Goodbye Blackberry

I have been a Blackberry user for about 7 years. 

I got my first one, the pager style, back in mid '98, at the suggestion of Seth Goldstein.

It changed my life, both for better and for worse.  But wireless email, calendar, and contacts has allowed me to do things I'd never have been able to do.

I kept 850 for a couple years and upgraded to the PDA style 857 in mid 2000.  I stuck with that device for about four years.  It was everything I ever wanted, except it didn't have a phone.

That became a bit of a problem for me when I started to realize the value of having a phone integrated into the Blackberry.  So last year, I decided to take the plunge and get an integrated phone/PDA.  That prompted the "advice please" post that generated almost 20 comments and uncounted emails, all with great advice.

I thought very seriously about the Danger Sidekick and the Treo 600, but in the end I couldn't abandon my beloved Blackberry and so I went with the 7100T.  I got one for myself and one for the Gotham Gal. 

The 7100t is a great device if you don't mind the keyboard with two letters per key and the predictive typing software. I found it easy to use. The Gotham Gal hated it.

So she left the blackberry fold and went with the Treo 650 and she loves it.

My friend Matt Blumberg told me back when I wrote the advice please post that the best solution is the Treo plus the Good Link software. Our hosted email provider started offering Good Link and this week, I moved all my stuff over to them.  And my Blackberry server didn't go with it.

So I am off the Blackberry for the first time in over 7 years.  I'll miss it for sure because it always worked, never crashed, and helped me get stuff done wherever and whenever.  It was a great relationship.

But I am excited about the Treo 650 with GoodLink.  I like the camera, I like the phone, and I like GoodLink so far.

I'll let you know how this new relationship turns out.

Comments

[Michael Parekh]

I had that exact same choice a year ago, and did the same thing, getting 7100t for me and for my wife.

I've been looking at the 650/Goodlink combination for some months now, especially for her because her PC work totally revolves around Microsoft Office and Goodlink is supposed to do that really well.

Also, she likes the Palm UI more than I do, being a Blackberry user almost since the beginning.

Curious how you like the shift...especially the details and nuances of using the combo...look forward to the posts.

[jackson]

You've come a long way from the green rotary phone on the wall in the kitchen at 68-b Schofield....Imagine being on the phone, and not being able to walk into another room...

[JayR]

I use the Treo 600 with the Goodlink service and I generally like it a lot, except that I think the keyboard is too cramped for my less-than-nimble fingers (so much so that my signature line says "I'm using a Treo so please excuse the typos"). I did manage to solve this problem to some extent by buying a wireless foldout keyboard attachment from Staples for about $70, which I think is very helpful for train and plane travel. It's a very thin keyboard that folds up for storage to about the size of a small memo pad. You have to turn your Treo signal off while you use the keyboard, but then you put the keyboard away, turn your signal back on and your messages get sent. I'm pretty long-winded on e-mail, so I find it really useful.

[Tony Alva]

Yes, keep us geeks posted on how the conversion goes. With our companies planned merger with Sprint I'll probably have a chance to go with a device other than Blackberry at some point. I'm kind of a "don't monkey with something that works extremely well" and my "old" Blackberry 7510 never fails. I'll take the stability and the speaker phone over the other gadgets (camera, games, etc...) any day.

Well, if I CAN have it all, then I should, shouldn't I?

[David Gilford]

As a fellow 857 user (for approx. 4 years), I know how it feels to switch. I started using a Treo 600 last year, and after some initial adjustment pains, I've been very happy with it. Well, apart from the battery life (the old Blackberry would go for a week, vs. charging the Treo every night).

I've heard good (and a few bad) things about Good, so I'll be interested to hear how you like it. For push email on my Treo, I've been using a much cheaper alternative:

[Mike D.]

Oh yes, the Treo is definitely where it's at. I find I get all the functionality I need without GoodLink, but that could be a T-Mobile thing... I don't know. $4.99 a month for unlimited data though... you can't beat that.

[David Gilford]

Mike D.: I agree. I also use the unlimited $4.99 T-Mobile data package in conjunction with Chatter Email and an IMAP server. (I'd included a link to chatteremail.com in my previous post but must have messed up, as it didn't appear). Unlike most Treo email software, it feels like a Blackberry with the asynchronous sending and receiving (and it'll even blink the LED when new emails arrive).

[Christopher Carfi]

Fred...you say your hosted email provider started offering GoodLink this week. Who's your provider?