Experiences on Blackberries wanted, or any other Messaging Phone for that matter >
 

My contract is expiring soon so I'm gonna shop around for a new phone. I'm seriously interested in ANY phone with full qwerty keyboard and advanced e-mailing/webbrowsing capabilities. BlackBerries are said to be best for e-mailing.

Tell me what messaging phone you own and how much you love (or hate) it.

Oh and btw I live in the Netherlands so references to US-only phones or certain US providers won't help me much. I'm on the Vodafone network if that helps.

THNX! :thumbsup

Go with a Blackberry.

I was gonna recommend a Sidekick, but the only European carrier that offers the phone is German.

i've got a treo 650, but thinking of getting a blackberry 7290 just for the kick ass email and keyboard. wiredguy is buying one today i think, he's already promised to give a full review...

I've heard so many good comments about Blackberry.. I'd say it's a good choice !

Love my Crackberry. It's addictive and really easy to use. ****1/2

trust me I've been nagging at every provider here to carry the sidekick already but somehow they don't listen :(

I'd love to have a phone that's capable of instant messaging in combination with a full keyboard. I've had smartphones running MSN messenger already but typing with T9 is just crap.

If you can afford it, go with the P910i from Sony Ericsson. One of the nicest phones I've ever seen.

The Nokia 9300 is also a beautiful phone.

what do you think of the treo 650? Would you recommend it?

haha... i got used to typing with T9. my ex and i used to SMS each other all day back when we both had office jobs. i could probably do 20-30 WPM on T9 :winkwink:

have played with both but was not really impressed, the p910 is very nice but no full keyboard and the nokia is just... well... weird.

i bought a blackberry 7290 about 3 weeks ago (as well as 3 other guys I work with all on the same day). 2 of us have switched to them fulltime for voice & data, 2 haven't. So that in itself points out the blackberries biggest failure which is as a handset. Its just a bit clunky to hold to your ear, and the ear bud is OK .. but you have to clip it to your shirt.


The emailing capabilities, ICQ, FULL web browsing (HTTPS/basic auth / sessions / images) and contact lists rock. I won't forget to mention you can get an SSH client on it, and altho slow it works NP. It is also extremely configurable. And you can type like a motherfucker on it. 30 WPM or so . Beautiful color display and render webpages well for its size

Only drawbacks (including above):
- sucks as a handset
- ringer doesn't go very loud
- only proprietary browsers work on it (at least my understanding)
- battery life doesn't last all that long ( i am on my phone all day long, and if I forget one night to charge - next day it whines at me).
- you can not feed a laptop etc off its internet connection. they say this is for security. piff.



Any specific questions?

:1orglaugh I was like that too but since I life together with my GF my skills have dropped considerably lol

sounds good, but you're saying you can run ICQ on it? How do you do that? Good to know webbrowsing is doable, it's probably just for the moments when I'm bored... did you try GFY's pda version on it already?

Daily charging is something I do already lol :thumbsup

My Motorola smartphone does all that, but doesn't have the qwerty keyboard.

This is the only issue I have with the phone.

There are Windows Mobile apps for just about anything.

The new model isn't available in the states just yet, but will be soon.

Motorola MPX 300
http://www.pdantic.com/blog/mpx300.jpg

Which one do you have, the MPX200?

The new MPX looks great but it will be a while before Vodafone will carry it here.

Some time ago I was thinking hard about which smartphone to buy, and I bought a nokia 9300. it has this awesome OS symbian, you can run a lot of software on that including ICQ, IM, email etc, it's also not so big phone with qwerty keyboard and most important its a Nokia

lol you do not want to know the issues I had with Nokia, 3 dysfunctional phones in 3 months :disgust I gave up on them after that

I never had any problems with nokia and I change phone like every 3 months for the newest model available.

i always like nokia, my first phone was nokia.

i really want to get a blackberry, i might go pick one up today.

This is like the first bad thing I hear about Nokia. My second cell was a Nokia 5190 and that's arguably one of the best cell phones ever.

I've also had Motorola and Samsung phones and loved both of them.

the worst phone i ever owned was motorola, i'm hesitant to buy another. did NOT like the os. i need a quad band phone, and would like to buy the razr, but it sounds like it the same basic interface as all the other motorolas. as far as samsung, i LOVE my e316 - best phone i've ever owned, unfortunately it's only dual band.

Could you comment on your treo 650??? Would you recommend it?

well I'm not the only one, I have had lotsa friends who switched phones coz their Nokia was screwed. Motorola's OS is what holds me back on them, like quiet said it just sucks. I had the Motorola MPX200 for a while (with windows OS) but I didn't like it either. My GF has a Samsung and quite honestly I'm not charmed about that one, personally I have had great experiences with Sharp and Sony-Ericsson.

thebizbucket... still wondering this ^^^

and still awaiting comment on the treo650 :thumbsup

hmm, we'll the screen is incredible, it take very good pics/videos, surfing the web is MUCH faster than the blackberry. on the other hand, it feels extremely delicate/cheap, the blackberry keyboard is superior, blackberry email is superior, and the bb is much more solidly put together. i just wish it had a camera... anyway, for all of these reasons i am going to switch to a blackberry for email, etc, and keep a separate small phone for talking and taking/sending pics.

I just got my blackberry 7100t today. Fucking love it. I connected my bluetooth to it, and have no problems using it as a phone.

Email is awesome, and having Yahoo IM, AIM, and ICQ isn't too shabby either.

so you're ditching thr treo all together? I definately do not like electronics that feel cheap although I'm always very careful with my stuff. Guess I'm going for the BB 7290... if I can get ICQ on there that would be heaven

Hey - ICQ is done through this client that you download to it.. it is a bit sketchy , b/c it proxies everything through a central server, but i am sure there are more options.

basically tho, you have a contact list & you message ppl :) just like windows clients but smaller

yep, and i'd be going for the 7290 as well. i actually might pick it up today...

get a blackberry. i have one and can't live without it. ICQ/AIM/YAHOO/MSN all in one client. Full HTML browsing, Instant Push E-Mail.

is the IM client separate software? If so could you please give me the name or URL? Thnx :thumbsup

btw which BB do you have?

nice let me know how it suits you when you get it, you can e-mail me @ robert/at/pradaboy/dot/nl or ICQ 181191

I have a Verizon Blackberry and I love it. Once you get to know how to work it, it's gonna become your best friend. Emailing is the easiest on this thing, not mentioning all the other useful options that it's offering. :thumbsup

Just go to RIMROAD.COM and Blackberryforums.com you'll find everything you need there including a microsoft word and excel clone. I use Webmessenger but I heard VeriChat is more user friendly.

I have the 7520 available through Nextel which i think is the best bang for the buck. Bluetooth, high quality speaker phone, and Nextel's Direct Connect of course. Three things that no other Blackberry had when I bought it (Verizon's BB has bluetooth now and the 7100t does to). No other Blackberry has a speakerphone.

but then again i don't know if your in the States. I know in Canada you can pick up a 7510 through TELUS.

got a spv c500 no full q keys but other then that cool, icq, IE, msn etc and no brick in your pocket :thumbsup

I'm located in the Netherlands so all that shazzy stuff doesn't apply to me, Vodafone just got the 7290 in stock so I'm probably going for that one (also bluetooth enabled) thanks for the links :thumbsup

Treo, good keyboard, easier web browsing, TOUCHSCREEN... it's the best.

when you are ready to get one let me know . I will get it to you below advertised pricing

the Orange SPV's are nice but really I need something with a full q keyboard. I had the moto mpx200 with Orange last year but got rid of it in a few months really.

Thanks for the offer Keith but I'm located in NL so I'm gonna grab a contract with my provider... Vodafone has nice deals on the new BB here :thumbsup

I waited for an hour at my Rogers store while the rep called every single Rogers and Radio Shack store in Canada. Not a single place has the 7290's left in stock. Its gonna take me at least another week before a new batch comes out. I tried the 7100r (which everyone has tons of btw), and didn't like the keyboard at all. What a real piss off, I was anxious to play with it this weekend.

WG

an mpx is a bit bigger less functions but i agree if you want a full keyboard its a no go... hmm a navigator ?

http://www.nokia.com/BaseProject/Sit...in_517x100.jpg

http://www.nokia.com/9300

If they shaved an inch off of that Nokia it would be hot. The new Motorola is nice.

I'll stick to my Treo, at least until I drop it again.

Sorry to hear that, I know what a disappointment that can be :disgust

I'm glad they're not a real hit around here yet so I'm sure to get one when I go to the shop next week :thumbsup

it is nice but a bit bulky IMO, also VF is not carrying it yet (they're so slow with new phones)

its not small true i had the old one the 9200 keyboard was ok, not that you can use it to type whole docs on

The 7290's aren't that popular around here, its just that Rogers is pushing big time for the 7100r's since the profit margins on those are higher (at least thats what the rep told me).

WG

do they need a Wireless connection to work or does it work off the cell phone signal?

I am thinking of getting one aswell so i can do support on the road

I hate it when companies decide for you what you need to buy, can't you go to another store and get it there??? This just shows poor service from Rogers :2 cents:

your provider should take care of that, I'd suggest taking a look at a few major carriers' sites and see if they have any info up. :2 cents:

BTW I'm out for the night... thanks for all the suggestions and I will review the new posts tomorrow. Take care everyone :thumbsup