[Fungii]

[zedthedeadpoet]

[Fungii]

[phobeous]

[beast625]

I am a Nextel phone subscriber considering swapping my phone for a BB 7520. I've been looking for a PDA/Phone combo and am locked into Nextel contract so this is my only real choice (and the price is great). I am not a big e-mail user - most interested in phone/PDA/IM and TM.

Is this a viable choice for a phone/PDA combo? Everything I've read indicates the BB's strong suit is e-mail but I don't have a great use for that. I also don't want to pay Nextel an additional $50/month for data service.

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you.

[blkberryboy]

I am hving a hard time deciding between the BB 7100t and the TREO 600/650 personally. I like the BB but can benefit from the use of the camera in the TREO in my job. The draw for me with BB is really the OS and its track record. I have never been a fan of the Palm OS but have learned to live with it.

[bostonnerd]

Originally Posted by blkberryboy

I am hving a hard time deciding between the BB 7100t and the TREO 600/650 personally. I like the BB but can benefit from the use of the camera in the TREO in my job. The draw for me with BB is really the OS and its track record. I have never been a fan of the Palm OS but have learned to live with it.

Can't speak to the 7100 as I have a 7290. That said however, both my wife and I have Treo 600s (GSM). If you need a reliable business tool, the BB wins. My Treos are built like Happy Meal(tm) toys. My wife is on her third unit and I went through two of them before I got the 7290.

The BB is designed around fairly narrow useage parameters, and for what it was designed for, it does it extremely well. As I never used the Treo for games, ringtones, pictures, etc, this wasn't a consideration for me. I wanted behind the firewall email access, a solid PIM and phone, and Bluetooth for our cars integrated hands free. The BB 7290 has excelled at all of these....

[kaseiffert]

I just switched my i730 and Palm T3 for the 7520. Its amazing I love it.

Do it, you'll like it.

[GTi4Life]

I just went from my i830 to a BB 7520 and I love it. I think Nextel will let you get the 7520 as just a cell and with just a web package. I got mine more for email.

[jibi]

Sprint/Nextel not planning anything for the Treo models? If you're not really wanting email, then you would be best to go with a Palm/WinCE device, imo.

[Mark Rejhon]

I feel that BlackBerry can do always-on IM better than the Treo can. So BlackBerry IM is better than on the Treo if you want to run IM 24/7.

[kaseiffert]

I had the wireless card on my palm T3, and Verichat for Palm... it wasn't really a good IM solution.

I just installed Verichat for the BlackBerry today and WOW what a difference. Just like using a pc. Very nice. If Verichat made an IRC add on it would be perfect. :D

[jrhanley]

Beast,

I just renewed my contract with nextel for my company. We changed rate plans and that means a new contract. So I looked at this hard. I am also a newbie to blackberry. Never cared for it because of the form. I started with a HP lx100 and the original flip phone (cellular one) many years ago. Then an iPaq, pager, and went to a nextel phone.

Point is, I never liked having "stuff" on by belt. But I never could get everything I wanted in one unit that I liked. Frankly, I was not excited about going to a BB, but thought it was the right choice after I figured my habits and that of my company.

I have to tell you. It was the best decision I ever made and I have only had this unit for a week. I also just had a problem with the unit and had to send it back. I was totally depressed after only having it a week!

I sent it to Nextel on last Friday morning and today (Monday) I had it by 1:00 pm PST. So I am happy with Nextel's response.

But as an aside, you are right the price from Nextel ROCKS. 150 bucks. I actually purchased another one last Friday afternoon from my rep because if the unit ever goes down on me again, I do not want to be without this thing even during the time it takes to get it repaired. Plus any insurance deduct is 100 bucks and the battery is worth another 50 so for the additional 100 buck to make the non-pro price of $250. it was worth it to me.

Anyway, sorry this is so long. The contacts feature alone over what I had on the i730 is just awsum. The scrolling and calling with the BB giving you an option as to which number of the many you have for any contact by just rolling the track wheel is a huge plus in time and keeping your eyes on the road. Plus with the bluetooth and a headset, I don't take the BB out of the holster unless I initiate a call.

You mentioned that you don't do much e-mail. That's cool and you can forgo the data service and save yourself 45 bucks a month. The calendar, contact, and phone is well worth the price.

But as my last suggestion, do yourself a favor. The data service is not a contract item with Nextel. You can choose it one month and loose it the next at no charge or penalty. Just do it on your billing cycle.

Believe me, I think it will be an eye opener for you. The third party stuff like requireless and Berry411 are worth hundreds in "convinance" at times you might not consider it. And answering a e-mail in the store line or sending a note thru e-mail is a great time saver.

Jim

but wanted went on to as

[PingGuy]

The contacts feature alone over what I had on the i730 is just awsum. The scrolling and calling with the BB giving you an option as to which number of the many you have for any contact by just rolling the track wheel is a huge plus in time and keeping your eyes on the road. Plus with the bluetooth and a headset, I don't take the BB out of the holster unless I initiate a call.

That's a very helpfull piece of info for me, thank you. I've been a Nextel customer for a few years now and wouldn't leave for anything, but I've been wanting a BlackBerry lately and the phone portion of it was still scary to me. I don't want to give up the simplicity of dialing a normal cellphone just to add organizational tools. I'm still using a i90c at this point and that's about as easy as it gets. I was thinking about ordering a 7520 next week and now I'm even more serious about it.

[Mark Rejhon]

True, there's that disadvantage of not having a dedicated number pad.

However, the addressbook on the BlackBerry does greatly make up for the lack of a dedicated phone dialing keypad. Just make sure you have all your phone numbers in Outlook before you go for a drive.

For those times you need to dial phone numbers not listed in the addressbook, Voice dialing would be an additional bonus -- but you can only get that on BlackBerry if you use a carrier-based voice dialing service (Rather than voice recognition in the BlackBerry). If you do subscribe to a carrier-based voicedial service, this solves this problem...