Blackberry as a phone...
Blackberry as a phone...
Author
Discussion

minnsy

Original Poster:

415 posts

296 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
About to possibly change networks (from Orange) to network that provides Blackberry, as running business means staying in touch at all times (and all that...). Any first hand experience or feedback on how good they are?

Mucho appreciated.

CedA4

2,538 posts

283 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
You Are NEVER alone,
so it could work for you. Mine seems slow sometimes due to lack of ommmph, And has this irritating nack of stopping for a few seconds and then trying to catch up after you.

StuB

6,695 posts

268 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
We use quite a few and don't really have problems.

Attachments are a pain due to the screen size, but normal mail etc. is fine.

Works o.k. as a phone too, but looks a bit naff.

Newer style look more like phones than the older black things.

T5-R

434 posts

255 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
Don't have any first hand experience with one, but my boss uses one along with his mobile phone. From what I've seen it can be very useful if you need to be contactable at all times and to keep abrest of your emails, etc... On the other hand you get bugger all peace and quiet and because of that, I think they're evil.

Fingers crossed my company doesn't want me to have one. If they do, the Blackberry will quickly find itself at the bottom of a deep, dark body of water.

dick dastardly

8,326 posts

292 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
If it's of any interest some sales reps from O2 knocked on our office the other day and said that they're now giving away free ones to new business customers

_DeeJay_

5,057 posts

283 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
minnsy said:
About to possibly change networks (from Orange) to network that provides Blackberry, as running business means staying in touch at all times (and all that...). Any first hand experience or feedback on how good they are?

Mucho appreciated.



How about a phone with blackberry capabilities? It'll all depend on which you use most (i.e. the trade off between a large screen/keyboard and a more slender device).

IMHO, the larger Blackberry devices actually make a decent phone (for having conversations on, not playing with fancy ring tones etc) but they're bulky.

gibo993

966 posts

294 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
Buy a Treo 650 about a zillion times batter as both Phone and eMail device.(plus it can do a million other things, anything a Palm can do, including SatNav on it!!)

I have used both extensively and I would happily chuck the blacberry in the bin!!!

just my 2p

ErnestM

11,621 posts

296 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
minnsy said:
About to possibly change networks (from Orange) to network that provides Blackberry, as running business means staying in touch at all times (and all that...). Any first hand experience or feedback on how good they are?

Mucho appreciated.



Just don't get one of those bluetooth ear microphone things. You'll walk around looking like a borg (or a tt - choose one).


ErnestM

chris.mapey

4,778 posts

296 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
Biggest P.O.S. ever had...

I took out a contract with T-mobile to get a 7100t Blackberry, ideal for my needs I thought... emails & phone.

First one lasted 4 days before buzzing in the earpiece during calls.

Next one lasted 48 hours before developing the above.

The one after that lasted 3 weeks before buzzing (as above)

The replacement one developed the great habit of freezing (& buzzing during calls) - all looked healthy at first glance, then you think: mmm I've not had a call or an email for a while -the handset has locked up. Have to remove the battery to restart & in cone the 200 emails I have to deal with and I find that my voice mail is full owing to the number of missed calls....

I would not recommend one to my worst enemy....if you need to rely on the handset, then don't get one.

Mine is going on fleabay, as T mobile have replaced it again, and I'm using an old Nokia for voice calls.

(Maybe its just my BatFink like ears, but EVERY BlackBerry I've used for voice calls adds a hum / buzz in the background of the call - mine just got worse & worse, until I could hear the noise of the phone pinging the cell through its speaker...)

Happy to help,

Chris

off_again

13,917 posts

263 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all
They dont call them "crackberries" for nothing

But, as mentioned as a phone they just arent up to what we are used to. They are better and the new ones are what we are used to from a couple of years ago. But the email part works well so it depends on what you are looking for.

To be honest I did some work for a large FTSE 100 company who were rolling out Blackberries to staff. In their tests they just werent happy with using a BB as a phone! Even though it was much more cost, they actually recommended to have a phone and a BB - even though the company was / is / continuing to save a lot of money.....Doesnt sound much, but when they are looking at giving out 2500 of the flippin' things, it quickly adds up as Vodafone (supplier to said FTSE company) runs the BB and phone on two separate contracts!

Personally, I would do the same. A phone as a phone and a BB for email and that interweb thingy.

P.S. Dont have a BB and wont. Dont see the need and I will be contactible when "I" want..... well thats the dream world that I live in at least...

Gulliver

673 posts

263 months

Thursday 11th August 2005
quotequote all

Yes have both phone and BB.

The BB is great for mail no question, but a very bad phone.

You really need the two separately me think