After 5 months of using an Apple iPhone 3G I received from a friend, I decided to take out a contract on a Blackberry Bold 9780 after growing tired of the laggy, aging iPhone and using a pay-as-you-go sim card (which offers relatively poor value for money compared to a contract). The smartphone-using community seems to be split into 3 distinct groups- Apple, Blackberry and Android, and whilst all 3 have their virtues I find myself in the Blackberry camp. Why? For a few reasons:

-Cost: a contract including this phone can be found for less than £20 a month whilst an iPhone will cost you roughly £10-£15 more
-User friendly: the keypad having actual physical buttons makes it very quick and easy to write messages compared with the touch-screen used on many other phones, I don't think I could go back to that!
-Useful for Organisation: the calendar function is very work-orientated and allows the user to add specific appointments by start time and duration along with with a reminder alarm. It also provides notification when new emails are received and easy access to them.
-Internet: The built-in internet browser is easy to use and functional
-Camera: at 5MP it can produce quite impressive pictures and also has a flash, however not as good as a purpose-made digital camera and I find many of them come out blurry
-Size: Not as bulky as some other phones and pretty much an ideal pocket size, nice shape and design
-Sound: Decent sound quality and can produce surprisingly loud volumes, has a standard size earphone jack
-Charger: Features a clip-on plug section which can be changed if you wish to take the phone abroad, mine came with UK, EU and North American adapters
-Applications: There is a reasonably varied field of apps available for this phone however not as much as can be found for iPhones or a few other Android devices. The Blackberry Messenger app on the other hand is relatively unique and offers a very fluid and informal platform of communication which is great for socialising with friends, although it can sometimes be unreliable as messages fail to be delivered.
-Memory: Takes micro SD cards so has the potential for a lot of storage space

I have had some issues with this phone including a lack of sensitivity with the track-pad and occasional crashes which I assume are down to software problems, an issue which many Blackberry users seem to complain of. If you're looking for entertainment from your phone then a this phone is probably not for you, the range of games and applications is limited and it doesn't make a particularly good music player either.

On the whole a great phone providing decent value for money and an excellent communication-orientated experience, however occasional issues with reliability are sources of frustration and other phones on the market are superior where entertainment is concerned