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Advice Please
I've been a blackberry user since 1998. First it was the pager size device for a couple years. Then I got my 5700 series about four years ago. I've had it ever since and it's been great. I hate to give it up actually.
But it's time for me to move to a single phone/PDA device. Almost everyone else I know made that move last year and I am still in double device mode.
So until today, I was thinking it was Treo vs. Blackberry. And I've been leaning toward Treo since my partners are all using that device right now.
But Brad's post this morning about Sidekick II has got me thinking. Maybe there's a third option for me to consider.
Mark Cuban's post on Sidekick II is another strong endorsement, but the commenters suggest that Sidekick doesn't integrate well into corporate email systems. If that's the case, then its a non-starter with me.
Advice anyone?
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Posted September 1, 2004 in Venture Capital and TechnologyComments
You'd be nuts not to take a look a Nextel's Blackberry 7510 along with their service. It would be a good idea to see if an opportunity exists to approach it for you whole family from a direct connect perspective (DC is a free walkie talkie service from Nextel and can eleiminate LD costs by using it instead of dialing when you're out of town). If you're considering your Blackberry service through your business, having Blackberry Enterprise Software capability from your companies server is the bombdigity. I live and die by my Blackberry as well, and I have yet to see anything that comes close to it's e-mail function from anybody else. They simply do it better. The 7510 is a great phone on top of it all. It has a speaker phone that can be used for both regular cell dialing and direct connect conversation. The speaker function on the Blackberry 7520 sounds ten times better than Nextel's Motorola phones. As I'm sure you already know, Blackberry devices have industry best battery management (they last longer than anybody elses).
The real question is coverage. While I am somewhat biased in this matter, I have been pleasently surprised at how well Nextel has NYC covered. I have read and cleared many a pile of e-mail in your guest room as a matter of fact. Lot's of vertical RF deployed in your fine city from Nextel.
The other providers have some pretty slick devices, but if you're all about e-mail and voice, function over form, Nextel/Blackberry smokes them all. I'll be in town next week. Sorry we'll miss you at Rod's. If we manage to bump into each other maybe we can talk tech. The 7510 is the best "single device" option available today in my opinion.
Posted by: Tony Alva | Sep 1, 2004 2:12:29 PM
One last thought... There are many differences in wireless companies deployed technology. Some make it easy to do data apps on, others not so easy. Nextel's technology requires always on internet access (your phone connects to the web as soon as you turn it on and stays connected until you turn it off) and therefore is far more conducive to doing the e-mail thing. I think you'd see a marked improvement over your current e-mail service performance right off the bat. not to mention all the Java capabilites.
Again, other devices are sexier, but none perform better than the Blackberry.
Posted by: Tony Alva | Sep 1, 2004 2:21:35 PM
if i may take a generally contrary view, it'd actually be nice if you vc-types had fewer of these toys so you were more apt to pay attention in pitches and board meetings ;-) ;-)
doody.
Posted by: Mr. Doody | Sep 1, 2004 3:05:28 PM
Walt Mossberg from the WSJ was right when he said "no other device even comes close to perfection". I've owned a Treo 600 since the day they shipped a year ago and I LOVE it. I bought a Sidekick before the Treo launched and promptly returned it because it was way too big and the interface was very cartoonish. As for corporate email connectivity I assume you are using Exchange which is easily synched with the Treo. You can use SnapperMail 2.0 and IMAP with Exchange or your firm can get GoodLink service for wirless cradle free synch of email calender and contacts in Exchange. RIM recently announced a deal with Palm to create a Palm OS client that works with the Blackberry Server which you may already have if you and your partners are using Blackberries now.
I would suggest that that you wait until the new Treo 610 version ships in October. It will have a a higher resolution screen better camera (1.3mp), bluetooth, removable battery and fixes to a few small bugs from the 600 you'd expect in any 1st generation. A great resource is http://www.treocentral.com and their discusion boards.
Posted by: Tim | Sep 1, 2004 4:09:37 PM
Nextel is good, if others you know use it otherwise you are paying a premium for service of which you can't take advantage.
I would highly recommend the Treo 600 and go with your choice of corporate email solutions...
You can do Goodlink today - you have to buy the server like RIM and pay per unit.
You can skip the server, pay Mailwave $7/mo and get push email (and Calendar)that way... http://www.atmasphere.net/wp/archives/2004/08/26/mailwave-another-push-e-mail-option-for-palm
You might also like Chatter Email which while still in beta is an amazing product. If your exchange server or personal email support IDLE, you can get push email for free (no server payment) and the app is $25. You can do SSL as well if needed. I've written something on this as well - http://www.atmasphere.net/wp/archives/2004/08/16/palm-email-just-got-a-whole-lot-more-interesting
Not trying to plug myself... but I have actually be using and testing these things quite a bit lately.
Chatter is seriously good. In the next week, attachment support is expected to roll-out which will add the only real missing piece.
Posted by: Jonathan Greene | Sep 1, 2004 4:11:43 PM
I have a Treo 270 and I love it. I think the 600 is even better but I am waiting for prices to come down. The only drawback with the Treo 270 is that it works here in Europe (GSM) since I got it in Amsterdam, but it does not work in the States, notably the SF Bay Area which I believe has a GSM network (T-Mobile? Verizon?). You might want to make sure the 600 is tri or quad band so you can use your phone in different countries.
Posted by: EsmeV | Sep 1, 2004 4:21:07 PM
If you have the BES setup, Nextel Blackberry service is instantanious e-mail delivery. You TX/RX as if you were on your desktop. No syncing is required, it's not something that has to be manually kicked off, nor is it a timed activity. When I read an e-mail on my BB unit, I will see my Outlook mark it open within 20 seconds. Reconciliation with the desktop as far as read/unread/deleted is continious as long as the unit is on. This is the difference between Nextel's BB service, and all the others.
You can set up folders to park, or move e-mail to.
I would agree that if you don't plan on using the other features I'd look elsewhere and save the premium. Having said that, once you go direct connect, you NEVER go back. Nextel's churn rate is not the lowest in the industry because their service is inexpensive. It's because this little feature becomes a can't live without deal quickly...
Posted by: Tony Alva | Sep 1, 2004 4:58:10 PM
BB...
several things from someone who knows too much...
lots of phones are coming out with BB on them, so BES will kick everyone's ass..
new forms coming out (narrower BB, camera BB)
you have choice of providers with BB (GSM ones will give you global coverage, but I know T and ATT/Cingular can suck) GSM, CDMA, Nextel
for constant email, BB keyboard is better (according to several colleagues who have both a t-600 and 7280).. for voice and camera, t-600 is better, but you sound like an email guy...
anyways.. I'm just having a great week... but i can understand if you might be a little depressed.. hopefully you are really depressed by november... cheers
Posted by: hey | Sep 1, 2004 6:51:59 PM
try the new IPaq. It would be interesting to know how the battery is. If you are looking for more of a phone than a PDA both Nokia and Siemens are launching blackberry devices (in Europe and they will be unlocked).
Posted by: alistair stobie | Sep 1, 2004 8:47:37 PM
Hands down .. TREO 600. No doubt about it.
(another easy choice - BUSH/CHENEY 04!) ;-)
Posted by: David | Sep 1, 2004 11:07:07 PM
I cannot recommend the Treo highly enough, though I must admit that my recommendation is heavily influenced by the combination of the Treo hardware and GoodLink software. Together I believe I have the best of all possible worlds. As Tony can with his Blackberry, I can see e-mail messages marked as read in Outlook seconds after I read them on my Treo and vice versa. I can also choose from a wide variety of third-party applications to do things that palmOne probably never planned. I've blogged about two of my favorites in these posts: pTunes Streaming and Treo Links.
Look forward to finding out what you decide.
Posted by: Coty Rosenblath | Sep 1, 2004 11:27:19 PM
Fred, call Jordie. Admittedly, he isn't the most sophisticated technologist, but he bought the Sidekick after meeting with the SBVC team and promptly returned it and went back to blackberry. Exchange sync is the key.
Posted by: B Bell | Sep 2, 2004 9:35:48 AM
Fred,
The Blackberry 7510 from Nextel is great. I've been using it for several months and love it. I haven't used Treo or Sidekick, so I can't compare. But I have no interest in even trying the others now that I've got this one.
The speakerphone really adds a new dimension (and the 7510 is the only one that has it...and Nextel is the only one that has the 7510...not sure why?). I wasn't sure how much I'd use it, but now that I have it I use it constantly. If you're driving its the best and safest way to talk, but even when not driving one of the big issues is that while you're talking you want to also use your PDA to schedule things, look up stuff or enter info during the conversation. Without a speakerphone you have to keep moving your phone from your ear to in front of you and back again. With the speakerphone you just hold it in front of you and use your device as you normally would while carrying on the conversation. Its not something I thought of until I started using it.
Also, I used to use an ASP (MI8.com) to host my BES. Its cheap, reliable and high functionality. I moved off of it b/c I didn't need it anymore, but its great for a small business that doesn't want to invest the resources to manage and upgrade their own BES. TCO makes it worthwhile.
Posted by: Dan Malven | Sep 2, 2004 10:38:36 AM
Well a couple of us nuts are waiting with bated breath for the hires Treo (Treo Ace/650). Rumors have been floating around for months, but pictures of the actual unit in action are out now and secret Sprint slides have the thing pegged at Oct release. That's what I'm saving my money for.
(another easy choice - jibjab all the way :)
Posted by: Derek | Sep 3, 2004 12:22:01 PM
Comes down to what your email choices are.
1. If you use POP/SMTP, then the Treo 600/650 is probably the best choice. Sidekick II looks good as well, but, having used the original Sidekick and handled the II, I think that it doesn't feel like a phone. What I like about the Treo: more software, feels like a phone.
2. If you are looking to move to Exchange, either internally or on an outsourced-basis (I personally recommend www.mailstreet.com for external Exchange and BB/Goodlink hosting), then you can go with either a BB device or a Treo.
Between the BB and Treo, here's my breakdown:
BB pros: great email tool - simply the best keyboard. Long battery life when compared to the Treo.
BB cons: not a great phone - and it doesn't feel like a phone. I feel like I'm holding a piece of wood to my head - but maybe I'll adjust. As for Nextel 7510 - that comes down to where you are and if your friends are on Nextel - because then the push-to-talk is worth it.
Treo pros: near-perfect form factor - 650 looks like it will fix any complaints I might have had - feels like a phone. Great selection of applications.
Treo cons: Shorter battery life, Exchange integration is a bit more expensive than BB (at least at MailStreet is costs much more to run Goodlink rather than BB). A good deal heavier than the BB - and there have been a lot of build problems with the Treo, but hopefully they work them out.
I can't have a Treo at work because they've already got a BB server - so I don't have much of a choice. But if I did, I'd get a Treo 650. I never buy the first generation of any device like this - but the 650 adds a better screen and bluetooth - those will make a good phone great. I'll also add that I haven't talked to a single person with the Treo that didn't love it.
Posted by: Damian | Sep 5, 2004 8:45:25 AM
I've been using combo pda / phone devices for about four years since the first Kyocrea came out. I've had the Treo 300, Kyocera 7135 (which i survived w/o it catching fire!), Samung's i500 and now a Treo 600. The Treo 600 is by far the best all-in-one device for voice , email and pda. I use Snapper Mail's imap client for email rather than GoodLink since I use ACT as my contact manager (GoodLink will not allow you to synch with a contact manager other than outlook). The Treo is just slightly bulkier than I'd like but it beats carrying two devices and the design is much sleeker than the a Blackberry's. All the other smartphones I've used have either been good at one or at best two of three functions you want - email, voice and pda - the Treo comes pretty close to being very good at all three. The camera isn't half bad either.
Posted by: gregg grossman | Sep 5, 2004 8:19:32 PM
If you are working in a Blackberry Enterprise software, or BES for short, environment. The Blackberry is far better than the Treo handsdown. The security level is 3DES, unmatched by the TREO. Who knows what types of viruses can be downloaded to the TREO thru attachment. Won't happen on a Blackberry. You couldn't pry mine out of my cold, dead, hands.
Posted by: Go Boy | Nov 25, 2004 2:20:37 PM
I'm a disorganized Smartphone neopyte on a budget looking at mostly Blackberry and Treo. Recently came across this Blog. So what is the latest?
I currently use Verizon with only a cel phone and have some time left on my contract but also have $100 credit toward my next phone with them and ready to invest a little more in my productivity. To date they only offer the Treo 600 and Blackbery 6750,7250,& 7750. Verizon's comparison info shows the Treo with the better battery and the only as "internet ready"(?) http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller.
My girl friend has a BB and I love the trackwheel and larger Qwerty keys but I would like the idea of third party apps for the Treo 600 (ugh, I wish Verizon would get the 650!).
The company I work for is small and doesn't even use Exchange though they have considered it recently. We run Windows 2000 Pro w/ Windows Server 2003. The boss uses a Treo 600 w/ Cingular is interested in BB but has never used one. There is a chance I won't be with this company long term as a variable, too.
Mostly I want to be able to sync Outlook, manage contacts and use both email and voice but I'd like to access the web to pay bills online and Google around.
Well I gotta run. I welcome all comments and I'm interested what you decided and how that's working out.
Thanks!
Posted by: Brian | Mar 16, 2005 8:13:45 AM
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