From: "Glenn Meadows" 

I'll answer here, even though I've dropped in other places.

> Does anyone here use either a Blackberry or some other handheld device
> that has a lot more display area than the average cellphone?

Yes, I've got an 8800


>
> If so, do  you ever surf the web with it?

Yes, when bored sitting in the car, or at the mall waiting for something.


>
> Do you use any web sites with it that are specially designed for that
> purpose?

Yes, only sites that are .mobi

>
> What applications on it do you use?

The supplied ones, Blackberry Messenger (free download from the RIM site).

>
> Do you ever use an external keyboard with it using USB or Bluetooth?

No, not yet.

>
> Is a Blackberry as open a platform as the average PDA that has cellular
> capabilities? e.g. does the Blackberry have a web browser, Javascript,
> Java, cookies?

No idea on the "openness", but yes, it has an integrated browser.
 I presume it has some Java form, not sure about cookies though.

>
> Can you buy applications to load on your Blackberry? Do the applications
> only come from RIM or is there a 3rd party Blackberry app market?

Yes, they're linked off the RIM site.  There is an AOL IM client, that when
configured right, can keep your IM connection seamless between desktop and
BB.  There are readers for Word, Excel (not sure I'd want to look at a huge
spreadsheet though, but I know people who do.

Many people up until the Pearl came out (narrower because of the 2 letters
per key that shrunk the keyboard) used a separate cell phone, and only used
the BB for email and web stuff.  Now, the later BB's are being used more
for both functions.  I asked several people about the 2 letter per key, if
they got tired of having to double hit to get the second letter to display,
and they told me that once you realize the auto replace/fill in/intelligent
word correction is REALLY good about figuring out what you're typing, they
just hit the key once, even if it's the second letter they want, and when
they hit the space bar, 99% of the time it changes to the correct word. 
I've never played with one (Pearl/2 letter per key keyboard), so I have to
take their word for it.

What I do like over the other systems, is the PUSH email.  It's really
fast. I have Outlook set to 1 minute check timing, and my email account at
work is set to auto forward any inbound email to my blackberry account. 
Most of the time, I'll get the email on the BB prior to Outlook pulling it.
 The other option, is a PULL from your account, where the BB servers will
access your email accounts every 15 minutes, then send them on to you. 
Using the PUSH function (forward from your meal accounts), the BB pushes it
out to the handheld as soon as it arrives.  With T-Mobile at least, there
IS no WebMail site that has mail you can access.  Their new terms are
unlimited storage with auto aging for 60 days.  When you delete it from the
handheld, the nest time it talks to the server, it will delete it from
there.

There used to be a 25meg limit, so you were constantly having to trim email
if you got a bunch of attachments.

One nice thing our Surgemail server how has, is the option to set how large
an attachment to forward.  so, you can set it go 250kb, and if an email
arrives with an attachment larger than that, you'll get the body, with a
note that the attachment was removed, and to check your mail email account
to retrieve the attachment.



--

Glenn M.
"Randall Parker"

wrote in message news:46507439$1{at}w3.nls.net...

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