tell me about Blackberries! good and bad.

[Meglet]

I have been thinking about getting a blackberry phone. Does anyone have one, I need the pro's and con's.

I don't have a laptop so really want the blackberry for checking my e-mails without having to faff about turning the pc on and want to access my internet banking and mumsnet on it too. Does it work for all this stuff?

thanks

[Mung]

As a wife of a man with a blackberry...I hate them . Its too easy to check your emails all the time...however constant access to MN at all times sounds quite handy .

[Meglet]

I was thinking I could hide in the loo and MN when the DC's are driving me round the bend.

Have just become a single mum so I'm not going to annoy anyone with it, plus I am back to work in the summer so could do with being ruthlessly organised.

[silverfrog]

dh has one, and it's ok.

he has a fairly recent model, but not the latest.

using the internet is a bit of a pian, tbh. the layout is not brilliant, and it tkes a bit of getting used to.

my phone (Sony one, not sure of model number, but might be C905 or similar) handles the internet better imo, but doesn't have as good a keyboard (but also has better camera - handy for always having a decent camera with you on days out - the camera is actually better than our small digital camera!)

[ChopsTheDuck]

internet banking depends on your bank. I cna access lloydstsb on mine.
I can also mn on it, but it's rather hard work. I think it you plan on surfing a lot something with a bigger screen like an itouch might be better. But they don't have instant email sychronisation I don't think.

I love mine, have the pearl 8130 I think it is. Make sure you choose one with wifi unless you are going for a plan with unlimited data useage. Actually I recomend a wifi one anyway, as it is far quicker for the net that using data.

Emails on it are great, and the diary/calandar thing. I flushed my last one down the loo and was lost for weeks!

The pearl is nice because it is smaller and looks more liek a conventional phone. Since it does have a semi qwerty keyboard it is possible to get quite quick at typing on it, though it makes my fingers ache if I spend too much time on there.

I'd never go back to a standard phone, but one word of warning, they are extrememly addictive. DP keeps moaning at me when it constantly going off in the evenigns.

[ChopsTheDuck]

I think the layout in the old blackberrys is worse, because it puts things in columns order. The newer ones like the pearl do have the option for a normal page view like you would on a computer screen, but then you have to do a lot of scrollign around when you consider the size of the screen on some bbs.

[JohnnyTwoHats]

If you ring someone without a blackberry there is a sinister silence for a few seconds at the other person's end of the phone. Which can trigger Blackberry Rage. Tis true, I have witnessed it!

[thisisyesterday]

agree with mung. dp has one and i HATE it.

you can access internet on it... dp checks his e-mails all the time, but it's very small and faffy and I certainly wouldn't want to use it a lot for MN and stuff like that.

in fact, dp also has a tiny netbook (acer inspire one) which is teeeeeeeny tiny and super-cheap and I keep it at home sometimes for the exact reasons you state. but even that isn't particularly nice to use a lot

[fleacircus]

Oh dear, I am such a Luddite that I genuinely came on this thread to share my crumble recipe...

[ChopsTheDuck]

If it makes you feel better, I did think it was about the fruit to start with too, and own a bb!

[ohdearwhatamess]

Dh has one and I hate it. It rules his life and puts him at the beck and call of clients and colleagues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (often working in different time zones). He can't put the thing down, and goes into another world.

Good for checking emails, if you want to do that, and as a diary. Not great for other internet stuff, imo.

A netbook is much better.

[snickersnack]

A slightly different perspective ? dh and I both have them for work. I actually really appreciate it ? it means I can be much more flexible in terms of when I?m in the office. If I need or want to leave to get home for bedtime, or because one of the dcs is ill, I can do. Without a BB my phone would be constantly ringing ? I find it much less intrusive to be able to just check occasionally and send the odd email. I agree the internet function isn?t great (on mine ? think it?s better on newer ones) but I can MN quite happily! I have also set it up so I can read personal emails on Gmail separately, which I find helpful.

[Meglet]

I was going to get one of the older models for free on my mobile network but reading this I might splash out on a newer one. I'll have to pester my friends to let me have a go on theirs to see how good they are.

[Meglet]

Update! I have my blackberry now and can Mumsnet very happily.it's VERY complicated though, so many applications to figure out.