I'm looking at getting my wife the BB 8130. She's constantly on the go....in and out of her office. Her company won't let her update/sync her calendar from her office computer to her phone wirelessly, but they would be ok with her syncing them through USB/wired. I don't want to buy the larger plan when all she wants to sync is her calendar right now....will the 8130 "talk" to the outlook calendar simply by wired connection without paying for the extra service??

If all you are going to do is sync contacts and calendar, there are probably cheaper ways and also perhaps easier devices than the BB. Have you checked out any other options? Many cell phones can store calendar and contact info using Outlook on the PC.

Our Alltel contract is up so I'm ready to sign-up again....I thought about getting her a PDA or something like that, but Alltel has the Pearl for $50 right now and PDAs are definitely more than that.

What other devices do you have in mind? If I decide on the BB Pearl, will I be able to use the cable only without "upping" the subscription?

Thanks for the help....

I would make sure that she is OK with that option as well. Not sure you can buy it without a BB data plan. Some carriers make you take the BB data plan plus a minutes plan to get the discounted device.

Yes you will be able to use it for contacts and calendar. Put RIM's Desktop Manager on the PC and then sync Outlook calendar and contacts with that. I assume she uses Outlook on the PC?

Yeah she does use Outlook at work. The alltel rep was trying to steer me away from the Pearl toward the HTC touch pro. I'd like to stick to BB for a comfort level, plus it's cheaper.

The BB is definately a more stable device. As Dubdub stated make sure you can purchase the BB from Alltel without the Data Plan.

Thanks....If I can buy the phone w/o the data plan, that sounds like the way to go.

If at a later date you can swing the data plan it makes the BB like a whole new world.