Greetings all,

Former Handspring, former Toshiba E310, as of yesterday current BB7250 user here.

My impressions:
-click wheel takes some getting used to compared with the tap to open and cut/pasting I was used to in the Handspring and the PocketPC. For a vertically long internet page, clicking the wheel many MANY times gets tiresome. My Toshiba had a wheel and holding the wheel up moves the frame up, holding down moves the frame down; no scrolling multiple times with the wheel. I'm sure there are shortcuts I need to learn, just need to find them.
-tapping a touchscreen keyboard is very different from typing on a small keyboard. Symbols are in different places.
-I like the lightness of the unit. Toshiba was hefty.
-I like the email Redirector; even without the BES it works well. Caveat is that your PC needs to be on for it to forward your email. I didn't have to configure the firewall or proxy settings for my company's servers. That's cool.
-Not sure how to set up the ability to see attachments in emails. Need to figure that out.
-Bluetooth is VERY cool. I have a 2005 Acura TL and the Handsfree Link works very well with the BB. I left a message on my office voicemail via the Handsfree Link and listened to it afterward to test the clarity. I was impressed. Pairing the phone to the car took 4 minutes.
-I wish there was a way to manage contacts and addresses from your desktop/laptop into the BB. I keep my contacts in Outlook very different from the contacts I would put into my BB. I supposed I could set up filters in Outlook to distinguish different categories, huh?
-Wish there was voice recognition in the phone. I used the hell out of that feature with my LG4400.
-Overall I like it. I like that I no longer need to have a phone AND a PDA. I'll miss the SD memory capability in the PocketPC but there are so many things I like about the 7250, I'm sure I'll come to like it even more as I get used to it.

I'll keep combing this place for useful information. I've learned a ton from y'all already.

-AF

Glad to hear you really like the BlackBerry!

There are keyboard shortcuts for scrolling more quickly -- just hit the spacebar to scroll down one page. Or you can also hold +Trackwheel to vertically scroll about 5 times as fast too.

Cutting and pasting is possible on the BlackBerry, you just have to practice using your trackwheel, and moving the cursor both horizontally and vertically very quickly.

To see attachments, you must use your BWC email account (your @blackberry.net account), or use BES. I don't think Redirector supports attachments. Actually, you can run Redirector simultaneously for your business emails, and @blackberry.net for your personal emails with attachment support.

Thanks for the response Mark. I was wondering where this post had gone since it disappeared from the Newcomer thread. I get the honor of starting my own without even trying! Thanks

I found the thread that had the huge list of shortcuts and am now busily practicing them.

Unfortunately the most important attachments I really care to see are my work-related emails. I wonder if I can have my work emails forwarded to the BWC account and then it can come to my BB? Not sure if Outlook has a tool or rule to do that.

I'm not sure I understand BES very well. Is this something that my company would have to have on the corporate servers in order for me to receive attachments on my BB or is this software I install on my compter to forward attachments?

BES is "BlackBerry Enterprise Server" ... It is typically used on a server somewhere in the corporation, another server similiar to Exchange Server. (Some smaller companies run BES on the same computer as the Exchange Server, I think)

It is typically about the low four figures (something like $1500) for a Small Business Edition BES, which provides all the fancy bells and whistles for the best work email capabilities on a BlackBerry...

A cheap solution is that you can try forwarding, if you can get your sysadmin to automatically CC: your blackberry.net email address, everytime someone sends an email to your work email address. This won't have all the bells and whistles like wireless synchronization of the entire PIM like you would have for BES...

Don't forget "BlackBerry Calendar Tricks" too, from my BlackBerry FAQ, there's even more additional shortcuts there too!

That's what I figured about BES. I don't know if my company already has this, I'll have to check with the administrators. If we have it, great. If not, fat chance they'll get it.

I will check out the calendar FAQs next. Just finished uploading my avatar and downloading the updated 4.0 OS. Haven't tried out the new stuff yet. Will post more on that later.

Thanks Mark!