Anyone using a Blackberry?

[coachingguy]

I'm looking for a Smartphone and I can get a Blackberry 7130g for $140. What are people using for Smartphones w/ Macs? I really like the Treo's but my wife would be quite unhappy with me for dropping $400 on one.

What are the Pro's and Con's of the Blackberry's compared to the Treo's? I've been using the Palm desktop w/ iSync for years with my Zire 72. How much of a change would it be to go to Blackberry?

Thanks,

Coachingguy

 

[yellow]

Con: You cannot sync the BB with Mac OS X. The BB Management software is Windows only.

 

[jemx33]

pocketmac will let you sync with mac os x. and its a free application. overall the blacberry is a great device there are no crashes or bugs in their os. my only complaint is that i have the 8700g from tmo and they dont have a expandable memory slot like the 8100 'pearl' but i am waiting there are rumors for a new one.

 

[yellow]

It lets you sync your Addressbook and iCal.. but it doesn't help with email, and it doesn't helps with anything that isn't Addressbook or iCal.

 

[flynntargart]

my boss has a blackberry and I am always fixing it (I'm the in house IT support).
I'm not saying BlackBerry's brake a lot, I think it really is just him, but when I use it, the keyboard and scroll wheel navigation drive me nuts.. I much, much, prefer my palm with a stylus!
Blackberry's are nice, but I really suggest playing with one for a few hours before you buy it, just try to play a game or check a website with the stores demo to make sure that you can use it without killing the person next to you..

 

[psziel]

i use a nokia e61 and love it. with a plugin it will sync flawless with OS X.
it offers pushmail,wi-fi and more. the battery life is awesome and a very stable phone.

 

[rogersmj]

It lets you sync your Addressbook and iCal.. but it doesn't help with email, and it doesn't helps with anything that isn't Addressbook or iCal.

False. I sync with Entourage just fine.

As you can see just from the few responses in this thread, there are a lot of misconceptions about using a BB with a Mac. While it is still not as good as using the Windows software, Mac support has come a long way this year. I currently have a BB 8700c and love it; this is my second BlackBerry. I setup PocketMac earlier this week when I got my iMac and it syncs with Entourage address book, tasks, notes, and calendar just fine. However, I recommend having a PC available -- or Parallels or Bootcamp setup on your Mac with a Windows installation -- for the odd time you might need to load a piece of software on the BlackBerry that's not available for Over The Air (OTA) installation. Although in the past 6 months, I don't think I've wanted to install anything that wasn't available OTA.

The BlackBerry is truly fantastic. I liken it to the Mac of the mobile world. If you get it, you get it. It's a great device, well designed, with a well designed OS. It has its quirks, just like Macs do, but on the whole it is a cohesive, intuitive way for handling your email wherever you are. By comparison, other smartphones I've tried out (Treo, Moto Q) feel clunky and hacked together in one way or another. The instant push email really sets the BB apart.

 

[coachingguy]

Thanks for the Responses...

Thanks for all of the input. I played with a Treo 650 today, I really liked it, but it's still twice as much as the 7130g or 8700 at my local CellularOne. Living in a rural area limits my options somewhat. It's nice to know I can live with the BB.

Keep the opinions coming

Coachingguy

 

[Veritas&Equitas]

Where do you live coachingguy? I know quite a bit of rural areas around these parts...are you going to be a Unicell/Midwest Wireless/Verizon/T-Mo guy or what?

 

[sierra oscar]

for what it's worth - I much prefer a regular slim-line mobile phone and a portable computer as a workable solution.

BlackBerry: just too large to be a good standalone phone - but too small to really use effectively for me for real life apps.

I think BB's are a nice idea - but I feel they fail by trying to be everything - and end up being an expensive and labour (input) intensive process.

Technology (for me) is only useful if it saves me time - rather than takes all my time up trying to sync it, pair it and enter data in it.

Just my 2 cents, I have colleagues that use them - and it seems to work for them.

 

[rkriheli]

gasp

despite the numerous pocket pc phones on the market running a light windows thing, bill gates still uses a blackberry. amazing.

i am on a treo 650, and sync it with my powerbook effortlessly.

 

[daneoni]

Treo 650 is where its @

 

[coachingguy]

Northern Minnesota, Grand Rapids. We have Unicel and one of the major players, but so far people have been unhappy with the service. If you move a couple of miles off the a major road (Hwy 2, Hwy 169), you lose reception. So the vast majority of people - for now - stick with either Cellular One or Cellular 2000, two companies that specialize in rural or smaller metro areas.

Coachingguy

 

[Cooknn]

PocketMac Update

I got my first Blackberry last week. Blackberry Pearl from T-Mobile. I can see why they call it Crackberry. I'm already addicted Just got an e-mail notification that PocketMac for Blackberry version 4 is out with support for Pearl. Info below...

What's New In This Release?

• Application Loading--Now, PocketMac for BlackBerry can install 3rd party applications and games directly from your Mac to your BlackBerry.
• E-Mail Synchronization--You can sync your email messages from either Mail.app or Microsoft Entourage back and forth from your Mac and Blackberry.
• Selective Calendar and Category Syncing--Now you can pick and choose which calendars in iCal or which category in your other programs to sync to your BlackBerry. You can also set a default Calendar that your new items will sync to from the BlackBerry (instead of using the default "PocketMac" calendar). This works in Contacts and Tasks, too!
• Time Range Support-- Now you can limit the number of appointments that you carry around on your BlackBerry by syncing only current stuff.
• One-Way Syncing Support-- You can choose to overwrite the BlackBerry, or overwrite the Mac, when you want to do one-way syncing.
• MeetingMaker Support--With this new release, MeetingMaker users can synchronize data between MeetingMaker and your BlackBerry.
• IBM Lotus® Notes® Support--You can now synchronize data between Lotus Notes and your BlackBerry handheld.
• Intel Duo Mac support--You can run this version on both PowerPC and Intel Macs.
• 3rd Party Software Store--We've included special links to a PocketMac customers-only 3rd party software store with software that we've made sure will work from your Mac to your BlackBerry.
• Support for The BlackBerry Pearl™--with this new version, you'll be able to map the MicroSD memory card as an external USB Mass Storage device on your desktop, allowing you to transfer music, pictures, videos and much more.
• Support for syncing with the new 8700 and 8703 devices, too!

How Do I Download This New Release?

Step 1: Click Here To Start The Downloading Process:

http://www.blackberry.com/support/downloads/index.shtml

Step 2: Click On The "Download" Link
When you get to the download software page, click on the "Download" BlackBerry Desktop Software link

Step 3: Choose "PocketMac v4.0 for BlackBerry"
Select "PocketMac v4.0 for BlackBerry" from the choice of software products to download. Click "Next"

Step 4: Click "Download Software"
The final step is simple. Just click the "Download Software" link (again highlighted in yellow in the picture).

New and Improved User Manual

Make sure you take a moment and read about all the new features in version 4.0. There are a lot more capabilities that aren’t even mentioned above. We’ve added so much more, thanks to suggestions from our users!

You can download the Manual on that last Step, or you can just copy it from the Installer itself after you download it: just drag it from the Installation window to your Desktop.

 

[hui__lim]

Cooknn, just out of interest have you tried the email management system of the new pocketmac. Does it really work? I currently download gmail emails with my MBP on Mail in OS X via pop 3 and have set up my blackberry 8700 to retrieve email from gmail via BIS (Blackberry Internet Service). However, the only problem I suffer now is that when I read a mail from my bb, it doesn't show as read on Mail in OSX (and vice versa) hence forcing me to read duplicate emails. Does the new pocketmac solve this problem by synchronising both the Mail and BB's read and unread mail?

 

[tjcampbell]

I worship my BlackBerry 8700. I have had it since it's release and I have never had a problem. I sync it with my .mac through pocketmac and I will never own another device other than a RIM one. I am a writer and I swear by the thing. Being constantly connected is the business!