I currently have a T-Mobile blackberry which I have had for more than 2 years and really like it alot, I just use it for email and it's provided by my company. In Dec. 2005 I bought a Samsung i730 and after giving it a try for a few months am just not nearly as happy as I was with the Blackberry. My thought process in the Samsung was to combine my phone and email on one device (less powercords and junk to carry on a flight) The only features I like about the Samsung is it sinc's 2 ways with my Outlook on my work computer and when scheduling appts I can send a meeting request to anyone in my contacts list. Otherwise, the email platform is not nearly as reliable as my Blackberry and it's hard to type on. I have to stick with Verizon (contract and coverage) so am looking at either the 7250 or the 7130. I am torn on which way to go. I like all the features the 7130 offers but am concerned with the keyboard layout (I am very fast with my old blackberry) and the slightly smaller screen. For those that have the 7130 that converted from an full size blackberry do you like the smaller keyboard and can you adapt to it's typing method? Also will the 7130 allow 2 way sync'ing with my Outlook calendar AND allow me to send meeting requests to people in my contact list?

Thanks for all the info!

Personally, I could never get used to the keys and typing on the 7100 series bb. Had one for over 6 months and got rid of it. I would go with the 7250 ans as long as you have a BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) in your company, then all the synching you are talking about should work.

I have the 7130 and like it just fine. I have not used a QWERTY keyboard phone before - so I can't say what the transition from reg. to a SureType would be for you - but I had no problems what so ever getting used to it. I have a regular cell phone (personal) and text message a lot - and I've gotten used to the T9 on that - and the SureType works better. As you're typing a word, say a person's name or something that may not be a recognized word, you can pick which letters and combinations of letters should be there (like selecting a partial word) and keep on typing to finish the word - and once you type it in once, it will be remembered for future entries.
There are a few words that I've noticed I have to watch for - such as 'hey' and 'get', 'are' and 'see' - but as soon as you get more comfortable with the keyboard, you can watch the screen instead of the keys as you type and pick-up those 'mis-guesses' while typing. I've only had the blackberry for about 2 months - and I'm pretty quick typing messages.
As for synching - yes, it goes both ways for the calendar - and it wirelessly synchs the calendars as well. And you can set up meeting requests just like you would in Outlook - go to your calendar, set up the time, location, etc. and click the trackwheel - there's an option for 'invite attendees'.
Hope this helps, if you want more info, please feel free to ask.

Just so you know, Terrapinie mentioned "Suretype", which is the bridge between a full size keyboard and the condensed version you saw on the 7130. Suretype makes "guesses" as you enter keys into the keyboard. It's pretty damn smart, and also remembers words you do manage to get to display. It can be a bit of a transition, but once you get the hang of it, I'd never go to one of the bigger boards.

Some things that I've pointed out to some of our users to help with the Suretype thing, the word that's highlighted in the choice bar is what it will go with, should you hit the space bar and keep going.

Also, instead of trying to correct the word as you go, give it a chance to hit the right one after you've typed the whole thing in. If you've only typed in a part of the word, that portion is what it's guessing as the entire word. Not till you hit the very last keystroke for the word, does Suretype know what it's working with.

And a final thing is backspacing. If you type the same key after backspacing over a character, it automatically swaps letters with what else was on the key. This is very nice, except when you back up too far. Just backspace again and keep going.

Yes - it won't know till you type the whole word. However, I was referring to when you're typing a word you know it won't recognize or you type the whole word and it doesn't recognize it - so you delete to type again (ie. for proper names, technical/specialty jargon, abbreviations, etc). With T9, you can't correct mid-way through a word - SureType will let you do so. Once you set which letters you want, it will not change them again when you continue typing the word.

I could never get used to the 7100. I think the 8700 is the best BB ever and I love it with the Zen theme. It's not much larger than the 7100's but gives you the full keyboard.