RIM 8520 Curve Product Manager Interviewed – Why No GPS or Flash?

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RIM 8520 Curve Product Manager Interviewed – Why No GPS or Flash?

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Started 2 years ago by Ronen Halevy
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Ronen Halevy

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Joined: May '07
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Annu from RIM did a nice little interview with, Pankaj, the Product Manager for the BlackBerry 8520 Curve. He explains why the new trackpad was included along with Wi-Fi. The weird thing is that the new trackpad does not seem to have a product name like SurePress or SureType. I was almost sure that RIM would name it…

Sadly he seems to skim over two issues I have with the 8520:
- Why is there no GPS support? Every new BlackBerry has it except for the 8520!
- What happened to the LED flash?
It looks like RIM is placing the 8520 to replace the 83xx series but it looks like it is missing two key features…

What do you think?

RIM 8520 Curve Product Manager Interviewed – Why No GPS or Flash?
Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Nikolaus Walch

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Joined: May '08
Posts: 601

GPS is nice but I prefer WiFi. I didn’t miss not having GPS on my 8320, and with T-Mo and their awesome UMA umlimited calling WiFi makes more sense.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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the led flash is the most useful tool I use once I lost my keys on dark enviroments please reconsider it!

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Jay Harker

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Joined: Jul '08
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Totally agree. Why haven’t they released the ultimate all in one with the 3.2 camera, led flash, gps, wi-fi, 3G AND trackpad? How hard is this? The Tour comes close. It only needs the trackpad.
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Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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Yup led flash is most definitely a dealbreaker when I come to replace my 8310.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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Led Flash as a videolight and GPS can both use alot of battery power. I wonder how much power the Trackpad uses and if they had to ice those things to make up for it. If so, they would’ve been better off making a thicker, more powerful battery.

The days of a GPS puck should really be coming to an end, and that and the LED flash make the BB a more convergent device that can adequately replace other devices.

Then again they did number it an 8520, and doesn’t the 20 at the end always denote wifi, but no GPS? Maybe the’ll come up with a 40 denotation that is GSM and has wifi AND GPS.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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Because it’s their value BB and they need to give people a reason to upgrade from it.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
DavidB

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Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 1,751

Obviously cutting such things cuts cost. The Gemini is intended to be an entry level device. You want those extra bells and whistles you pay for them by upgrading to Javelin (er, Curve 8900).

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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“It looks like RIM is placing the 8520 to replace the 83xx series”

Why do we think the 85xx series is going to replace the 83xx series? What about the 89xx series? Couldn’t that also be the replacement?

Why was there even a need to make two new series of Curves?

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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The 8520 is meant to be a low cost BB, something people step into from other phones. They have updated the 83XX series by giving it more RAM, faster processor, new casing, and the trackpad (durability). For the rumored $50 price point I would say this is a great deal. The flash missing is annoying I would say, but many will never miss it.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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That will probably be the Onyx. The Tour does not have WiFi.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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The missing LED flash is for the camera, not the backlight for the keys. That should still be in place.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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With iPhones selling for $49+ (refurb ones sell for $49) now, Blackberry really needs to step up their game to remain competitive. While people may not use all of the features on a phone (wi-fi, the LED flash for their cam, GPS), a mature, feature-rich communications device should be the brand for Blackberry. I thought the Pearl Flip was supposed to be their budget version? And they still have yet to produce ONE 3G BB. Wth!?!!

Hate to say it but Blackberry is starting to lose its footing in the market to it’s nemesis, the iPhone.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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Blackberry hasn’t been a single device for a long time, they have an expanding range of devices to appeal to a varied audience who may prefer a certain form factor or price point, so just having the one budget device would be very shortsighted especially if you look at how well the original curves still sell despite their age.

Did you make a typo there, putting bb when you meant curve because if not you are clearly mistaken because there have been a number of 3g devices for both gsm and cdma networks.

Also, check the sales figures, apple are obviously doing well, but its not at the expense of blackberry sales, both are eating into the sales of nokia these days.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink
Ronen Halevy

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Joined: May '07
Posts: 5,299

Remember with the Blackberry 8320… only with wifi! And if you want to GPS… you need to buy a 8310! We have the same thing here, the 8520 is built only with the wifi and RIM will launch soon the 8510 with GPS! (because these models will replace the 8300 series).

For the Flash, they can’t add it to the device because the 8900 get the Flash!

Maybe i’m wrong, but I don’t think.

Posted 2 years ago #Post-Permalink

RIM 8520 Curve Product Manager Interviewed – Why No GPS or Flash?

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