| Author | Message | ||
     Toona |
I'm looking at replacing my 2 year old Nokia phone with a Blackberry. Looking at the new Pearl, but haven't ruled out the Curve. Price is exactly the same in my local market, $150 after rebate, plus I'll get another $25 off because I currently don't have a contract w/ AT&T. Final cost will be $125 for a new phone. I was going to get another "regular" cell phone, but the price is about the same. I'm on AT&T and was wanting to know what AT&T services you use and which 3rd party applications you use- email, web browsing etc. The GPS capability interests me, but I have an older car unit now that would be replaced by the end of summer. Not sure if the $10/month would be worth it, unless there is a 3rd party application. Quick research says the Blackberry outperforms the Palm based smartphones, is this true? Any input will be appreciated. Thanks in advance  | ||
| Rex |
I have a blackberry with sprint. I get my work emails, and I can use it as a modem for my laptop, when I am on the road. REX | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
If you are an existing att customer, why not an iPhone? I have used almost everything, symbian, BB, palm, PPC, MS smartphone, and the iphone wins hands down. The only current stumbling block with the current iphone is "Push email" (exchange support), and GPS. Both of these issue will be addressed in the new software revision (exchange), and new 3g version (gps support). | ||
| Irideabuell |
The Blackberry works just fine. I had one for a couple of years. The GPS aspect doesn't work nearly as well as a regular GPS. The e-mail service for the non-Blackberry phones from AT&T works great. I have an original Cingular 8125 PDA phone that works fantastic. I can't imagine not having it. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
+1 on the iphone. go to apple and watch the tutorial videos, then go play with one at at&t or apple store. i've had mine since december and it's the coolest most useful electronic device i've ever bought. i like it so much that my next computer will be an apple because i like the way it function so much better than the windows mobile device i had before. | ||
| Buellinator |
I usually have them on my cereal every morning. In fact, they go best with Bran Flakes. Oh, wait a sec... Sorry, my mistake. I should have read the original post.  | ||
| Benm2 |
I've got an older blackberry (about 2 years old). The "push" email thing is overrated and doesn't work that well, to me that feature isn't worth it. The phone sometimes doesn't work so well. I have the "wide" version and I really like the bigger keyboard for my fat fingers. Also, mine doesn't have a camera in it. Harder to come by these days, but a lot of factories / companies won't let you in with a camera phone (problematic for a consulting engineer). The thing I like BEST is its durability. Mine has been dropped onto concrete floors, steel floors, knocked off my waist by handrails, car doors, office doors, copiers, and children. The results vary from another scratch, an automatic reboot, or a shedding of battery & cover. To date it keeps right on truckin. My 13 year old has a motorola razor, which looks more typical for "popular" cell phone construction. He's destroyed 2 in 10 months. The i-phone looks to have the best current package, but I don't know how well it takes a beating. | ||
| Aeholton |
My daughter has the Blackberry Curve. Nice phone. As for the Telenav GPS service (I have it on my Motorola Q9h), it's nice in a pinch when you don't have your GPS unit with you. However, the screen on a phone is too small. It's slow to start up and get going. I would rather use a dedicated GPS device. I will be canceling the service at the end of this billing cycle. Just don't use it enough to warrant the $10 per month charge. | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
The "push" email thing is overrated and doesn't work that well I could not live without push email. It is the best thing that has ever come out for smartphones. Everyone I know who has used push wouldn't give it up for their left arm. I figured I might be leaving some of our less technically involved members out, so here is a simple push email breakdown: Push email is simply where email/contacts/calander events/etc... get "pushed" from an email server (most often a Microsoft exchange server) to your device. There are many benefits to this: * Instant email * Wireless updating - you no longer have to manually update your phone calander/contact info. Anything you put on your computer is wirelessly synced to your device, and vice versa automatically. * Better battery life - your device on connects to the server when something has changed, so no wasted data connections. * Security - if you loose your phone you can remotely erase it. There are 3 main flavors of "push email" Blackberry connect, Activesync, Goodlink Blackberry is the originator, it uses a dedicated server that connects to an exchange server. Very nice system, but VERY expensive. Lately they have had some serious outages. Activesync is microsoft's own system. It is built into exchange and works beautifully. So beautifully Apple has licensed it to use on the iphone (think about that one). I used hosted activesync service. I have been a happy user for years. Goodlink is rarely used anymore, but it is still around. I haven't used it so I can't comment. | ||
| Greenlantern |
8830 World phone, Don't go anywhere though. 3 email accounts tied to it, push feature works fine, no camera. Only complaint is all those nice filters on my outlook and .mac accounts are ignored on the relay giving me a lot of cr@% to delete on the Blackberry. Viagra or larger breast gentlemen? (Message edited by greenlantern on April 29, 2008) | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
Aeholton, why don't you use Garmin's mobile XT. They have a new version that will work with your q9's internal GPS. I have the previous version on my smartphone. I put a review in the KV as part of my bikes "secret project" http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/260528.html?1178440002 | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
If you're with ATT, I do believe you'd like the Curve. My roomate just got it and it seems nice. He got a 30 day trial period for the GPS. Seems pretty cool. I have ATT as well and I just got the Palm Treo. Amazing phone. Runs Windows Mobile 6 and operates just like your PC for the most part. I use my office POP email account and LIVE account. I really like the web browser. Its uses Internet Explorer, which operates just like Explorer on your pc. I also got GPS Garmin GPS software for it, but that wasn't cheap, but there's no subscription or monthly costs like there would be for the Curve. "Quick research says the Blackberry outperforms the Palm based smartphones, is this true?" The Curve is nowhere near the Palm Treo 750 I have. The only thing nicer would be a better camera. You can't run Office programs like Excel, Word or Power Point, I use these every day. (Message edited by Buellinachinashop on April 29, 2008) | ||
| Toona |
Although the iPhone is nice, I can't justify the $400 price tag for the 8gb version, the 16gb version is another $100. I personally don't use iTunes, so all of my music would have to be converted. Believe it or not, I actually use my phone as a......phone. The "all in one" aspect of the new phones has me on edge, when you loose the phone, you loose all the "stuff" you had on it. The push email intrigues me, I'm guessing I can save the email to my main computer as well, so that I don't loose them if the phone gets lost/damaged. Thanks for the input so far, please keep it coming. (Message edited by Toona on April 29, 2008) | ||
| Aeholton |
Corporatemonkey, thanks for the information. I might just give the Garmin mobile XT a try. Telenav was preloaded in my phone when I bought it. I wasn't aware of Garmin mobile XT. I just bought a Scala Rider Q2 and it worked great for listening to tunes and keeping in touch with my wife on the trip to Barber. Would be nice to have those directional cues broadcast to my ears. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
"I could not live without push email. It is the best thing that has ever come out for smartphones." There are times that my Treo picks up my email before my office Outlook does. PUSH is not overrated. I too live with it. | ||
| Road_thing |
I've had a Pearl for almost a year. Had to replace it twice, covered by warranty both times, but when it dies, I'm going to try something else. It's just not all that robust. rt | ||
| Doon |
Crackberry works ok if you have their BES. So good for corp. We don't use any M$ products here, and run Standard mail servers. So to use a blackberry I would have to give my email address / password to RIM, and they would then pop and push. Not ideal for me. We all use Treos, and use ChatterEmail via an SSL IMAP connection. Our servers and Chatter support IDLE extensions to IMAP so it works very well and isn't that huge of a battery drain. And I can easily shut mail down if I don't want to be bothered by it. | ||
| Buelltours |
Hi there! Glad I found this thread as I am currently trying to find a suitable smartphone as well. Has anybody ever tried the "Dash" by T-Mobile? Seems to be a good deal and also around for more than a year, so bugs might have been addressed by now... I am trying to find information about how well skype works on these Windows mobile phones as I am doing a lot of international calling via skype. Anybody? Thanks a lot! Great thread! | ||
| Greenlantern |
I actually use my phone as a......phone. Cold War era Commie , Pinko, Technophobic Punk you are!  | ||
| Trackdad |
I bought the new Samsung I760, windows mobile. I don't sink the thing so its stayed pretty smart. Use it for internet and hazmat, google maps! Battery life is excellent!!!! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Use a Blackberry? Like a crack wh0re! Best reception is with Verizon. The VOIP capability of AT&T or T-Mobile would be the best feature of the Curve. Rumor has it that Verizon is coming out with a Wi-Fi enabled curve soon. The VOIP is cool as hell. I work near a wireless network all day. It would allow me to make calls over the network rather than using cell minutes. I already have the full data package, so using this feature wouldn't cost any more. Blackberry's push technology is better than most out there. My wife and her partner have emails coming from GMail as well as other mail exchanges without issue. Some of the features that make Blackberry great won't be available if you aren't able to use the BES integrated with your mail server. My BB automatically updates contacts from laptop to BB and BB to laptop. It does the same for calendar, email, etc. The best way to describe it's function is that you have a sheet that is your Outlook. The BB simply pinches up a piece of it, allows you to manipulate it, and then let it go. When I delete an email on my BB it's deleted in my inbox. When I send an email from my BB, a copy of it is in my sent folders. When I send an email from my Outlook, a copy of it appears on my BB. I have the 8830 Worldphone. I can use it in the US and Europe. I'm currently using a 2GB MicroSD card that allows me to store my pictures, music, and two full length movies. Comes in handy on airplanes and because it's coming from an SD card it uses virtually no power. I regularly post to BW from my BB. In short, I couldn't live without my BB. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
"The BB simply pinches up a piece of it, allows you to manipulate it, and then let it go. When I delete an email on my BB it's deleted in my inbox." The Palm Treo's do the same thing. You have an "In Box", "Sent", "Composed" and "Deleted". You manipulate your POP email just like you do with Outlook. Palms are also BlueTooth, where you can beam info to and from other BlueTooth devices such as other phones and laptops. You can also use your Palm as a modem for your laptop, via BlueTooth or USB. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
"Tethering" is also available with BB. You can use your BB as a wireless connection. | ||
| Mookie |
vzw is coming out with a 8320 soon but like the 8830, 8320, they have crippled the wi-fi (gps with 8830).  the iphone may be a great product if they can integrate push technology into their products aswell as multitasking. I recently switched to tmobile for the ability to have a camera and wifi for voip. I was excited about the iphone till i heard it runs only one app at a time. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Although the iPhone is nice, I can't justify the $400 price tag for the 8gb version, the 16gb version is another $100. go try one and I bet you change your mind. the ipod feature is the one i use the least anyway. email and internet, google maps are awesome. | ||
| Greenlantern |
And dd I menyion howgreet the 8x30 keyuboard Is? I Aam usinh ut now! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Every person I have spoken with who has the iPhone says that they love the phone itself, but that the actual phone service sucked. AT&T coverage. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Every person I have spoken with who has the iPhone says that they love the phone itself, but that the actual phone service sucked. AT&T coverage. Just depends on your area, certain carriers cover certain areas better than others. I've had at&t/cingular/at&t for around 7 years now and have no complaints. two 1 mile or so dead spots between cleveland and buffalo (including passing thru an indian reservation isn't bad imo. when my company provided us nextels, they'd drop out for miles. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Nextel sucks. It's great if you only need the walkie talkie feature. I've had Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon. I've had Verizon for 8 years. I WON'T leave them, ever! | ||
| Aeholton |
I've had AT&T/cingular/at&t for more than 5 years. Can't complain about service. |
