[Accordian Man]

After tons of research and tons of postings on Blackberry Forums, I think the Palm Treo might be the way to go. I have been a Blackberry advocate for so long. I still love the utilitarian functionality of the Blackberries, but the much anticipated Palm Treo 650 just comes too loaded to overlook. The complaints I have on the Blackberries: lack of a touchscreen, speakerphone, bluetooth (on 77xx) and lack of camera, have been addressed by Palm. These are amenities expected, much less needed in a cutting edge piece of technology. It's also neccessary to completely replace a standard cell phone. I would to use a Blackberry for everything, however, enjoy the little novelties I wrote about. Please advise!

[chmiel]

Originally Posted by Accordian Man

After tons of research and tons of postings on Blackberry Forums, I think the Palm Treo might be the way to go. I have been a Blackberry advocate for so long. I still love the utilitarian functionality of the Blackberries, but the much anticipated Palm Treo 650 just comes too loaded to overlook. The complaints I have on the Blackberries: lack of a touchscreen, speakerphone, bluetooth (on 77xx) and lack of camera, have been addressed by Palm. These are amenities expected, much less needed in a cutting edge piece of technology. It's also neccessary to completely replace a standard cell phone. I would to use a Blackberry for everything, however, enjoy the little novelties I wrote about. Please advise!

you are correct.. the features that the Treo 650 has beat the blackberries out of the water.. I currently have a Treo 600 and I use it for: phone, sms, email, msn messenger, palm pilot functions (palm desktop calendar & address, lotus notes mail, lotus notes calendar and lotus notes address book), ,photoblog, movie record, mp3 player (pTunes), touchscreen, qwerty keyboard, plus don't forget the hunders of thousands of palmos applications that are available.. and soon to come is BlackBerry Connect for PalmOS.. it was announced by Rim and Palm a couple of months ago therefore hopefully it will arrive shortly..

I have played around with a 7100v, really neat device.. the screen is amazing.. but I kept on tapping the screen to try to select things.. lol.. another drawback is no expansion (ie. sd, mmc, rd-sd, etc)..

But I still wouldn't mind getting myself a 7100t when rogers releases it in 2 weeks and try out the true push-email.. Never used blackberry e-mail, therefore I think I have a biased opinion..

[barjohn]

As a former 600 owner, I can say that unless you actually use a lot of third party applications, the BB7100/7290 beat the 600 hands down.
1. real push mail now - not some future date uncertain
2. Easier to use keyboard
3. BB is limited but very good at what it does
4. Better speakerphone (supposed to be fixed on 650)
5. Dedicated back key (you need thrid party software to accomplish on 600)
6. Built in substitution of words for shortcuts (u becomes you, ur becomes your, etc. fully programabel)
7. better screen

[finch]

I've had numerous incarnations of Palm devices along the way and as hard as I try I've come back to my trusty BB everytime. What I found is this, if your looking for apps, games, third party software, camera, SD etc. the Blackberry might not be the right choice for you.

If email (push/always on), calendar and corporate email integration are important then Blackberry will be your best option.

Sometimes the lack of software can be a drawback to the Blackberry but with mass adoption it will come. If a camera and SD slot are of importance then the Blackberry is most likely not a good choice as I can't see such features at any point.

The Blackberry is built on the following: Email, Security, Calendar, Phone etc. With security being such a crutial feature to the Blackberry I can't imagine a camera or SD slot being adopted.

[Inphektion]

It honestly depends on what you are looking for. For email, you can't beat the blackberry solution yet. I even tried a treo 600 with goodlink software and it still sucked... With the 7100t I have one of the few features I was looking for in a BB that they were currently missing (Bluetooth). I don't want an mp3 player, cameraphone, even the touchscreen I have no interest in. But if those things are more important to you then the solution the BB offers with push email then your choice is easy.

[bfrye]

I'm still willing to bet RIM will jump on the consumer bandwagon before long. Might be a year, might be 3... but they will. My dad says the only reason he doesn't have a blackberry is because it doesn't have the camera option. He's a construction supervisor for high-rise skyscrapers. He loved the blackberry for always-on email and the like, but without the ability to immediately take a pic and email to someone, it didn't do him much good in his line of work.

[Gothalyptic]

I agree, I can see RIM not playing for much longer. I have a feeling their first BB with camera will probably be a megapixel, maybe small like 1.3 or so, MAYBE video, and most likely some sort of external memory. Now THAT would be a device worth envy all around the board.

[Accordian Man]

http://blog.treonauts.com/

[Inphektion]

I can see RIM not "playing" for a bit longer... Esp as long as their primary market is still the corp side though I don't know how long that will remain thier focus. Just as you gave an example of a business user who has a need for a camera phone, there are even more who have no interest and CAN'T have one (court rooms, high security locations, etc), otherwise they can't take their device with them. So I guess the key for RIM is to keep coming out with a wide array of different hardware devices so users of the option of choosing what fits their needs the best.

[johnclevohio]

For the price you should definitely consider the 7100t, even if its a matter of switching to T-Mobile. I switched from Verizon. I have no need for a mp3 player on my phone, or a camera. If I want an mp3 player, I will bring it with me.

[headtailgrep]

I use both Treo 600's in this office and Blackberries. I was very excited about the treo 600, but it quickly lost a lot of it's lustre. However, it still has benefits worth consieering. I hope the 650 alleviates these probllems, but here are my quick off the top of my head comparisons between the two:

Blackberries:
Pros:
* Instant e-mail delivery
* Reliable e-mail delivery (no third party clients that don't work well or crash)
* Efficient (uses very little bandwidth - i've never seen one go over their plans)
* Rock solid OS (does not crash often)
* Rock solid build of device, and hardware (Hardly ever fails)
* Very well designed keyboard, easy to type
* Easy to use interface using the Trackwheel
Cons;
* Not much third party software (however this IS changing! see OS 4.0 related posts!)
* Not flexible in delivery of e-mail (no on-screen folder nagiviation)
* No touch screen (but many would say why do you need one? and i agree!)
* For a PDA, it is sufficient, but the Palm just does it better.


Treo 600:
Pros:
* Hip, stylish
* Weath of third party software and games
* Lots of features (more memory, touchscreen, good screen, etc)
* Excellent internet support
* A very good PDA
* Camera (for those that want one)
* Third party add-on hardware (Margi presenter to go, anyone?)
* SD card slot (expansion!)
* Extra built in memory


Cons:

* VERY POOR BUILD QUALITY! Failures left, right and centre. Hardware VERY unreliable.
* VERY POOR customer support. You like going in circules? Waiting weeks for replacements? You better have bought a back-up unit if you have the money.
* Keyboard very cramped, hard to type on
* E-mail delivery is not instant, not even third party apps can change this (at time of writing)
* Very bandwidth intensive, uses 5x more bandwidth (on average - personal opinion) than a Blackberry, eats GPRS charges (our users spend $100+/month on data)
* I've had the Treo 600 crash so many times, i would say the OS is unreliable!

Quite simple, i hope the 650 solves these issues but don't hold your breath. If you need e-mail and communicator functions, go Blackberry.

If you want a slick PDA, but can live with inferior e-mail and internet delivery, go Treo.

If you need to integrate with your corproate network, go Blackberry, period. The treo isn't an option for corporate integration at this point..

my two cents.. and this is all based on a couple years of warrior-like experience!

[headtailgrep]

[headtailgrep]

I use both Treo 600's in this office and Blackberries. I was very excited about the treo 600, but it quickly lost a lot of it's lustre. However, it still has benefits worth consieering. I hope the 650 alleviates these probllems, but here are my quick off the top of my head comparisons between the two:

Blackberries:
Pros:
* Instant e-mail delivery
* Reliable e-mail delivery (no third party clients that don't work well or crash)
* Efficient (uses very little bandwidth - i've never seen one go over their plans)
* Rock solid OS (does not crash often)
* Rock solid build of device, and hardware (Hardly ever fails)
* Very well designed keyboard, easy to type
* Easy to use interface using the Trackwheel
Cons;
* Not much third party software (however this IS changing! see OS 4.0 related posts!)
* Not flexible in delivery of e-mail (no on-screen folder nagiviation)
* No touch screen (but many would say why do you need one? and i agree!)
* For a PDA, it is sufficient, but the Palm just does it better.


Treo 600:
Pros:
* Hip, stylish
* Weath of third party software and games
* Lots of features (more memory, touchscreen, good screen, etc)
* Excellent internet support
* A very good PDA
* Camera (for those that want one)
* Third party add-on hardware (Margi presenter to go, anyone?)
* SD card slot (expansion!)
* Extra built in memory


Cons:

* VERY POOR BUILD QUALITY! Failures left, right and centre. Hardware VERY unreliable.
* VERY POOR customer support. You like going in circules? Waiting weeks for replacements? You better have bought a back-up unit if you have the money.
* Keyboard very cramped, hard to type on
* E-mail delivery is not instant, not even third party apps can change this (at time of writing)
* Very bandwidth intensive, uses 5x more bandwidth (on average - personal opinion) than a Blackberry, eats GPRS charges (our users spend $100+/month on data)
* I've had the Treo 600 crash so many times, i would say the OS is unreliable!

Quite simple, i hope the 650 solves these issues but don't hold your breath. If you need e-mail and communicator functions, go Blackberry.

If you want a slick PDA, but can live with inferior e-mail and internet delivery, go Treo.

If you need to integrate with your corproate network, go Blackberry, period. The treo isn't an option for corporate integration at this point..

my two cents.. and this is all based on a couple years of warrior-like experience!

[Accordian Man]

Thank you everyone for your very objective opinions. As of this moment, I think I'm leaning towards the Palm Treo 650. I admit, I'm a slave to those flashy lights and blinking things. Just kidding. I am willing to forgo all of those incentives (bluetooth, camera, touch-screen, upgradable memory) if there exists a service provider in the Tri-state with a reasonable Blackberry plan. From what I hear and personal research T-mobile, Cingular and AT&T have poor service around here. Verizon lacks a web browser. So, the Treo 650 should be available for sale mid-November and hopefully the Sprint Blackberry will be released by then. I want the see the performance between the two before committing to either one. If the Blackberry operates half as well as expected, then the Palm is out. Thanks again.

[Pstmstr]

I too have used a Treo 600 and now have the BB7100T. I like the email and simplicity of the BB more but if you are not a heavy email user and used to Palm apps, the Treo might work for you.

[NJBlackBerry]

The Treo is great for a consumer device (assuming you don't mind doing a hard reset every week or so and reloading everything) but it's worthless for a business user. Way too much maintenance. And don't forget that if you drop it on plush carpet (or anything sturdier), it breaks....

[zaakir]

its like apple and microsoft. the treo is microsoft and the blackberry is apple......you get the picture. bells and whistles are great, but without reliability its worthless.

also, u have two different target markets. most blackberry users dont care about cameras and mp3 ringtones. its a business device not a nokia engage. thats why i also have a moto v600. when im out for leisure and want to travel light i pop my sim into my v600. i know have my shiny, "hip" phone with the bluetooth earpeice and my tacky mp3 ringtones! however, the blackberry is adicting, using the v600 i often forget i cant recieve my push mail and surf the net..arrrghhh!

[ASP]

The one thing that keeps me away from the Treo is that HUGE antenna.

[bperkins]

Originally Posted by zaakir

its like apple and microsoft. the treo is microsoft and the blackberry is apple......

No wonder I love my Blackberry.

[Accordian Man]

Well, despite the business applications, I can't imagine getting a Blackberry, and actually taking a step back in technology. As nice as it is, certain components on it are primitive, and as competent as it is else where, it just doesn't make up for the fact that it refuses to advance. Also, I don't want to appear like I'm talking on a graphing calculator when I'm on the phone.