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Handhelds Toys Hardware

RIM Color BlackBerry 7230 Review 119

Posted by michael from the stuff-to-lose dept.
securitas submits this painfully well-linked piece: "eWEEK reviews the RIM BlackBerry 7230 color handheld, Research In Motion's latest combination wireless e-mail/phone/PDA, and the first BlackBerry to feature a full-color display. The tri-band GSM/GPRS J2ME device features a 240-by-160-pixel, 65,000-color display, 16 MB flash +2 MB SRAM, an Intel 386 32-bit chip, SMS, an HTML browser (missing from the preceding BlackBerry 5810), a claimed 4 hours talk/10 days standby removable/rechargeable lithium-ion battery, POP3/IMAP/Exchange/Notes wireless e-mail for up to 10 accounts with file attachment management, security via Triple DES encryption, USB sync/recharging and the usual organizer functions. RIM squeezes it all into a 4.8 oz/136g, 4.4x2.9x0.8 inch/11.3x7.4x2.0 cm package (tech specs at RIM). The BlackBerry 7230 is exclusive to T-Mobile USA until 2004 and costs about $400. With this release, RIM is moving the BlackBerry into the prosumer/consumer market to expand its customer base beyond enterprise users. The release comes amid speculation of BlackBerry doom following RIM's recent patent ruling loss and ahead of the highly anticipated Handspring Treo 600, its direct competition (which includes the MS Pocket PC Phone Edition Smartphone and the Palm Tungsten W). More at Wired News, E-Commerce Times, InfoWorld and Forbes/Reuters."
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RIM Color BlackBerry 7230 Review More

RIM Color BlackBerry 7230 Review

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  • But can it run Linux? (Score:1)

    by gellenburg ( 61212 ) <george@ellenburg.org> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:02PM (#6714109) Homepage Journal
    Impressive specs, but can it run Linux? ;-)

  • whoah (Score:1)

    by cnb ( 146606 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:04PM (#6714114)
    that's a whole lot of links in a single post

    auto linker working over time?

  • This article sucks (Score:1, Troll)

    by maroberts ( 15852 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:04PM (#6714120) Homepage Journal
    The intro is too long and is painful to read, almost like a troll article. Couldn't you have split it into a few lines of intro and a main text section?

  • Plaintext tota! (Score:2, Informative)

    by anonymous coword ( 615639 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:04PM (#6714122) Homepage Journal
    Even the printer freindly version is bloated. Here is the cleaned up tota!

    August 16, 2003
    RIM Ships Color BlackBerry

    By Jason Brooks

    The BlackBerry 7230, the latest in Research In Motion LTD.'s line of BlackBerry wireless messaging devices, became available in the United States this week, complete with a tri-band GPRS radio and an attractive new color display.

    Like the BlackBerry 5810, which eWEEK Labs reviewed last year (see review), the 7230 maintains the mobile messaging competency on which RIM's BlackBerry devices have risen to popularity. However, users who need more than basic messaging and cell phone functionality will have to look elsewhere.

    The 7230 does include applications for managing contacts, calendars, to-do items and notes, but it lacks appreciable third-party application support and is also missing any sort of memory or peripheral expansion slot. Competing Pocket PC- and Palm OS-based devices offer these things.

    In addition, some of the improvements we'd hoped to see materialize since last year remain absent. For example, the 5810 was the first RIM device to ship with a General Packet Radio Service radio, and yet it lacked an HTML browser--which would be one of the best uses for a speedier Internet connection.

    The 7230 does include an HTML browser, but T-Mobile USA Inc., the only currently available service provider for the new RIM device, does not officially support HTML browsing. Instead, the T-Mobile service plans available for the 7230 allow access to a handful of Wireless Application Protocol-based "t-zones," including information such as basic news and sports headlines.

    Somewhat confusingly, though, we could in fact visit HTML pages in our tests, albeit with unpredictable results. We at times received network error messages, and HTML pages tended to load slowly. Browsing seemed to work best when we configured the browser not to download images.

    The 7230 sells for $399. Unlimited wireless data and t-zone access costs $29.99 per month atop one of T-Mobile's standard phone rate plans. Alternatively, users may opt for a $39.99 monthly plan with unlimited e-mail, t-zone access and 300 two-way text messages. On this plan, voice calls cost 20 cents per minute.

    The 7230 performed acceptably as a telephone, although it does require the use of an included earbud/microphone combo. We'd like to see a Bluetooth radio included in the device, which would enable the 7230 to team with a wireless headset. In addition, integrated Bluetooth would enable users to access the 7230's GPRS Internet connection with a laptop.

    RIM lists the 7230's talk time at approximately 4 hours, with a standby time of 10 days.

    Measuring 4.4 inches tall, 2.9 inches wide and 0.8 inches thick and weighing 4.8 ounces, the 7230 is a bit smaller than the 5810 and similar in size to Handspring Inc.'s Treo.

    Can BlackBerry keep selling? Read all about RIM's job woes.

    The 7230 is built with the same sort of thumb keyboard found in previous versions of this device, but instead of the 160-by-160-pixel monochrome display that the 5810 featured, this device comes with a 240-by-160-pixel, 65,000-color display that we found very readable both indoors and in sunlight.

    The 7230 can be used to send and receive e-mail from Microsoft Corp.'s Exchange or IBM's Lotus Software division's Domino servers via RIM's desktop redirector software or its Enterprise Sync Server products.

    RIM's BlackBerry Web Client Web-based service is designed to forward mail to the 7230 from Post Office Protocol and IMAP accounts, as well as from Exchange accounts using Outlook Web Access and from Notes accounts using iNotes.

    The Web Client worked well enough, but we found it frustrating that once we'd added an account for forwarding, we couldn't view or change any account information beyond our password.

    Senior Anal ist Jason Brooks can be reached at jason_brooks@ziffdavis.com.

  • Lots of stats (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:05PM (#6714124)
    Except one. How many patents can this thing infringe upon simultaneously?

  • This long slashdot article full of links (Score:3, Funny)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:06PM (#6714129)
    looks especially designed to not be readable on a Blackberry pager. Nice usability test though ...

  • How many of you think that this was submitted by (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by DRWHOISME ( 696739 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:10PM (#6714146)
    a company spokesman. No real average human being would have that many links of a product except a company man.

    • Don't be so paranoid (Score:5, Informative)

      by securitas ( 411694 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @08:00PM (#6714523) Homepage Journal


      a company spokesman. No real average human being would have that many links of a product except a company man.

      Survey says.... BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

      Sorry, but I have never had anything to do with RIM beyond meeting some of their staff at trade shows.

      By your logic I work for Handspring [slashdot.org] and Sony [slashdot.org] too. If you look at my previous posts I always try to include a variety of sources.

      I'm considering getting an all-in-one phone/PDA-type device and I was looking at the relative merits of a BlackBerry vs. some of the other more phone-like devices. Since I'd already done the work trying to find out about it, I thought it might make a useful Slashdot post.

  • Blackberry Jam (Score:4, Informative)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 ) <g.ryan@macetech.com> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:10PM (#6714151) Homepage Journal
    These things keep getting more and more appealing. Someday when I have money I'll have to pick one up.

    During the power outage, our execs in New York and Toronto kept in contact by using their Blackberries. Might be the first time they ever REALLY used them, but hey!

    • Re:Blackberry Jam (Score:3)

      by RevAaron ( 125240 ) <`revaaron' `at' `hotmail.com'> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:37PM (#6714233) Homepage
      I think I'd rather have a HipTop SideKick myself... It seems a bit more useful, while losing none of the Blackberry functionality. Thord party apps aren't plentiful on the HipTop, but there are more than with the Blackberry. And it's smaller. and cheaper. and coooooler. Same screen res. ...and unlike with the Blackberry, HTML browsing is supported and encouraged. Heck, Danger (the maker of the HipTop) advocates HTML in the hope that WAP would juat finally doe.

  • ads.slashdot.org (Score:1, Insightful)

    by ciroknight ( 601098 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:11PM (#6714154)
    is needed. besides, unless it runs linux, who of us cares? :-P

  • RIM software extremely super bad (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:12PM (#6714158)
    As part of my job I develop three applications for the Blackberry. All of them involve network access. The experience has been absolutely infuriating. Firstly you must use RIM's JDE which is terrible and slow. Secondly the operating system is a dog. In the 3.3 version the handheld unit would sometimes reboot, and this can take as long as 8 minutes in my experience. In the 3.6 version the network stack crashes itself by spawning too many threads, but then doesn't fix itself so the user is left to figure out for himself that he needs to reboot it with a paper clip (more often the user will be likely to just smash the damn thing and bring it to IT folks in pieces.) In the simulator, the networking stack can throw uncaught exceptions. The Blackberry Enterprise Server, which is needed to push data to the handheld, crashes regularly.

    I do dearly miss the previous generation of Blackberry with Mobitex network access. Not only does Mobitex have vastly better coverage that even works in airplanes, but that version of the handheld had a proper C API and berry-to-berry networking capabilities.

    • Re:RIM software extremely super bad (Score:0)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:17PM (#6714180)
      As part of my job I develop three applications for the Blackberry

      Riight AC, whatever ...

    • Re:RIM software extremely super bad (Score:2, Interesting)

      by shepd ( 155729 ) <slashdot.org@nOSpAm.gmail.com> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:12PM (#6714337) Homepage Journal
      >I do dearly miss the previous generation of Blackberry with Mobitex network access.

      As an unfortunate and early adopter of a RIM 950 pager (yes, the pager model) it regularly crashed at least once a week with some sort of system reset message (it's been years since I've used it, I think it said "system error 7" or something). Required a reset, and, as usual, all my stuff was lost (except, amazingly, my emails).

      Apart from the software being so bad, the service being so expensive, and the unit being horribly overpriced, I loved it dearly. However, not dearly enough to keep paying $50 a month for email service.

      • Re:RIM software extremely super bad (Score:2)

        by swb ( 14022 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @08:14AM (#6716240)
        If RIM software is so bad, why do they seem to be so popular?

        Our executives, half of which can hardly send email on their computer, have been wetting their pants and frothing at the mouth over the idea of getting these, even when it means a $6-8k investment in a year where $250 needs written approval.

        My feeling is that when they're out playing golf or drinking at the clubhouse, their executive pals and status rivals have them so they need them too.

        I used one for a couple of weeks recently (a T-Mobile one) with the desktop software. I didn't have any crashes or hangups, but I didn't do much with it besides send a few emails. I found the device overall limited in its ability to intelligently route mail; I either got everything including spam or just emails from select people, which seems kind of pointless.

        • >If RIM software is so bad, why do they seem to be so popular?

          We can ask the same question about windows and McDonalds... The answer isn't quality. ;-)

          >Our executives, half of which can hardly send email on their computer, have been wetting their pants and frothing at the mouth over the idea of getting these, even when it means a $6-8k investment in a year where $250 needs written approval.

          It certainly isn't hard to use, and if the software worked without glitches, I'd have been much happier with mine. However, likely the most major problem is Blackberry's decision on firmware upgrades/updates at the time. The decision being that there wouldn't ever be any.

          If you've got a lot of money to burn, it's a nice device. It's only major faults are price (which everyone can see, it's far too expensive) and poorly written software (something I experienced personally -- hard to show you it unless I take a screencap -- but being it isn't in use now, that's too much trouble).

          >I used one for a couple of weeks recently (a T-Mobile one) with the desktop software. I didn't have any crashes or hangups, but I didn't do much with it besides send a few emails.

          I talked with a RIM worker (since I live in K-W, it isn't hard to find one). When I told him about the trouble with my model, his answer was "Oh, that's the really old one. We've fixed the problems in the new models". Well, that's nice, but for a $400 device (at the time), you think they could offer the new firmware to me...

          >I found the device overall limited in its ability to intelligently route mail; I either got everything including spam or just emails from select people, which seems kind of pointless.

          Yes, there was no spam filtering (or at least, there wasn't any at the time). Unless you ran exchange, from what I could see there really wasn't a way to "intercept" the mail and scan it yourself, apart from keeping your RIM address a secret, and using another email address, filtering it, and forwarding all the mail left to the pager. A real PITA.

          And no sane person would use their exchange software, being as it is (AFAIK) higher priced than exchange itself.

          If the device you used was this [t-mobile.com] one, I can understand it working well for you. That's the RIM of choice for people that work there.

    • Re:RIM software extremely super bad (Score:1)

      by ToeDruid ( 308823 ) on Thursday August 21, 2003 @02:19PM (#6756873)
      I actually do tech support for this company, and to be honest, if you are running in a stable environment (read...competent IT) then problems are extremely rare. Most of the problems I see are usually the result of poor IT practices, no QA and generally an uneducated admin. I'll be the first to say that there are issues, but RIM does generally resolve them really quick.

  • Exclusive? Not Quite.... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:13PM (#6714164)
    RIM took the same device and gave it two product names, the 7210 and the 7230. Each are precisely the same and the 7230 is likely never to be carried by another company anyway (as RIM will make them specific for the carrier's needs then slap different number variation on it to distinguish the difference). I'd recommend anyone getting one to get the 7210 on AT&T Wireless as you won't have to deal with the crappy coverage that has become synonymous with the T-Mobile name. I got mine this last week, am not using the phone function, and still am at 65% battery left! Related reading: http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5063352.html [com.com]

  • Can you still buy Blackberry units? (Score:0)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:15PM (#6714172)
    I thought I'd heard that RIM got hit with a patent lawsuit and were barred from selling Blackberry until like 2015 or something? Why would anyone buy one now under those conditions? Once they stop providing services you'll have a nice expensive paperweight.

  • Get a Sony Ericsson P800 instead.... (Score:0)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:16PM (#6714178)
    I use a P800 and its just small enough to be a phone, just big enough to be a PDA... does wireless E-mail just great... and I have downloaded some good 3rd party apps for it....

  • Great... (Score:1)

    by shepd ( 155729 ) <slashdot.org@nOSpAm.gmail.com> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:18PM (#6714186) Homepage Journal
    Lawsuits in motion releases a 386DX handheld.

    Why am I not jumping up and down in the streets for joy?

    Oh, right, it's a 386 and it's $400. I forgot for half a second.

  • Wow! (Score:2)

    by DF5JT ( 589002 ) <slashdot@bloatware.de> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:18PM (#6714187) Homepage
    "The tri-band GSM/GPRS J2ME device features
    [...] an Intel 386 32-bit chip, [...]"

    That gives "backporting" a whole new meaning.

  • But is it legal? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ybmug ( 237378 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:19PM (#6714191)
    Didn't they just get in quite a bit of legal trouble for "borrowing" somebody else's technology? Seems like a pretty bold move to introduce new products at a time like this.

  • Geez (Score:0)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:19PM (#6714195)
    The least the article submitter could've done is add a link or something to the item in question. This writeup is worthless!

  • Poster seems awfully excited (Score:0)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:20PM (#6714196)
    about a cellphone. Get a grip buddy.

  • Let me be the first to say... (Score:0, Troll)

    by billyradcliffe ( 698854 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:36PM (#6714227) Homepage
    Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these...! OK, how's that for my first /. post? Do I fit in?

  • slashdotted (Score:3, Funny)

    by kovarg ( 591527 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:39PM (#6714237) Homepage
    well damn... how are we to know which server we should try and slashdot with so many links?

  • Painfully -long- (Score:3, Funny)

    by SuperBanana ( 662181 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:41PM (#6714244)

    securitas submits this painfully well-linked piece:

    Try painfully long. It was almost 3/4 of a page long, and I'm running at 1280x1024.

    Are we going to see adver..cough, sorry, stories, every time Sony comes out with a new Clie too? Oops, sorry, I forget, we already get that :-)

  • Who needs this ? (Score:2, Troll)

    by rainer_d ( 115765 ) * on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:44PM (#6714250) Homepage
    I've never seen the market for these kinds of appliances. They're to clunky to be useful as a phone and to small to be a real laptop.
    And if that wasn't enough, the software is completely proprietary ("end-to-end proprietary", in marketing-speak).

    If you can't stay away some hours from your email, you'd better never leave the office.

    Rainer

    • Re:Who needs this ? (Score:0)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:00PM (#6714293)
      The choice to leave the office, head to a beach to write for a bit and not miss the "big important issue" message sounds good.

    • Re:Who needs this ? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fliplap ( 113705 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:02PM (#6714296) Homepage Journal
      If you can't stay away some hours from your email, you'd better never leave the office.

      I sometimes wonder if comments like this are trolls, or just people that don't know what they're talking about. I mean, I guess I can see your point if you're the kind of person that likes to sit at the office hunched over a desk staring into the monitor checking every box repeatedly, just to make sure its still up. Personally I'd much rather go sit in the park, or at home, and let Big Brother [bb4.com] email my phone if something dies.

      • Re:Who needs this ? (Score:2)

        by rainer_d ( 115765 ) * on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:33PM (#6714428) Homepage
        hunched over a desk staring into the monitor checking every box repeatedly, just to make sure its still up

        Nagios has a status-overview page for that.

        Personally I'd much rather go sit in the park, or at home, and let Big Brother email my phone if something dies

        Sending out SMS from computers to mobile phones (GSM) has been possible for years, at least here in Germany.
        OK - it makes sense for you and you've found a specific use for it. But I doubt that people like you are the intended mass-market for this product...

        • Re:Who needs this ? (Score:2)

          by fliplap ( 113705 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @09:32PM (#6714829) Homepage Journal
          OK - it makes sense for you and you've found a specific use for it. But I doubt that people like you are the intended mass-market for this product...

          Um. Actually, anyone that is on call or depends on the timely delivery of exact data is the intended market. For example, almost anyone in the IT industry. Think of the situations:

          A) No blackberry. Frantic call from management. "The website is broken!"
          "Ok, what doesn't work about it"
          "I don't know, but we're getting a lot of calls about it and you need to get your ass off the couch and down to the NOC RIGHT NOW."
          This wasn't your fault, you had no way to prevent it. You're getting chewed out anyway, life is so unfair.

          B) With blackberry. A box goes down, everything has been logged to a syslog server. You get an email to the little box on your belt moments after it happens with a tail -20 of the relevant logs send out by a script you had setup. You figure out one of the boxes in your load balancing cluster failed and that the remaining machines can handle the load. You login from home and take the machine out of rotation. Management never notices, no one ever complains, you get a good night of sleep and fix the problem the next day.

          Thats not the only example, there are many professions that depend on the timely delivery of complex information.
    • I've never seen the market for these kinds of appliances

      I do, its small, but there. Having a internet enabled PDA is very usefully in IT.

      They're to clunky to be useful as a phone

      Bluetooth, it sits in your pocket, you speak via a head set.

      and to small to be a real laptop

      but just a great size for a PDA, that is check email, beep when you got a docs appontment, read the PDF specs for your new server on train, play DOOM duing a crappy user met, check a server at the pub via VNC...

      software is completely proprietary

      Mostly, which is bad. But it does support J2ME, so you can write and download pre-writing apps for it.

  • Ok, for me BB is a no-go. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:44PM (#6714253)
    I actually considered buying this one (I'm a 100% T-Customer in terms of conectivity) but after reading the review I'll pass.
    It's OK if HTML doesn't show as flashy as on IE 6 with every plugin you can get on the web. But crashes? Slowpoking on certain code? Not very reashuring.
    Can I update the Browser or install my own? Not easy anyway.
    And the weedyness of the account (with extra costs) and it's unconfigurability and unconectability don't add to my trust in this thing.
    Don't get me wrong, 400$ for a device that's as featureladen as this is a good deal. Especially when it manages to integrate a PDA with a Mobile pretty well and has a batterytime that is usefull. But with all this proprietary stuff and them glitches in the service account I'll wait another while.
    This seems a bit like bananaware to me.

    • Re:Ok, for me BB is a no-go. (Score:0)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @09:42PM (#6714863)
      I seriously doubt that the browser would crash. Anything included as standard software should have been user tested over and over again. Saying the browser crashes is like saying that the inbox crashed, or, heaven forbid, the phone crashed. If any of those crashed, that would completely ruin the user experience. Likewise for the browser.

      As for performance, 2 things affect a network program's performance. Sure, it's J2ME, which is still Java, so some performance hit is present right off the bat. And then, there is the GPRS network.

      Provided that the browser is loaded, the only performance bottleneck is the network. During peak times, your GPRS device has to wave its hands around to get the network to even give you ONE timeslot (uplink/downlink) for data transfer, because SMS and voice calls only need 1 timeslot both ways but they can charge more. Assuming decent radio conditions, that's still a measly 10 kilobits / sec on the download, or 1.25 KB / s, not including packet overhead.

      You notice that the reviewers noted that not downloading images made things go a lot faster. I wonder why. Even in the dead of the night, you won't get all 8 timeslots on a GSM carrier. At most you will get 3, maybe 4 downlink slots if they are really nice and your device supports GPRS class 8. That's _still_ worse than a 56 k modem.

    • Bananaware? (Score:2)

      by Knife_Edge ( 582068 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @11:57PM (#6715207)
      You mean this company? [bananaware.com] I think you were coining a term (never heard it before anyway), but it is goofy that they actually exist.

      Throw me a mod point, I know how to use google! Or maybe not...

  • Shameless Plug? (Score:3)

    by Quasar1999 ( 520073 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @06:48PM (#6714261) Journal
    Holy shit! Being a former employee of RIM, while I was there, they suggested that we give honest good word of mouth for the blackberry (back when the 950 came out), but this is seriously overkill... I'm truely curious if this guy works for Rim, or at the very least has some massive amount of money in their stock and is trying to inflate the value so he can recoup his loses after the negative patent ruling...

    But what really bakes my noodle, is why the hell this made it to the front page... Are there any slashdot editors left? Or is story acceptance simply based on the number of links in the text?

  • Welcome to our new overlords! (Score:0)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:06PM (#6714315)
    I, for one, look forward to welcoming our new 240-by-160-pixel lithium-iron battery overlords.

  • from the stuff-to-lose dept. (Score:0)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:08PM (#6714319)
    Er... can you lose the links next time?

    You may as well dump a Google link in for the title of every article. Ok, so it's relevant and topical, but there is a limit to the amount of information you really need surrounding a topic, and 24 links is way past it...

  • "Prosumer"? (Score:1)

    by Slapdash X. Hashbang ( 315401 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:08PM (#6714321) Homepage
    "Prosumer"? "Prosumer"?? "Prosumer"???

  • Too many links!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by aardwolf204 ( 630780 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:10PM (#6714334)
    If [cmbi.kun.nl] I [slashdot.org] See [slashdot.org] Another [another.com] Hyperlink [webopedia.com] I [slashdot.org] Might [archangelcastle.com] Explode [php.net]

    • Michael has memepoolitus! (Score:2)

      by gad_zuki! ( 70830 ) * on Saturday August 16, 2003 @11:31PM (#6715150)
      The biggest usability problem here on slashdot has to be figuring which link takes you to the actual story. Its not so bad when using a real browser that shows you the full URL in the tray, but its especially annoying when using a mobile browser.

      The editors really need to be clear about which is the main link, use alt tags, bold the main link, etc. Right now this is fairly ridiculous.

  • no speaker (Score:1)

    by jchristopher ( 198929 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:18PM (#6714356)
    Yet another device that looks cool until you find out it has no built in speaker - they expect you to plug in a headset cable each time you want to make/receive a call.

    No one I know could use a mobile phone that way - who's buying these things?

    • Re:no speaker (Score:0)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:34PM (#6714435)
      Actually, this article has a two errors:

      1) Every BlackBerry with the model numbers in the 62xx, 65xx, 67xx, and 72xx ranges can be used like a regular cell-phone, by holding it to your ear. No headset required.

      2) All the four digit model number BlackBerries (GSM/GPRS, CDMA/1xRTT and iDEN) use ARM processors. Only the old Mobitex and DataTAC devices used the 386 processors.

    • Re:no speaker (Score:2)

      by RevAaron ( 125240 ) <`revaaron' `at' `hotmail.com'> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @08:01PM (#6714527) Homepage
      RIM devices are pretty much exclusively used by bidness folks for email. Since I do a good job of living far away from the corporate world, I've not known all that many people who use RIM devices, but I've known a couple, and they were all either exec/manegerial type or sys admins who had a lot of script set up to alert them of all sorts of things via email. These days, a lot of the people I've known who had a Blackberry a few years ago now have a Hiptop- the sae functionality and a little more.

    • Re:no speaker (Score:0)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @08:53PM (#6714691)
      You will be pleased to note that the unit has an integrated speaker and microphone. I mean, there is a reason why there are three openings at the top of the device above the BB logo...

  • RIM Color BlackBerry!??!? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:18PM (#6714360)
    Now there's an excuse to go and fire your marketing department...

  • Ad? I think not. (Score:5, Informative)

    by The Revolutionary ( 694752 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:28PM (#6714404) Homepage Journal
    Of the submitter's previously accepted stories, this one [slashdot.org] and this one [slashdot.org] mention BlackBerry.

    While both do mention BlackBerry, both also mention competing products in a good light.

    Submitter's other stories which have been accepted, stories on completely unrelated topics, are equally abundantly linked.

    Judging by the submitter's past comments' moderation, the submitter does not need more karma.

    I suspect what we have here is not an ad, but rather a story submitted by a user who has some exceptional interest in following handheld phone/data technologies.

  • activation (Score:1)

    by Hillman ( 137883 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:39PM (#6714454)
    As a student job, a work in call center for pagers CS and cellphone activation center. We have to keep ourselves from clicking on disconnect when we receive calls from RIMs callers. These are a bitch to support and to activate.

  • Actually, this article has a two errors (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @07:40PM (#6714459)
    1) Every BlackBerry with the model numbers in the 62xx, 65xx, 67xx, and 72xx ranges can be used like a regular cell-phone, by holding it to your ear. No headset required.

    2) All the four digit model number BlackBerries (GSM/GPRS, CDMA/1xRTT and iDEN) use ARM processors. Only the old Mobitex and DataTAC devices used the 386 processors.

  • I like mine. (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @08:01PM (#6714525)
    At one time, I was using the Motorola C230 mobile... what a piece of trash, really.

    Then I moved onto the Blackberry6210 - It was good, no complaints - the monochrome was a bit of a disappointment but the backlight was nice and bright, bright enough that I could use it as a flashlight to find the keyhole on the cardoor if need be.
    Now, I'm currently using a colourised version of the 6210 (which more than likely won't be released now because they seemed to be opting to release the 7230 instead). I've got a 7230 waiting for me at a mate's place, I just need to get around to picking it up.
    To all you nay-sayers and the people being influenced by them... these devices are great. Battery life is sublime and the functionality is better than anything I would've expected. And for whoever said that there's "no speaker" and that you have to plug in a headset just to listen, that's rubbish.. just put the thing to your head - there's a great speaker built-in.
    The only thing I don't have but want for mine is an SSH client but the 3rd party solutions are just too expensive for a single-license purchase.

  • Okay.... (Score:2)

    by ziggy_zero ( 462010 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @08:23PM (#6714601)
    ...I think we have a winner for the "Most Links in a Slashdot Post Ever" award.

  • HipTop (Score:1)

    by supersoftdrink ( 563614 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @08:31PM (#6714626)
    What exactly can I do on it that I can't do on my Danger HipTop (aka T-Mobile SideKick)?

    That's what I thought.

    • Re:HipTop (Score:2)

      by RedX ( 71326 ) <redx AT wideopenwest DOT com> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @09:34PM (#6714836)
      What exactly can I do on it that I can't do on my Danger HipTop (aka T-Mobile SideKick)?

      Sync with Outlook? Keep only a single device for a year rather than going through 4 Hiptops that were never dropped but just mysteriously stopped receiving a signal?

      Don't get me wrong, I really do like the Hiptop and have used one since the day they were released, but those are my 2 biggest complaints. As soon as there is a comparable device to the Hiptop, I'll be switching. I don't know if this Blackberry is comparable or if the upcoming Treo 600 will be comparable. Danger has done nothing innovative in the past year to bring their neat little device in from the fringes of the market.

    • Re:HipTop (Score:0)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 16, 2003 @09:59PM (#6714907)
      You can take a 62** / 72** series BB handheld out of its holder and not have to move a dumb screen around to get to the keyboard. Would anyone pay 100 US more for just that? Probably not.

      The specs on this Sidekick don't say whether or not it is triband, although I doubt it. Triband is useful if you really want to take your device to Europe and elsewhere that runs on the 900 / 1800 Mhz bands and be guaranteed service because the device can support both simultaneously.

  • _A_ Nitpick (Score:1)

    by ozbird ( 127571 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @08:59PM (#6714702)
    That should be "a HTML browser", not "an HTML browser." The "H" of "HTML" is pronounced, therefore you use an "a". "An" is only used with silent H's where the vowel is pronounced instead of "h" i.e. "a horse", "a hospital", "an honour", "an hor's doeuvre".

    My pet hate is news readers who say "an horrific accident" - it's "a horrific accident" dammit! (The exception would be if it occurred in East London, in which case it might be "an 'orrific accident"...)

  • Didn't the product namers learn anything? (Score:2, Funny)

    by TheTranceFan ( 444476 ) on Saturday August 16, 2003 @09:04PM (#6714737) Homepage
    Didn't the product namers learn anything from Ford's Merkur XR4Ti? RIM BlackBerry 7230? I'm not buying until they get some memorable names that reflect the different models' typical use. My sugguestions:

    RIM BlackBerry 875: Rim Fun
    RIM BlackBerry 5810: Rim Home
    RIM BlackBerry 7230: Rim Job

    _______________________
    Sigs are insignificant.

  • iPAQ and t-mobile better (Score:1)

    by Huogo ( 544272 ) <adamNO@SPAMthepeacock.net> on Saturday August 16, 2003 @11:47PM (#6715181) Homepage
    If you get an iPAQ (or any PDA) with tMobile's unlimited internet is a much better deal. Looking at all the plans for BlackBerries, the $30/month (or $20/month if you allready have a tmobile cell) for tMobile is really cheap. You could also go with the sidekick for $100 less.

  • Run Away (Score:0)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 17, 2003 @01:18AM (#6715461)
    Likely this will be marked as troll, flamebait or both but here we go.

    I work for a place where we use the 6220 model. They stink, if you go underground and no longer have signal they will not got properly pick up signal and email when you get back to street level, unless you reset the device. We got "SIM card failures" on a very large number of devices new out of the box. return rates are very high think 10-20% (best guess here)

    As for the older devices they had springs that would fail on the thumbwheel. Die w/o warning, had faulty boards, LCD's that were missing Pixels "new" out of the box.

    It could be that I just got "lucky" with a bad batch after bad batch but after seeing so many dead non-abused units, I would not trust QC of any blackberry devices.

  • Heh (Score:2)

    by dodell ( 83471 ) <dodell@site t r o n i cs.com> on Sunday August 17, 2003 @08:04AM (#6716221) Homepage
    All you silly US people psyched out by your lame phones. :-D

  • Link Pollution (Score:1)

    by kip3f ( 1210 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @06:41PM (#6719075) Homepage
    michael call it "well-linked," I call it "Link Pollution." I did not read the article, as I have better things to to than figure out which link(s) to visit. Slashdot is very frequently guilty of this practice.

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