C500 smartphone v blackberry

[caractacus]

Hey all... I've got an E200 smartphone on Orange at the moment. I'm coming to the end of the contract. The obvious place to go on Orange is the newer C500 (http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/handset/orange_spv_c500/detail) (smaller, lighter, bit faster, but pretty much the same OS as the E200). But I really like the idea of a Blackberry because of the email and a few other things.

If anyone's got any experience in switching from a smartphone to the Blackberry, I'd love to hear from you... I can see the main pros and cons as below and it basically comes down to how much I'm going to use email. If I'm missing something, I'd be happy to hear it!

C500 is Orange (tried and trusted); 7000t is T-mobile (unfamiliar and unsure about coverage, particularly GPRS).
C500 has MSN Messenger (free, can't really switch to different IM); 7000t means I'd have to buy an app for it.
C500 has Internet Explorer (works very well); 7000t has different browser (no idea how good).
7000t is quad band, and I do go to the US 2/3 times a year; C500 is tri and no US coverage.
7000t is built for email; C500 has poor quality email app - it works, but it's not intuitive.
7000t has "proper" keyboard; C500 is normal mobile keypad.
C500 is Windows (I like that - familiar, plenty of apps available); 7000t is not, and not as much apps available (or at least, not for free).

Thanks for your help...

[caractacus]

Oh, and:
C500 has camera (not great, but E200 has been vaguely useful in the past though hardly a deal breaker); 7100 doesn't.

[maltic]

Hi,

I got a T-Mobile SDA, the equivalent of the C500 and a BB 7290. Guess what I am using: the BB.

The reasons:

It´s working out of the box
It´s much more cheaper (GPRS transfer costs here in Germany)
It´s much more secure

You are right, there are not many applications available for the BB. You have the option to install tons of apps on the C500 (I did the same, I even bought a few apps, because not all of them are freeware), but I never, yes never used any of them, because the C500 like the BB is a mobile phone or PDA. The only thing I want to use is PIM, and for that it is working perfectly.

Cheers,
M.

[SUFan]

I went from a MS Smartphone to a blackberry 7100. The thing just works better.