Can You Really do Without Your Blackberry Device?

clip_image002Okay, I will be the first to admit, ever since I got a Blackberry, I have been raving about it to everyone.

At first, I never thought I would get used to it, and it seemed like a huge big calculator to me (I am more used to sleek phones). But once I got it, it really grew on me.

But now I have begun to wonder if there really is any big deal about a Blackberry and more important, can you do without it?

Well, first of, let me begin with telling you the truth. I got my Blackberry cellphone from my company and they pay for the service charges as well. So basically for me, it’s free. Otherwise, I would have been forced to shell out a minimum of Rs. 15,000 for a basic device (a pearl) and at least Rs. 1,000 per month just for the services.

So would I opt for it if I had to pay the charges for myself? Well, after thinking about it for sometime, I would have to say a Big No.

Although the Blackberry really does help with my work, it intrudes on my personal time as well. Whenever I hear its buzz, I get this urge to check the inbox.

The premium charge for Blackberry service is a lot. Almost all cellular operators are offering GPRS packages (2GB limit for Rs. 500) whereas the minimum charges for Blackberry service are from Rs. 750 – Rs. 1,000 (depending on operator), which means that with Blackberry I am spending about Rs. 250 – 500 extra. Now what do these extra charges translate into?

Very little actually!

Officially Blackberry browsers are not working so I am confided to do the browsing with a 3rd party application like the Bolt. The Facebook app will not work as well. I do get an option to configure 10 e-mail addresses but I can do the same on any new smartphone as well.

In fact, many e-mail services like Gmail have their own apps which work a lot better on non-blackberry smartphones. Unfortunately you will be unable to use Yahoo on blackberry unless you have a paid account so that is another expense.

The other two options that I get is a Blackberry e-mail address, which goes something like [email protected] but do I really need another e-mail address after Gmail? Again, I would say: NO!

Here, I would like to mention a really nice feature, the Blackberry messenger. But again, most of my contacts are on MSN, so incase I really want to trade encrypted (yes indeed, BB messenger is encrypted) messages with my work colleagues regarding my boss, then it really is a great utility.

A myth which somewhat generated about Blackberry services is that browsing is really fast. I haven’t really noticed the speed although the OS is really great, I don’t really like their browser. So any 3rd party browser is bound to affect speed.

Yes, you do get push based e-mail so your phone won’t be engaged when you get e-mails so that really is a plus point.

But at the end of the day, I will prefer a phone with nice multimedia features, a nice camera, 1 year warranty (yes, incase you did not know, most operators are offering Blackberry’s in Pakistan with a limited warranty) and the ability to use the Facebook app without having to pay extra. And lets not forget, I will still be able to configure multiple e-mail addresses.


  • When I first got my SmartPhone (yes, as a gift) am glued to it and I don’t think I can go without it ;)
    .
    Liked the blackberries but 3 years ago, not now…

  • I don’t know.. but I haven’t found any other smartphone which handles mails as well as BB. Especially the live emails.. MS Push mail is nothing like BB Mail. I dunno about live emails on Android.. what is that like?

  • hi everyone!
    i’ve two question to author (for being a bb user) and in general to any bb user.
    1: almost all operators in pakistan say when you subscribe to BIS you get unlimited internet usage, ie without any cap, what do they mean? is it really unlimited? specially when author mentioned 2GB cap.
    2: why is there Apple logo on the back of a BB device (on the top of this article)?
    i’ll be thankful if someone can answer that, particularly the first one.
    thanks.

    • non-blackberry GPRS packages come with a cap of 2 GB. Author was explaining that if you get those GPRS and use them with smartphone, they can be handy.

      In the pic, left phone not a blackberry phone.

  • Hi everyone.

    You can use Push Email service on Nokia phones by installing Nokia OVI Email application. You can setup 10 email accounts including Gmail, Yahoo, hotmail and official as well.

    Phone will not engaged while getting emails.

    I am using on Nokia E63 and it works perfectly.

  • Thanks Amir for reply.

    that means with BIS internet is really unlimited and if i am right that could be tethered to laptop or pc?
    for the pic; i am unable to recognize that device as an Apple device, that one doesn’t look like an iphone, thats why i asked.
    regards.

  • xyz the front pic is BB Bold 9000, and the rear is shown of an Apple..

    Rizwan do you have any idea about pushmail on WM and Android devices as well?

    • @Farhan

      No offense please but i think you didn’t got the point, i know the front device is a Black Berry, but i couldn’t recognize the device in rear with an apple logo on it, the second device (the rear one) doesn’t look like an iphone at least not 3G, 3GS or ip4) not sure if its a 2G one. Not a big deal anyway.

  • Yes BIS is unlimited and you will need to enter the following initilization string for your modem
    +cgdont=1,”ip”,”warid”
    its what i use for warid

    • although i am much into WiFi tethering but thanks for the information anyway, really appreciate that.

      PS, and i hope there is joikuspot (Symbian) and Barnacle Wifi tether (Android) equivalent available for Blackberry OS.

  • @I am a blackberry user myself for more than 4 years now,although I am thinking to switch from it now too but I still think you have not been able to do justice with BB. Its a little more than what you have described above, particularly the BES (Blackberry Enterprise Service) connection is very effective for corporate emails and address book. Not only this but also since it works within the corporate server network cloud, one can access various services within the corporate network through the BB Browser. Further more access to global Address Book is very convenient.

  • push email is a blessing. i am using push email on Iphone 4 and it is working perfect.

    You need to get an email account from http://www.me.com .
    For the first account you have to pay £59.00 then you can add on as many email ids u want for &7.00 per id per year.

    For companies it is very reliable and cost effective plus ur executive have the best mobile in hand as well (iphone4)

    Put iphone4 next to any other mobile and iphone 4 will be the choiceof everyone.

    A friend of mine commented few months back “Those who don’t like i phone 4 is only because of the reason they don’t have one yet.

  • iPhone Rocks..

    Must use a jailbreak iPhone with a data plan(only 500/- Unlimited)…
    All set
    You’ll forget everything.

    BB Sucks, My friend even got one from his company, but he’s getting rid of it & want to get iPhone.

  • Im thinking about activating BIS on my pearl 9100 from ufone.does the native browser really doesn’t work?(i dont like bolt/opera so thats my conecern)
    And does BB messenger works?

  • Although I am not in favor of BB but I have been a user of BB for about a year (used it in the same way as the author did ‘officially paid’). One more + in BB which the author did not mention is the excellent battery time.

    Currently I am an Android user I have this craze of changing Cell phone every month or two. Enabling push mail on Android drains the battery very quickly where as BB mail push doesn’t impact your battery time.

    (HTC wildfire Rooted. Rom SUnaabh. OC kernel. A2SD. Adds blocked)
    Android rox!

  • BB messenger works :) for the native browser to work, you need to change the settings to WAP

  • We are a bunch of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your website provided us with useful information to paintings on. You have performed an impressive process and our whole community will likely be grateful to you.

  • As author said< blackberry browsers are not working, But blackberry browser is working perfectly for last two years…… Latest Facebook application version dont work with 3G service….. but u can use version 1.6 on EDGE :)

    Moral of the story is i cant live without my BB device :)


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