Travel Technology - What's so good about a Blackberry ?

OK, this question comes from an unexpected angle. My company has done a bulk purchase of PDAs (can't tell you which make because of what follows, except they are not badged by any well-known manufacturer but are actually under the own-label name of one of the major UK telecomms networks). The deal came with a whole lot of mobile phone airtime as well, it was a good contract for them.

Well after a month we are all so hacked off with the confounded things. Especially on the telephone side there is gross unreliability, calls cutting off as you answer them, poor speech quality both ways (worst I have ever had on a mobile), need to reset them constantly, stupid software logic, you name it. But on the computing side too we find the applications take too long to use, are cumbersome to synchronise, and for things like web pages if you don't know the logic of what you are using, you get lost.

We thought they would be even better than Blackberries, which no one had real experience of, and all seemed to rave about. So what do Blackberry users get that is so good ? What are the application areas you find most valuable ? We would like a little comparison for when the phone salesman's boss comes to call in a few days time, when there will be I feel a significant exchange of opinions (or it may be simply "take the whole lot back").

We thought they would be even better than Blackberries, which no one had real experience of, and all seemed to rave about. So what do Blackberry users get that is so good ? What are the application areas you find most valuable ? We would like a little comparison for when the phone salesman's boss comes to call in a few days time, when there will be I feel a significant exchange of opinions (or it may be simply "take the whole lot back").

I wen't from lugging a PC laptop to lugging a PC laptop, A Palm m515, A Nokia 6310 and from there to swapping the PC laptop to 12" MAC Powerbook, ditching the Palm and changing the phone to a Sony Ericsson.

I now have a Blackberry 7100v. My 12" powerbook is most of the time in the office/at home/in the hotel room.

Blackberry has saved me onmany occassions.

• keep a promise to a client

• boarding a plane in AMS en route to USA realising driving license back in office. Rental car booked for LA on that trip. Quick e-mail to biz partner at home sorted that.

• A week in USA with no ability to go on line and check e-mail. Blackberry kept me in touch with the rest of the world.

• boarding a plane in AMS en route to ARN and found out that endorsement company came through and needed a list of gear they'd fedex to the recording studio in Stockholm.

• land a recording contract for a band I manage.

I will not live without my blackberry. I'm thinking of getting a second one already.

Emma

I have a Blackberry and a Treo 600. The Blackberry seems better quality to me. The Treo seems to have a lot of junk on it I don't need. It feels kinda cheap to me. It is a neat device, but since I got the Blackberry, from United (Thanks FT), I love it.

The Blackberry is great because of one thing; it always works.

No mp3 player, no mms camera, no video recording, just email and phone in a boring little package that you can always count on. I have to hard-reset my PPC phone at least once a day, my Treo has more bugs than a trashcan but my Blackberry has never crashed on me.

The Blackberry is great because of one thing; it always works.

Except in Japan. :(

Except in Japan. :(

Just as well I hardly ever go there :D

Except in Japan. :(

The 7100 should. It's a quad band.

The 7100 should. It's a quad band.

GSM of any band doesn't help you much in Japan...

or Korea.. so had to resort to PC for email, but everywhere else i have been, it is fantastic. esp when sitting in mumbia airport at 3am with no pc connection, but can happily catch up on emails and the like.

be careful you dont leave it next to your bedside at night though..

be careful you dont leave it next to your bedside at night though..

Especially when all the spam comes in.

Learning to use the filter in the webclient is essential.

yeah, they're great - they keep you available and accountable 24/7/365. what do you mean you didn't know? didn't you check you blackberry every 20 minutes?

I don't want to try and oversell the Blackberry - I'm not sure what your web needs are - but it's not as fluid and seamless as being on a PC with a broadband connection.

That said - the Blackberry is what I think of as a mission-critical device. As noted above, it's designed well, with quality and use for business in mind. It seems to me that the Treo and others like it, while perhaps offering many more bells and whistles, try too hard to be all things to all people. Initial setups can be tricky if you're trying to integrate something unusual with your Blackberry, but if you've got a corporate IT team handling it, you should never know the difference. (And more recent experience for me with hooking them up to POP3 email accounts and such has been worlds better.)

The bottom line is that I trust my Blackberry.

As far as phone quality and such is concerned, I think it will depend on the locale. I had a GSM Blackberry device in the USA that worked off of the AT&T/Cingular network, and I had a terrible experience with the phone.

I was sure that it was the device (as I had purchased it used, to try it out), but then took it to Israel for a week and found that I couldn't get a bad signal even when I tried. That suggested to me that the phone was fine. Here in the US, I've since switched to a 7250 (?) with Verizon, and I can honestly say that for the first time ever, I'm thrilled with my mobile device. The email and text messaging functions work perfectly and seamlessly for my needs, and I have better, more consistent phone service than I've ever had in the US.

Especially when all the spam comes in.

Learning to use the filter in the webclient is essential.

The best/better option is to route all the mail through a spam filtering server, I use Kerio as my webserver which forwards all my mail to my blackberry, but not before checking it using Spamasassin, I get ZERO spam on my device.

The best/better option is to route all the mail through a spam filtering server, I use Kerio as my webserver which forwards all my mail to my blackberry, but not before checking it using Spamasassin, I get ZERO spam on my device.

I use gmail and its spam filter.

1. They work consistently. I put it up there with my ipod and my blender in terms of reliability and ease of use. Works equally well in Europe. It saves me from logging onto my laptop most nights. If I have some really long email replies I'll use my computer or someone elses but thats proving to be the exception.

2. PUSH EMAIL. Its there. No logging on to retrieve it.

3. Contrary to others who have written on here, I have no trouble at all using mine as a phone. I do not think it looks any stranger to talk to a wallet than it does to talk to a candy bar. Besides, I use an earphone.

I'd love to go Bluetooth but I am not sure I could ever learn how to use the 7100 and the regular blackberry shape has not been made with the larger screen and bluetooth....yet.

Real-time email (just about) anywhere, anytime, in the world. That's the real deal.

The phone doesn't work as well as a simple Nokia cellphone, but I wouldn't trade devices.

I've had one phone call cut off on me mid-call, domestically....that's my only complaint.

Great battery life too if just using email, it can go several days (model 7290 anyway).

I'd love to go Bluetooth but I am not sure I could ever learn how to use the 7100 and the regular blackberry shape has not been made with the larger screen and bluetooth....yet.

:confused: My 7290 has bluetooth, if not a larger screen.

:confused: My 7290 has bluetooth, if not a larger screen.

I know. I just hate to give up the larger screen so I thought I'd wait it out a couple more months and see. If they don't produce the larger screen with Bluetooth I'll likely get a new one anyway. Of course with my luck, thats the sure way for the larger screen to come out....31 days after I buy a new one.
No hint of such a critter on the Blackberry web site yet.

Regardless....Bluetooth/no bluetooth; larger screen/no larger screen....doesnt really matter. Get a Blackberry of some kind.

The Crackberry! So called because they are addictive as crack. I agree it is an awkward phone, but now that I am used to it it doesn't bother me. I love the push email. I love the full character keyboard. I could go without the phone feature now sooner than I could go without the email feature.

However, I saw an ad for a Nokia 9300(Ithink?) Looks pretty neat, anyone try one yet?

I use mine domestically and it has saved me the hassle of lugging around a boat-anchor laptop simply to check email. I'm liberated forever!

The only drawback is the inability to read attachments. If I have one that's critical, I go to a Kinkos and print it out there.

Another positive benefit is that they have reversed the trend of verbosity in emails.

I use mine domestically and it has saved me the hassle of lugging around a boat-anchor laptop simply to check email. I'm liberated forever!

The only drawback is the inability to read attachments. If I have one that's critical, I go to a Kinkos and print it out there.

Another positive benefit is that they have reversed the trend of verbosity in emails.

What kind of attachments would you need to read? I can read Word, Excel and PDF on my Blackberry.

be careful you dont leave it next to your bedside at night though..

BTW, alarm clock works just fine with device turned OFF. Leave it on bedside table OFF and it turns itself ON to wake you up.

I have a 7100, with Bluetooth capability. Can instantly check email almost anywhere (not Korea, mabe Japan?, everywhere else so far OK). Key is to make sure your service provider turns on global access. Can read *.docs, even Excel spreadsheets (very cumbersome on that though). Can read *.pdfs, but image is too small, and loses all legibility when you zoom in.

Reliable simple device that does what I want it to when I want it to. No useless bells & whistles. Certainly more reliable than the other 2 Motorola phones I jsut ditched.

With Bluetooth, alot of the clunkiness of the BB as a phone evaporates.

Used to have a 7230, prefer the 7100.

What kind of attachments would you need to read? I can read Word, Excel and PDF on my Blackberry.

I wished I could. It's a US Government "thing." (I work for a US Government agency -- NOT the TSA!!!) For some reason, they have concluded there's a vulnerability created by being able to read attachments. Don't ask me why...

I wished I could. It's a US Government "thing." (I work for a US Government agency -- NOT the TSA!!!) For some reason, they have concluded there's a vulnerability created by being able to read attachments. Don't ask me why...

It is because of the terrorists.

I think that, like with the ipod, it's just because they've managed to make a name for it on the market.
I wouldn't trade my MDA Compact for anything, phone sound quality is as good as with any "traditional" mobile phone, software is not entirely bug-free but generally works well, I don't really use the extra features like the camera but they're there if you want them, and the battery life is surprisingly long!
On the other hand, I've heard horror stories about the A1000 and other devices and people like to "go with the flow" and buy a widely recognised device that's accepted as reliable (and/or the latest business accessory).

I think that, like with the ipod, it's just because they've managed to make a name for it on the market.
I wouldn't trade my MDA Compact for anything, phone sound quality is as good as with any "traditional" mobile phone, software is not entirely bug-free but generally works well, I don't really use the extra features like the camera but they're there if you want them, and the battery life is surprisingly long!
On the other hand, I've heard horror stories about the A1000 and other devices and people like to "go with the flow" and buy a widely recognised device that's accepted as reliable (and/or the latest business accessory).

Which of course may lead one to ask "Why have ipods and Blackberries made a name for themselves?" I think its a tad more than marketing.

I think that, like with the ipod, it's just because they've managed to make a name for it on the market.
I wouldn't trade my MDA Compact for anything, phone sound quality is as good as with any "traditional" mobile phone, software is not entirely bug-free but generally works well, I don't really use the extra features like the camera but they're there if you want them, and the battery life is surprisingly long!
On the other hand, I've heard horror stories about the A1000 and other devices and people like to "go with the flow" and buy a widely recognised device that's accepted as reliable (and/or the latest business accessory).

Blackberry hardly does ANY marketing, with them it is simply the ONLY device that does that it is made to do; email.

The MDA compact is a pretty useless POS when it comes to Email, there is a BB connect package out there, but the whole concept doesn't come close to a Berry.

The ipod is big in a market with a lot of competition, any given store has at least 10 similar devices, for instant push email there is very little choice out there.

I have the 7100T, and use the M2500 and M3000 bluetooth headsets.

I used to have the old b/w 831 (I think).

Easily the best for business users. I get 150-200 emails a day, and without the BB, I would be sunk. Now, I can really keep up on emails.

For those worried about the keyboard on the 7100, it is not that hard to use.

But, if only RIM would support Bluetooth Keyboards on the 7100, then we would be in serious business!!!! :D

albatross