Sprint Mac Kiddies: Treo 700p or Blackberry 8703e?

[loudguitars]

I've currently got a Treo 650 that I'm severely disappointed with. It's a fantastic PDA and email device, syncs perfectly with my mac with Missing Sync, but the phone on the damn thing is such a piece of crap that I've already had to get it swapped out once 6 months after purchase, and am close to having to get it swapped out again 4 months later. The reception is terrible, I get my texts 45 minutes late, it drops calls on me when I have three bars of service, and really just sucks. I'm at the point of considering throwing in the towel and just getting a different phone.

I don't want to switch off of Sprint, since their rate plans are far and away the best fit for my usage patterns. I also have a substantial corporate discount with them from my old job that I'd lose if I switched (new job does not offer said discount), and since I have such a large bill, this would be a fairly significant hit.

I also refuse to use a Windows Mobile device. I tried a friend of mine's and the UI just made no sense to me. Of course, this and my Sprint-only caveat limit my selection, but perhaps that's helpful: My only options on Sprint that seem workable are the Treo 700p and the BlackBerry 8703e.

My only concern with the 700p is that the phone will just as big of a pain in the butt. Anyone here have experience with that, especially in comparison to the 650?

Anyone here have a BlackBerry with Sprint? How do they charge you for the BlackBerry service? If you're just doing it personally instead of working with an enterprise server, do you have to have a PC to run the software to push your email (as I do with the 650 and sprint's Business connection personal edition, but would loooooove to get rid of)? Does the BlackBerry have any sort of voice-dial application that's anywhere near as good as the add-on one for the Treo? And, again, is the phone itself a total piece of crap, or is it at least decent?

Because I have the 650, I already have Missing Sync, and the pocketmac for BlackBerry is free, so software is not really an issue for me. I don't have much money in peripherals that wouldn't still work with the Blackberry, and those that I'd have to replace are fairly cheap.

I really just want to know if it's worth trying to switch to one of these phones. Anybody got any advice?

 

[tarjan]

I have a sprint 8703e. It is the best blackberry I have used to date, and believe me I have quite a few under my belt. I have also used the 700p and think it's a pretty good unit, especially with goodlink. Does your company run a blackberry enterprise server?

As for your specific question, Voice control can be done through a program called mobile voice control. Works very well for me, but I don't really have experience with the 650 so I cannot compare.

I asked pocket mac if they were going to write a modem driver for blackberries on a mac, and they did respond in the positive. They didn't give any time frames, but once done it should be easy to get it up and running for using evdo to get to the internet.

 

[loudguitars]

I have also used the 700p and think it's a pretty good unit, especially with goodlink. Does your company run a blackberry enterprise server?

We don't have a BB Enterprise server. I'm one of four employees and the only one who needs/uses this sort of technology, so it'd be kind of pointless. This is also a disadvantage with GoodLink: We're too small to justify that expense, and they don't seem to have an individual solution.

I did talk to Sprint and get it clarified that there's no desktop software needed to make the BlackBerry push work, so that's good.

How's the phone on the 700p? I was just trying to use my 650 this morning and the damn thing wouldn't let me make an outgoing call with three bars of service. ARGH!

 

[mwidjaya]

Go with blackberry if you are a heavy email user. So much more integrated and well thought out.

 

[aristobrat]

I did talk to Sprint and get it clarified that there's no desktop software needed to make the BlackBerry push work, so that's good.

Make sure your email can be fetched by IMAP or POP if you don't have BES.

 

[loudguitars]

Yep, all are either POP3 or IMAP.

 

[iMacZealot]

My sister's been very happy with her 650...and why not uses hotsync instead of the missing sync?

But the 700p is a bit of an upgrade, but it sounds like you want the bb.

 

[loudguitars]

My sister's been very happy with her 650...and why not uses hotsync instead of the missing sync?

But the 700p is a bit of an upgrade, but it sounds like you want the bb.

Missing Sync lets you sync stuff with iCal and Address book real easily and does stuff like automatically dump your CrapCam's photos into iPhoto. I'd tried to set that up with the Palm software and it was a total nightmare, and then tried Missing Sync and found it astoundingly easy. The reduction in hassle was well worth the forty bucks. If Palm were smart, they'd do what BlackBerry did with Pocketmac and license it so people could have it for free.

In an ideal world, I would prefer to stay with Palm because I like the UI, I like the shape of the device better, and I like having a touchscreen better. But right now I'm leaning towards the BlackBerry because I'm entirely unconvinced that the 700p won't just lead me to even more phone problems than I've already had.

I'm really just sick and tired of having a $500 device that won't let me make a damn phone call.