I've been using a Blackberry for the past 3 years, and I have to tell you, it's one of the best business tools I have. I have AT&T, I used the Blackberry 8800 model until just recently, now I have the new Bold 9000. I like it for a number of reasons: - I can cut and past text from email to my calendar, or any other application (can't do that with an iPhone) - it views word, excel, power point, and pdf documents, and also allows me to create and edit them - there's a wealth of information available in the Contacts, and it's great to be able to just type in the name of a client and call them up, or look at their history - I LOVE the instantaneous email push! I can read pianotech postings immediately or clients' requests for information. When I'm out in the field, I can return emails between jobs using the QWERTY keyboard with no trouble at all. - Notes, tasks, reminders, all are available and customizable - I take a picture of the piano with my camera phone at client's homes and make it the picture that pops up when they call me. It's really useful when you see the name of a caller and you can't quite remember what their piano looks like or what you did there last. This creates instant recognizability and is a nice substitue for trying to take an awkward face picture of your clients! - My Blackberry has a turn by turn GPS program, plus I downloaded Google Maps with assisted GPS. I use them for EVERYTHING. I keep a map in my trunk for emergencies, but have never had to pull it out. - Full HTML internet surfing makes on the go surfing a breeze (and imbedded links in email open right up in my browser). I don't need to be connected to an access point, its just dials in and goes very fast! It's also Wi-Fi capable. The only two disadvantages that I've come across are minimal. Yes, I suppose you're putting you eggs in one basket, but I think it sure beats carrying around a second electronic device! What a pain! Travel lightly! If you're worried about losing data, all blackberries have system data backup functionality and sync functionality. I sync my calendar and contacts with Google and Microsoft Outlook so I'm sure not to lose any data. The only other problem I've come across is trying to talk on myphone with a client while I try to schedule them in my calendar. Using a bluetooth ear piece or putting your client on speaker phone while you look at the calendar screen has alway worked though. That's my two cents. -Ben Ben Gac, RPT Ben's Piano Tuning (708) 660-9331 - office (630) 291-5654 - mobile www.benspianotuning.com ben at benspianotuning.com List, I came in on this discussion late. My Dell Axim 5, which has been absolutely dependable for the past 5 yrs is finally showing signs of dying. I too am in the market to consider other options. I was wondering if anyone out there has anything to say about the Blackberry route. I'm seriously considering combining the phone and pda into one platform, however not with reservations. I personally like having 2 separate devices for the obvious reason of not putting too many eggs in one basket. However when I went shopping for a new PDA I was shocked to see that the typical "old school" pda is quickly becoming extinct. There were hardly any to be found. I quickly realized that the industry was pushing their might on us and telling us that our options will be on their terms from this point forward. We have our cell phone service with Verizon and now am looking at the what's available. I looked at the Palm devices, which I like. But I really liked the Blackberry platform much better. The Blackberry Storm really has caught my attention, but would like to hear comments of those already using it as to whether I should continue down this route. Any suggestions would be most welcomed. Tom Servinsky -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090110/67f4a84e/attachment.html>
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