Blackberry users, help tech challenged DUer decide if she really could use one

[treestar]

I'm thinking it could be helpful, but not sure.

Can you always get online?

Also, can you read documents, like word documents? I have efax - could I read something that has been faxed to me? Can you download programs like that?

Can you upload your documents to say Google Documents and then read them while out?

How much does it cost per month, and is it worth it?

[Chan790]

1. I love mine...

though I admit it was a vanity purchase in retrospect. The only place I can't get online is in the subway. It's handy to have my email to my phone. I'm not sure about your google docs or eFax. Generally, it handles style sheets well...I haven't tried anything more complex. I can access my gmail from the web browser though, I can facebook and it will handle most non-complex (i.e. no flash) webpages well...so I don't see either of those being an issue. If you can read the email, I'd think the fax would be readable as well as long as it was in the body of the email and not an attachment in a proprietary format.

It has a notebook function which can be used to handle documents and media sync makes it easy to move content (photos, docs, sound files) from my laptop to my phone. Composing documents is a breeze with the full keypad. You can find an application to perform most things.

I pay just under $70 for 400 minutes, free nights and weekends, 400 SMS/Emails and unlimited data transfer but I get a discount through the Freelancer's Union. I can move up to unlimited messages for $10 more.

[treestar]

2. Thanks! So you can upload your documents?

That makes it valuable.

Efaxes are attachments, yet maybe one can download the program. I'll look into that.

[Chan790]

3. Yes...though I can never remember how to open them from memory...

I just emailed myself an attachment though...a Word .doc file and it opens and reads perfectly so the phone has the capacity to open and handle documents.

[crispini]

4. Get an iPhone

Seriously, they are way, way easier to use than the Blackberry. Although I have to admit, when I had my Blackberry, it was an older one, so they may have improved somewhat.

[treestar]

7. What specifically is easier?

I need user friendly, that's for sure.

[crispini]

10. Everything.

I couldn't figure out how to use the mail or connect to the internet on my Blackberry without a deep dive into the user manual. I had just had an iPhone so I just took the Blackberry back. The iPhone is very intuitive to me.

[suninvited]

5. It's fairly simple to use

I can't get online at home at times, because I have such a poor signal way out in the country, so that was a disappointment.

I downloaded yahoo maps, and use that as a makeshift GPS instead of paying Verizon for their GPS service.

I pay $114. a month, 400 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited data transfer.

I can read documents, you have to do a download to be able to use excel documents. I can upload from my blackberry and use it to upload photos to Flickr. I used to have dialup at home, so I used my blackberry for all my uploads and downloads and then attached to my computer and put my downloads on my computer that way.

[treestar]

8. Thanks for the input!

This kind of thing is always not down my alley!

[texas1928]

6. I love mine, I won't go back to another flip phone again.

And there are programs so you can read docs and the like.

You will become addicted. I have.

And with Sprint I get unlimited minutes to other sprint users which is great since all my family is on sprint. and the blackberry to blackberry texting is awesome, my wife and I chat all day.

[treestar]

9. Sounds great!

thanks :hi:

[MajorChode]

11. I had one, hated it, gave it to another manager

It's not that it was hard to use, I just didn't see the worth in it, but my attitude is that I refuse to sell my soul to the company.

I only check my email twice per day at work and sometimes only once. If something is urgent, I will get a call. If the technology works for you, go for it, but in my case it was simply robbing time in which I could use to do more productive things so I saw it as little more than a toy and a distraction. However, I was kind of biased against them in the first place because they piss me off when I'm in a meeting and several people's crackberries are going off and they are constantly checking their messages and distracting others.