Blackberry - Do They Work?

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A lot of business professionals use Blackberry's or other telephone / PDA's what are your opinions on these devices? Do they work? I'm planning on upgrading here soon. I've bought probaly four PDAs in the last four years always trying to recharge myself to stay organized, digitally. My problem is though that I don't use it enough to carry it around. I don't sync it daily and I"m not religious enough in the use of it to make it work for me. I was thinking though that if it's tied into my cell phone I couldn't be without it.
 
Yes, they work

I carried a Blackberry a few years back... they're great if you're in front of an Exchange server at your office since they can sync email and calendar remotely. I never tried the Blackberry phone. I have carried a Palm organizer for years. I spent the last several years carrying a T-Mobile Sidekick phone (both I and II). The email interface is fantastic and the phone is okay, but the organizer is lacking, so I wound up carrying the Palm as well. I just got a new Palm Treo 700p from Verizon, and I think it's the best so far. I wish I could have the Sidekick mail interface, but aside from that this device has finally reduced the number of gadgets I have to carry.

If you get the Palm, I recommend you also get Agendus. The Palm organizer apps are all but useless out of the box, but Agendus makes them shine.
 
Vramin said:
If you get the Palm, I recommend you also get Agendus. The Palm organizer apps are all but useless out of the box, but Agendus makes them shine.
Click to expand...

Just a quick comment on Agendus: I used Agendus for many years, but the latest version is a bit unstable on my T/X. In my opinion, the Palm apps are simple and useful, and I find the lastest version of Agendus over-engineered.
 
They work great!

I use as Blackberry 7250 which is the older style BB with a built-in 1X compatible cell phone. We use Exchange at work and have a Blackberry Enterprise Server which allows wireless automatic syncing between Exchange and the Blackberry. I have used a couple Palm devices and a couple Pocket PC 's and in my opinion, in terms of email, the Blackberry wins hands down. I really like the wireless integration with Exchange so things I do on the Blackberry automatically end up in my Outlook back at the office and vice versa. The applications for the Blackberry are not as sophisticated as those for the Palm or Pocket PC but they certainly are adequate enough to get the job done. The phone works great and has the features that I need. As a basic unit with phone, email and PIM combined I really like the Blackberry and travel with it all the time.

In terms of GTD, while I do my major email processing on my PC, when I am away from my desk or on the road the Blackberry allows me to check on my email, send replies and do limited email processing. I use the tasks feature for my Next Actions and the categories for context. I think there is now a Blackberry GTD program but I have not used it so can't comment.

The rechargable battery life is good, screen is fairly decent to read, the device seems sturdy and it seems to do pretty much everything I require. If I was looking for another device right now I would stick with a Blackberry and I guess that tells you about my overall preference.
 
mcogilvie said:
Just a quick comment on Agendus: I used Agendus for many years, but the latest version is a bit unstable on my T/X. In my opinion, the Palm apps are simple and useful, and I find the lastest version of Agendus over-engineered.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what the T/X is... how old is it? I was having trouble with Agendus on my Sony Clie PEG-SJ22, which is several years old (4 or 5 I would guess). It seems to run flawlessly on the new Treo, so maybe there are OS differences that cause problems.

I was an early adopter with PDA's, started with a Casio Digital Diary, then moved up to Psion and stayed with them for years. Too bad about Psion - the best PDA apps ever, but Palm owned them in the marketplace. After Psion, Palm's apps were woefully inadequate, but Agendus brought them almost up to speed.

Different strokes and all that, but I can't see myself trying to shoehorn my life into the default Palm apps. I would probably just switch PDA's.
 
kvyoung said:
I use as Blackberry 7250 which is the older style BB with a built-in 1X compatible cell phone.
Click to expand...
Like I said, behind an Exchange server Blackberry is hard to beat. If I had never used anything else I would clearly still be using a Blackberry (carried Psion in addition to Blackberry at that time), but I've been through several PDA's now and the Palm is my current choice. Someone considering a PDA needs to consider how they will actually use it and make sure the apps support their style. Blackberry's apps might have greatly improved since I used it, so I would give all of the PDA's/Smart Phones a look before making a commitment.
 
I have a Blackberry 7290 smartphone. I have been happy with it. It keeps my Next Actions and my Calendar. But in a couple of months it will be time to upgrade.

I have dropped my Blackberry on cobblestones a few times from a height of 4 feet. And it's still ticking. Do the Treos have this kind of ruggedness?

I think the Palm OS is much more sophisticated and I like that. But will they still be there for me if they're dropped?
 
I've dropped my Treo 600 several times, (from about waist height onto tile and thin industrial carpet over concrete), and it's still chugging along like a champ.
 
I tried Blackberry... and have had numerous Palms. Currently I have an HP 6515 Messenger.
I think this post is on target...
"Like I said, behind an Exchange server Blackberry is hard to beat. If I had never used anything else I would clearly still be using a Blackberry (carried Psion in addition to Blackberry at that time), but I've been through several PDA's now and the Palm is my current choice. Someone considering a PDA needs to consider how they will actually use it and make sure the apps support their style"

I hated my Blackberries.... but probably because I could never stay connected. That is a provider function, not the fault of the phone. I could never stay connected to that NASCAR sponsor that I can't mention. My bills were $2500 over a 6 month period.. but enough of that.

I liked my Palms, but like the 6515 better, because I haven't had to learn a new programming lanugage in order to add/create my own mini-apps.
That's my story and I'm stickin to it.
 
Tell me more

Mags said:
I liked my Palms, but like the 6515 better, because I haven't had to learn a new programming lanugage in order to add/create my own mini-apps.
That's my story and I'm stickin to it.
Click to expand...

Is that a Windows Mobile device?

I agree that a big problem with Palm is that it's not easy to write your own apps or extend it. I've written a couple of Palm apps in C, which is a bitch (their libraries are not very friendly), and with a tool called CASL. Of course, I haven't kept CASL up to date, so all of those apps crash on Palm OS 5 on my Treo. :$
 
Vramin said:
If you get the Palm, I recommend you also get Agendus. The Palm organizer apps are all but useless out of the box, but Agendus makes them shine.
Click to expand...

Interesting, but I have to disagree. Agendus frankly made me start to resist using my Palm - it took to long to boot with having to read the notes, etc., where it stores the icon information.
 
- Originally Posted by Vramin
"If you get the Palm, I recommend you also get Agendus. The Palm organizer apps are all but useless out of the box, but Agendus makes them shine."

I could not disagree more - I've tried Agendus a number of times, liked it when it was Action Names, but have found it to be bloated to the point of uselessness, and buggy beyond belief.

I work in a fairly complex project environment and have found the core Palm apps to be elegantly designed and very effective for managing all of my PIM needs.

- MB
 
If you can limp along with the default Palm apps then more power to you.
 
I've been thinking a bit more about this...

Is it safe to assume that you have an older Palm device? I was carrying a Sony Clie for a long time. The most recent updates of Agendus were indeed a bit slow and I got memory exceptions periodically. I just upgraded to a Palm Treo 700p last month. I haven't seen anymore memory exceptions, and performance is very good.

Sorry if I was blunt. I used to run Psion PDA's that had incredible built in apps, but they had some issues with their case design (units broke too often and were expensive to repair) and synchronization, so I finally moved to Palm. The incredible lack of functionality going from Psion to Palm was daunting, but Agendus brought much of it to the table (I started with ActionNames as well).

To anyone considering a Palm, I would still recommend that you try Agendus. You, like others, might decide that it's not for you, but don't avoid it based on a couple of bad reviews. Especially if you're buying a new device with a recent OS and performant processor I think you'll be pleased. If not, just uninstall it.
 
Vramin said:
Is that a Windows Mobile device?

I agree that a big problem with Palm is that it's not easy to write your own apps or extend it. I've written a couple of Palm apps in C, which is a bitch (their libraries are not very friendly), and with a tool called CASL. Of course, I haven't kept CASL up to date, so all of those apps crash on Palm OS 5 on my Treo. :$
Click to expand...

Yes.. Windows 2003 Second Edition is what it runs. I also have an iPAQ 2495(not a phone) that runs Windows Mobile 5.1 and personally... I would prefer to run 5.1 on both machines. I read that they do not have any plans on providing 5.X to 6515... but are going to bring out another "messenger" phone. I would wait for that version at this point... if it's not already here, it will be very soon.
 
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