Do you check your email more than three times a day?

Have you ever checked your email when you awoke in the middle of the night?

Has Coffee and Internet replaced Coffee and Newspaper in the morning?

Do you receive more than a dozen emails a day?

If you answer yes to one or more of these questions, then the RIM Blackberry is for you. I have a Palm V, but I have not used it since I received my Blackberry. I used my Palm mostly for phone number lookups, and the Blackberry is simply quicker and easier to use. It is smaller and fits right on your belt.

Coverage:

It works in large cities and small towns and even in between. The coverage is much better on the East Coast, but I was surprised to find that it works in small places like Huntington, WV and most of the way on the drive to Charleston, WV. Larger cities like Atlanta, Tampa, Charlotte and New York are no problem, including the suburbs.

Data Entry:

The tiny keyboard takes some getting used to, but I have found that it is pretty intuitive and with the AutoText feature, you can type pretty fast. AutoText allows you to enter abbreviations and have them complete words (or even sentences). You can type in contractions minus the apostrophe and it will automatically correct the word. It also capitalizes the first word of each sentence. AutoText is fully editable.

Other Features:

Task List, Memo Pad, Calendar and address book sync with MS Outlook on your PC. You can enter addresses, appointments or tasks and they transfer to Blackberry and Outlook using the serial connector included with Blackberry. Looking up a name is a breeze! Bring up the address book and start typing the name. First name or last name. The list grows smaller with each letter you enter.

Thumb Wheel:

The thumb wheel is a really neat invention. It rolls and clicks, allowing you to scroll and select with your thumb. After a few minutes using this little gem, you will wonder why Palm has not moved to this for input. You simply roll the wheel down a menu or email list and press down on the wheel to select. When reading an email, you use the wheel to scroll down the message.

If a message is rather long, the Blackberry will receive a portion of the message and if you want to read more, simply press the thumb wheel and scroll to "more". It will download another chunk of the message.

It works on an airplane when you are within a few thousand feet of the ground, so it will download email messages when you are landing (I know, it should be turned off. There is even a menu item to turn off the 2-way).

It would be really neat if I could connect the Blackberry to my laptop and download email attachments, but, alas, these are unreadable on the Blackberry and can not be saved to the laptop. Likewise, it would be great to be able to transmit messages composed on the laptop, like in a car or in the airport, but this is not possible. But I can live with that.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 299