The entire 1st half of 2010, this question has been presented to me by at least 37 people who were planning to buy a new Cellphone.
Nokia or Blackberry.
Though BB, has just caught on as a fad, even amongst college students who have absolutely no “urgency” of email being delivered in real time, but just as a fashion accessory, look cool & fit amongst the crowd.
I was forced to take a new unbiased look at the whole situation & review it from a practical stand point.
This is it:
Primarily, the cost of Acquiring a Handset:
The Cheapest Blackberry is 8520 Curve : around 14,000 Rs now as compared to Nokia E63around 9,000 Rs now.
Nokia E63 SCORES over the Blackberry 8520 : 3G, Camera with FLASH & a substantial saving of atleast 5000 Rs.
The BB 8520 has the advantage of Optical Trackpad,but is 2G & hence will be outdated soon as the major use is of Data which will be substantially slower than other 3G phones.
Now to compare the TOP most models of both companies.
The Blackberry Bold2 9700 coasting around 27,000 Rs as compared to the top of the line Nokia E72 for 16,500 Rs.
Where as the E72 has a 5mp camera & is 10,000 Rs. cheaper. MINIMUM.
So whats good about the Blackberry:
- Build Quality
- Push email, instantly in your inbox
- Blackberry Messenger
Whats bad:
- Expensive from the start
- Cant easily install applications (which are freely available for Symbian)
- Additional extra cost per month to be able to USE those very services
Frankly, buying a Blackberry handset and NOT subscribing to BB services is just a TOTAL waste & a ridiculous thing to do.
Because as a phone, they are not feature rich, nor multimedia centric, neither easy to sue or ‘fun’ to operate.
To even receive a file via Bluetooth is a MAJOR process.
Now, that push email thing had me really going for it.
When all my close friends got a BB, I often looked sceptically at my Nokia E90 communicator and was bursting to go out & buy a BB for myself too.
The temptation was Overwhelming.
That’s when I started my research on what actually ticks.
The whole game change when I realized that Nokia has launched Nokia Mail & Nokia Messenger.
My ‘old’ phone doesn’t support Nokia Messenger, but does support Nokia Mail.
Downloaded it & up & running in no time. Was a wonderful service. Instant real-time email, Plethora of options, colourful & fun. Unlike the BB.
Then came the issue of COST. Yes, data charges, GPRS.
with a Blackberry, the Most Basic plan that you can opt for is 299 Rs per month (3600 Rs per year!) with 10 email accounts free, Gtalk & everything : but check this out, NO WEB BROWSING over wap or GPRS. which essentially means you have a ‘smartphone‘ but you cant even “google search” !!!
As compared to the plan available with most operators:
99 Rs. per month 2.5Gb free, further usage 10 paise/10kb.
I activated that plan on my phone.
Nokia Mail running all day, instant emails.
Log in to eBuddy or Fring or NimBuzz or Skype smoothly & running in the background.
On top of that, browsing the Internet on Opera Mobile with all sites opening in their elemental form with reasonable Flash & Java support.
& total usage at the end of the month 1.9Gb ! 
Yearly cost : 1200 Rs. (another saving of 2400 Rs)
The smile was back on my face. I was loving my Nokia E90. Wide screen, great battery, super spacious keyboard. Life was good again.
Sense prevailed.
Bottom line:
Yes Blackberry is a Good product, but ONLY if you REALLY NEED IT.
Otherwise, Nokia is doing perfectly fine & in fact better !
Don’t go for things blindly just because your neighbour bought the same product.
Even “businessmen” would agree that it makes business sense to SAVE a minimum of 7400 to 12400 Rs per year & Blackberry doesn’t actually SAVE you money.
Which would be a good point for all the college students to note too.
Not to forget: Great service by Nokia with plenty of service centers around the city as well as excellent resale value.
That’s my personal opinion after my personal experience.
I thank all my friends, who gave me the opportunity to explore, browse & use their Blackberry 8520 curve and 9700 Bold2 phones & also those who recently bought Nokia E72, E75 & E63 where I could explore some more.
P.S.: I will admit this, Nokia does need to improve in certain aspects, Build quality, variety, optical trackpad smoothness & Public Awareness of what it actually is capable of & above all the AGEING Symbian S60v3 OS.
Comments (12)
Dr. Suraj A. Dhirwani
July 24, 2019@ Rahul :
Now here we have a true hardcore businessman offering us his time tested piece of advice !
Thank you very much !
Yes indeed, the E52, a very very worthy succesor to the super sexy & hot selling E51.
Certain spots Nokia hits it real well. Especially E series.
But just 1 more thing buddy, I have been using Push Email on my Nokia. Most of my friends are, after reading this article. & I find it to be as good as the BB, if not better (more colourful, more options).
But yes,
BB Messenger. That is the SOLE trump card up BB's sleeve so far.
Lets see.
What the future holds !
I just got a BB 8700 & 7920 yesterday. Crisp condition but built WAY back in 2004 !!!
Unbelievable !
Rahul
July 24, 2019I absolutely agree on what u have to say about both companies. I currently use a Blackberry Bold 2 for business purpose only so that I can get all my mails instantly. BB messenger helps me big time when I travel outside India as I avoid making calls. The mail service & messenger are simply great.
But, when it comes to entertainment (like radio or the media player), applications, themes & price, the nokias do much better. Therefore I use a Nokia E52 as well. A pretty sleek piece. Substitutes my BB when out of work.
I would say that a BB is of no use to a person who cares a damn about urgency of receiving emails or enterprise server.
Dr. Suraj A. Dhirwani
July 24, 2019@ Vishal !!!
Absolutely buddy,
recently they have launched White & Lilac colours for 8520 & White in Bold 9700
Liked your blog too:
http://vishal-technix.blogspot.com/
vishal
July 24, 2019Dude you didn mention the 'colour' availability with Nokia!
All BBs are only Black in colour!!
Dr. Suraj A. Dhirwani
July 24, 2019@ Snehal :
Who told you to buy a Blackberry, you were 'Birbal', not 'Pandit' !!!
I am sure you have understood what I mean.
I had given you soo many Nokia options.
Its still not late, find an idiot who is into the BB craze, sell off the phone while its still in demand & India doesnt upgrade to 3g.
& buy the E72 & live happily ever after.
snehal
July 24, 2019i wish u would have done this research earlier….to add on…bb does not have a radio….u cant sms with emoticons….and yes i miss my nokia too!!!!!
Dr. Suraj A. Dhirwani
July 24, 2019Thank you Khushboo.
I dint know you were having these thoughts !!!
Guess atleast someone around here does THINK before buying something.
Dr.Khushi Varma
July 24, 2019Spot on!! You just gave a stamp of approval to my thoughts
Dr. Suraj A. Dhirwani
July 24, 2019Thanks Ankit, I know you owuld agree.
E63 & E72 … best phones Nokia made.
all these other silly cheap qwerty's selling around 4k & BB curve @ 14 k, this guy fits sooo nicely with a SMARTphone features & amazing Value For Money.
People who respect that & value core product, substance & money will always make a Smarter choice, rather than just buy something thats "in fashion" & cool to have, even though you cant use anything of it !
Dr. Suraj A. Dhirwani
July 24, 2019@ Dr. Kalpa:
Thank you madam. The way you keep gathering knowledge & still keep reading technology related stuff just amazes me!
Thank you.
Dr. kalpa
July 24, 2019too good.. i got a lot to know:-)
Ankit B. Rathod
July 24, 2019awesome comparison doc !! i still prefer my Nokia E63 over any BB !! Agreed to all the points u raised….