BlackBerry 8520 Worth it?

Drake5

Drake5

Drake5

Soldato
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12 Dec 2005
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I have £150 to spend on a PAYG mobile phone soon, and I'm looking at my options.

The BB 8520 looks like a fair deal and the reviews seem good. Anyone else here got one to add some personal input?

Could I get a better phone for £150? Most of my mates/family have Blackberrys so the BBM feature is really appealing to me.

Cheers
 
I got it recently as my secondary phone. It is amazing how much blackberry can charge for their phones. The curve 8520 is cheap but feels its price (then again I don't believe the Bold 9700 to be be worth ~£300). It only has OS5 and 128MB RAM, but for email and messaging it is easily enough. The keyboard is also better than that of the Bold.

Problems include the lack of 3G and a low resolution display, so don't even bother to browse the internet other than using WAP sites.

As a primary phone, I'd say definitely no.

If you do still want to buy it, look on amazon or ebay, where a marketplace seller called "chitter chatter" (an official T-Mobile reseller) is selling it with 6 months free blackberry internet and email for below £140.
 
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Thanks for the reply. I think the BBM is the most important thing because if I think about it, it'd save me a fortune on texts.

Shame it has no 3G, as far as web browsing goes though I'd only browse whilst it was linked to my wireless router at home.
 
I probably wouldn't go with PAYG on a blackberry? I'm not sure how the blackberry contract features are put onto PAYG tariffs but even then, you may as well get a contract, a quick search revealed 18 month contracts with a free 8520, 600 minutes, 500 texts and a swappable unlimited booster on t-mobile (unlimited texts, unlimited t-mobile, unlimited internet, unlimited landline, you can swap each month, if I'm reading this correctly) for £8.33 per month after redemption (BB booster on T-Mobile is £5 per month iirc)
 
BB booster on T-Mobile is £20 for 6 months. Shouldn't buy it in 1 month bundles. So since you get 6 months free, it'll cost you £20 for a year.
 
ghost101 said:
BB booster on T-Mobile is £20 for 6 months. Shouldn't buy it in 1 month bundles. So since you get 6 months free, it'll cost you £20 for a year.
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I did not know that, thanks for clearing that up, I'm just going off what I'm seeing, currently umming and awwing about hopping over to a Bold 9700 so I just remembered glancing at the 8520 contracts and figured I'd mention them.
 
Wait for the Curve 3G;)...much better handset than the crappy 8520 which is a basic BB device and hasnt got built in GPS either.

The 3G Curve should be out soon and is a much better handset with 3G on it.

Or better still get the 9700 Bold or the new 9780 Bold which should be out soon-ish but will probably be £300+ sim free.
 
Spawn, I do not want to spend £300 on a phone and I don't want a contract mobile.

I have spoken to some other people with the 8520 and they said it's a great phone. I want it for simple use so I think it'll be perfect for me.
 
Spawn said:
Wait for the Curve 3G;)...much better handset than the crappy 8520 which is a basic BB device and hasnt got built in GPS either.

The 3G Curve should be out soon and is a much better handset with 3G on it.

Or better still get the 9700 Bold or the new 9780 Bold which should be out soon-ish but will probably be £300+ sim free.
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the 9300 is pretty much exactly the same as the 8520 except 3G and GPS. The 3G makes next to no difference considering they both run crappy browsers on QVGA screens, and GPS rarely makes a difference except serving to run down battery life.

The Curve has a few extra features and OS6 to boot, but really, telling someone with £150 to spend on a 8520 to instead look at phones well over £200 just reeks of fanboy. Ultimately the experience will be pretty much the same, except the 8520 can be had cheap as chips on contract
 
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I cannot afford a contract mobile at the moment. I wouldn't have one until I could guarentee I could afford the monthly payments.
 
TDenic said:
Spawn, I do not want to spend £300 on a phone and I don't want a contract mobile.

I have spoken to some other people with the 8520 and they said it's a great phone. I want it for simple use so I think it'll be perfect for me.
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Fair enough then...go for the 8520, it will serve you well enough. Nothing really wrong with the 8520 but it does feel cheap but then at your price point its the only BB that will fit your needs.
 
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