Camera Phones Plaza

strong>Verizon</strong> customers looking for a <strong>smartphone</strong> should be in a lookout for the <strong>BlackBerry Storm</strong> available now. It has a <strong>touchscreen</strong> with tactile feedback and it offers dual-mode functionality so it is working worldwide in case you are considering traveling a lot. What is more it has a 3.2 megapixels camera so you can capture any moment with it.
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This <strong>BlackBerry Storm</strong> was the first to announce a touchscreen from BlackBerry. The price is affordable enough, about $199.99 and everybody died to see its features and how it performs the tasks. Unfortunately it let people down a bit as the performance proven was a bit slow. <strong>Verizon Wireless</strong> came with solutions to fix the problems. It resolved in 2009 some bugs this <strong>BlackBerry</strong> had and it added some updated features.

In terms of design it is kind of the same rounded look as its competitors (such as Apple and Samsung Omnia) it comes in a black casing with some silver here and there. It measures 4.4 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep and it weights 5.6 ounces.  It is a bit wide but when you hold it in your hands it feels stabile and it is in fact well-constructed. The display stands out having 3.25” VGA glass. It delivers sharp and bright images with 65.000 colors and the resolution is 480x360 pixels. It is a beautiful display with great colors. You can choose to adjust the brightness, font size and type. It is equipped with an accelerometer so when you rotate the phone in each side you will be able to see the right display.



For touch screen features, this smartphone uses SurePress, it’s pretty cool, because when you press something on the screen a gap forms just like you press a normal button on the keyboard. When you want to enter text the screen keyboard is available in both landscape and portrait mode. You can access the settings to choose the full QWERTY keyboard if you want. Moreover it has other finger touch capabilities, for example if you press the screen twice it zooms the picture, website page you are viewing. You can use the touch to copy paste documents or pictures. You will eventually get used to the SurePress technology.

But if you are used to the classic QWERTY tactile keyboard on the BlackBerry you will definitely miss the feature. The keyboard buttons are also a bit cramped so maybe you should double check the text you are going to send. Below the screen you will see the navigation controls for Call/End, menu key and the clear button. On the sides of the <strong>BlackBerry Storm </strong>you will see<strong> </strong>the micro USB port and on the right the 3.5mm headphone jack, the volume rocker and the camera button. The camera lenses are on the back and behind the battery is the microSD card slot.



Along with the phone there are other accessories you receive such as a travel charger, USB cable to connect the phone to your computer, an 8GB microSD card so you can take as many pictures you like and also personalize your phone with themes, ringtones, wallpapers, videos and games, a SIM card you can use when you go abroad, software CD for installation and the reference material. <strong> </strong>

<p><strong>BlackBerry 8830 World Edition</strong> looks a lot like the <strong>BlackBerry </strong>8800; it is mostly the same phone but has a few changes and some new features. One thing that definitely makes a difference is the fact that is one of the smartphones offering support for CDMA and GSM networks.
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This means that if you have a service contract with Verizon or Sprint you can make calls outside the U.S, where there is GSM service. Of course besides this special feature there are the usual ones like having a multimedia player, supports MP3 files, videos and photos. You can get this phone from both Verizon and Sprint Wireless.

The keyboard on the <strong>Blackberry world 8830</strong> are a bit cramped and don’t have a lot of space between them, unlike the other <strong>BlackBerry</strong> <strong>smartphones</strong>. It is a bad thing, because when you type in messages or e-mails you will notice and have to check twice if you haven’t pressed multiple keys at once. The design though is very nice, in silver chrome and with the trackball in the center and the 35-keys on the QWERTY keyboard. The display features a 320-by-240-pixel resolution, the screen is also QVGA and the colors are pretty nice, bright and crisp. It also has GPS, microSD card in case you want to expand the memory and high capacity battery. In case you want to remove the microSD you don’t have to remove the battery to get access as you have to do with <strong>BlackBerry</strong> Pearl and Curve. The trackball in the center of the phone is easy to use and has fast response, maybe too fast sometimes. The phone is solid constructed and you will feel that when holing in hands.



As for performance there is a 312 MHz processor giving enough power to quickly open and switch applications. The menu options are like the other <strong>BlackBerry</strong> phones but the e-mail interface has been improved. The web browser works fine when you access websites for mobile phones. It would be a good thing if <strong>BlackBerry</strong> would design a web browser so you could see a normal layout on all websites not only the ones providing mobile-friendly layouts.  The multimedia player is one feature improved; you can listen to music, view photos and watch videos. The GPS is SiRFstarIII-LT, it consumes less and you get faster location directions. The signal is strong and remains continuous even in suburb areas. There is a map system so you get the best navigation assistance. The <strong>BlackBerry’s World 8830</strong> battery is 1400 mAh battery and it pulled out 5 hours in talk time and 22 days in stand by, quite impressive I must say. This <strong>smartphone</strong> delivers long battery life even with the big display and the multimedia features it brings.




You can consider this phone as an upgrade for the 8800 and it is a good choice for world travelers as they can switch to either service is available. They can easily access e-mails, address book and plan appointments using the calendar and notes. It is a good thing it has GPS so you will always know where you are.  Adding the full keyboard you will eventually get used to and the long battery life and this turns out to be a great worldwide gadget.

It’s important for a <strong>smartphone</strong> to have all it takes. And <strong>Blackberry 8350i</strong> has them all, and even <strong>has MMS</strong>, the previous models like 8330 does not support <strong>MMS</strong>.
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For some this aspect is very important as they can send pictures anywhere, not like with the Bluetooth where you have a certain distance to maintain. There are other different models that also support multimedia messages coming from <strong>BlackBerry.</strong>

Even so there were many complaints about the <strong>MMS</strong> and even SMS function, people didn’t receive what others have send and vice versa. You can bother to call their tech support or e-mail them (they do respond to e-mails) but they will tell you it is a software problem and they are dedicated in getting an update to fix it. One temporary solution would be to power cycle the phone on and off every day and remove the battery also. It might be a big headache but they say it is the only solution they can provide until they finish the software update. And so don’t get panicked or change your phone just be patient and wait for their solution. You’ll just have to talk more on the phone now.



Moving on from this slight problem and let’s see other features of the <strong>BlackBerry 8350i</strong>. It has built-in GPS and Wi-Fi and also a HTML browser and updated operating system. It was first introduced on the market in the Fall 2008 and now you can get it from Sprint. You can get this <strong>smartphone</strong> at $149.99 with two year contract. As for the design, it resembles much as the other models from Curve, but with all the additional improvements it is a bit bigger. It weights 4.7 ounces; it is a solid build but still has a soft-touch finish on the edges for an easy grip. The display is QVGA and has 65,536 colors and a 320x240 pixel resolution.

You should know it is not touch screen. You can of course adjust the brightness and has a special technology which sets the backlight of the phone according to the one outside. You can also choose from various themes and background images to personalize your phone. Right below the screen are the usual navigation buttons, a Menu shortcut, trackball navigator and the buttons for “call” and “end”. When you get the phone you also receive a travel charger, stereo headset, USB cable, SIM card, 1GB microSD, a CD with the software needed to connect your phone to your computer, manuals and a swivel belt holster.



This <strong>BlackBerry 8350i</strong> has speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, SMS, <strong>MMS</strong> and speed dial. Having limited memory the address book is also limited but for each entry you can add extra phone numbers, e-mail address, job company and so on. It has GBS enabled by satellites and cellular triangulation in order to locate your position. There are applications used for getting maps, driving directions, try also Google Maps or BlackBerry Maps. In case you want a voice-guide you must go for extra service and pay additionally. The camera isn’t high-tech so the pictures taken are a bit blurry and unstable, it has 2-megapixels. But the web browsing works fine and loads pages pretty quickly.

BlackBerry Pearl 8130 has the same sleek design as its predecessors but ads up some new improvements like GPS, EV-DO support and features for video recording. You will enjoy improvement on the web browser and a 2 megapixels camera. In all of the rest sectors the smartphone does its job properly and does not fail our expectations.
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Smartphones are becoming more and more popular and we sure have a list to choose from, especially from BlackBerry. The following review will point out its good and bad points and see if this smartphone is as good as the rest out there.

There were some complaints about the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 keyboard, of being a bit uncomfortable and about the call quality, which could have been improved. But moving on to the design, it comes in silver and it can be found at $199.99 with two year contract. The smartphone keeps being sleek and it measures 4.2 inches long by 1.9 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep and it weights 3.4 ounces.

You won’t feel it in your pocket and when you hold it in your hands it feels comfortable. The screen has 2.25 and it is not touchscreen but it has 65,536 colors at 260x240 pixel resolution. The images and videos look bright and the colors are sharp and clear. One great thing is that it has a light-sensing technology which automatically changes the backlight depending on the environment.

You can personalize the phone with some themes given, different font sizes, add some wallpapers or background images and select the styles you want for the menu. The LED in the right corner shows different stays for the battery, incoming messages and so on. Below the screen you will see your regular control buttons, the ones for calling and ending the call, shortcuts for the menu page, the back-button and the navigator for the pearl trackball. The controls are easy to use and they give fast response.



The BlackBerry Pearl 8130 sets the difference thanks to the video-recording features it brings and the GPS capabilities. Additionally the web browser has been improved. The memory is 64MB so the address book is limited, but you can add more phone numbers and other information to each of the contact. You can add music files as it supports MP3. The web-surfing has also been improved and you can enjoy faster browsing. Unlike other web browsers this one requires a bit more handiness as you have to scroll up and down more to navigate through the pages.

Other features include Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS. You can use the GPS as a navigator to help you get directions and access Google Maps for real tracking and voice directions. But for all these you must pay additionally. The camera has 2 megapixels and it has a 5x zoom, flash and different picture sizes. You can add some color effects and then send them to your friends using MMS or Bluetooth.



The battery has a long life also, you can talk over for about 3.6 hours and if kept in standby you will have up to nine days, but it is a bit hard to stay away from the smartphone and not go through it every day.

<p><strong>Blackberry</strong> is a leading company providing smartphones. They have series and models to choose from and most of them are exactly what a smartphone needs. Lots of them come in different colors to express your style and for a better social impact. Black and silver phones have become classic and designed for those looking in a stylish and elegant look. But for teenagers and those with a sense of color these smartphones have read our minds.
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They also come in different shapes, rounded, square or like a board. It all depends in what you are interested. And to personalize even more your smartphone you can <strong>download free themes, </strong>ringtones, games and various applications in order to make your phone the way you want it. It is a shame having such a large amount of memory and not to use it.

Let’s start with the places from where you can get your <strong>free animated Blackerry themes.</strong> There is the blackberrythemepark.com, where you can find themes and wallpapers especially for <strong>BlackBerry</strong> smartphones. Then there is blackberryfreaks.com, you select the model of phone you have and select from the given list what you want. You will see some screenshots of the theme and below you can download it directly. No money and no registration needed. There is also blackberrythemes.ca, here there are themes available for <strong>Blackberry</strong> Bold, <strong>BlackBerry</strong> Curve and <strong>BlackBerry</strong> Curve. Themes here look very nice and clear from different categories. Unfortunately there are some requiring registration and then fill your email with lots of Spam or the ones requiring money for them.



Other website I personally use to download <strong>free themes </strong>and other items for my phone is zedge.net. You can download a limited number of themes per day and if you want to get unlimited you must create an account. And this time they won’t fill your e-mails, since I registered (and it is about two years now) I got at least 2 e-mails from them. What I like is that all are categorized like action, cartoon, funny, landscape, natures, animals, cars, <strong>animated</strong> and so on. You get to see some screenshots of the theme before you download it and then you can start the process. After that you just get it transferred on your phone using the USB cable and you are done. They are nice and they give a certain image and help you distinguish yourself from other BlackBerry users. A disadvantage of the <strong>animated themes </strong>is that it drains your battery, it consumers more of it and you will have to recharge it a bit more often then usual especially if you are using other applications or navigate the internet. But besides this they are an excellent choice and they look very nice on the big screen these smartphones have.



If you don’t mind this aspect you can choose to personalize your phone with either <strong>animated </strong>or simple <strong>themes. </strong>Get some ringtones, some games and applications and be sure you will have a unique phone. <strong>BlackBerry</strong> has some applications that customize the screen and the menu but they can’t be considered themes as they don’t change the whole style of the phone.