Blackberry devices?

Decster · Jan 19, 2009

any good.

Trying to find out for the missus.

What do you use yours for.

Thought i would ask users what they use theirs for? email, a digital diary, others??

are they as easy as a standard mobile phone to use?

TIA

'Nuffsaid · Jan 19, 2009

I was always sniffy about them as they seem to be the preserve of people who were "Oh so important .....

"

After struggling with other PDA's I gave in and got one - I am kicking myself that I didn't do this sooner. They are a great uncompromising workhorse - easy to use for emails / diary and a good phone. Decent battery life and simple to set up.

They arent fancy , they just are fit for purpose - The email / text function is outstanding. If this isn't your main priority however, then just get a standard phone :nenau

HTH

Sgt Bilco · Jan 19, 2009

I`ve had a Blackberry Storm since December and it`s a great business tool. E-mail and web access is excellent and easy once you read the manual :augie

It`s great for my work use but I wouldn`t have one for normal use though because I don`t think it`s robust enough so you have to be careful with it. I`ve found the battery life isn`t very good when you are running bluetooth, web access etc.

judge · Jan 19, 2009

Blackberry's long been the king of the enterprise organisation but in recent times made an effort to appeal to the personal phone market.

The have got smaller and prettier but then they were huge and ugly so your missus won't necessarily see it as the nicest looking phone ever.

How big an email user is she as that is its main calling at which it has no equal, but in almost every other area other phones are better. I have a Curve and it is superb at keeping my business email coming to me, the rest of it 'just works' but not as nice as other phones.

If your missus is on o2 then seriously consider the iPhone if you are thinking a Blackberry might be the answer.

Bumpkin · Jan 19, 2009

Work recently provided me with a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. Does email, Web (inc Flash, PDFs etc), Google Maps as well as Office Mobile suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), have loaded TomTom and run a non standard shell to make it more finger friendly. Have many other useful applications I've loaded as well, some open source some paid for.

Fiddly to operate for certain things but then it's practically a mini notebook PC. The slide out keyboard is a real boon for emails and texts (haven't used Word Mobile very much yet).

Mutley · Jan 19, 2009

I have a Blackberry Pearl and it took ages to get used to it. For business it is fine but I can't see the point for a personal mobile.

I also have a Nokia E61 and I'd have the new E71 if I was buying one myself: does everything a Crackberry does only much better IMHO :thumb2

Fanum · Jan 19, 2009

Blackberry Bold here and I love it.....superb for emails and I have all my accounts pushed to it via Gmail.
Also running Google maps and various Google apps like Calendar which synchronise perfectly with it.
Blackberry maps not particularly impressive but you can also run Garmin stuff on there- not tried that yet though.

I did have a pearl and that's a nice size, a normal phone size in fact but the screen on the Bold is 10x better and clearer......sound quality good and it basically does exactly what I need it to do :thumb2

There's a very active support forum for BB users and loads of software out there for them- I particularly like WorldMate Live for travelling

Mav · Jan 19, 2009

Fanum said:
Blackberry Bold here and I love it.....superb for emails and I have all my accounts pushed to it via Gmail.
Also running Google maps and various Google apps like Calendar which synchronise perfectly with it.
Blackberry maps not particularly impressive but you can also run Garmin stuff on there- not tried that yet though.

I did have a pearl and that's a nice size, a normal phone size in fact but the screen on the Bold is 10x better and clearer......sound quality good and it basically does exactly what I need it to do

There's a very active support forum for BB users and loads of software out there for them- I particularly like WorldMate Live for travelling

Fanum has it pretty much spot on :thumb2

I use the Pearl, just because it is my single device and I take it pretty much everywhere I go - being phone size makes it that much easier to carry. The battery is good for plenty of abuse, comes with a gig memory card, camera is surprisingly adequate (on a par with iPhone 3g), and GPS with Google maps can be a real life saver.

The screen on the Bold is way better tho'

ianf · Jan 19, 2009

Be careful if you are an important cog in the machine at work, the main downfall of the blackberry is it makes you contactable at all hours.

Even if you intend to not to read mail at the weekend or late at night, you will.

It can cause lost sleep, and get you on the prozac if you are the sort of person that can't help but feel responsible (and work on resolving) for other folks' forwarded balls-ups.

I'm much better (now) for having figured out how to cripple BES mail, and just use it as a big game-boy shaped phone.

It turns the 'phone is a convenience for you' into something very different, consider this before you get one.

zoltan · Jan 19, 2009

Fanum said:
Blackberry Bold here and I love it.....superb for emails and I have all my accounts pushed to it via Gmail.
Also running Google maps and various Google apps like Calendar which synchronise perfectly with it.
Blackberry maps not particularly impressive but you can also run Garmin stuff on there- not tried that yet though.

I did have a pearl and that's a nice size, a normal phone size in fact but the screen on the Bold is 10x better and clearer......sound quality good and it basically does exactly what I need it to do

There's a very active support forum for BB users and loads of software out there for them- I particularly like WorldMate Live for travelling

All the above ,plus 16 Gig, music & film ( to watch a video the screen is small ,but breaks the monotony on the plane ),phone sound quality and conferencing is excellent.
I had some quality issues ( I am on my third one ) but Vodafone business are spot on . Battery life is a killer ,I have a second one just in case and a couple of charges
Tried the Storm for 2 weeks , but is not as robust as the Bold ,plus I couldn't get used to the touch screen. Storm is a iPhone alternative .
Palm Pre is the new kid on the block ,combining features from iPhone and BB .

Alan1963 · Jan 19, 2009

I have just sorted out a Nokia E71 for SWMBO. Awesome piece of kit. Great 'phone as a Nokia always is and it handles push email superbly too. SWMBO reckons the only element that is less good than her old Blackberry is the lack of the excellent blackberry "scroll wheel". And the rest of the functionality is impressive. Highly recommended.

zoltan · Jan 19, 2009

ianf said:
Be careful if you are an important cog in the machine at work, the main downfall of the blackberry is it makes you contactable at all hours.

Even if you intend to not to read mail at the weekend or late at night, you will.

It can cause lost sleep, and get you on the prozac if you are the sort of person that can't help but feel responsible (and work on resolving) for other folks' forwarded balls-ups.

I'm much better (now) for having figured out how to cripple BES mail, and just use it as a big game-boy shaped phone.

It turns the 'phone is a convenience for you' into something very different, consider this before you get one.

I have mine configured between 0800 & 1700hrs. and the private email 24 hours ,work doest have my private one

Stumpy · Jan 19, 2009

Fanum said:
Blackberry Bold here and I love it.....superb for emails and I have all my accounts pushed to it via Gmail.
Also running Google maps and various Google apps like Calendar which synchronise perfectly with it.
Blackberry maps not particularly impressive but you can also run Garmin stuff on there- not tried that yet though.

I did have a pearl and that's a nice size, a normal phone size in fact but the screen on the Bold is 10x better and clearer......sound quality good and it basically does exactly what I need it to do

There's a very active support forum for BB users and loads of software out there for them- I particularly like WorldMate Live for travelling

I have a Bold as well. My first Blackberry and first time I've used mobile internet. Works well for me :thumb2

ianf · Jan 19, 2009

zoltan said:
I have mine configured between 0800 & 1700hrs. and the private email 24 hours ,work doest have my private one

Private email only lasted 24 hours before Vodafone killed the account as they dont like BES users mixing it. I have an old 8700 which isn't selective about hours, so it's just set in the desktop manager to never sync any folder

zoltan · Jan 20, 2009

ianf said:
Private email only lasted 24 hours before Vodafone killed the account as they dont like BES users mixing it. I have an old 8700 which isn't selective about hours, so it's just set in the desktop manager to never sync any folder

Interesting ,I have my work email&gmail (you can have up to 10 mail address) on my BB with no problems :thumb2

Mav · Jan 20, 2009

ianf said:
Private email only lasted 24 hours before Vodafone killed the account as they dont like BES users mixing it. I have an old 8700 which isn't selective about hours, so it's just set in the desktop manager to never sync any folder

Could be a policy set up by your work - my employer won't let me run a personal account and work on the same handheld.

ianf · Jan 20, 2009

I think you are right. In which case it falls firmly in the 'no benefit to me' category and is switched off...

Twotter · Jan 20, 2009

I have a Blackberry 8800 for work. It's fine for accessing my e-mail when I need to and the phone is fine, but I haven't figured out how to view certain attached files (excel & pdf's in particular).

I like that it doesn't have a camera

Fanum · Jan 20, 2009

Twotter said:
I have a Blackberry 8800 for work. It's fine for accessing my e-mail when I need to and the phone is fine, but I haven't figured out how to view certain attached files (excel & pdf's in particular).

I like that it doesn't have a camera

If you recieve a pdf in an email, it'll open it, but if you add one as a document via the sync, it won't ...it's one of those odd things.

Two easy ways around it...apart from emailing all the pdf's you need to yourself.....there are several PDF viewers you can pay for and use, or use Google Docs and save the PDFs there- then access them through Google docs as well.

That works well and it's free :thumb2

Twotter · Jan 21, 2009

Fanum said:
That works well and it's free

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar - thanks :thumb2

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