Reduce traffic accidents with a Blackberry
Written: Sep 28 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Email pretty much anywhere, small, well thought out interface
Cons: Needs a second computer for us travellers
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| cdwilli1's Full Review: RIM Blackberry Two Way Pager |
I am a communication hound – cell phone, voice recorder, internet cell phone, lap-top, PDA, yada, yada. Got ‘em or had ‘em all. Sitting in stationary traffic on the freeway has often been a source of great ideas – but scrabbling for a pen and paper does not work well for me and opening up a laptop at even 5 miles an hour is a sure way to bend at least one car. But there were no good alternatives.
Now there is. Enter the Fabulous Blackberry.
What turned me on to the Blackberry was an email from my boss – his plane was stuck at the gate in Chicago and so he used the time to reply to his email. I got this somewhat cryptic email from him with a tag at the bottom of it saying it came from his Blackberry. I had to have one.
Being a serious techno-weenie I have looked at the wireless PDA things, but I am not fond of the Palm or its ilk with their bizarre handwriting recognition and the larger WinCE boxes with keyboards are too big for “pocket” use. So the Blackberry seemed like a great alternative.
I got one about a month ago. It is almost perfect, but it has its foibles for sure.
The unit I have is the fat belt-attaching kind with the relatively small screen; at the side of the screen is a little wheel, basically a “mouse” to navigate through the “pull-down” menus. Beneath the screen is a QWERTY keyboard that while tiny is pretty effective for text entry. Since some characters need function key presses and others need the little wheel to access them it can be tedious to enter symbols, but for normal text the basic keyboard is good enough. The software has the smarts to know that following a period and a space the next character should be a capitalized one and it will also auto-correct common typos. Pretty nice.
When I got the unit the internal firmware and supplied software were already out of date – so I ran the update feature which took some time but made the unit a lot more accessible to use. The latest version (as of 9/28/00) appears to be 2.0.001. My review of the Blackberry will be based on this version.
The unit comes with a belt holster (geeky) and a desktop dock that allows rapid synchronization when the unit is docked. The synchronization can be set to automatic, which makes for a convenient and quick update – “look Mom, no hands”.
The PIM (Personal Information Manager) synchronizes to various desktop software packages, such as Lotus Notes, etc. We use Microsoft Outlook and the Blackberry works very well with all the Outlook features. The PIM contains Calendar, Address Book, Task List and Memo all of which are derived from Outlook. The email we use is also Outlook and the Blackberry works pretty seamlessly with that also.
Address Book
This can be accessed by first name, last name or company, which makes it very convenient. Just type in the first few letters and the list of suitable matches are instantly presented. When the appropriate entry is located press the wheel and the menu will let you access the entry (or delete it). I have used this feature at a traffic signal and have found it fast enough to get to the persons phone number, dial it and be connected before the light turns green. Pretty good.
Task List
Presents my To Do list in the same order as on Outlook. Simple to access via the scrolling wheel – and when a task is completed it can be checked as done which will later synchronize with Outlook when I dock the Blackberry.
Email
Email is divided in to 4 Icons on the screen – Read, Create, Save and Search. Reading is simple – select an email, press the wheel and read using the wheel to scroll. The wheel may be pressed again to access functions such as Reply, Delete, Mark, etc. A black-bordered Envelope indicates the mail has yet to be read. Creating email is also simple; enter an email address (or choose from the Address Book) and type, QED. Saving and Searching are equally easy to use, but I have rarely found them much use.
I also like the built in calculator – it has a million functions – it even knows that when pressing a letter key that you really mean to use the number without having to resort to the “shift” key. Cool. It even knows the square root of minus 1.
Even though this unit has a built in radio transmitter/receiver to access email it can still be used on a plane by pressing the little Plane icon which disables the transmitter function. Well thought out.
What I do not like is the intimate tie to my computer. Since I work with a laptop, I connected the Blackberry up to it – seemed OK, but when I was on the road with my laptop I could not send or receive email. Huh? That is because the Blackberry needs to talk through my actual computers email system, as it cannot attach directly to the Outlook Exchange server through the Blackberry network. The solution? I bought another computer that sits running 24X7 in my office effectively being my Blackberry server. Since a second computer can directly access the Outlook Exchange Server in harmony with my portable it works fine, but this is a hidden expense I had not envisaged. Since my second computer is a complete dog and hooks up through an A/B switch to my regular monitor, keyboard and mouse, it is pretty cheap, but it still adds another few hundred dollars to the real cost of the Blackberry.
Battery life is OK, it lasts about 2 weeks on 1 AA, but I do turn it off at night.
In spite of needing the extra computer to function well, the Blackberry is a great device – it is the biggest step toward portable email that I have seen. It is now an indispensable part of my traveling wardrobe – now if they make it work outside the US & Canada it will be Great!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
cdwilli1
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Location: San Diego, California
Reviews written: 55
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