DO I NEED A BLACKBERRY?
We’ve all seen one and we all know someone who’s got one… but why all the craze and what exactly does a BlackBerry have to offer?
In this article we’ll endeavor to shed some light on the real benefits of BlackBerry and take a look at the alternatives that could suit you and your wallet a little bit better.
“Our expectations have grown…”
For a while now email has become an accepted, every day method of communication on both a business and personal level. So much so that most modern phones come with email capabilities allowing you to connect to your email provider using POP3 (or IMAP) giving you pocket access to your emails wherever you are.
These are fairly basic email technologies however and today our expectations have grown; people and businesses are looking for rich and efficient access to email, calendars, attachments and contacts from mobile devices and email technology has evolved to meet those demands.
Corporate email platforms such as Microsoft Exchange, which combine personal diaries, global contacts and enriched sharing and security features, have now become available to SMEs and individuals (like the mobile executive) as hosted services.
“Always on, always connected…”
In order to take full advantage of these features you need a more advanced mobile phone, often referred to as ‘smart-phones’ which include the likes of BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Palm Trio devices. The benefit to you is that emails, contacts and appointments are pushed wirelessly, straight to your device as soon as they appear on the server and vice versa. Your phone is now a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) that doesn’t need wires or a cradle to synchronize.
“It’s how you use it that counts…”
As many smart-phone owners will tell you, the more you use them, the more you rely on them and that leads us to one of the biggest considerations when it comes to purchasing – usability. BlackBerry pioneered the smart-phone interface with their roller-ball navigation, QWERTY keyboard and enlarged screens, designed to cope with the information requirements of emails and documents.
Competition has since arrived in the form of touch screen Windows mobile devices and slide out keyboard designs from HTC which many are turning to because they don’t demand the additional £28 per month license fee (required by BlackBerry). We’ve found these devices to range from the brilliant to the naff but the choice is excellent and however much people complain, we all know our way around the Windows operating system.
Nothing compares to the popular Apple iPhone for usability and if you’re ok with a touch screen keyboard then it is great for email but it lacks the full blown exchange capabilities of BlackBerry and Windows Mobile – notably the wireless synchronization.
“The principal of BlackBerry is impeccable…”
You must also remember that a smart phone is only as smart as the email service you use and there are many benefits to using hosted exchange beyond the mobility of smart phone synching.
In summary the principal of BlackBerry is impeccable but in practice you need to find the device that suits you and there are many out there that don’t ask you to pay for the privilege of using their name.
Dan Hancock Operations Director