Anyone have a Blackberry?

[Keebler Elf]

Should I buy one? I work in an office building downtown and my employer doesn't have email access (the bastards!). I really want to check my email during the day but I'm not sure if I should pursue a BB or get a wireless laptop? I dunno what the reception for either would be in an office building. Surfing the net is a plus, but not necessary.

I was looking at Rogers' wireless packages and they seem a little expensive but I guess that's the cost of going wireless.

So, anyone got a BB or wireless laptop and use it downtown?

 

[robert99]

There's a reason why Blackberries are called Crackberries... they really are addictive!

Its a very different animal than a laptop - how are you planning on getting internet access on your laptop?

Although you can get internet access on your Blackberry its still too kludgy - the good thing about the Blackberry is that its always on and is way more portable than a laptop.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Re: BB

...that security thingy that blocks wireless access

That's a good point; I never even thought of that. $75/month sounds a bit steep; I was thinking closer to $50.

 

[Keebler Elf]

... how are you planning on getting internet access on your laptop?

I dunno... options?

 

[rsalomon]

I have one, and although I agee with Robert99 that there is a reason why they are called crackberries, I could not see myself going back to not having one.

I own a business and purchased all of my key staff one. It has paid for itself 10x over with the ease of communication that we now have.

Yes it is $75 per month, however as more and more people get blackberrys the amount of peer to peer traffic will increase. Every blackberry has a pin number. If you use this form of communication to another blackberry user you will never pay more than the $75 per month if you just use it for this feature. If you use it as a phone it is of course more expensive.

I don't use it as a phone because I find that unless you have an earpiece plugged in it can be hard to hear and there is always alot of background noice. For that reason I still carry my cell phone.

Telus is giving them out for free currently if you sign up with them.

I was in Vegas a couple of months ago and used it to keep track in real time with what was going on. If I was to make all of those phone calls with my cell, with roaming and long distance charges it would have cost a fortune. By using the Pin feature there were no addtional charges.

The additonal "palm pilot" like features that it has are tremendous as well.

 

[canucklehead]

I use a Kyocera 7135 which has the Palm OS installed on it. It syncs nicely with OSX . we have Treo's at a client and they are constantly in for repair. Their facilities uses the Blackberry's on Telus and have nothing bad to say except email alerts show up 2 days late at times. From Blackberry to Blackberry.

 

[Cinema Face]

I used to have a blackberry that my previous employer provided. I absolutely loved it. I would get one again but I can’t justify it.
If you need to have your email with you at all times then it’s the best thing going. It’s expensive but worth it.
I think the keyboard is better than that of the palm devices. They keyboard is important if you plan to use it to compose emails.