Blackberry and Smart Phones

[Jack Suber]

For those of you who are savy with electronic gadgets, can you please explain to me the difference between a Blackberry and a Smart Phone? Its time to change services and I need a cell phone with which I can access email/web pages. From what I am reading, "smart phones" can do this. So, why would I want a Blackberry? Any explanation/guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

[EZ Bagger]

So, why would I want a Blackberry?

So you could be "Cool"!

I have a smart phone and it has full e-mail access (same send/receive, etc as I have with Outlook) and all of the services (web access, syncs with Outlook and many other programs, Excel, Word...) are available for it. Others with the Blackberries will chime in with what their system has. If memory serves, the Blackberry has e-mail but it was much more limited?

Another issue is what phone will get service in your particular area. All the gadgets in the world won't help if you don't get reception.

Wife's looking for a phone, so hope this discussion is good.

[UW Mitch]

I got a blackberry from a friend (his old one). It does email excellently, web browsing is so so and phone is just okay. Depends what your priority is. Do you want a good phone that can email and web browse? Do you want a device for email that can make phone calls? I think the iphone does a lot of things well based on what I've heard from friends that have them. Might look into that since the new ones just came out at a lower price point.

~Mitch

[Vlad]

Ok, something I actually know something about

In the field of mobile devices you have the following big players:

1)Blackberry: The first to get really big and successful. The are very useful for businesses because they have nice remote management features to restrict what the device can do, can be wiped clean remotely if stolen or lost. Decent email/calendar/web support. Big caveat: to get all the nice blackberry features you need access to a blackberry enterprise server(BES). Most phone companies often a blackberry internet server (BIS) which is not as nice but you still get email and web access, but you lose calendaring and syncing calendars with other people. It can connect to pretty much any mail server that supports IMAP/POP which is every serious one out there. Biggest drawback is that if you want to a sync to an exchange type server (or Zimbra, or whatever active sync server out there) you can't connect directly to it, you need a BES server in between and they are very expensive to license. Some after market applications, most you have to pay for.

2)Palm OS. Palm OS devices are sorta going away. Palm now offers most of their devices in both Palm OS and Windows mobile flavors (see 3). Palm is very nice and its fans are as rabid as those of Blackberries. It can synchronize with email/calendar systems (like exchange) without extra software. Lots of aftermarket applications, some free. Most Palm devices (Palm OS or Windows mobile) are touch screen sensitive and have a stylus, which can be nice. These also support mail access via IMAP/POP. They browse the web just fine.

3)Windows Mobile Devices: These come in two flavors which have a couple of details different but the biggest one being touch screens. Plain ones are generally referred to as smart phones, touch screens ones are Pocket PC's. Touch screen ones are nicer. They all have built in active sync support and can connect via IMAP/POP to your existing mail servers. They have lots of aftermarket support

4) The Iphone: Less of a phone more of a mini laptop. as of the latest version it does what all of them do for business use but has MUCH BETTER web browsing. All the rest generarly can only display well webpages which are aware of mobile devices, the Iphone can browse the rest.

Which one is right for you? If you do not need to connect to a business network then all of them will do the job. Play with them in a store and see which one you like best. I would prefer and Iphone over windows mobile over Palm OS over Blackberry but that is just me. If you need to connect to a business network then ask them which ones they support.

It should be noted that while the blackberry is the last on my list, I have a Blackberry Pearl as my work phone and it works just fine for what I use it. Go feel them up and see which one like best.

[bgary]

+1 on the above synopsis (nice job!)

I'd only add an axiom I heard several years ago, which seems to be holding up:

"if you only need to *view* information, a phone with some PDA features (email, etc) is fine). If you need to create and transmit information, you need a PDA with phone features".

Put in context, WRT to the Windows flavors... a "smart phone" is a phone with some PDA features; a "pocket PC, phone edition" is a PDA, with phone features.

B

[Jack Suber]

This is great information, guys, and I actually understand it! Thanks for the guidance. Looks like a smart phone is the ticket for me.

[Kingman]

Love my IPhone. I had a blackberry it was nice, but the IPhone does it all better.

the new 3g has the remote capabilities of the blackberry's as well.

[EatMeerkats]

I just got a Motorola Q9m smartphone last month, and I really like it. If you're considering an iPhone, this list of 10 things it's still missing is worth reading. The major killers for me are lack of A2DP (which is absolutely inexcusable to me, for such a music-oriented device) and no picture messaging (which I hardly ever use, but it's handy at times and basically every free phone you can get does it).

[-JQ-]

I also have the motorola 9Qm and it is pretty nice...and Verizon has them for $79 last I checked...probably depends on package, phase of moon etc. I actually got mine free on upgrade, blah blah blah...I can easily check my gmail with it too...it doesn't have a "_" key which made it hard to log into BE.com...Flex took care of me there tho...thanks Flex!

The one thing that the Iphone won't do...is pic messaging...or at least my buddy can't figure it out if so. Great for surfing and looking cool though :-)

ymmv

[XD Niner]

For those of you who are savvy with electronic gadgets, can you please explain to me the difference between a Blackberry and a Smart Phone? Its time to change services and I need a cell phone with which I can access email/web pages. From what I am reading, "smart phones" can do this. So, why would I want a Blackberry? Any explanation/guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

Now why would anyone that is a die hard fan of a team with a plucked chicken for a mascot need a "smart" phone?

Seriously, I currently have a Blackberry (I think it is an 8200 model) which is good as an email viewer as long as the attachment is text only or very simple, barely acceptable as a web browser and sucks as a phone. My company provides this POS and does not yet offer the iPhone so I'm pretty much stuck with it. I carry a separate cell phone to overcome the last issue.

I will be getting a Blackberry Pearl in a couple of weeks to hopefully overcome the phone issue. However, if I had my druthers, I'd get an iPhone. The downside to that approach is that unless the company is paying the tab the monthly fees can be very high.

No matter what you get, you won't be able to watch the Gamecock's take their usual weekly pummeling in football. The FCC prohibits sadomasochistic programs on these things.

Edited July 15, 2008 by XD Niner

[Lee King]

Jack,

For what it's worth, I have a Blackberry and briefly had an iPhone. The e-mail app on the iPhone felt crude. I.e. you couldn't select a group of mail to flag etc. You had to do it 1 message at a time. It really annoyed the crap out of me when I would get a lot of notifications from some of our automated systems. I had a hard time with the touch screen keyboard when coupled with the super thin and incredibly slick case of the iPhone. I had to charge it twice a day. I even called Apple about it. The guy told me you had to reboot it to get the apps to close correctly. I.e. if you opened mail, youtube, itunes etc it wouldn't close them and would require battery to keep them in memory. He even told me to turn it off while charging. Not something I can do. BUT, I LOVED the browser, the way it would jump to WiFi if it could, gestures. I just wanted some more maturity from the apps. That was Gen1. The new iPhone may be much better.

Lee

[Jack Suber]

For those of you who are savvy with electronic gadgets, can you please explain to me the difference between a Blackberry and a Smart Phone? Its time to change services and I need a cell phone with which I can access email/web pages. From what I am reading, "smart phones" can do this. So, why would I want a Blackberry? Any explanation/guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

Now why would anyone that is a die hard fan of a team with a plucked chicken for a mascot need a "smart" phone?

Seriously, I currently have a Blackberry (I think it is an 8200 model) which is good as an email viewer as long as the attachment is text only or very simple, barely acceptable as a web browser and sucks as a phone. My company provides this POS and does not yet offer the iPhone so I'm pretty much stuck with it. I carry a separate cell phone to overcome the last issue.

I will be getting a Blackberry Pearl in a couple of weeks to hopefully overcome the phone issue. However, if I had my druthers, I'd get an iPhone. The downside to that approach is that unless the company is paying the tab the monthly fees can be very high.

No matter what you get, you won't be able to watch the Gamecock's take their usual weekly pummeling in football. The FCC prohibits sadomasochistic programs on these things.

Kent,

If we can keep the majority of our players out of jail before the beginning of the season, we may be a decent team this year. Glad to hear that Georgia and Tennessee are having some of their players locked up.....its been old only having our players getting caught... Did I hear that the Gators lost two of their Dbacks this week?? Ahhh, I can't wait for football season. We start against NC State. What high school will the Gators start against?

thanks for the feedback. I need a phone more than I need the other capabilities. So I think I will go with a smart phone with the Windows Mobile platform. Now I have to find one.

[WDB]

If you are going to using it for work make sure to talk to your IMO (or whatever you call your compter people). They should be able to tell you want you need to access their secure systems.

[XD Niner]

Jack,

I've been in Madrid for the past ten days and haven't had access to the Gator sports news. For some unknown reason, they don't seem to carry the latest SEC team news over here. Even if they did, my Spanish is so poor that I wouldn't likely be able to read it. I did see some football coverage in the local paper but they showed a round white ball with a couple of black patches on it. I think it referenced winning something called the World Cup but since football season hasn't started yet I must have misread the headline. Maybe the Cocks can play the local team here.

Edited July 16, 2008 by XD Niner

[Glen517]

Jack

I've had both the Treo 650 (palm os) and Treo 700wx (windows mobile) and i found the palm os is much better and easyer to use. I just upgraded to the Instinct and it is really cool. Full web pages, e-mail, music, TV, messaging, does it all. It's Sprints answer to the I-phone. Just my 2 cents. Good luck on your choice

[Front Man]

The new iPhone is supposed to be awesome.

As a Realtor my US Cellular, BB 8703e does everything I need.

If some one doesn't like their browser try the Opera Mini.

Our small corporation doesn't have an Enterprise server; FWTW.

I know 2 people that are very satisfied with their World Edition BB.

(Can't remember the model number.)

The new Black Berry BOLD should be released July 25th.

FM

[caps]

Ok, something I actually know something about In the field of mobile devices you have the following big players:

There's also a little company in Finland called NOKIA who have a 43% world-wide market share using the Symbian OS!

[Vlad]

Ok, something I actually know something about In the field of mobile devices you have the following big players:

There's also a little company in Finland called NOKIA who have a 43% world-wide market share using the Symbian OS!

Sure is bud, but try buying a Symbian smartphone from a major US cell carrier. You might find one every now and then, but they are the exception compared with the other brands. Seeing how the original poster lives in the US, I felt that would be pointless information.

On a unrelated note, do you ever post anything here which isn't a snide remark? I used the search, I swear.

[Kingman]

Yeah, the Iphone has some shortcomings. The no picture or other data messaging is dumb but I can email it just as fast. Once you get used to it, pretty amazing

[Allgoodhits]

Ok, something I actually know something about

In the field of mobile devices you have the following big players:

1)Blackberry: The first to get really big and successful. The are very useful for businesses because they have nice remote management features to restrict what the device can do, can be wiped clean remotely if stolen or lost. Decent email/calendar/web support. Big caveat: to get all the nice blackberry features you need access to a blackberry enterprise server(BES). Most phone companies often a blackberry internet server (BIS) which is not as nice but you still get email and web access, but you lose calendaring and syncing calendars with other people. It can connect to pretty much any mail server that supports IMAP/POP which is every serious one out there. Biggest drawback is that if you want to a sync to an exchange type server (or Zimbra, or whatever active sync server out there) you can't connect directly to it, you need a BES server in between and they are very expensive to license. Some after market applications, most you have to pay for.

2)Palm OS. Palm OS devices are sorta going away. Palm now offers most of their devices in both Palm OS and Windows mobile flavors (see 3). Palm is very nice and its fans are as rabid as those of Blackberries. It can synchronize with email/calendar systems (like exchange) without extra software. Lots of aftermarket applications, some free. Most Palm devices (Palm OS or Windows mobile) are touch screen sensitive and have a stylus, which can be nice. These also support mail access via IMAP/POP. They browse the web just fine.

3)Windows Mobile Devices: These come in two flavors which have a couple of details different but the biggest one being touch screens. Plain ones are generally referred to as smart phones, touch screens ones are Pocket PC's. Touch screen ones are nicer. They all have built in active sync support and can connect via IMAP/POP to your existing mail servers. They have lots of aftermarket support

4) The Iphone: Less of a phone more of a mini laptop. as of the latest version it does what all of them do for business use but has MUCH BETTER web browsing. All the rest generarly can only display well webpages which are aware of mobile devices, the Iphone can browse the rest.

Which one is right for you? If you do not need to connect to a business network then all of them will do the job. Play with them in a store and see which one you like best. I would prefer and Iphone over windows mobile over Palm OS over Blackberry but that is just me. If you need to connect to a business network then ask them which ones they support.

It should be noted that while the blackberry is the last on my list, I have a Blackberry Pearl as my work phone and it works just fine for what I use it. Go feel them up and see which one like best.

Awesome!

[kimel]

Nokia is a good phone until you try and do something with them...at least the ones we can get here in the states. The carriers intentionally cripple the heck out of them. I was a loyal Nokia user for years but gave up on them several phones ago.

I've had Windows smart phones for the past couple phones and really like them. Current phone is a Samsung BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6. I am not so patiently waiting for the update to 6.1 which was supposed to be out last month.

Whatever you buy, go to shieldzone.com and get the screen protector. I've used these on the past several phones and they really are all they are said to be. I have them on my phones, gps, cameras, iPods, etc. When I order a new gadget that has a screen I go order the protector for it the same day I order the gadget and then the gadget goes nowhere until the protector is on it.

[Fireant]

My old phone was a windows based one and it crashed all the time, several times a day. After dealing with it for 2 years, I finally gave up and went with a Blackberry pearl. It has been great for what I need. I'm constantly in touch with all my email accounts, I can view video, pdf's etc. and it is not a big brick. I don't care what you say the Iphone is still too big to fit comfortably in a pocket.

[Kingman]

I don't think I would put an iphone in a pocket. too much other stuff there, keys, change, wallet, knife, surefire, etc. I keep it on a belt clip. It does not seem to be any larger than a pearl. I will pull both out and compare in a bit.

[Jack Suber]

OK. Here's an update: Our home phone, satellite, and DSL provider (Bellsouth) will allow us to bundle services including wireless. They have recommended the Palm Treo Centrowith Windows OS or the Samsung Blackjack II. The say both come "loaded" with the Windows OS. We get Bellsouth/ATT reception in our house so that is a plus. I can pick up these phones for: Palm $69.99 or the Blackjack - $100.00. So, is that a good deal with OS already on the phone?

Edited July 21, 2008 by Jack Suber

[j2fast]

I've had one of the Blackjack II running on AT&T for a little less than a year. I use it for things like some basic email stuff, web surfing, google maps, and the occasional TV show using the Sling Player software to stream video through my Slingbox. Overall I'm happy with it; good battery life, nice screen, and slim enough to drop in a pocket.

ETA: I know some other folks have had issues with Windows phones crashing/locking up but I can count on one hand how many times its happened to me in a year of constant use. YMMV

Edited July 21, 2008 by j2fast