Thinking of getting a pearl . . , can it do . . .

[starwatcher]

Hi,

Thinking of getting a Pearl on Rogers (Canada).

Going from a Palm Tungsten T PDA, I would like to get a phone and PDA all together.

I would like it to be as small as possible, slip it into my jeans. But still be reliable and functional.

I have looked at HP and HTC Windows based devices and of course Palm Treos. I have been a very happy Palm user for close to 10 years (Palm Personal, Professional, IIIX, then Tungsten.) But the Treo seems just too large, not as streamline as the pearl. And I am a little bit worried about using any kind of windows based device as a phone, just does not seem reliable enough.

I have been all over the place in terms of my decicion, but now I am leaning again to the Pearl. I do have a few questions.

(I did do quite some searching, but did not find any direct answers to these questions)

Everyone talks of the compression the blackberry does, (approx: 7:1) and that is why the data plans cost more. Does this compression apply to all data sent and received? Email and browsing the internet? My concern is browsing as I will probably browse more then email.
And is the compression also used when using third party internet applications, like gmail or OperaMini?

How is the search capability on the Pearl? I keep alot of info in each contact in the address book, and alot of info in my Memo's (notes). All sync easily from my Palm to Outlook. I am expecting the same seemless syncing with the Pearl. Please correct me if I am wrong. But in addition, I sometime am looking for info on my palm and not sure where to look. Address book, calendar, notes. I can search in each application, or have a search run for the whole Palm. Can I do this with the Pearl?

When browsing with the Pearl, what do the pages look like while say browsing a website not formated for a small screen. Does it let me kind move from side to side, as if the whole page is there and I am just panning around or what does it do? Also can you make the screen look smaller or larger while browsing to get more/less of the page on the screen at the same time? Would the OperaMini browser add more functionality?

Are there any applications that can track/secure passwords? And also looking for apps for money management. (quicken like).

Can you use categories to seperate information in applications? Like Notes(memos) on outlook, I keep the notes in different categories. Will these categories be visible on the blackberry.

Also as I have a few email addresses with different providers (pop3, gmail, yahoo) when organizing my email, will I be able to see the email in seperate groupings, so as to be able to easily keep track what service my email came from?

Has anyone gone from a Treo to a Pearl and found that this was a godsend? My only concern with the treo is the size.

I know I have a lot of questions, but for me I want to make sure I am making the right decision before my purchase.

Thanks,
Allan

[Liv]

Okay, because I am totally delirious I will only the ones I know for sure I know. Ha. If that made any sense.

Apps for Money Management: There are a bunch, I am on the search to find one that will sync quicken at this time. But I know for sure there are apps that will organize your money. You can find reviews on them in our review section.


App for passwords, like the money app, there are a bunch you can choose from that will hold all your passwords.

Email addresses: There is one collective inbox that all your email will go to, however you can choose to have an icon for each mailbox on your screen. When you click on the specific icon it will take you to the messages for that particular address.

I have gone from Pocket PC to Treo to Blackberry back to Pocket PC back to Treo and finally came back to blackberry. I will never look back. I cannot stand palm. Nor can I stand PPC, you won't regret the move.

I hope this helps...

[starwatcher]

Thanks for the reply.

How is the web browsing on it. Is the screen size customizable? Does it pan?

Thanks,
Allan

[takeshi]

Everyone talks of the compression the blackberry does, (approx: 7:1) and that is why the data plans cost more.
I've never heard of that as a reason for the cost of the data plans. From what I understand the carriers all have to pay RIM for access to RIM's network (all BB traffic is routed this way) and that's where the added cost comes from, IIRC.


How is the search capability on the Pearl? I keep alot of info in each contact in the address book, and alot of info in my Memo's (notes). All sync easily from my Palm to Outlook. I am expecting the same seemless syncing with the Pearl.
Syncing is seamless. I can't comment on Search as I never use it.


When browsing with the Pearl, what do the pages look like while say browsing a website not formated for a small screen. Does it let me kind move from side to side, as if the whole page is there and I am just panning around or what does it do? Also can you make the screen look smaller or larger while browsing to get more/less of the page on the screen at the same time? Would the OperaMini browser add more functionality?
You mostly end up scrolling up and down. In other words, if a site has a nagivation column on the left you end up scrolling past all those buttons before you get to the main part of the page. Here's a tip: space bar acts as Page Down in such situations. With frames, the browser asks you which frame you want to view. I'm not sure what you mean by "make the screen look smaller or larger". You can hide the status bars to free up some screen space.

Opera Mini renders pages really nicely but I've found it nearly impossible to adapt to since the interface was never designed with the Blackberry in mind and it doesn't follow Blackberry conventions. A few examples: you end up accessing the menu via the Q key instead of the trackwheel/ball, you can't enter text into fields directly for some reason and you can't exit the app with the Escape key. I've never found its benefits worthwhile but someone just switching to the Blackberry platform might find this easier since there won't be the same level of expectations for the app.


Can you use categories to seperate information in applications? Like Notes(memos) on outlook, I keep the notes in different categories. Will these categories be visible on the blackberry.
There are categories but they're a little cumbersome at the moment. You'll probably find most of the PIM apps a bit disappointing coming from the Palm world. Whether or not you can settle for the differences will depend on your needs but it seems that most of the complaints are calendar-related. I'm surprised that no one has created a third party equivalent to DateBook...


Also as I have a few email addresses with different providers (pop3, gmail, yahoo) when organizing my email, will I be able to see the email in seperate groupings, so as to be able to easily keep track what service my email came from?
IIRC this depends a bit on the theme that you use and the version of BIS that your carrier uses but most themes support this and most carriers are putting new users on BIS 2.0+ which is another prerequisite. As has already been said, everything (all email, all SMS, etc) will arrive in Messages but you will have separate icons for each email account that will only contain mail received via that account.


Has anyone gone from a Treo to a Pearl and found that this was a godsend? My only concern with the treo is the size.
Not to the Pearl but initially to the 7100t and then to the 7290. Both of those were a godsend IMO simply because of the (significantly) improved stability.


I know I have a lot of questions, but for me I want to make sure I am making the right decision before my purchase.
Sounds like you're asking the right questions! I'd recommend really using the Pearl's PIM/PDA apps during your trial period to make sure that they're adequate for your needs. I guess you also mentioned that browsing was important to you so hit your most important/favorite sites to make sure that they render in an acceptable manner. Give Opera a shot and bug the people here if the Blackberry browser doesn't seem to render properly. Sometimes adjusting the browser emulation or other browser settings can help.