Blackberry?

[Cowchip]

Anyone running a Blackberry here? How do you like the phone(s) and the service? I can get one through Sprint or Alltel in this area and was wondering if there is much difference between the two providers as far as the Blackberry service goes? Is the Blackberry overkill for personal use or is it worth every nickel? I want something for email and web browsing mostly and I have the Mogul 6800 through work, but thats a tad big for everyday use to carry around and the touch screen is clumsy at best just for simple functions, IMO.

Any tips, suggestions, or things to watch out for would be appreciated!

 

[TheForce]

MY wife had to get the BB for work requirements. She had a Treo 700w and loved it with MS Exchange server for e-mail.

By contrast the BB is more expensive and less in features but she got used to it. The big difference is the e-mail is text only. very basic. It irritates her she can nolonger do images and formatted e-mail but as a quick e-mail communications device, it works well.
Personally, and from what she said, only go to BB if you want simple and only if your employer requires it. She said when the job ends she wants to return to the Treo. YMMV as they say.

BTW- I use the Verizon 6800 and love it as one device does everything I need when I'm away from the laptop.

 

[SatinKzo]

Personally having used a blackberry curve and now a sprint mogul, I am so glad to be rid of my blackberry. The mogul is so versatile and customizable I personally never recommend anything else anyone looking for a PDA/smartphone.

Coworker (salesman) who has to have a blackberry (corporate decision) hates his curve for a variety of reasons and wishes he could get a mogul or in his words "anything but this thing; I feel handcuffed by it's lack of functionality"

 

[charper1]

Our company (Nike) is slowly moving away from Blackberry as well, for many of the reasons mentioned above; as well as the outages they seem to be having as of late. We have found better alternatives.

 

[Cowchip]

Thanks for the quick responses thus far.

I've had the Mogul since they were released along with the version before the Mogul, and they are just too clunky for everyday use and not real user friendly when it comes down to it. Having to use the stylus is the biggest negative for me, and although you can stumble through functions using the keys it's hardly efficient even after using one for a couple years now. I've read that the Mogul is more of a PDA than a phone and I'd have to agree.

The phone I'm looking for will be used for personal use and I don't need the MS Office apps, etc., that the Mogul offers and what I'm assuming is what you're referring to as functionality. I mainly want to be able to retrieve POP email and use the internet occasionally, along with a decent address book/contact list.

I'm not trying to talk myself into a BB, but I know for sure that I won't be convinced into getting another Mogul just for personal use. For work they are fine around the office, but it isn't something I want to carry around in my pocket or on a belt while I'm out in the yard, fishing, hunting, etc. Wearing shorts in the summer I don't want a brick in my pocket, and there is no way I'll be wearing the big, black, purse-like case on my belt!

If the BB isn't the way to go for the reasons I'm looking for, then is there another alternative for good email/web browsing that someone may have experience with or would recommend?

 

[Cowchip]

I just wanted to follow up to this and mention that I went with a Blackberry Curve 8330 and cannot put the thing down. It is so much easier to navigate and use than the Mogul that I have for work, and frankly it blows it out of the water. Everything from contacts, calendar, messaging, web browsing and of course actually using it for making and receiving phone calls. I couldn't be more happy with this device and learn more new things that it can do the more I use it. If you're looking to mess around with the RAM or other things, than obviously the Mogul/Windows Mobile is the better choice. But if someone is looking for a real phone that is loaded with functionality I'd have to recommend the Curve. It's also much easier to handle and carry, and it's refreshing not have to deal with that stinking touch screen. The trackball is where it's at!

I'm with Sprint and was surprised with the Sprint TV option on the phone. Not only does it offer old episodes of various shows, it also has some select "live" programming such as NFL Network and the Nascar races of course. I'll be living with this thing this fall when the NFL fires back up!

 

[JAG72]

I would have to agree with you. I purchased the Blackberry Curve two weeks ago and it is great. I also purchased an 8GB micro SD card for it and now it is also my primary MP3 player. Just can't wait for the Sling player to be launched for it now.

 

[LER]

Sprint just released the Samsung Instinct (competitor to the iPhone). At $129 after rebate I bit. I'll do a review once I get it (I ordered through the website last nite). From the reviews it should be interesting. I'm coming from the PPC-6700, and as stated above, it's clunky.

 

[digiblur]

I couldn't see going backwards from the Mogul to the Blackberry. I'd feel so locked down. I came from a Blackberry to a Mogul. I rarely use the stylus on my phone anymore. Finger nail works just fine most of the time and no, I don't have long finger nails. I keep them short.

 

[Cowchip]

That's interesting. I feel like I've just been set free! I had my doubts about the trackball, but the positive input trumps the touchscreen by a mile. I just can't get over how integrated all the applications are on the BB which makes it a breeze to operate. The BB performs and handles like a Ferrari while the Mogul is like driving grampa's old Buick. But like I said, to each his own.

 

[Ira Lacher]

Sprint would not let me upgrade to the Curve from the Mogul without paying list price for the phone, so I am now with Verizon. Biggest advantages to the Curve are the far greater stability of the BlackBerry OS, the much brighter screen (I can see it comfortably in bright sunlight) and being able to create tasks or appointments seamlessly from messages. Disadvantages are lack of being able to store Microsoft Office files (tho you can read them as attachments) and no Adobe PDF Reader for BlackBerry; it's much better app for viewing PDFs on Windows Mobile than the viewer that comes with the Berry. Overall, though, the Blackberry is superior, IMHO.

 

[SatinKzo]

What have you guys done to your Moguls that make them work like crap? My mogul blows away every blackberry in the company in terms of loading apps, web, email. It sync's seamlessly with Exchange and I actually get emails faster on my mogul then the blackberry reports them. Works with all my other email accounts also. Voice recognition on my Mogul is much more accurate then the curves I have played with.

Everyone in our company has curve's and I have a mogul cause I can't stand the blackberry and why pay the extra $ per month for blackberry service when the mogul does it for free? SO I get a $150 a month allowance for a blackberry and my mogul (which does more) is costing me a whole $45 a month for unlimited data/text/etc and 1500 minutes talk time.

Sprint TV and every other blackberry feature is with sprint works fine on my mogul... Oh and my mogul can be a quick hotspot for my laptop. GPS is far more accurate on my mogul then the blackberry's I have used.

 

[Cowchip]

It depends on the mail service. The BIS is included in the data plan. If you wish to connect to a business mail server than you need the BES plan, which you are correct, is more money. Mine is for personal use so I just have the standard data plan which includes the BIS service.

I haven't done anything to make it work like crap, I think it works like crap right out of the box! J/K. I just don't like the touchscreen interface or the hoops you have to jump through to do pretty much any task. The functionality of the BB really is seamless and is much easier to use, for me anyway, than the Mogul which I still have for work. As Ira mentioned, aside from the MS Office apps which I don't need on a personal level anyway, there aren't many areas where the Mogul beats the BB.

I think the phone app is lousy, and it has been said that the Mogul is more of a PDA than a phone and I would have to agree. The BB browser with the larger/wider screen is much easier to navigate and read than the Mogul. The shortcut keys coupled with the trackball make browsing a breeze along with about any other application on the BB. Typing is great with the exposed keyboard rather than sliding out the keyboard on the Mogul, although the keyboard is obviously larger and less prone to fat finger mistakes on the Mogul. I thought I may have problems with the BB keyboard but I can type surprisingly well on it.

Anyway, it all depends on what your specific application is for the device, but I know I'll never get a Mogul for personal use. Other than tethering and opening MS Office apps for work I wouldn't have one if I could convince the IT people to go to BES, which they won't because of the cost and the few people that have those types of devices where I work.

 

[TheForce]

digiblur- I bought one of those telescoping pens for the stylus. That way I always have a pen handy when I don't have a regular one. I actually got into the habit with the 6700 of using the on screen keyboard than the slide out one. I suppose it's all what you get used to doing. However for a lengthy post, I do prefer to use the slide out pad.

Back to the BB. Another thing I recall my wife didn't like is the lack of a touch screen andf having to use the track ball to navigate. She claims that wastes too much time.

 

[Cowchip]

One other item of interest I noticed is the battery life of the BB which is phenomenal. The 6700 was horrible and the Mogul battery life was improved (seemed even better after the OS update) but still lacking when compared to the Curve.

 

[Ira Lacher]

Another thing I recall my wife didn't like is the lack of a touch screen andf having to use the track ball to navigate. She claims that wastes too much time.

I thought it wasted a lot of time having to slide the keyboard out, waiting for the screen to redraw and for the keyboard to light up. My business involves rapid response to email, and by the time I waited for all these things to happen, someone else beat me to jobs.

 

[SatinKzo]

? Ira what kind of business are you in? Cause what you described only takes maybe 2 seconds for my mogul to process. And based on my experience, my mogul has the email before the blackberry, so the 2 seconds is nothing.

Again. not saying blackberries are awful, but for me, they are a definite no-go.

 

[Ira Lacher]

Editorial consultant. A client throws a job into a pool: "Who is available to ..."? First to respond gets it. And I have been beaten out constantly.

 

[SatinKzo]

Sounds like an interesting job.

 

[Ira Lacher]

Never a dull moment.!sadroll