I work for a company where I need a Blackberry (8830) because that's what we support. Do many people swear by it? Sure, as Roger has attested over & over again with religious zeal. But there are so many reasons why I am never going to use it as my main device. If all you want is email and the occasional calendar entry, the BB is great. But I only need that for work. Want to read something? Yes, Mobipocket is out for the Blackberry but given the tiny screen size (comparing to Tungsten T3, not Treo) and cumbersome navigation, it doesn't work as well as Palm. The pearl is better than the trackwheel, but this form of navigation is still time consuming, prone to error (oops..went too far.oops..didn't go far enough.oops.have to scroll this way, then that way - you get the idea), and limits what you can do with the device (consider Palm has both a navigation device *and* a touchscreen). I think at some point Roger went on about using the BB as a GPS unit - I tried it and it was simply horrible; I could see a TINY distance around me, it was SLOW (this is the 8830, their new 'fast' device), and data entry was painful. Never mind that the features available for GPS navigation on the BB (that'd be just about none) compared to ANY handheld GPS unit is just a really bad joke. So, Roger, I've tried it - actually tried SEVERAL of them. And the lack of a touch screen - as well as a readable screen - is a HUGE deal breaker for me.
I have been using a Blackberry for about a year, supporting them for 3 years, and I can tell you the lack of a touch screen is just one reason why it won't ever work for me as anything more than a way to get email. Painfully small screen, cumbersome navigation method, data entry that hurts my hands after a few minutes of use, and a converged device which makes too many design compromises in order to put several devices into one. I'll take my (much smaller) flip phone which is a better phone - it fits against my face and in my hand properly (like a phone, not a brick - my hand & face aren't flat), I can dial numbers without squinting, etc. And this is just the highlights of why the Blackberry doesn't 'do it' for me (oh, never mind I'd never use one if it was personal - I'm not going to spend $40-50 month just to get email 24/7). Does Palm do it for me? As I said previously - *barely*. I'm looking for alternatives but haven't found any yet, as the pros on the Palm still outweigh the cons on everything else I've looked at, including the Blackberry, iPhone, and even Android (though I'm mildly curious if we'll see more than a short video of a prototype anytime soon). That's all for now - I'm sure I'll have more later though. This is an interesting discussion, and I'm always up for learning new stuff & offering my experience. Mike Lax From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Roger Prokic Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2008 9:12 AM To: Treo User Palm Treo User Group Subject: Re: [Treo] Re: Sign of the times? I'm challenging you to simply try it. You're afraid that you will in fact believe me you won't miss a touch screen. I challenged Don Ferguson and guess what he's a blackberry user now! He also was a palm fanatic like I was. And I have no financial interests with blackberry.... Yada yada yada. I'm just a pda geek that saw that the Blackberry actually does a better job than a palm. Roger -=[ Sent via BlackBerry Curve 8310 by AT&T ]=- -----Original Message----- From: Alli <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:alli%40allibama.net> > Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:55:49 To:[email protected] <mailto:treo%40yahoogroups.com> Subject: Re: [Treo] Re: Sign of the times? You're missing the point. I have no (zero, zip, nada, zilch) interest in trying any device with no touch screen. You are beginning to sound like a religious fundy. Go proselytize somewhere else. Roger Prokic wrote: > Winmob is not Blackberry with the trackball. You need to try the Blackberry. > -=[ Sent via BlackBerry Curve 8310 by AT&T ]=- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
