On 2/28/09 11:14 AM, [email protected] wrote:
What can I reasonably expect to get out of this thing for the $$? (that I can't do with a phone).
Having fairly extensive experience with both Treo and BlackBerry phones over the past decade, here are a few thoughts:
BB is overrated in most respects. The email is just OK - I actually prefer the IMAP client I had on my Treo (but I have run my own mailserver for 15+ years and know far too much about protocols and networks to put up with most of what passes for email.) The contact sync is probably the coolest thing on the BB for me, and there are other phones (some just barely smart) which offer that. If you do use email on the phone, either setup a separate account for the purpose or (better yet) check a special IMAP box on your main account. Then use filter rules on the mailserver to control who and what you have to look at when you're on the road. One big thing to remember is that (unless you have a separate cellphone for voice use) most of these smart phones actually make pretty poor telephones. The buttons are too small to dial when you're using the other hand for something or with gloves. The voice quality and RF sensitivity is better on most of the newer models, but a number of them in the past were really atrocious.
Is there a "killer app"? The GPS stuff looks cool.
The killer app for me has become Google Maps. It's my yellow pages and map combined when I'm in a city, especially one that I don't know well. Unless you need turn-by-turn directions, it doesn't even need a GPS, since it finds your location within a half mile or so by using IP lookup tables to identify the cell site you are using. Verizon was nice enough to disable the built-in GPS on my $589 phone (BB8830 when they first came out) but I don't actually miss it at this point. Google Maps is less useful when you are looking for longhaul routes, as the perspective you get from a large paper map really helps. It rocks when you are trying to find the nearest Home Depot or Trader Joe's in unfamiliar territory, or find your way to a house. It turns useless when you are in the sticks or otherwise out of data netowork range.
The killer app for the Treo (which I have yet to find a BB eauivalent for) is Electrist from Red Binary http://www.redbinary.com/electrist_index.php and they also make a few others that are handy. I actually keep my old Treo in the truck just to run it.
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