Travel Technology - Treo or blackberry - that is the question

I've had a blackberry for almost 18 months. I'm very happy with it apart from using it as a pda. Love the e-mail functions though.

So am thinking of Treo. I had a palm pilot and loved it. I really don't want to be carrying too many gadgets. I have enough. I stopped using my palm because my laptop was so small. I stopped carrying my laptop everywhere because of my blackberry.

Is the treo as good as the blackberry on e-mail?

Please help.

/E

What type of email? If it's a POP/IMAP client, I think it's pretty competitive from an email standpoint, and has many more capabilities as a PDA.

If it's corporate Exchange/Outlook email, you'll need something like GoodLink to match the BB capability (much like you need a BB server).

I use GoodLink and a Treo. I've looked at several BB's in the 30 months I've had my Treo and never had a desire to change. I've convinced several co-workers to make the switch the other way.

IMHO

I'd pick Treo over crackberry, but only because I'm not a big fan of Microsoft crap. I've had both.

I am in telecom. I recommend running the phone comparison wizard on www.phonescoop.com and seeing what features are ultimately most important to you. Treos come in different varieties as do the crackberries. Do what fits you best.

What type of email? If it's a POP/IMAP client, I think it's pretty competitive from an email standpoint, and has many more capabilities as a PDA.


pop. I can do imap as well. I run my own server. blackberry come with internet account but I'm not sure I am in favour of having my email bounce through third party machines and sit there.

Thanks for the tips, all. I'll do the comparison test.

/E

I'd pick Treo over crackberry, but only because I'm not a big fan of Microsoft crap. I've had both.

How is the Crackberry "Microsoft Crap"?

It is perfectly possible to run a Blackberry completely without any Microsoft intervention.

pop. I can do imap as well. I run my own server. blackberry come with internet account but I'm not sure I am in favour of having my email bounce through third party machines and sit there.

Thanks for the tips, all. I'll do the comparison test.

/E

It all depends how fast you want your email. The Blackberry will usually come with an Internet service account and an email address that you can use to forward your email to, that turns the device into a true push device. The PalmOS Treo will only do true push with a third party service.

Once the WindowsMobile GSM Treo comes out you could get that and add the DirectPush option to an exchange server (or get a third party email service like from 1and1 or 4Smartphone). In all devices other than the Blackberry you have to add on a third party application to get your email, the Blackberry already comes with it.

As for the security of your email on a third party; in the case of RIM I wouldn't worry about it, RIM is very security aware and are one of the few that are used by parties like the US DoD and DoJ.

It all comes down to how important it is that you get your email instantly. If you can deal with a POP interval then the Treo may be more flexible for you as there are more apps for it and it has a more advanced PIM featureset. The Blackberry is slowly starting to see some growth in extra apps, but it is still very limited.

Another thing to keep in mind is going to be data charges, is your provider offering flat-rate GPRS?

Hmmm, whenever I think about moving from Blackberry to a Windows Mobile, Symbian or Palm OS based solutions (for the same reason as the OP; I don't like the Blackberry's PIM functions), I always come up with one simple obstacle; the effort.

The Blackberry simply works out of the box. More importantly, my employer allows me to access corporate email via POP, for "purposes of collecting email on a PDA while travelling". This means I get all corporate email within a maximum of 15 minutes (oh, and they do Hotmail too) and requires no additional third party software and I don't to set up a server at home to collect and forward my email to the device.

Until a competitor comes up with an equivelant to Blackberry's web based service (and I have every confidence that something like this must be just around the corner), I think I will stick with Blackberry and carry a Pocket PC for the PIM stuff (and entertainment).

How is the Crackberry "Microsoft Crap"?

It is perfectly possible to run a Blackberry completely without any Microsoft intervention.
I used it with Outlook exchange, as will most corporate users. With Palm / Treo I didn't use it with Outlook, as I used the Palm desktop solution. I didn't care for live email.

The non-Windows Treo works just fine with POP email, with Outlook, with multiple accounts - and I believe (non third party,) true push email is in the next round of software enhancements (?) - there are also a few really solid email apps for Treo like Chatter and Snapper - and the touch screen is great

I know it's bad to bank on emerging software, but Singtel just announced BlackBerry Connect for the Treo. I'd be willing to bet that within a short period of time it will be broadly available.

As far as when you are using POP/IMAP, You should try the various Treo clients -- and decide if push email really matters to you.

Outside of that, I really prefer the Treo -- and the Palm versions specifically. I'll be the first to say that I think WM Treo is okay, but I remain unimpressed compared to the PalmOS Treos.

Steve

Im sorting through similar decisions. This week I tried testing doing my mail (Exchange) with a Palm Tungsten T5 while out of the office. Either using an EDGE phone or a wireless card. My conclusion is that after being a Palm used since the first one, Im done with them. So Im probably going to keep the Blackberry for occassional use and backup but I am looking at a Treo 700w, Dell X51V or TMobile MDA as my primary PDA.

I have both -- the Blueberry for work, the Treo is personal. I prefer the Treo.

I have both -- the Blueberry for work, the Treo is personal. I prefer the Treo.


Don't you find the keyboard buttons on the treo very tiny? my blackberry is a 7100 and have the qwerty suretype system. Different from the other larger blackberry's with a full qwerty keyboard.

I am female, I have slim fingers but I also have long nails. I believe I'd have a real problem with a treo.

Or can you use the stylus to write and respond to emails?

/E

The Nokia E61 (http://europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,,81718,00.html) is on the verge of being released, and is a very very nice phone. It supports Blackberry Connect as well.

It may not make the US for a little while, unfortunately.

(I'm always a little disappointed about the lack of attention Symbian gets over on these boards. Such is life.)

The Nokia E61 (http://europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,,81718,00.html) is on the verge of being released, and is a very very nice phone. It supports Blackberry Connect as well.



I have heard that it is in fact Nokia that builds the blackberry devices. at least the 7100 models. The battery on my 7100 is exactly the same as found in many nokia models. Spoke to my phone dealer about it and he confirmed.

/E

I have heard that it is in fact Nokia that builds the blackberry devices. at least the 7100 models. The battery on my 7100 is exactly the same as found in many nokia models. Spoke to my phone dealer about it and he confirmed.


Sounds dubious to me. I can't imagine either company wanting to get that close to the other.

Doesn't the 7100 battery have four connection points? Most of the later Nokia batteries only have three.

The Nokia E61 (http://europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,,81718,00.html) is on the verge of being released, and is a very very nice phone. It supports Blackberry Connect as well.

It may not make the US for a little while, unfortunately.

(I'm always a little disappointed about the lack of attention Symbian gets over on these boards. Such is life.)

As of now I dont think any US carriers support Blackberry Connect. Im very actively shopping for one or two devices and looked at the E61. Everything looked great about it except the Symbian OS. Ive had Symbian phones and they are fine as phones, but I dont see any reasonable way to use them for mail or as a PDA. The problem being trying to get them to do much of anything in terms of syncing wirelessly. Ive been trying to use Symbian devices since Psion and in my experience none of them were adequate in terms of synchronization. As was pointed out above, that isnt the case with a Blackberry. We dont even have BES but I was able to hook a Blackberry up with the redirector and the web site in minutes and it is incredibly robust. I also use a lot of subfolders in Outlook for sorting, storage and project management. I can access those with the Blackberry or a Windows device but it is difficult with the others. So as much as I love Nokia phones, they are my absolute favorite, I wont be using one of their PDA like devices until they lose Symbian or fix it so it will work readily and fully with Exchange.

As of now I dont think any US carriers support Blackberry Connect.

Cingular (http://www.cingular.com/sbusiness/blackberry#connect) does, apparently. I'm not in the US though, so I'm not that up to date with the state of play there.

Im very actively shopping for one or two devices and looked at the E61. Everything looked great about it except the Symbian OS. Ive had Symbian phones and they are fine as phones, but I dont see any reasonable way to use them for mail or as a PDA. The problem being trying to get them to do much of anything in terms of syncing wirelessly.
[...]
So as much as I love Nokia phones, they are my absolute favorite, I wont be using one of their PDA like devices until they lose Symbian or fix it so it will work readily and fully with Exchange.

The E61 supports ActiveSync. The MS sync issue has dogged Symbian and the phone manufacturers in general a while, but there shouldn't* be any problems with this one.

By the way, the state of play in the past wasn't entirely to do with Symbian...



* not a promise

Cingular (http://www.cingular.com/sbusiness/blackberry#connect) does, apparently. I'm not in the US though, so I'm not that up to date with the state of play there.



The E61 supports ActiveSync. The MS sync issue has dogged Symbian and the phone manufacturers in general a while, but there shouldn't* be any problems with this one.

By the way, the state of play in the past wasn't entirely to do with Symbian...



* not a promise

Im fascinated by this. Do you have any more information on how it supports Active Sync? I would love a Nokia PDA/Smartphone that would work with Exchange for mail, contacts calendar and tasks wirelessly without any additional server software requirement.

Im fascinated by this. Do you have any more information on how it supports Active Sync? I would love a Nokia PDA/Smartphone that would work with Exchange for mail, contacts calendar and tasks wirelessly without any additional server software requirement.

Unfortunately not - they're playing their cards very close to their chest on this one. The press release of the licence agreement is here (http://press.nokia.com/PR/200502/980375_5.html) - anything else and I think it's a matter of wait and see.

By the way, Microsoft also licenced ActiveSync directly to Symbian - release here (http://www.symbian.com/news/pr/2005/pr20051772.html) - and to SonyEricsson. And not uncoincidentally, the SonyEricsson P990 and M600 (http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&template=pp1_1_1&zone=pp&lm=pp1&pid=10385)(also a Blackberry-'inspired' phone), both which run the new version of Symbian OS and UIQ, will support... ActiveSync.

Unfortunately not - they're playing their cards very close to their chest on this one. The press release of the licence agreement is here (http://press.nokia.com/PR/200502/980375_5.html) - anything else and I think it's a matter of wait and see.

By the way, Microsoft also licenced ActiveSync directly to Symbian - release here (http://www.symbian.com/news/pr/2005/pr20051772.html) and to SonyEricsson. And not uncoincidentally, the SonyEricsson P990 and M600 (which run the new version of Symbian OS and UIQ) will support... ActiveSync.

I found out a little. There was a web site that had an interview with a Nokia staffer at a trade show. From the diagram they showed their implementation only includes in and out mail (no subfolders), contacts (I think it said contacts) and calendar. No task or note syncing. If so that wont cut it for me but I will have to wait and see.

I found out a little. There was a web site that had an interview with a Nokia staffer at a trade show. From the diagram they showed their implementation only includes in and out mail (no subfolders), contacts (I think it said contacts) and calendar. No task or note syncing. If so that wont cut it for me but I will have to wait and see.

Interesting. A lot depends on the actual licence, of course. As far as tasks and notes are concerned, I don't know. Tasks are handled by the same subsystem as the calendar in Symbian OS, by the way... Notes are synced fine between my Outlook and Nokia 7610 with PC Suite and Bluetooth, but I guess the ActiveSync support for them is an open question.

Interesting. A lot depends on the actual licence, of course. As far as tasks and notes are concerned, I don't know. Tasks are handled by the same subsystem as the calendar in Symbian OS, by the way... Notes are synced fine between my Outlook and Nokia 7610 with PC Suite and Bluetooth, but I guess the ActiveSync support for them is an open question.

Yes, hard to tell at this point. I could sync these things with my Nokia 6600 as well, but only locally, I didnt know of a way to do it remotely while out of the office. It is worth waiting to see for me. The E61 looks like an incredible phone.

Don't you find the keyboard buttons on the treo very tiny? my blackberry is a 7100 and have the qwerty suretype system. Different from the other larger blackberry's with a full qwerty keyboard.

I am female, I have slim fingers but I also have long nails. I believe I'd have a real problem with a treo.

Or can you use the stylus to write and respond to emails?

/E

The keyboard on the 7100 is better. But I don't go out of my way to type a lot on either of them.

Don't you find the keyboard buttons on the treo very tiny? my blackberry is a 7100 and have the qwerty suretype system. Different from the other larger blackberry's with a full qwerty keyboard.

I am female, I have slim fingers but I also have long nails. I believe I'd have a real problem with a treo.

Or can you use the stylus to write and respond to emails?

/E

I own a Treo and I'm female too but don't find the button THAT tiny. But the nails can be a problem with the keys, but if you use on the screen, it may be okay (provided you have a screen protector). The keypad works for me. And with KeyCaps600 (http://mytreo.net/downloads/details-22.html?KeyCaps600) (freeware), inputting caps, special characters are much easier that it works really well.

You can use the stylus to write with Graffiti 2 but you must install the freeware Graffiti Anywhere (http://www.escande.org/palm/GrfAnywhere/) so that you can input on the screen. Strange how the Treo has G2 installed but you can't access it without a third party application.

Again, I'd suggest trying it out for a few weeks and see if it works. You can always return it if you're not happy. It's really a personal choice.

Although you stated that you stopped carrying your laptop, dial-up networking via bluetooth on the Treo is astoundingly nice when travelling. ^

Our small company has sworn off Treo. We had about 10 units (600's and 650's) and all 10 of them were at some point returned and replaced by someone else's returned unit.The replacement I got was a lot more banged up than the one I turned in for repair. There is also a class action suit against Treo for quality issues. That said, I absolutely loved my Treo, I wish it had been more reliable. It's been replaced with an HP6515 which is also nice.

Although you stated that you stopped carrying your laptop, dial-up networking via bluetooth on the Treo is astoundingly nice when travelling. ^

I travel with my lptop always. But I don't carry it around while on a trade floor and that is where the blackberry came in handy.

I'm dependent on e-mail more than web.

At the same time. A 2 week trip to us and the bill was $800 for the entire month. YIKES!!!

Also, haven't used it for a month now so I gues I'm getting whened. I got it to start with as I felt guilty not being by the computer checking the e-mail all the time.

I'm a workoholic that needs to learn to relax.


/E

We use BBs and Treos in our environment. There are a few folks that use WM (I included) but they aren't "officially" supported by the company. Most of the poeple who bought the 650 were previous 600 users and most of the ones who got BBs got them for email only. They keep a separate phone for voice service.
As for the Treo 650... yes, a huge pain in the arse. They break! Of 8 Treo users in our office, 5 of them had to call in a warranty replacement, one of the 5 had 3 replacements. Of the BB users, which account for some 60, only one returned the 7290. This is only my office, I don't have exact data for the rest of the offices throughout the US and rest of the world. As for the WM devices, there are about 20 of us worldwide and noone has ever called in a warranty exchange.

Quite frankly, I would be happy with a BB but everyone's got one... a real turnoff.