looking at getting a blackberry as my current contract with vodafone is nearly up.

been looking around at prices, o2 seem to have a good rate, 400 mins 1000 texts Phone FREE  Plus Unlimited O2 to O2 Calls for £30 a month, then £10 for unlimted internet access, which sounds ok to me

however its a right arse changing providers, but vodafone basically want £35 Per month 500 anytime mins unlimited inclusive texts and then £1 a day (upto 15mb then £2 a mb!!!!! after that) for the internet use,

anyone had any dealings with vodafone, if i ring them will they give me the same deal as o2 just to keep me as a customer or is it best just to cancel the contract and go to o2 ?

Whats the point if your not getting email through an exchange server.
Get a windows mobile device and rejoyce at all its newproved features!

I absolutely hate blackberrys with a passion, they are by far the device that has been the most PITA for any remote e-mail support related e-mail I have dealt with.  The interface, one of the worst and unless your intergrating with a BES or forwarding to an external account it is about as much use as Jordans old implants.

Do your self a favour.  Windows Mobile 6, Push E-mail, Push Calendar, Push Contacts, Active Sync and be done with it.  It just works.

I swear it a fashion icon for buisnessmen.

hmm ok, give me some ideas of which phones are the best and i will have a look around at tariffs

If you _must_ have a blackberry then you are probably looking at adding a BES server as well if you are running exchange.  Personally at that point you are probably better off with some form of Windows Mobile device (Though they are pretty big).  

Do you want touch screen?  3g?  any particular requirements?  

I like t-mobile frmo their tariffs, but their coverage varies between Awesome and utter utter sh*t.

Quote from: Kris - Tekheadshmm ok, give me some ideas of which phones are the best and i will have a look around at tariffs

Soopahfly swears by HTC Models iirc.

I use a O2 XDA Trion myself, there is plenty of choice of WM6 enable mobiles out there.

dont plan on using it with exchange, just pop3 accounts and general web browsing

wouldnt bother me if i had touch screen or not

wi-fi, camera main requirements

main reason i looked at the blackberry is because it does all of these, the model i was looking at is the 8310 its light, thin and fits in the pocket which is needed as it will be my phone too

For email there is NOTHING that even comes close.

Exchange push still lags behind BES for push for a few reasons - one of the most glaring being the limited number of certs supported by WM in order to make your connection secure. Of course you can allow http tp your OWA server, but only a total moron would do that.

BES server is ludicrously easy to setup, administer and integrate with exchange and lotus notes - I have no idea why people hate it so much - its one of the easiest products to work with out there.

In the time it takes to set up another exchange server as your front end server, f**ked about with the certificates and associated errors, you could have BES installed and 50 handsets provisioned.

the UI on the device is unbeatable for email - there is nothing that even comes within 15,000,000 miles of it for speed and ease of use. By the time youve fiddled through an email on WM, on your bb youver searched, composed, forwarded, and been called on your mobex - and still have time to go to the shop.

They have slightly ruined things with the dumb ball scroller though. The wheel was better, but I do blame it for the carpel tunnel syndrome I now suffer with.

In short, if youre using a device for email and mobex, BES and blackberry cant be beaten yet.

Were using ours with a BES, and I have to say its fantastic... Exchange push etc dont even come close in terms of speed etc.

Quote from: MarkFor email there is NOTHING that even comes close.

Exchange push still lags behind BES for push for a few reasons - one of the most glaring being the limited number of certs supported by WM in order to make your connection secure. Of course you can allow http tp your OWA server, but only a total moron would do that.

BES server is ludicrously easy to setup, administer and integrate with exchange and lotus notes - I have no idea why people hate it so much - its one of the easiest products to work with out there.

In the time it takes to set up another exchange server as your front end server, f**ked about with the certificates and associated errors, you could have BES installed and 50 handsets provisioned.

the UI on the device is unbeatable for email - there is nothing that even comes within 15,000,000 miles of it for speed and ease of use. By the time youve fiddled through an email on WM, on your bb youver searched, composed, forwarded, and been called on your mobex - and still have time to go to the shop.

They have slightly ruined things with the dumb ball scroller though. The wheel was better, but I do blame it for the carpel tunnel syndrome I now suffer with.

In short, if youre using a device for email and mobex, BES and blackberry cant be beaten yet.

The Nokia E61i with mail for exchange is pretty good too. Worked out alot cheaper than the Blackberry for us.

But if your not using it for exchange/BES I dont see the point in it.
You can get Blackberry Connect for WM devices but I cant comment on how it works.

Without looking up specific costs, the WM phones tend to be a little cheaper as they get branded by the Vendor.
You could get something like the O2 XDA Orbit 2, or the XDA Stellar (HTC Tytan II). WM6, Camera, Wifi, GPS.
All the XDA/MDA/SPV/ are HTC devices rebranded for each of the Vendors.  Ive got a HTC Trinity (SPV M700) Running WM6.1 and the benefits over 5 and 6 are fantastic.  My next phone will definitely be a WM phone even if I have to pay for it.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/
http://coolsmartphone.com/
http://www.modaco.com/

Quote from: CypherI absolutely hate blackberrys with a passion, they are by far the device that has been the most PITA for any remote e-mail support related e-mail I have dealt with.  The interface, one of the worst and unless your intergrating with a BES or forwarding to an external account it is about as much use as Jordans old implants.

Do your self a favour.  Windows Mobile 6, Push E-mail, Push Calendar, Push Contacts, Active Sync and be done with it.  It just works.

I swear it a fashion icon for buisnessmen.

if you hate them that much, dont talk about them. and certainly dont talk ruiccish abiout them.

the pearl is a neat little phone. blackberries now do some things that mobiles really should.

like presenting text msgs in a conversation thread, like gmail does. very clever.

theyre also a piece of piss to set up as per marks post.

theyre very good at pop3 mail

there is nothing fashionable about them. but they do things that execs and it professionals need to them to do very well. thets why you see them carrying them so often. I love mine, even though the camera phone is absolute garbage.

Matt

Quote from: bytejunkielike presenting text msgs in a conversation thread, like gmail does. very clever.

yeah they should do that - hell my treo did that 2 years ago!

well i have pretty much decided im going to go for the blackberry, can anyone answer my main question?

"anyone had any dealings with vodafone, if i ring them will they give me the same deal as o2 just to keep me as a customer or is it best just to cancel the contract and go to o2 ?"

Windows mobile 6.1 has threaded text messages.