I am on sprint pcs and thinking about switching from a treo 755p to a blackberry curve or tour. just wondering who switched and what you liked and did not like about blackberry's?

also concerned that push email might drain my battery

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I'll answer your second question and give some advice.

Don't worry about battery life. I thin you will be pleasantly surprised. Email won't be your issue. The typical problems are leaving add-on and third-party data apps running all the time. Learn which are efficient and which aren't and close the inefficient ones when not using.

The advice: Read the blackberry faq at http://www.blackberryfaq.com/index.php/BlackBerry_FAQ. Look up unfamilar terms and make sure you understand the concepts.

The blackberry is different. It is not a phone, and it is not a pda; it has a phon, and it has pda functions, and other features. But it's unlike what you are used to. Start fresh and don't try to make it fit into your template of the way you expect things to be.

Good luck.

I switched from the Treo 600 family tot he BB many years ago. Do not regret it at all.

One thing to think about however, there is no BB app like the Palm Desktop, so if you use that for contacts, calendar etc, rather than Outlook, you might get a copy of Outlook before you switch, sync the Palm with Outlook and then when you get the BB, sync it to Outlook so you won't loose your current calendar and contacts.

BlackBerrys have WAY better battery life than Treos. And with instant email you don't have to compromise on your polling schedule to balance battery life with timely email.

BlackBerrys are incredibly stable platforms. Treos are mediocre at best. My 650 (Palm OS) was awful, my 750 (Windows Mobile) worse, and my 680 (Palm OS) fair.

Treos are bulky and heavy. BlackBerrys are sleek and light. Throw one into your sweatpants pocked coming back from the gym and you'll notice the difference. My Treo almost pants-ed me running into the local Starbucks.

Palm Treos have threaded SMS, which was the one thing I missed from my Treo days after I went BlackBerry. With OS 5 on BlackBerry, however, we BB users now have this same caliber threaded SMS. That was the last advantage Palm Treos had over BlackBerrys, IMHO.

Your real-life examples always make your advice extra great, and funny. I think we've all been there before, and it's not the type of stuff you generally think about.

I just have no filter between my brain and mouth.

a couple of things I liked about the treo:

1. TOUCHSCREEN
on the blackberry I believe you have to trickle through the different links on a web page is that right? when you click on a phone number in a web page or email does it bring up the number on your screen so you can put in a *67 in front of the number if you wanted to?

how hard is it to copy n paste text from a webpage?

2. KEYPAD
I really liked the treos keypad which is why I stayed away from some of the newer models with no keypads i.e. iphone, android phones. which is easier to use the curve or the tour?

3. OUTLOOK
I use outlook to store all my data. what does the contact manager look like on the blackberry? what new apps does the blackberry have that I might be interested in primarily for business use

GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. NEW MODELS
any word on any new models coming out soon? any with touch screens?

2. VOICEMAIL PROMPTS
does the blackberry have the ability to insert pauses and prompts so you can store common numbers in your phone book?

appreciate your feedback

Seriously? That's it? threaded sms?! What about youtube? Blackberry is the only platform that a native client released by RIM or youtube does not exist.
What about google buzz? Blackberry is the only platform that a native client does not exist. What about Adobe PDF? Blackberry is the only platform that an Adobe released client does not exist. Do you for hooow long windows mobile had native Adobe apps ? What about last.fm? Blackberry was the only platform that a native client did not exist up to 65 days ago. Now it's available for at&t and t-mob in the states, and orange, t-mob and o2 in the uk. Took them 8 years since last.fm went public, every platform under the sun had a client the same day it was out, and it's 2010 and RIM managed to offer a client on 3 carriers in 2 countries, clap clap clap.

What about media? I was playing DIVx and xvid encoded videos on my Treo years ago. When did you last do that on your blackberry? RealPlay support? Win mobile has one from day one, where is the Blackberry Realplayer? When the rest of the platforms were listening to podcasts and songs and mp3s and were watching xvids RIM was announcing polyphonic *MIDI* ringtones as a feature!

Skype? Windows mobile is the first supported platform, now EVERY platform under the sun has a skype client BUT the Blackberry which doesnt even support not skype, not even VOIP!!

Macromedia Flash Player? Every platform under the sun has support BUT the Blackberry. And we're not talking full blown flash support here, even Flash Lite 1.0 is NOT supported and the thing even runs on el-cheapo 30 bucks a dozen fujitsu handsets.

Slingbox and streaming media? Works on windows mobile for years, even worked on ancient palmos, worked on symbian, on every major platform BUT the Blackberry. Recently it released a blackberry build that works on Bold-onwards models and check the forums for the level of performance on the platform..

I won't even bother mentioning yomomedia or any of the 4664863848364834683463843484 flash based media platforms that the Blackberry just cant handle.

But yeah, threaded sms, that was it...

I never used that stuff on my Treo, and I certainly didn't get a BlackBerry to play music or watch YouTube. The whole reason I use a BlackBerry is because messaging is my #1 priority. You sound like maybe you'd be better served by an iPhone. It's a multimedia dynamo.

My BlackBerry came with the ability to open pdf files with the inclusion of Documents To Go. And Excel spreadsheets too.

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No, I most definitely don't need an iphone. It cannot possibly give me the usage I take out of my 3800mah 3rd party batt that lives in my Bold. And on top of that I can't type on an iphone, so there's some drama about to happen right there.
That doesn't change though that technology that existed on win mobile a decade ago is still an arm's reach away for RIM 10 years later.

Personally I think the best thing that ever happened to win mobile was that bbconnect client, which was of course discontinued (no surprises there) although it still works.

I switched from a Centro to a Tour and have been very pleased. Once I adjusted to the differences I can't believe I wondered why people were so obsessed with their BBs.

My only complaint, and its minor, is the calendar. The Palm desktop calendar, IMO, is easier to use and lets me color code everything. I can color-code things on the BB, but can only sync one color to the Outlook calendar. So I can have my work schedule on there, but not my personal schedule (dentist appt's, etc) or other reminders like anniversaries, etc.

Still, I walked away from the Palm and haven't looked back.

When I started in 2008 the job I'm in now , they were using Treos. I harped about the virtues about the BBs at that time. Flashforward to 2010 and now my job is deploying the BBs. I've heard mainly a lot of praise especially about the battery life. I was already familar with the BBs from another job that I held. Once you go to a Blackberry you will probably not look back at the Treo.

I went to my local sprint store to play with the blackberries and there a couple of things I noticed right away:

* search on websites like craigslist, ebay, amazon requires a few clicks to magnify in versus the treo. is that because the web pages are just not optimized on the blackberry's?

* if I click on a number on a webpage or email the blackberry will bring up the number but there was no way for me to insert any characters in front of the number such as the *67 caller id block

* composing email....is there a way to have a set of canned responses that I can choose from whenever I reply or compose emails?

I really liked the trackpad and was wondering if anyone had a work around for the issues above?

Wirelessly posted

The web browser on BB has been an Achilles Heel since it was created. There are alternative 3rd party browsers you can try, but until RIM releases the long-promised new web browser it won't be a great experience. It does, however, handle YouTube quite well.

I just took over my wife's 8320 Curve. I'm tired of carrying a cell phone and a Palm.

However, I cannot get the Calendar to sync. I tried to sync with Outlook and Yahoo, and I've tried every conceivable idea to make the thing work. I've deleted all the e-mail service books - hell, I deleted ALL the service books. Still no sync. Palm sync's with Outlook, Outlook sync's with Yahoo, but the Blackberry will not sync the Calendar with Outlook or Yahoo. However, Contacts do sync.

Holy crap!

But what is most concerning is that the forums here and on other sites are littered with this very problem - and I have read and tried every single one. So many complaints for so many years with the same issue is inexcusable.

This was our first Blackberry. It will be our last.

First, blackberrys are different. I think it helps, helps a lot, to block out what you know from past devices, and don't try to fit the blackberry into some sort of palm or windows mobile template of the way things are supposed to work.

With regard to the calendar, go into options > advanced options > default services and set the calendar (CICAL) to the same address as the messaging (CMIME) address. That is the calendar that Outlook will sync with. If you have multiple email addresses on the blackberry, then you have multiple calendars as well; but Outlook is only going to sync with the default.

So, do that and let's see if that was the problem.

Thank you, aiharkness. However, there are no Default Services listed under Advanced Options/Default Services on this device.

Is that my problem?

Hold on. Do you have a blackberry data plan on the 8320? If not, I don't know what you will see on the default services screen, and maybe you see nothing. But at any rate, I think Outlook should still sync with the calendar.

If you do have a blackberry data plan, and you say you deleted the service books, then resend your service books, set the default services, and try again. See How do I resend my service books? - BlackBerryFAQ.

. . . Ok, I looked at an old device that's been wiped, no SIM, no service books, etc and the default services screen is empty. But I know from experience that you can backup/restore and sync none the less.

So, I suspect one of two possibilities: Double check the settings in desktop manager and make sure you didn't forget or overlook something in the calendar setup. If everything there is correct, then perhaps the calendar is boogered up on either the computer or the device. Set the calendar view so that you scan it line by line. Look for odd characters, empty rows, anything that isn't the way it should be. Open and look at the log in Desktop Manager and see if you find any clues. Fix what you find and try again. If still no luck, use advanced backup/restore to clear the calendar database on the handheld and then re-sync Outlook -> Blackberry, and see if that is the cure.

If you do have a blackberry data plan, resend the service books, and set the default services the way you want. Just make sure the default CICAL is not Facebook or Desktop or something, and set it to same as the CMIME.

I do not have a data plan. I just want a phone/pda.

I've tried the "resend service books," obviously to no avail.

Outlook Calendar will sync with every other service I've tried: Yahoo Calendar, Google Calendar, Palm Calendar, but none of them will sync the calendar with this Blackberry.

Contacts will sync with the Blackberry.

Yeah. I already cleared the calendar on the BB.

No change.