Blackberry, Sidekick, ????

Also can you tell me about what I'd expect to pay per month? I'm looking at an older style Blackberry on Amazon, I had to jump through several hoops to find out how much everything cost, it seems like there will be a monthly service fee that totals about $60. Huh? That sucks!

+ T-Mobile Get More 600 Nationwide Minute Plan with Unlimited Nights and Weekends (Monthly service charge of $39.99 billed by T-Mobile) 1 + T-Mobile 2 Year Contract (No Charge: Included with T-Mobile's Monthly Rate Plan) 1 + BlackBerry Unlimited Add-on (Send and receive personal e-mail, plus web access; no corporate e-mail) (Monthly service charge of $19.99 billed by T-Mobile) 1 + Regulatory Programs Fee (Monthly service charge of $0.86 billed by T-Mobile)

I didn't seem to have the option to do without the $19.99 one. I chose the cheapest options all the way through.

Anybody...? Please? I'm going on a trip solo (me 'n' sozlet) in about a month and REALLY want to have one before then... communication is a nightmare otherwise.

I've got a Palm Treo 650, the new model is the 700. It's a phone as well.

It's pretty easy to use it as a phone and for texts, email, ect...the keyboard is pretty easy.

I use it for work email, occassionally go online, has a decent camera for a phone, and a camcorder which can be used for a short time.

Unfortunately I just cracked the screen Saturday night, and I have no idea how...don't know if I dropped it, or leaned on something...looks like it's going to cost almost $200 to get fixed.

But overall I like it. I really got it so I can keep up on work email while on the road, otherwise I'd keep using a regular, smaller phone.

I'd jump in and help but I have no idea why people use those things. I wouldn't dare... but then again I understand its value to you over having a cell phone.

Just wanted to let you know I'd help if I could... But I have no idea.




(And, besides that... I'm leaving.)

Thanks, Slappy!

About how much is service per month? I can't get a feel for what normal and low-end is. (If $60/ month is normal, I can't afford one yet.)

Squinney, you are hereby forbidden to leave. So there. Just blame me.

Well you pay the normal cell phone bill, then I think it's an extra $50 for "data," which gives you the ability to go online unlimited. However that's through Verizon, and other companies could be different...probaby close enough though.

It is expensive...and it if weren't for my company reimbursing me, I'd proably just have a "normal" cell phone.

You can buy a regular cell phone that has internet access...and it's cheaper than through a PDA. I think I paid $5-10 extra a month before. It was pretty damn slow, and not as user-friendly as on the Treo.

I've heard the new Blackberry is nice too...but the Treo got slightly better reviews on the past models.

Geez, this has been a pain in the ass.

They never just tell you prices upfront, you have to fill out all these damn fields and click through 10 screens... grrr...

This seems to be the best I've come up with so far:

BlackBerry Unlimited Plan with T-Mobile BlackBerry 8700g update quantity ›remove package › BlackBerry Unlimited * Whenever minutes: none * Weekend minutes: none * Weeknights minutes: none * myFaves minutes: n/a * more details › $29.99 per month change plan › This charge will be applied to the monthly payment. T-Mobile BlackBerry 8700g T-Mobile BlackBerry 8700 * Internet and corporate e-mail * High speed data with Edge * Bluetooth® wireless technology * more details › To transfer your existing phone number to T-Mobile, check eligibility now. Suggested retail $399.99 Instant discount -$150.00 Mail-in rebate -$50.00 $199.99

It's an email-only plan, unlimited email, and you CAN make voice calls but it's 20 cents a minute. (Perfect for if E.G. wants to borrow it or something.)

It's this device:



Which is the one I wanted. (Real qwerty keyboard, small, nice color screen.)

Any feedback?

OK, so this has more information about it:

http://www.blackberry.com/ap/products/blackberry8700/blackberry8700g.shtml

I read it but I still can't figure out -- what does "web browsing" mean, exactly? Could I post to A2K from it, for example? Or is it just about looking up the weather or something?

Upper managers here have blackberries -- no idea what it costs but I imagine it's a company plan. My brother has a Treo which he is very fond of. I believe he bought it used, but again, his plan is through work. Can you see if your job has a plan that you can get in on?

Sorry I can't be more help. I am the opposite of you when it comes to texting -- a veritable dinosaur. I refuse to use the phone for it because it's a pain in the ass, and I'm too cheap to buy a device that makes it easier.

I'll look into the Treo next.

Here's David Pogue's review of the Blackberry above. (Just "c" instead of "g", can't imagine they're that different.) It sounds like "browse the web" means "do whatever you would do on your regular computer, except that the screen is tiny." It does sound like it's pretty slow, though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/03/technology/circuits/03pogue.html?ex=1179374400&en=f452a6f537f4e4a6&ei=5070

The wife's got a blackberry that seems like it's capable of doing a hell of a lot, but she only uses it for work e-mail. Pretty sure it costs a ton, but, like everyone else's, her work pays for it.

If you really just miss the texting from the old service and don't care much about the web capabilities and whatnot, you might have more luck just using a plan that offers text but not internet.

Maybe.




Isn't there some sort of tax writeoff available for TTY services -- and, if so, couldn't that apply to blackberries et al?

I'd love a plan that offers text but not internet.

I'm not sure what that means, though. No browsing? That'd be fine (though I'm getting het up about the idea of being able to do my internet-based work by the pool). The old version wasn't really text messaging per se, though, it was real email. Anyone with an email address could send me stuff, I could send it to anyone with an email address. So does that require internet?

I haven't seen anything yet that differentiates.

I just went to a Deaf site to see if there were any leads, there was a Sprint ad, $29.99/ month with a specific Treo or Blackberry (8703e this time), I clicked on it for further info, gave me emails of local sales people, one is a friend of mine. So I emailed him, will see what he has to say.

Should've thought of him first... He wrote back right away and sounds good Still prefer to have some general background so as to not just say "OK!" But this'd be free Blackberry (after rebates) (the 8703e one) and an unlimited data-only plan for $29.99/ month.

That sounds pretty good, right?

Had a reply here about an internet-only plan with T-mobile for $50/month, but this is definitely better...

That sounds really good. Good thinking.

I was just going to comment on the Sprint plan when I saw this.

They do have a "E-mail/SMS" only (no Web browsing) plan and the price you got sounds about right. They have several devices (Blackberry, Treo and at least 2 others..) you can use with the service but I've never used any of them so I can't comment on the quality/functionality of the devices themselves.

Nextel offers the same thing but they are now owned by Sprint anyway so I don't think there is any advantage to going with them over Sprint.

Re: Blackberry, Sidekick, ????
Sheesh, I know more about PDAs and Smartphones than I should, as I've owned the top of every line and go through them like underwear. Here's my quick take:

Cost:

Your real cost is in your service plan. So you should be looking at internet rates. If you only really will use email (not browsing and multimedia) on the internet you could be able to get away with some of the starter data packages, but I recommend finding the cheapest unlimited package.

One thing that can possibly help reduce your costs is Wifi support on the device. If you are mainly going to use it at home or at places with Wifi you can access you might be able to get away with a smaller data plan or none altogether.

Software Platforms

If you want to use the phone for anything else the software platform is important. To make it real simple the mobile platforms I recommend are Apple's iPhone and Windows Mobile.

Apple's usability and integration of it's apps are almost enough to make me adopt it despite it's horridly proprietary nature. I'd have to hack the hell out of it to even use it (it's not available where I live) but it's almost good enough to make me do so. But the downside for you would be that a lot of its strengths lie is the multimedia capabilities that I'm not sure you'd use. However it's usability breakthroughs are very very significant and much other mobile experiences are not nearly as good. If you are comfortable with technology it might not be as big of an issue but even then it will be a more enjoyable experience than any other smartphone.

Then there's Windows Mobile and the Pocket PC Phone edition platforms. I currently use this platform because it's open enough that I can install the various software I need and want. I can use it as a bluetooth modem for my laptops when I'm away from home, I have gigs of music I stream wirelessly to my headphones and all sorts of geeky stuff.

And a quick note on the blackberry: I don't like it because it can't do much of what I need, all it's hardware is too bulky for me (I like RAZR thin or I wouldn't use it as much) and because the biggest selling point ("push" email) is something I don't care enough to replicate on my phones even though I can. But I will say that the hardware usability and email implementation has been the gold standard in mobile email. Nothing else out there really has this kind of usability when focusing just on email.

Hardware

Here are some strictly hardware recommendations, the real cost is in the service plan you can get away with.

T-Mobile Dash - This is like the BlackJack and Motorola Q in most ways except it also has wifi. I'd use it if it weren't so damn ugly or if I needed wifi.

All things considered this phone is my recommendation to you.

Here is a link to the phone

The reason I recommend it is because it's a nice thin phone with a fairly good keyboard, wifi and most of all because it looks like T-Mobile offers a data-only plan that might well be the cheapest choice you have stateside for your intended use. You can also probably find it cheaper from someone else (if you do, note that the real name for the device is HTC Excalibur and it's a T-Mobile exclusive in the US under the "Dash" name).

T-Mobile's Data only plan

I'm not sure that you can easily find unlimited data in the US for under $60/month so this is the best I think you can find.

Here are some other phones I recommend but they don't seem to fit your requirements:

Samsung Blackjack - Can be found as low as $75 with a plan. This is my primary phone right now. It's very thin, less wide than the Motorola Q it's copying and runs on GSM so I can swap out my SIM cards and use it overseas. No Wifi here.

iPhone - The proprietary Apple/Cingular nonsense is what keeps me from using this. Once it's a bit more network portable (i.e. the hacks stand the test of time) and I can more reliably add third party apps then I'd probably adopt this one when the mail client improves. It also supports wifi.

Motorola Q - My previous phone. Same software as the Blackjack (Windows Mobile). It has a better keyboard in my opinion than the Blackjack. No Wifi though.

Traditionally, yes. When mobile operators say "Text" they mean text messages (SMS). Email is under "Data" or rather the internet.

Sometimes there are some loopholes that confuse the issue (like an email address that gets forwarded to SMS to you) but that's the basic standard.

[quote[
I just went to a Deaf site to see if there were any leads, there was a Sprint ad, $29.99/ month with a specific Treo or Blackberry (8703e this time), I clicked on it for further info, gave me emails of local sales people, one is a friend of mine. So I emailed him, will see what he has to say.[/quote]

If you haven't already done it this is definitely the best I've seen for your described use and requirements.

Hey, thanks for the info. I especially appreciate learning more about the text/ Internet distinction.

I didn't end up buying the Blackberry -- just as I was about to our air conditioner broke and required a $500 fix and I started feeling too poor again. The specific deal expired at some point, but I think they have deals like that fairly often, plus I have a contact now. (The deaf Sprint guy.) Once I feel a little less poor (which will be sometime after we get our roof fixed, sigh), I think I'll go for it.