Looks Like It Is Goodbye...Sort Of....

[stevetaz]

Hi All:

Well, Palm has shot itself in the foot for the final time as far as my company is concerned. After almost four years of trying to make it work for us, they have decided to make the move over to Crackberry.

While my device has been pretty stable for most of the past three years it is because I worked at it. Most executives don't want to work at getting a device like a phone or even a "smart"phone to do what they bought it for. They expect it to perform as advertised. THAT IS WHY THEY BOUGHT IT. I am a bit of a geek and don't mind working at it a bit, but it is getting silly.

As well as mine has done, I recently began experiencing major problems, probably due to corrupted Versamail databases, but after really having no troubles for the three years, why is it happening repeatedly lately? I clean it out, reset, blah, blah, blah. Third party software may have solutions, but why can't this manufacturer get it right out of the box? I have had to hard reset three times in the last two weeks and sure enough, an hour after the email was sent about changing to Crackberrys my 650 crashed again! It must know....

Anyway, I would like to extend my thanks to all of you for putting up with me and my occasional (ha, ha) sarcastic wit. Many of you have been the reason that I have been able to keep it going for as long as I have, but there is no choice now.

I said "Goodbye...Sort Of" in the title because I am considering purchasing a Centro for my daughter since the all-in-one-for-one-price plans have been introduced and Amazon has a free Centro with a new plan.

In any case I will check in periodically just to see what is going on and maybe I will post something if I remember how the 650 works a month from now.

I have signed up for the everythingBerry site, but I must say the activity over there is almost nothing. I wonder if that is because there is much less need to look for help to keep things working?

All the best to all you members and mods and thanks to you Chris for giving us this forum.



<sigh>
SteveTaz

[Kreth]

Sorry to hear that, Steve. You've been a great contributor here. Hopefully someday we can recalim you from the dark side.

[benjie]

Good luck. A few in my company have Blackberries, one has a Touch and I have the Palm 700P and I always get mail before they do. Crashes are rare, but they do happen, even on the other devices.

On May 1st I become eligible for the new phone discount, so I am joining my wife by purchasing a Centro. Her's is red, mine will be black. I have all ready ordered the extended battery and cover.

My wife has had 2 Blackberry's and after I gave her my 650, she lost interest in them and is very happy with the Centro.

Ben

[stevetaz]

Hi benjie:

I really don't have a choice as I don't have a personal cell phone and since they pay the bill, I will be getting the Crackberry 8830 on Tuesday or so and I will be happy to use it. Free has such a nice sound to it!

I am very curious as to exactly what your wife found so much more appealing about the Centro over the BB. I have never been one to use many add-on softwares so perhaps I really haven't experienced "the true power of the Treo". I do know that it has worked for my needs such as email, calendar, to dos, Word and Excel docs, etc. The BB looks like it won't have the native Word and Excel features, but I believe it can read Excel files sent to me if I have to review. I think it will be able to edit Word docs, but I am not sure. These are built-in apps in the BB.

The BB also has the ability to play music, movies and such, also built-in, and I understand it has a password storage program. There is no camera in the device I am getting, but I really never used that much as it is a pretty crappy camera in the 650 anyway. It does have the full Qwerty keyboard, does IMs and I think there is third-party software available too, if I am interested. The 8830 form factor is very similar to my 650. Actually a bit thinner.

The one thing I keep hearing is that it excels at email, yet you seem to be indicating you get yours before they do. Since theirs is a push system, I don't understand how that is. Maybe because it has to go through RIM servers? I do not need to receive email within 10 seconds so I don't expect that to be a big issue. The 8830 is also on Sprint, but it can use a SIM and work internationally too so my annual two week Cabo, Mexico trip should be easier. They also have a built-in modem program, no extra charges, for my laptop which will be nice too for when I need it.

I have just started to really explore the BB sites and forums so I am sure I will be learning more and more, but I am curious about your experiences as you have always struck me as a no-nonsense "tell it like it is" kind of guy and I will miss that.

Thanks and best regards,
SteveTaz

Originally Posted by benjie

Good luck. A few in my company have Blackberries, one has a Touch and I have the Palm 700P and I always get mail before they do. Crashes are rare, but they do happen, even on the other devices.

On May 1st I become eligible for the new phone discount, so I am joining my wife by purchasing a Centro. Her's is red, mine will be black. I have all ready ordered the extended battery and cover.

My wife has had 2 Blackberry's and after I gave her my 650, she lost interest in them and is very happy with the Centro.

Ben

[benjie]

The touch screen, no jog wheel (she hated that), the ability to easily edit files (Word/Excel), and email, the ability to add bunches of whatever she wants and no worry when the Blackberry mail server goes down.

Take care!

Ben