the Blackberry thread
 

I want to start a discussion with other Blackberry users.

I have a 7230 Blackberry, the new triband GSM colour version. T-Mobile USA is my carrier.

The web browsing is really surprising: I have done browsing on other wireless PDAs and phones and never found it worthwhile, but on this device the browsing is actually useful.

I can even look at FT posts at practical speeds. The small screen quickly gets tiring but it is quite useful when people email me links.

Push wireless email is making my life a lot better also. And I can IM all the time from this device so that PC users get instant messages and that is very useful.

The Blackberry Wireless Client, the web client, handles attachments and long emails extremely well also. I have only recently got the BB and don't have a lot of travel experience with it.

What are your BB experiences?

The Triband for me is useless for now as T-Mobile US still has 900MHz roaming in the UK on Vodafone and O2... So I'm not forced to get one.

I have a 6210; which is quite good.

You can actually use the blackberry browser to access information on intranets (if so setup) as data is passed to the blackberry server in your company...

My only big issue is the time they take to switch from the 900/1800 band pairs and 1900Mhz... even with the latest software it still requires a reboot when changing from a 900 (or 1800) region to 1900...

If I can get our IT folks to swap out my 6210 for a tri band (color or b&w) I would take it.

BTW: Battery life on the color version seemed fairly bad compared to the B&W. Do you find web browsing is good enough on GPRS to really require color for the amount of time you use it... Or do you just end up keeping your blackberry pretty much charged all the time?

Battery life bad? That was a big concern of mine.

Luckilly, I find it excellent. It doesn't seem significantly worse than monochrome, and the resolution is very good for this type of device.

I do find web browsing very useful, mainly because people email me a lot of links quite often, and the GPRS is fast enough, and the browser good enough, so that I can actually look up the links -- it is practical.

Our T-Mobile rep (per our IT folks) is rolling units of the color and mono tri-bands in another 2 weeks or so. You seem to have gotten yours quicker than anyone else was told here on the west coast.

RIM has a OEM quad band radio unit done to add 850MHz (for forthcoming rural coverage in the US), however no firm date on when they will incorporate this into any devices.

How is your TMO coverage? Have you roamed internationally? How is it in the USA?

On T-Mobile... US coverage has been OK... anywhere I get T-Mobile/Cingular coverage I've had Blackberry access... Cities I've used it in the US recent with no issues... Major areas in No. and So. Calif, Chicagoland area and suburbs, New York metro area, Austin, Dallas...

For International, used it in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton (uses Fido... for now)

In Europe, UK, France, Germany, Finland and Spain. NO coverage in Ireland due to no GPRS agreement yet. But we have UK issued O2 units that work fine in Ireland that we swap out and have out IT folks reconfig that device PIN to our mailbox.

Also worked in Hong Kong last time I was through.

What I'm waiting for t-mobile to add GPRS roaming to is: Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and Taiwan... Since most network operators are looking at GPRS roaming as an extra revenue stream I'm sure we will get this at some point.

T-Mobile US's GPRS roaming list:
http://www.t-mobile.com/internationa...geInternet.asp

O2 UK's GPRS roaming list
http://www.o2.co.uk/business/product...0,,600,00.html

Vodafone UK's GPRS roaming list:
http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cgi-bin/CO...ng+GPRS+abroad

ATTWS:
http://www.attws.com/include/interna...ry_popup.jhtml
(No specific GPRS roaming list... you need to look at each country for a "data" feature on each network.

Thank you, very helpful!

Yesterday I traveled through most of Virginia on the I-66 and the I-81, from Washington to near Front Royal past Harrisonburg to Staunton. We stopped several times and exited the freeway for food and things we had to do.

I was amazed that TMO coverage while not 100% or equal to Verizon, was awfully good. I could use my BB most of the trip even off the freeway in rural areas. I am sure that a few miles away from the freeway, unless you are in Harrisonburg or Staunton, you will lose signal, but still, it was impressive.

Richard... Seems like I got a 7230 coming next week.

Any reservations on battery life with the 7230, etc over older blackberries or do you still think this is a better device overall.

A reviewer in the Washington Post recently said he got 5 days from his 7230 battery - which is very good, IMO.

No, you won't believe the battery life. I can talk on the phone and have 100 messages and the battery is still at 85% or 90%. It charges through a USB cable and takes about 15 to 30 minutes per day max to maintain fully charged.

The screen is smaller, but the overall unit is lighter and the screen is so good, IMHO, that this isn't an issue in terms of readability.

Some have complained about the backlight. Basically, the brighter the light, the better you can see. I can read this screen in any typical roomlight easily, and unlike other devices, I can easily read it in the bright sunlight. Where the backlight is valuable is in a dark room. It is not designed to assist in anything but darkness. I find this a reasonable compromise given the strengths of battery life and screen legibility.

Thanks... We all got 6230's as a temporary measure yesterday due to the problems with memory leaks on the 8MB units. My 7230 shows up next week... will post my "comments"

BTW: The 6230 is a MUCH faster and responsive device. The app processor change is noticable. The negative on the 6230 is the screen is so small. resolution is OK, not great. Can't wait to get a 7230

The 7230 is quite fast. I have about 1300 names in my phone book and everything is lightning fast. I am so impressed with everything about this unit, in case you can't tell. There is also a BB portal run by RIM that has a cool Asteroids clone called Meteor. Runs very quickly and messages come in while you are playing thanks to the multi threaded OS.

The web browser on the 6230 needs help! Surfing the web in monochrome is nasty. Even more now I'm waiting for the 7230. Btw: surfing performance is good if you don't load all images.

(dupe)... sorry Blackberry's browser resubmits the page on a "back" instead of pulling it from the cache :rolleys:

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 08-22-2003).]

(dupe)

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 08-22-2003).]

How does it do browsing? Is it like the sidekick where the pages are pre-rendered on THEIR servers?

Nope, they use the 4th pass broswer.. Similar to what Opera does. The pages and images are rendered on the device like it's a true browser... No pre rendering pages elsewhere.

You don't need to subscribe to a special unique service to browse the web. You just need GPRS internet access.

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 08-22-2003).]

With the BB, there are two ways to browse that I am aware of: via a proxy maintained by the cell company like TMO, their "T-Zones". I use T-Zones and find it frustrating. It does an acceptable job but is slow and often unavailable.

Or via the Blackberry Exchange Server, BES, which serves as a proxy for the BB and works apparently much better. I don't have this so I can't say.

Via the BES is the way to go, however T-Mobile US doesn't offer the app... We did hack the old package from O2 UK to move their version of the app onto the older T-Mobile units we had. Need to do this with the 6230 and see if it still works. Going this route also lets you view intranet content for wherever the BES server is in your org. Everything STILL gets encrypted between your handheld and the BES server.

Yes, but the consumer service lets anyone buy a BB and instantly use it for push email using the Blackberry Web Client, BWC. Plus some providers offer a proxy server, such as T-Mobile's T-Zones, so at least some browsing is possible.

BES is far superior. Some companies sell BES and Exchange on an outsourcing basis but to me it isn't worth the extra trouble.

You do get syncing with Outlook including your folders and calendar, which you do not get with BWC. Also, you get 3DES encryption which you do not get with BWC (BWC uses some kind of weak encryption.)

Someone wasn't very careful when selling their Blackberry.

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60052,00.html

I use an old Blackberry 957 with service thru Aether.

I can't browse the web.

How are the new ones different?

My use is mailnly in the US.

I suppose this is really a question for formal Support, but can you sign on to www.priceline.com from a 7230?

I'm getting a Javascript error saying my email address isn't valid. (It works on a normal PC.)
Thanks.
Rich

I have been having big problems with my BB on T-Mobile in Northern Virginia for the last 5 days or so. I am not altogether thrilled and have spent several hours with tech support http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...m/rolleyes.gif

Richard... just so your problem thread... sorry I've been OFF FT for a week due to travel/work...

Is this on T-Mobile's network or a roaming agreement? Has T-Mobile opened a trouble ticket... If they've done nothing since now, let me know via email and I can see if our T-mobile rep can ping their network ops on what the problem is.

So far I've been in Europe with my US T-Mobile 6230 Blackberry with no issues for the last week. So may just be an issue related to a local network problem?

Are you using the Standard browser? (e.g. do you have the Blackberry browser and use a BES?)

Bottom line is the existing Mobitex/CDPD blackberries WILL go away in the next 2-3 years. AT&T is already converting users now, Cingular/(old Bellsouth) is supposed to start converts in 2004.

The newer units although battery life is slightly less (depends on use really) give the following benefits

- faster app processor
- more memory
- wireless/over the network reconcile (no need to synch in the cradle). Synch'd email read/unread, folder moves, server deletes, folder name list
- Corporate over the air address lookup. No need to have the entire Global Address List synch'd to the device
- Some units have USB (62XX/72XX)
- Some units have color (72XX)
- WAP/WML/HTML browsing
- BES hosted web broswing (with Blackberry BES browser, allows Intranet use)
- Java based app and OS framework. You can develop Java apps to deploy for wireless data xfer or static apps
- GSM/GPRS, CDMA and iDen networks now supported.
- GSM/GPRS units support multiple bands; either dual band 900/1900 or tri band 900/1800/1900. (Asia/Europe units also support 900/1800). A quad band version is pending as well for the 62XX and 72XX family supporting 850, which is rural GSM/GPRS coverage overlay for upgrades to AMPS/Analog networks

New Blackberry support in the US
GSM/GPRS: Cingular, T-Mobile, ATTWS
CDMA: Verizon
iDen: Nextel



[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 09-01-2003).]

Seems like Richard and I are the only ones on this thread now responding http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Got the 7230 today... Really nice... Only problem is that the backlight is NOT very good. It's acceptable considering battery life is a premium, but nowhere close to an IPAQ or other device. Guess that's what we get for a color Blackberry and good battery life.

Like the ability to choose other fonts... The display is really sharp and the screen coating provides for GREAT viewing in direct light or sunlight.

Hey, this is a fun dialog!

The backlight feature doesn't bother me because it is useful in true lowlight or nolight conditions. It is not useful if the room lighting is just plain dim, but that is a narrow range of conditions.

My Smartphone sucks battery juice and you can't read the screen in bright daylight, so I am happy with the compromise.

The size of the 7230 is also wonderful. It is so small. I don't feel comforble using the phone without the headset, though you can if you don't mind feeling dorky.

I'm on my third day without charging and using it all the time. 60% battery life left!

I also love the USB charging. This makes so much sense.

BTW, a good forum site for the Blackberry

http://www.pdastreet.com/forums//for...p?s=&forumid=7

I've noticed you've posted there as well...

Seems like a bunch of "whiners" complaining of roaming coverage issues in countries where there networks HAVE NO GPRS roaming agreements.

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...m/rolleyes.gif

I just exchanged my 7230. I have had several bad weeks with it, having to continuously power down the wireless in order to send or receive any messages. I am hoping that the trouble was the unit and not T-Mobile.

T-Mobile is like my cable company: they are very nice, will come out, will talk to me on the phone, will be reasonable and accomodating, but they don't know what they are doing. In the Blackberry case, there is the network, the hardware, and Blackberry Web Client, and it all has to work together but nobody is responsible for the totality.

More and more stuff is like this, n-tier computing in everyday life with multiple vendors.

Complexity, thy name is I.T.!

This might just be a problem with T-mobile, some of my other GPRS devices have the same problem...

The only issue I have with the device is its' inconsistency in roaming between cell towers. The radio modem is supposed to automatically register itself as you move between cells. When this happens routing tables are updated at the gateways so that data packets can be forwarded. Occasionally, the radio modem forgets to do this and you have to give it a re-boot in order to get email flowing.

T-Mobile is aware of the problem and is working on it.

My new 7230 occasionally shows no signal. It doesn't let me power off wireless -- just goes into a power down limbo. I have to reset it using a paper clip.

I am sure it has something to do with the device and T-mobile. The complexity makes it hard to pinpoint.

Sorry for the delay in responding. Yes, I'm using the standard browser.

No, I'm not currently connected using the Blackberry Exchange Server. Although we have it set up, one of my interests is seeing how much I can do without it.

I didn't check this out with the formal support structure yet.
Rich

I'm glad to be on the shared/virtual T-Mobile network in California (via Cingular)... NO issues here with GPRS drop outs, etc... Would sound like either T-Mobile has commited new system software to the gprs service or other issues are causing gprs problems...

Glad to not be in your shoes guys (although I will feel your pain once I'm on the road this week using the t-mobile network)

So my co-workers tell me that generally speaking they get decent coverage while over the lower 48 and in a commercial airplane utilizing the 957. Based on thier messages sent, I believe them. My coworkers have been given the opportunity to move to either the 5810 or 6210 utilizing ATT. Currently thier 957 appears to utilize cingular - it's a fairly old model that has the Compaq logo on the back and no identifyable markings. So, my co-workers travel a lot, usually 4-8 flights per week. Having access while on the plane is important to them, it is my understanding that the differences in frequencies could dramatically affect thier abilities to get signal in a commercial aircraft.

So, does anybody have any experiance with the above two models (other than the 957) and commercial aircraft? And yes - my co-workers are simply curious about the technology aspect of this at the moment, and would be interested in not letting this conversation slide into the realm of whether or not these devices should be utilized on aircraft. My coworkers appreciate your help.

last year I flew transcon on a UA 757 and my seatmate was working the whole time on his BB, probably on the same network, Mobitex, on Cingular.