Blackberry Questions… Help Please!

My palm Treo pro is dying, while it hasn’t completely conked out it has been with me for more than 1 year (the longest ever for any device). I would like to retire it while it is still working.

So I did some initial canvassing and the prices seems fair for an unlocked device. For a Blackberry Bold 9700 around PhP 28,000.00 and for a Blackberry Curve 8520 around PhP 12,000.00

So why would I try the oldest and honestly the crappiest looking, hardest to navigate mobile OS in the market? Well the short answer is CENSORSHIP, or circumventing censorship to be more precise. I learned recently that everything you do with your BB has to go thru RIMs servers in Canadia! Meaning if I were in China and using a China Mobile SIM or hotel wifi. I will still be able to punch thru the Great Firewall of China. Well that is the plan or working theory for the moment.

Does anyone have actual experience using a Blackberry device in China? Can you really access the whole interwebs (with your own SIM doesn’t count as that’s roaming, I mean with China WiFi or local China SIM)?
Chinese input (read as minimum, read & write preferred of course) – just in case I would be needing this.
Swapping SIM cards and registering the device with Blackberry servers – Is this possible? I have lot’s of SIM cards that is why I prefer unlocked devices (it is cheaper to get a local SIM from the country you’re visiting vs roaming), how easy or difficult is this?
Using Blackberry Messenger (BBM) without-Blackberry plan – I am going to use my Sun Cellular SIM (and plan) on this device when in the Philippines. I have an unlimited data plan but I don’t know if BBM will work without a Blackberry plan.

I am still undecided if I should go with a cheapo Curve 8520 or go with the 3G enabled Bold 9700.

With the Curve, aside from being cheaper and lighter. China mobile doesn’t have the same 3G as ours, so I would have no use for 3G when in China. However most of the time I am in the Philippines where we do have 3G which is a point for the Bold.

But before purchasing the device I would appreciate some answers or any more insights you might have about using Blackberry’s to get over the Great Firewall of China.

Sound off in the comments or send me a tweet/email if you have some answers.

Elopocalypse or Balmergeddon

So which is it? Nokia (NOK) and Microsoft (MSFT) announced a partnership today. Both lumbering companies have been in some trouble with their smartphone divisions. Both have been loosing market share to Apple, Android and Blackberry in recent years. WindowsMobile (previously PocketPC and currently WindowsPhone) once the dominant mobile OS, yes folks before the iPhone came into power Microsoft slowly but surely killed of it’s main competitor palm OS, which was acquired by hp last year and is now barely a sliver of a shadow of it’s former former former self. Just this week hp/palm unveiled 2 new smartphones the palm Pre 3 and Veer, as well as their entry into the tablet space with the TouchPad. hp being one of the top computer manufacturers at the moment has the resources to use and spread webOS like a creamy peanut butter across all markets they are in. By being one of MSFT’s biggest customers now suddenly not using Windows7 (still MSFT’s tablet OS of choice) and churning out comp...

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