hold it. Think they picked that up from the iPhone?
The software is the same as any other BlackBerry of this generation, a much sexier version of its predecessor, with a few more features for efficiency. Such include the general layout, more comprehensive setup wizards, and a more versatile camera function with lots of options.
Surprisingly, this phone does NOT support 3G. I made the blunder of indicating so in my unrevised review of the product - but after having confirmed on CrackBerry and GSMarena - it's true that there is NO 3G support on this phone. Although I have never felt any inclination to have 3G speeds on my handset (EDGE seems to work fine for me), all the hype about the Bold was 3G, so it's kind of misleading when you think about it, that the 8900 does not have it.
For experienced Blackberry users, I think that the only reason that is valid to upgrade to this phone is either the appearance or the better camera. If you’re all about glamour when it comes to phones – regardless of whether or not you’re an enterprise user – this is probably the sexiest, easiest to use BlackBerry available. Reason I’m not saying it about the Bold is the size difference.
Reason I’m not saying it about the Pearl Flip is because of the more difficult to use keyboard (unless you’re into that sort of thing. It can serve a dual purpose of easier typing and space saving – but that keyboard takes a long time to get used to).
I really do believe that the lock button at the top of the phone is what I like most about it. It’s a really sexy phone, exact same width as the iPhone, and overall, scores a 4.25/5 stars, or an 85% with me.
Wired: Sexiest BlackBerry out there. Keyboard is pretty easy to type on, camera takes excellent photos, dedicated lock button takes away the need for a lost convenience key (now I have two to program to whatever I want), has WiFi, so I don’t have to murder my data plan. Smaller than the Bold. A real winner.
Tired: As I say with all newer BlackBerries – the little ball in the middle is incredibly difficult to use. Vibration is quite weak. Found that the battery isn’t easy to take out. YouTube does NOT run natively. No 3G.
OK, so I can’t think up many reasons as to why one wouldn’t like the Javelin – I can’t tell you how tempted I was to just keep it, as it’s such a great phone. But nothing will ever beat the iPhone. I have found that BlackBerry requires a lot of expertise to fully master, so for basic things such as determining which applications go on the front page, us seasoned users all know to hold down the Alt button and click on the selected application you want something done about and move it to the top row of the main screen of applications and it’s the first thing you see on the homepage – but on the iPhone… you just hold your finger on an application and drag it down to the silver dock on the bottom. This is what I think is in the way of more sales for RIM. Lack of comprehensibility.
Next steps: Look at what the iPhone is doing right. I know you can’t steal too many ideas – but there are a few elements of simplicity that I feel are missing.
Bottom line: If you’re a BlackBerry kind of person – this is a phone for you. I would recommend it over the Bold. Want to turn heads? This is the right phone for you.
Unfortunately, on account of my short period of ownership, I am unable to comment on the battery life. I will tell you, though, that it only went down one bar after 4 or so hours of constant use, including about 30 minutes of talk time, 3 YouTube videos, about 10 web pages and a few dozen text messages.
Also might show a photo of my pen holder taken with the Javelin's camera. Decided to take this AFTER I took my SIM card out. Then I tried to email it to myself. No email set up. Great. Now I have to Facebook it to myself. Have to set that up. Not happening. So, I finally go downstairs and get a Bluetooth Dongle - and it synced successfully.
Reason that I did the pen holder was that it has an engraved surface to it, and I wanted to show off just how good the focus is on the camera. It's not every day you can get such a good quality picture from a phone, let alone a BlackBerry - which I'm yet to see a great picture come off of.
3 comments:
Disadvantage: The lock key can also be used to UNLOCK the phone, which, in essence, kind of defeats the purpose ??
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If u set a password ..then it wont just unlock in your pocket ?
or did i read it wrong :S
You didn't read it wrong. You are indeed correct that a password would prevent the inadvertent unlocking of the phone. However, you aren't taking into consideration the vast majority of BlackBerry users that can't be bothered to set a password every time they want to use their phone.
Out of paranoia of data theft, I password protect my handheld (also to act as a deterrent for overuse; making the use of my BlackBerry to be an inconvenience).
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