How about a Berry ?

**arcy** · 09-09-2004, 08:48 AM

Research in Motion (RIM) just announced the latest member of the Blackberry family and it is starting to look more like a phone. It looks like a great business phone with tight e-mail and organizer integration.

I hope it also integrates well with the Mac. Just have to try one to find out

http://www.blackberry.com/blackberry7100/

**Sponsor** · 09-09-2004 08:48 AM

**piedad** · 09-09-2004, 10:11 AM

If the keyboard works well then it looks like a killer phone!

**arcy** · 09-11-2004, 01:50 AM

I agree Floyd, it is critical for the keyboard to work really well. Bagong 20-key QWERTY keyboard kasi ang ginamit ng RIM.

From the initial review shown below mukhang maganda ang potential ng phone na ito:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5934021/

**bumblebee** · 03-10-2005, 11:51 AM

i'm intrigued by the Blackberry...

Can anyone share more info about this gadget?
- I'm still not clear what is the difference between the Blackberry and other PDA phones like the Treo 650 or the P910s

victorpanlilio · 03-10-2005, 12:19 PM

The Blackberry started out as an e-mail enabled two-way pager. RIM pitched it to large corporations -- the business value was integration with corporate e-mail (e.g. Exchange/Outlook), which required expensive server software from RIM. RIM is now pitching this software to small and medium-sized businesses, and new phone-like models with broader appeal, because mail-enabled smartphones (e.g. using software from Good Technology) have begun to encroach on their traditional market. I don't know how well their phones work, but the traditional Blackberry devices earned the nickname "Crackberry" because their owners found them so addictive -- the "thumb" keyboard made replying to email so easy that people tended to check and reply to their email _constantly_. So the value of a Blackberry phone depends largely on what the carrier offers in addition to voice service. To sync a Blackberry with a Mac, see http://www.pocketmac.com/

**bumblebee** · 03-10-2005, 03:14 PM

with the phone, sms, calendar/organizer features, what makes the blackberry different from say, the treo650?

**bumblebee** · 03-10-2005, 03:16 PM

any users in philmug who care to share their experiences with the blackberry?

victorpanlilio · 03-10-2005, 03:38 PM

This article will give you an idea of why RIM is interesting...

http://www.brighthand.com/article/New_Handheld_Killer_App

Excerpt:
After years of relative obscurity, RIM has suddenly taken off like a rocket. It took many years to sell the first million BlackBerries. RIM sold its second million in 10 months. So many BlackBerries are being sold that the market research firm Gartner predicts RIM is going to become the number one handheld company in the world this year.
...
RIM's success hasn't gone unnoticed by the other handheld makers, and they are scrambling to imitate it.

However, many companies are putting out devices that are missing one or both of the critical features. Without these, their devices can't hope to be as successful as the BlackBerry.

First off, just having wireless email isn't enough. It has to be push email. This means that as soon as an incoming email arrives on the server, it is pushed out to the device, and the user is immediately notified of it.

Many people find this addictive. They love knowing that they'll know the instant an email arrives, and not find out about it some time in the future.

RIM has a system that is the gold standard of push email. Fortunately, handheld makers don't have to come up with their own system, as RIM is happy to license its own.

The second absolutely required feature is easy text input. That's why all BlackBerry handhelds have an integrated QWERTY keyboard.

victorpanlilio · 03-10-2005, 03:57 PM

In my original post, I emphasized that the value of Blackberry devices is not in the personal organizer or voice communication features of the device, but integration with corporate email. Here's a recent RIM press release -- it's for a more traditional Blackberry handheld (the 7250):

http://www.rim.com/news/press/2005/pr-02_03_2005-01.shtml

Excerpt:

The BlackBerry 7250 offers the powerful functionality associated with other BlackBerry® products as well as the convenience of Bluetooth capability. The new device also features:*

Enhanced e-mail attachment viewing of popular file formats: Microsoft® Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, WordPerfect, ASCII, JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG and TIFF

A large, easy-to-use QWERTY keyboard with highlighted number keys and a bright multi-stage backlight screen that supports over 65,000 colours

Enhanced memory with 32MB of flash memory and 4MB of SRAM for storing messages, contacts, calendar appointments and pictures

More than three hours of talk time or eight days of standby time

Wireless integration with one or multiple existing e-mail accounts

A push-based wireless architecture that delivers messages automatically to a BlackBerry device without prompting or downloading

For corporate clients, BlackBerry Enterprise Server™ software tightly integrates with Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Domino and works with existing enterprise systems to allow secure, push-based, wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data.

For individuals and smaller businesses, BlackBerry Internet Service™ allows users to access up to ten corporate and/or personal e-mail accounts (including Microsoft® Exchange, IBM Lotus® Domino, and many popular ISP e-mail accounts) from a single device without the need for server software.
-----------

In short -- if you want to access a corporate Exchange or Domino (Notes) account, the Blackberry can be a terrific mobile email device, but it also depends on your carrier and what their data plan will cost. I support clients who use both Treo and Blackberry devices -- the Treo is used as a phone, calendar, contact manager, and organizer, and the Blackberry is used for wireless email. :-)