BlackBerry - Is it worth it?

They are excellent but expensive - the monthly service at least. If you can have your employer pay or deduct the expenses they're very cool. Service generally comes through but sometimes it doesn't. Usually reseting it, will fix this though. I just leave it on at home and check emails from work at night or over the weekends - I rarely even bother to carry it around with me. Some use it as a phone as well. I think T-Mobile's Sidekick II can do many of the same functions and is cheaper but I'm not sure.

If you own a palm or pocket pc and a cell phone, the blackberry is redundant...unless you like checking emails every 5 minutes.

hrh wrote:If you own a palm or pocket pc and a cell phone, the blackberry is redundant...unless you like checking emails every 5 minutes.

I came to the same conclusion when I looked at them recently.

As for checking e-mail every five minutes, a colleague of mine that has one refers to it as a "crackberry" due to its addictive nature. I could easily see where that could be true!

I have the Treo 650 and I really find it useful. I like the fact that it has a phone, and allows me to check my e-mail, all in one device. Took me a few days to figure everything out, but I have to say it's pretty sweet.

The 7100 is the best and doubles as a good phone. I can't live without my Blackberry. It can take the place of a laptop when you travel. You always have access to your email. Service is around $79 a month for phone and unlimited emails.

I work on them every day, so I like to think I have a bit of experience in this matter.

The coolest feature I think, is that you can have your cell phone on it. It does have a browser feature that works just like on cell phones, except you obviously have a larger screen.

24-7 e-mail (as long as you're in the coverage area) on a cell phone, is essentially what it's all about.

The 7250 is a pretty sweet model.

I just got my blackberry 7230 on friday and love it. Best part is you can access lets run.com on it

The BlackBerry is a great tool for productivity. There are statistics that show that people who use it are 30% more productive because of it. It's very nice to have access to email on the go. You can also do all sorts of things besides email - stock quotes, web browsing, even running logs.

BTW, I wrote a book on the BlackBerry called BlackBerry Hacks. It will be published in October. Link below.

ha, this reminds me of my friend "the devil", always on that blackberry. i can't get one because i'd probably get addicted like the devil :)

dude-

Everyone is talking about the expensive service. I just purchased one off of ebay and am planning to put my SIM card in from my old phone. I wont be charged extra will I just for using the phone and text messaging will I? I alread have the internet, text, and phone on my current plan.

there is a reason everyone calls them crackberries. they are addicting as all hell. there is so much you can do on them. email. datebook. tasks you have to do. make lists. i use mine in class when i want to type out notes, and just transfer it onto my computer later. god i love it. get one. they're life altering. i'm never going back to normal cell phones again.

I have a crackberry - 7230. I set up a Blackberry Server at work that integrates with our mail server. It does a wireless synch with email, calendar, and contacts and I can send the devices a "terminate" signal in case one gets lost. The execs think that the Blackberries are great, and once I set up the BES, they liked them even better.

I get email constantly - day and night. Our servers will send out an email if the UPSs kick on, so it is a big stress reliever for me ... all I have to do is take a peak at my email and know that all is right with my server world. ;-)

8700 is great

CO-Runner wrote:

I have a crackberry - 7230. I set up a Blackberry Server at work that integrates with our mail server. It does a wireless synch with email, calendar, and contacts and I can send the devices a "terminate" signal in case one gets lost. The execs think that the Blackberries are great, and once I set up the BES, they liked them even better.

I get email constantly - day and night. Our servers will send out an email if the UPSs kick on, so it is a big stress reliever for me ... all I have to do is take a peak at my email and know that all is right with my server world. ;-)

You can do a lot more than that. We have every single switch, router, etc sending emails to an on-call BB if something goes down. The entire network went down once & I think I got nearly 200 emails!

At work they gave me a Blackberry 7250 to use, the company pays for it so I can't comment on price.

The best thing about it: I'm always in the loop

The worst thing about it: I'm always in the loop

(I have a Investment Banker friend who took his on his vacation and his wife ended up tossing it into the Mediterranean to keep him from obsessing over so many work e-mails.)

Most annoying thing: 11pm e-mails from my boss

But its easy to use, convenient (too much sometimes) and reliable (I got perfect coverage on a recent trip to Europe as it automatically switched networks for me).

Definately worth it. I have the 8700, and have used the Treo (piece of garbage) and Sidekick (slightly less garbage) in the past. The Blackberry is hands down superior to both....in terms of reliability as well as technology. Having "push" emails is far better than the Treo and Sidekick, where you have to replicate to your server (or download from the Internet) to get email. Its also much better in terms of viewing attachments.

My office has been supplying my BlackBerry for the last 2 years, and it sits in my top desk drawer without batteries. In fact, i just got a new one, and immediately took the batteries out and put it where the old one used to be.

Why?

Becasue the damn thing almost caused a divorce.

I used to take it on vacation, use it all weekend, etc. Once you let people in, they walk all over you. One day I just stopped using it, and nothing really changed, except that I am happier.

The only thing it eliminates is the scramble every morning, which I would gladly take over constantly being "on call."

Consider how it will change your life before buying it.

If it is simply for personal use, go for it, although I don't know why you would need it...

wireless internet legit?