I have a BB 7100t. Its the smaller one that doubles up the letters on keys so that it is the size of a cell phone. Its primary function for me is as a cell phone. I get my email and can reply, but it takes some getting used to and I don't send any lengthy responses. It does get the job done and I like it a lot. My service is through T Mobile however, not verizon.......kj

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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax

I have a Cingular Treo 650 and live out of it. I send and receive over 500 text messages a month. It is hard for me to hear on the phone so I use an ear bud but that still doesn't get it done.

In general, the Treo is a great device. I use the planner software extenisvely, especially the calender and task lists. There is an updated list of outstanding bike orders on my Treo so I can look at what bikes are on order as synced from my desktop a few times a day and that is an important resource. Customers are used to seeing me run around with the thing in my hand simultaneoulsy texting and talking on the phone and then pulling up a memo with a bike price list on it or checking on a customer bike order with a vendor. It is a very useful device.

That said, the internet browsing capability is poor as is the e-mail capability. Spam destroys your ability to use it for E-Mail so I stick to my desktop for the 1600+ emails we receive every 24 hours, of which maybe 50 are actually valid business e-mails. The rest is junk mail.

I have no experience with the Blackberry but my attorney Pete is always connected to his. He swears by it.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I think either way you go you will be fine. I have the BB - and love it. My friend uses the Treo and swears by it. We are both techies - so pick your poison.

OT but are you not filtering your email? There is no reason to wade through 1600 a day for 50.

I'm in the same boat. I'd like PC compatibility (like excel, word, etc) on my BB, but life goes on.

Thanks - I know this should not be on the tri forum but I f#ck'd up when I logged in. Thanks again for the feedback!

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Brian Shea
http://www.PersonalBestNutrition.com
Open-Water/Masters Swimming at the Jersey Shore:
Monmouth County NJ Ocean Swim/Masters Workouts

BB if you have an Exchange server. If you don't, it is a toss up. I used to be a Palm person but the BB is the "one" device that I have used the longest w/o issue.

I can go both ways on this one. I have a Blackberry. It's great for e-mail, particularly if you use it in a corporate environment with a corpoarate server setup. I can get and send e-mail almost anywhere in the world just like I am sitting at my desk. Clients don't know if I sent the message from my desk or the beach ;-) My BB is mirrors my desktop inbox, contacts, calendar in real time. If it happens on one, it is on the other almost instantly. This is what really gets corporate users hooked on the BB. The little keyboard is very easy to type on. You can access the internet but it is very slow. OK to look up something specific but way too slow to surf unless you are killing time in an airport (although I did follow the live updates of the Tour at a swim meet this weekend).

On the flip side, I'm a long time Palm user and I am not very impressed with the calendar and contact functions on the BB compared to Palm but they do synch up in real time with my desktop. Again, this is very cool in a corporate environment but not of much use if you are just a lone wolf. There are about a million programs available for the Palm so it is a much more useful devise if you are after more than e-mail. I still use my Plam even though I have the BB. Because of my love of the Palm OS, I still wonder if a Treo would have been more useful overall even though for pure e-mail use, the BB is probably better.

We use Qurb, but I still have to go through the spam to see what is in there. Only approved senders get into our "In" box. As a result, an unapproved sender cannot really e-mail us.

We had to do this after e-mail delivered viruses destroyed three computers here.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

BB addict.....

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

So what are the "must have" ad-ons for the Treo?

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

Been recently investigating the same thing, but on Cingular network.

BB would end up costing more in month fees, as Cingular as an extra BB Data charge for the push email service. Then you have to get the mobile internet too. Treo would just use normal internet access for email.

Personally like the look and feel of the BB better, but would mostly use the device for calender, contact, schedule, etc. I'm not sold on either, plus, this little bad boy is coming out next year (eventhough its MSM): http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2005/07/25/moto-q

Couple good resources I have been using for my "investigations"
www.treocentral.com
www.blackberryforums.com

Good luck

-bcreager
www.blackberryforums.com

I have the Treo 650. My overall impression is that it is great for somethings, terrible for others. The phone is difficult to hear, so be prepared to use a headset. Be prepared to reset the OS every now and then - they don't make the stylus the perfect size for resetting for nothing. This is a common experience for most users in my office. Palm is coming out with a new OS that should take care of a lot of the problems (or so I've heard.) I've got mine integrated with my work Outlook account, and sending and receiving email is a breeze. Video camera is a nice feature, but not the highest quality - my kids have lots of fun with it though. I don't use the palm calendar or contacts because we use a program called goodlink that imports outlook calendar and contacts.

Biggest drawback? Besides the buggy OS? Verizon customer service. It's appalling...or at least that has been my experience.