Day before yesterday my boss walked in my office and dropped a brand spanking new Blackberry 7250 on my desk to replace my worn-out Nextel i205. So, now I’ve got a gadget dilemma. The Blackberry has most, but not all, of the same functions as my Palm Life Drive. Do I stop carrying the Palm? It would certainly free up some pants pocket real estate. I gotta think this one through…
Web browsing – the Palm has a much better screen and a browser that is somewhat more standards compliant. It’s also easier to navigate. The Blackberry can accesss the web from ANYWHERE even without the presence of WiFi.
E-mail – the Palm has a nice e-mail client that reads most of my POP3 accounts. The Blackberry also has a nice POP3 client, but has to be configured from a regular web browser on a real computers. However, the Blackberry can send and receive messages from ANYWHERE.
Calendar – the Palm synchronizes with my work calendar. It can include non-time-specific notes for a day. The Blackberry also synchronizes with the calendar, but times must be assigned for each appointment.
Address book – functions are similar for both devices, and they both synch with my work address book.
Applications – the Palm has support for native MS-Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files. There are also tons of third-party programs that can be easily installed. I’m just now learning what is available for the Blackberry.
Stuff exclusive to the Life Drive – the Palm has an SD memory slot, and can be used to back up a camera. It also will play MP3s, and has tons of memory.
Stuff exclusive to the Blackberry – Instant access to the web and e-mail is a HUGE plus. There is also built-in GPS, plus phone and push-to-talk functions.
I think I’m going to hang onto both. The Palm makes a nice laptop replacement unit, especially with the third-party IR keyboard I have for it . It will probably take up residence in my briefcase – handy, but not always in pocket. I’ll migrate my calendar and address book functions to the Blackberry to make it more of my communication central.
And now for the last question, do I keep carrying around my Nikon S1, or do I rely on the 1.3 megapixel camera in my new personal phone? I still wish I had one gizmo that would do it all.
[tags]Blackberry[/tags]