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Device ReviewCreated: May, 2000RIM Blackberry -- Internet Edition
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MORE INFO
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If you're more concerned about your e-mail
than your voice mail and have been waiting impatiently for a
wireless data device -- your prayers have been answered.
Research in Motion's Blackberry, Internet Edition, is an e-mail-based go-anywhere pager that can send and receive e-mail across a Mobitex network.
That's the BellSouth Wireless Data in the United States and Rogers AT&T Wireless in Canada.
Even though it's only the size of a bar of soap, this device features a small back-lit six or eight-line LCD display, a keyboard and wheel navigator for moving across the screen. Its brain is an Intel 386 chip. Newly arrived e-mail trickles into the device at 9600 bits per second.
That's a snail's pace by today's zippy wired connection standards -- but given that most e-mails are only a few kilobytes in size and that the device alerts you only when the full message has arrived, the speed really doesn't matter.
Composing e-mail is achieved with a click of a corner-mounted roller (which works like the roller on new Internet mice). The keyboard is micro-sized, but surprisingly easier to use than a keypad on a cellular phone. One-handed e-mail composition is actually possible, since the device is optimized to work with a dexterous thumb as the device sits in your palm.
Nimble fingers can also be used, though not to compose lengthy tomes. To receive e-mail on the device, it has to be sent to an assigned e-mail account like somename@myblackberry.net.
Popular e-mail programs such as Microsoft Outlook mail can be configured to copy all mail to the Blackberry address, so you get copies anywhere you go. The device also sports a contact list, a search function, a notepad and calendar and "to do" lists. It can be synchronized with a desk-top computer through an included desk-top port. It can synchronize with personal management programs Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Schedule, Symantec ACT! or Lotus Organizer.
When mail arrives, it alerts you by beeping, vibrating (or both) or with a silent on-screen message. This can be set to work one way when in its belt holder or outside it. It's frugal with power, using a single AA battery over two weeks and shows power available with an on-screen indicator.
Another nice feature is a sleep mode that turns the device off while you sleep and back on in the morning at predefined times. An airplane mode also allows a flyer to turn the transmitter off when the flight attendants ask for devices to be shut off during take-off and landing.
It's hard to find anything bad to say about the Blackberry. It would be nice if it supported POP3 mail, so that the device could call your existing mail server for e-mail data. It also has to be manually adjusted and re-initialized when you cross the border between Canada and the United States, but that's not overly complicated.
Message deletion, which has to be done one at a time, is also a bit of a chore. The e-mails are listed by day, so you can select a day header and delete all previous messages.
It would be nice to be able to mark select messages and then "delete selected." The screen could also use a little glare control. All these are minor issues.
This is a great gizmo that no road warrior should go without.
Reviewer's rating: 4.5 / 5
Comments: The mobile messaging benefits provided by Research in Motion's Blackberry 950 vastly overshadow the downsides. E-mail junkies will love it.
System requirements: 486 or higher desk-top PC. Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 4.0 with 16 MB.
More info: http://www.blackberry.net
Price: Canada: $299 with 24-month contract, $399 with 12-month contract. Air time is $25 to $50 per month. U.S.: $399 plus $39.99 to $48.99 monthly air time fee. $20 activation fee for additional paging services.
Research in Motion's Blackberry, Internet Edition, is an e-mail-based go-anywhere pager that can send and receive e-mail across a Mobitex network.
That's the BellSouth Wireless Data in the United States and Rogers AT&T Wireless in Canada.
Even though it's only the size of a bar of soap, this device features a small back-lit six or eight-line LCD display, a keyboard and wheel navigator for moving across the screen. Its brain is an Intel 386 chip. Newly arrived e-mail trickles into the device at 9600 bits per second.
That's a snail's pace by today's zippy wired connection standards -- but given that most e-mails are only a few kilobytes in size and that the device alerts you only when the full message has arrived, the speed really doesn't matter.
Composing e-mail is achieved with a click of a corner-mounted roller (which works like the roller on new Internet mice). The keyboard is micro-sized, but surprisingly easier to use than a keypad on a cellular phone. One-handed e-mail composition is actually possible, since the device is optimized to work with a dexterous thumb as the device sits in your palm.
Nimble fingers can also be used, though not to compose lengthy tomes. To receive e-mail on the device, it has to be sent to an assigned e-mail account like somename
Popular e-mail programs such as Microsoft Outlook mail can be configured to copy all mail to the Blackberry address, so you get copies anywhere you go. The device also sports a contact list, a search function, a notepad and calendar and "to do" lists. It can be synchronized with a desk-top computer through an included desk-top port. It can synchronize with personal management programs Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Schedule, Symantec ACT! or Lotus Organizer.
When mail arrives, it alerts you by beeping, vibrating (or both) or with a silent on-screen message. This can be set to work one way when in its belt holder or outside it. It's frugal with power, using a single AA battery over two weeks and shows power available with an on-screen indicator.
Another nice feature is a sleep mode that turns the device off while you sleep and back on in the morning at predefined times. An airplane mode also allows a flyer to turn the transmitter off when the flight attendants ask for devices to be shut off during take-off and landing.
It's hard to find anything bad to say about the Blackberry. It would be nice if it supported POP3 mail, so that the device could call your existing mail server for e-mail data. It also has to be manually adjusted and re-initialized when you cross the border between Canada and the United States, but that's not overly complicated.
Message deletion, which has to be done one at a time, is also a bit of a chore. The e-mails are listed by day, so you can select a day header and delete all previous messages.
It would be nice to be able to mark select messages and then "delete selected." The screen could also use a little glare control. All these are minor issues.
This is a great gizmo that no road warrior should go without.
Reviewer's rating: 4.5 / 5
Comments: The mobile messaging benefits provided by Research in Motion's Blackberry 950 vastly overshadow the downsides. E-mail junkies will love it.
System requirements: 486 or higher desk-top PC. Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 4.0 with 16 MB.
More info: http://www.blackberry.net
Price: Canada: $299 with 24-month contract, $399 with 12-month contract. Air time is $25 to $50 per month. U.S.: $399 plus $39.99 to $48.99 monthly air time fee. $20 activation fee for additional paging services.
