Blackberry: Have one or don't have one? Love it or hate it?

[reveal]

If you don't know what a Blackberry is, check here: http://www.blackberry.com/products/blackberry/index.shtml?DCPID=hmpchosen

If you do, the question is then, do you have one? I am being forced, for this week only, to carry one around. I find the whole concept quite ludicrous. Is it that important that you be able to be contacted anywhere at anytime? I understand some professions, like doctor or fireman, need to be on call for life threatening emergencies. But, seriously, who else really needs one of these things? It just feels like I'm expected to drop everything I'm doing to answer a stupid e-mail.

If you do have one, do you like it or not? Has it been foisted upon you as it has upon me? Or are you truly glad to have it?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Did have one and did not use it that much, it was just replaced with a Treo 650, which I love. I was told to upgrade but I think the true reason was they know I am a tech geek and would be available to help them (bosses) understand how to use it.

 

[Greylock]

Blackberry - Don't have one and have no intention of ever getting one.

Same goes for cell phones, cable teevee, the Nintendo machine, I-Pods.

Or CB radio, car phones, Walkman devices, Pong.

Teevee's larger than 16" scare me.

Vinyl sounds better.

Yet I have a PC.

Go figger.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I have one and I have a love-hate relationship with it. It means I end up doing less work at home on my laptop which is a good thing, but the expectation is that you will respond to emails quicker etc if you have one. It's also very addictive, hence the Crackberry moniker.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Krieg]

Don't kid yourself.

He's not.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I've had a Crackberry for much of the last year. It's become quite necessary to keep up with work on the go, with all the travel I've had. Though my wife looks at me askance when it buzzes on the weekend, or in the evening, and I immediately reach for it ...

As PDAs go, though, my Palm 515 was a much more usable and all-purpose device, but the email and voice is what I carry the Crackberry for, and my Palm doesn't have that capability. Were I buying on my own, I'd have gotten a Treo or similar Palm-OS device.

Ironically, I still carry my laptop for work travel, plus my personal cell phone for personal calls, and now an mp3 player for entertainment on the road, so the Blackberry hasn't saved me much in carry on weight.

 

[Felon]

What kind of Blackbery are you getting? Some are just text-messagers. Mine has the built-in cellphone, speakerphone, and walkie-talkie. It's a fun little toy designed to make sure the IT guy can come running to the courtroom at a moment's notice. The system fails in a very Dilbertesque way, because none of the dumb- administrative flunkies can figure out how to use their BB's, or even their email. I come back to the office and find a phone loaded with pleading voices and just shake my head in disgust (I learned long ago not to advertise my BB phone number--I'd never get any work done).

 

[Ketjak]

Were I buying on my own, I'd have gotten a Treo or similar Palm-OS device.

Ironically, I still carry my laptop for work travel, plus my personal cell phone for personal calls, and now an mp3 player for entertainment on the road, so the Blackberry hasn't saved me much in carry on weight.

That's the reason I bought my Treo 600 - needed a PDA for work, needed a phone for work, and I recalled pockets stuffed with electronics, inconvenient air travel, and so forth. I have never regretted it - Treos are MP3 players, (bad) cameras, phones, PDAs, wireless Internet devices, (poor-quality) movie cameras, voice recorders, and (simple) game machines.

- Ket

 

[Nareau]

My boss got a BB, and I've played with it some. I hate the thing. It's ugly, bulky, and black and white.

I've got a Treo 600, and am pretty happy with it. It does everything I want it to extremely poorly. I'm excited about some of the newer devices coming out, but I'm waiting for my "perfect" device: QVGA screen, wi-fi, bluetooth, Sprint, EVDO, SD or MS Pro Duo memory, Windows OS. VPN support. A RDP client that can toggle between "actual pixels" and "fit to screen" modes. Reverse-DUN (so I can use it as a wireless modem for my bluetooth-enabled laptop). NES emulator, mp3 and divx playback, good VOIP software.

The Audiovox 6600 is almost there, but has a few shortcomings. I watch Engadget.com every day, waiting for something really solid to come to the US.

Spider