Has T-Mobile Discontinued the 8900?

16 Comments to “Has T-Mobile Discontinued the 8900?”

1. 

   Comment by: CadillacCowboy
   Not Registered

   January 31, 2010 at 3:32 am EST

   There’s no NEED for a 2G/2.5G device, especially when you have a 3G/3.5G device that is direct competition…

   Yes it’s true, not everyone has 3G/3.5G service (though in a country like Australia, most people do, even if they don’t know it), but virtually all 3G/3.5G devices are backwards-compatible and work fine with 2G/2.5G networks (with the except of technology changes, such as a network making the move from CDMA to W-CDMA, I’ve never heard of 3G/3.5G handsets NOT being backwards-compatible…)!

   The 3G/3.5G transceiver in a cell phone doesn’t cost all that much extra, so this begs the question – why not just make everything backwards-compatible?

   It’d be cheaper for manufacturers (less parts required, less models to advertize, etc…), and allow current 2G/2.5G customers to be “3G/3.5G ready”…

   Reply to CadillacCowboy
2. 

   Comment by: Jeremiah
   Not Registered

   January 31, 2010 at 4:13 am EST

   I like the keyboard and form factor of the 8900 much better than the Bold 9700.

   Yes, I was first in line to buy the Bold 9700 from a T-Mobile retail store the day it came out, but to be honest I’ve been disappointed by the very slow 3G data speeds, dropped calls due to poor 3G to 2G handoffs during calls and overall lag.

   I found myself forcing my Bold to 2G only so that I could once again enjoy stability since T-Mobile has excellent call quality and good 2G service in my area.

   T-Mobile unfortunately has rolled out their 3G network poorly in some places. In my area, they truly skimped in a rush to deploy it leaving large gaps without any 3G service despite the map indicating full blown 3G. It seems they only lit up about 65% of the sites with 3G which makes 3G RF poorer outdoors and even worse indoors.

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3. 

   Comment by: DavidB (View Profile)
   Master - Posts: 777

   January 31, 2010 at 8:21 am EST

   I’m sure the 8520 costs TMO less than the 8900, so what’s the point of confusing customers with two very different “Curve” models? Plus trackball BlackBerry smartphones are on the way out across the board.

   Perhaps TMO is going to launch the fabled 8910?

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4. 

   Comment by: Akash1NY
   Not Registered

   January 31, 2010 at 9:02 am EST

   Noticed this a while back too… I’m sure it’s just to push Bold 9700 sales until they bring out the new model (8910?) with trackpad and 3G.

   Reply to Akash1NY
   • 

     Comment by: oakie (View Profile)
     Newcomer - Posts: 22

     January 31, 2010 at 11:53 am EST

     i dont forsee the 8910 coming back as a 3G device. that would only serve to cannibalize 9700 sales since

     i see the 8910 only arriving with the new trackpad, a la the Blackberry Atlas that was spied by salomondrin here: http://www.salomondrin.net/2009/09/29/blackberry-atlas-another-bold/

     that’s if it even arrives in the US at all… i think the 8520 is designed to replace the 8900 for the budget crowd while the 8900 was only around as a stopgap until the 9700 was released. a 3G+trackpad revision to the 8900 would straddle both products too much and end up cannibalizing sales rather than carving out it’s own niche. i say that because hardware-wise, the 8900 (and potential 8910) has the same size, screen size/res, GPS, and memory allotment as the 9700. the only differences are the keyboard styling, trackball, and cpu being 112MHz slower. if it were resurrected in the lineup with a trackpad and 3G, it would basically just be a 9700 with a different haircut and be about the same price… there would be no logical reason for it’s existence with the 9700 next to it in the lineup.

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5. 

   Comment by: Thomas
   Not Registered

   January 31, 2010 at 9:39 am EST

   Hi,

   T-Mobile Germany removed the 8900 from the store in early january, too.

   Reply to Thomas
6. 

   Comment by: c0rinne (View Profile)
   Beginner - Posts: 186

   January 31, 2010 at 12:52 pm EST

   I was in a tmo store on Friday and I’m pretty sure I was playing with one. But then again, they all look alike now, and I was pissed at the time.

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7. 

   Comment by: Brandon Swift
   Not Registered

   January 31, 2010 at 12:53 pm EST

   When I first purchased my 8900 I knew it would just be a “filler phone” until the newer Bold was released. Maybe that’s was how the market for the 8900 turned out to be. Consumers were either budget or Bold. The 8900 was just to similar to the Bold to be put into the picture. Still, I love my 8900 with its keyboard styling being the best for larger sized hands IMO. And it’s so feature packed with the 3.2mp cam, GPS, and Wifi… But the Bold has that also. So in the end, I wouldn’t say that this is sad to hear but the 8900 was a tad too similar to the Bold. That’s just not economical for RIM.

   Brandon.
   PS I will be moving on to the 9700 once I get extremely sick of the 8900′s spotty trackball lol.

   Reply to Brandon Swift
8. 

   Comment by: Mark_Venture
   Not Registered

   February 1, 2010 at 10:11 pm EST

   My corp T-Mobile rep told me they did classify the 8900 as end of life in early Jan. They sold out of them faster than expected. They have none in stock. And they can’t fill the orders I have to place for 8900′s, we have to have the users select other models.

   that being said, with the 9700 being out, the 8900 has met its match. 3G and track pad out weight my love of the 83xx/8900 style keyboard.

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   • 

     Comment by: Luis Merlos (View Profile)
     Moderator - Posts: 744

     February 1, 2010 at 11:29 pm EST

     Yeah it seems they are doing the same thing Verizon is doing replacing the tour with a track pad.

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9. 

   Comment by: neeeko
   Not Registered

   February 2, 2010 at 3:49 am EST

   Having owned a 8900, 9000 and a 9700 i can only say that :
   9700 is the fastest
   9000 is rock solid, doesn’t look cheap and the sound is incredibly better thant both of the others.

   9700 is so cheap, i mean really cheap that my ringtones sound like a fart in a oven. Sad.

   Reply to neeeko
   • 

     Comment by: CadillacCowboy
     Not Registered

     February 2, 2010 at 7:18 am EST

     Is the audio quality on the BlackBerry Bold 9700 really that bad?

     That’s surprising and disappointing, considering the audio quality on my BlackBerry Bold 9000 is comparable to my high-end, Sony Walkman (both with headphones)!

     Reply to CadillacCowboy
   • 

     Comment by: Dean
     Not Registered

     July 14, 2010 at 1:48 pm EST

     You must have owned a really bad device (9700). Because the audio is amazing.

     Reply to Dean

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