treo600/blackberry

[krs41]

i have a pretty big problem. i am a verizon wireless customer and i cannot figure out what im going to do. i have been wanting a pda style phone for quite a while and ive been doing a lot of research. i really like the blackberry 7750 and the treo 600. i was hoping that someone on here has had some experience with both of them, and could give me some insight. i just dont want to spend that much money and not get the best bang for my buck. the only con ive really found for the blackberry was no camera, but from what i understand the treo phone isnt that good anyway. so as far as gaming, data input, interface, and phone quality... which is the best? specs tell you a lot, but experience says it all. im hoping to find a lot of it here. thanks in advance!

chris

[nparker13]

hey, you're in luck, i just returned my blackberry (color one) from vzw and got their treo...so far, upgrading from an old motorola timeport with speakerphone built int and a zire 72...heres my review.

The blackberry and email was amazing...cost a lot, but was extremely effective. I could set up filters on the web, only get alerted for different types of emails, etc. The bad part was that i like to keep a record of all my email correspondances via my laptop. ON my 2 week long vacation out to vegas, i had to dial up every morning to download all the emails from the previous day. THats just my thing though. The phone on the blackberry to me sucks. Speaker phone being built in is very important...and i realized what it is like to live without it. If the blackberry isnt placed right on your face, you cant really hear it. The number keys are also a pain to dial on especially while driving. Voice recog also was a missed part. Overall, the blackberry is great for email, but it wasnt for me. Luckily with the 15 day trial, i could exchange it the day i got back from vacation. It was nice to do so.

From there...this is important...if i had just ordered the treo, i would be stuck with that, but if you switch to your old phone (assuming it is with vzw), you can then try the treo for another 15 days. thats what i did, and on the 3rd day, i like it...now it's very complicated. no one at any verizon store nor telephone line knew how this worked. The phone uses regular network cdma i think. now the data works on a packet basis. you pay for your phone minutes and then pay for either 5 mb or unlimited data. I got 5 mb to start (although i think i may need more). Your web access time does not take away minutes (like a modem would if connected when you are...say reading an article...as opposed to loading a page. You are only deducted space away from the 5 mb when data is being sent or recieved. Neat becuase you can read the news or whatever and not get charged just for viewing time. The other thing is, the blackberry did not have a web browser. Now back to the treo. THe treos built in stuff only supports sms. This is not your pop3 email. You have to use a program such as versamail (multimail) by palmone or snapper mail (im trying that now). It is a one time fee for the program...no monthly or commitment things. Now you would set it to 'send and recieve' for emails like outlook express does (probably outlook too). this takes a couple k's out of your data plan, and does not interefere with your minutes....however if you are sending and recieving, you cannot get calls, they are forwarded to vmail. once it is done, the call will go thru though (so it will if reading a web page and not loading). this send and recieve would be ok to set at about every 10 to 15 minutes at least for me.

Now the main difference here with the blackberry and these software based programs is that the blackberry's emails are pushed to the bb device from the bb web client. this takes 15 minutes from sending to recieving on bb device, so with a 15 min interval b/t send and reciveving, they should be similar.

The phone on the treo is much better for me at least. the speakerphoen is loud...but thats pretty much it...smaller keys, same other problems.

I would go with the treo to start off...the expandablility options are endless with the palm os...you can now get a voice recorder, video recorder, all kinds of add on 3rd pty programs that people make to keep your device running well.

I hope this helped and cleared some stuff up. I learned it by trial and research...there are no errors when you play with technology, you can always hit undo. (hopefully)...

if you have any questions, email me at:
nparker13@aol.com


-nate

PS i know you were asking about the camera....the picture quality sucks...its like any camera phone. i would have posted a picture, but i deleted the pic mail i sent to this computer

[nickwalt]

just a comment on the camera, you're correct the quality is similar to that of a normal camera phone, but the images look alot better when downloaded to the PC. I think the Treo screen is OK for most tasks but for displaying lots of colours, it's not as good as other palms. Don't forget the res is only 160x160. The screen is also smaller in size. I don't have a problem with this as it means loads of battery life which is more important to me.

I have had mine now for about 3 weeks and can't be without it. The camera is not important for me, but it may be for other people.

[LifeO'Riley]

ANy further update on your comparison nparker13?
I really appreciate your info. I am in a similar situation has the other fellow mentioned. I can get a good deal on the Blackberry $ work and they will pay some of the montly data fee. But I currently have a Sprint account/phone and would like to stay with that if poss.
I just am tring to confirm being about to get work email, which it sounds like can be done, but I have not seen it in action yet.
Thank you

[nparker13]

Yes, with the successful configuration of snapper mail, i'm keeping the treo. It works well with minor kinks. It is definately more diverse than the blackberry for email attachment, camera, phone, etc.

i have to run now, but type any questions about it here, and ill answer them...it took me foreveer to find snappermails smtp server...look in their help file

-nate

[rkevwill]

Not sure if anyone else has said this, but Palmsource/Rim is working on a blackberry app for the Treo 600, to support enterprises like the one I work for. We are not able to access our internal email, due to security concerns, unless its through the blackberry server that interfaces with our exchange server.

Its supposed to be coming out 3rd or 4th quarter this year!

[Ice9]

I've used a clie,(various types) and a timeport, (startac) thru Verizon for a number of years. With that I needed the abiltiy to get email and SMS on my phone or pda.

I'd been with V for 10 or more years, but couldn't find anybody who new or cared about my needs. I found a Sprint/Nextel deal who has done a great job for me. They, (the dealers), all use Blackberrys, I wanted to keep using Palm OS, and I thought the b berrry looked kinda dumb, and I wasn't sure about the Nextel net.

I switched to Sprint with a T 600 and I've been very pleased. I do lose calls on the Sprint net, but the call quality and data service has been great. Carrying one device is great, love it.
I didn't think I would miss the camera or video from my Clie as much as I do.

[johngotty]

I'm facing the same dilema.

So, I CAN recieve my emails directly to a Treo just as I would my BB? And if I'm reading correctly, I can if I just simply dl a pgm?

That's the only thing (most important as well) holding me back from picking up the Treo 600, which I plan to do today so any help would be appreciated.

[rkevwill]

Ok, lets keep it simple.
1. If you are using blackberry email, through a blackberry server, that interfaces with a corporate email system,, NO, your treo can not receive that email at present. (but palm and blackberry will soon have that software, so they have announced)

2. If you are talking about getting your email from your normal email carrier, Yep you can easily get it with your treo.

3. If you use aol or Yahoo, you need to forward your email, as they don't support POP email. You will get an email account with whatever phone provider you pick, and can use that one, if you don't have another isp email address.

I use sprint, use snappermail to access my .mac email, and it picks it up every hour and brings it to my treo. Also, there is an updated email that comes with the treo presently, that works very well too. Depends on your needs.

[johngotty]

Yeah, I think I've about figured it out.

Currently, I have 3 accts. (including one hotmail) synced directly with the Nextel network (my ___@blackberry.nextel.com) email. Any email I recieve from those 3 is forwarded to my Nextel server/device at the same time and instanteously.

From what I've garnered via the net, I can achieve "push mail" by DLing mailweave, chatter or snappermail.

Correct?

If it helps, I'm going with Sprint for the Treo.

[rkevwill]

dunno about the others, but snapper mail yep! Newest snappermail does imap too, so *might* interface with those evil email accounts. Note, you don't need to forward email that comes from a pop enabled account. (like an isp). You can set your treo email software to grab it right of the isp's pop server.

Actually, I am sitting in a steakhouse right now, waiting on my wife to finish, and got the email about your reply:)

[itubille]

chris,
:) Just wait for the upcoming product of Palm. That would be an enhance of Treo 600 model. You'll going to like the one that will be released in the market soon. For updates, visit www.palmone.com for some updates of the products. Hope this will help you out on your problem