I'm ditching my Motorola MPx220, because I think it's a piece of junk. At least the build I have is. I purchased this right when it came out pretty much. The reception is crap, and that's probably what bugs me the most.

So, I was considering a few options.. the Treo 650, the Nokia 9500 Communicator, and the BlackBerry 7100g. In the end, I decided the 7100g is the best option for me.

Here's my setup. I've got a WinXP box at home, runs 24/7, has Outlook 2003 on it, which fetches my email via POP3. At work, we have an Exchange server, and everything is behind a firewall, accessible only via VPN (PPTP).

Now, I hear that we get a special email address.. something like @rim.blackberry.net or something like that.. and that pushes directly to the BlackBerry, correct? So I could just set up an Outlook rule at home, to forward to my blackberry.net email, right? What is the difference between using an Outlook rule, and using the Redirector software that comes w/ BB? I could also set up my mail alias to deliver to the mailbox and to forward to me @ blackberry.net as well.

Can I also check work email from my BB? Push is not necessary. Just the ability to read it. The BB would somehow have to connect to our VPN though, to do this. I don't know if that's possible.

Lastly, can I read e-mails without removing them from the POP server? Basically, I want to fetch & read emails, but not have it affect the copy on the server..because when I get home, I'd still like that copy in Outlook.

How's the web browser in the 7100g? No problem viewing normal web sites, such as this one, right?

If anyone could post actual screenshots of the email client and the web browser, I'd appreciate it. This device seems great.. too bad it doesn't have support for EDGE..damn!

PS: Another thing that would be great. If I reply to an email using my BB, it would be cool if that sent mail could somehow be put into my Outlook "Sent Mail" folder at home.. so I have a record of it. That would be VERY cool.

I just gave up my Samsung i600 and went to the 7100g last week. Never looking back.

I have close to the same mail setup as you. The downside of setting up an Outlook rule to forward is that when the mail arrives at the BB, it'll all look like it came from you, not the original sender. I have a mail alias set up so I get personal mail pushed to both places. Works great and reading them on the BB has no effect on the server copies. Can't comment on the redirector.

At work we have an Exchange server that has Outlook Web Access enabled outside the firewall. The blackberry.net account has the ability to use that to get your work e-mail at 15 minute intervals and forward it to the BB. If you have no outside access at all I think the only options are to set up an Exchange server-side forward rule (with the same issue as above) or use the Enterprise Server.

No way to set up the "copy to Outlook Sent-Items" that I know of but that would be cool.

You can play with a virtual 7100g to your heart's content by downloading the free SDK simulator set at http://www.blackberry.com/developers...ls/index.shtml

Unzip it and run 7100g.bat