[Question] Blackberry vs Windows Mobile

[AmithS]

Hi All,

My contract is due for upgrade next month and i am looking for advise on a good device that i can use that will keep all my mails, contacts, calender in sync with whats on my phone & whats on my laptop\email server ?

Any ideas is blackberry better or a windows mobile device?

Thanks!

[irneb]

Blackberry probably. I haven't used either personally, but those I know who have one of these 2 have a trend: Those with WinMo6 complain about required restarts constantly. Those with BB-RIM are never complaining. I don't know anyone with WinMo7 though - pehaps M$ has "fixed" it - I wouldn't hold my breath on that score as I've not seem much improvement on their PC OS's at all!

But personally I have an Android - and there's simply nothing it cannot do: Syncs my emails, contacts, calendar - from several different accounts (including google, yahoo, facebook, and any other). No need for any special programs to install like with the iPhone (I HATE iTunes hogging my PC!!!!). Even things like music / video syncs perfectly with whatever media library program I'm using (have tested on Media Monkey & SongBird). And your phone acts like a FlashDisc every time you plug it in - not like a Nokia with something which you need a special OVI Suite just to copy a file (you can directly save to a new drive letter).

I'm assuming BB & WinMo would at least be capable of the Flash-Disc idea, but I know iPhone can't do this - everything there needs to go through iTunes (even a word-processing document), how stupid is that?

What I'd advise you is to ask for an hour or so's usage in-store, to test the usability of the phones (you might like one above another, even though others may like it differently). Try different brands and / or OSs as well - the Blackberry's & iPhones are only one brand, but Android and WinPho come from numerous manufacturers. If you're going for a touch-screen one, be sure it uses capacitive technology instead of the older resistive - otherwise you'll find you're pressing "buttons" numerous times until it finally realizes what you did. If the store doesn't have any demo phones setup for connecting to a laptop/PC and sampling things like email then that store needs to go out of business.

Personally I prefer a touch-screen for everyday tasks, but with a true keyboard for emails and such. Last year after about a month's worth of research I decided on a Motorola Milestone. Couldn't find it in any SA shop, so had to order it from the UK through these guys http://www.expansys.co.za/motorola-m...tphone-190234/ Took a week to arrive, worked perfectly after I reset to factory defaults, if you can get it direct from a store it should already be setup correctly. I'm even using it as my personal internet connection for my PC, works faster than my previous USB Dongle Modem from VodaHell. And surprisingly it can make & recieve calls / sms's / emails / etc. while it's used as a modem as well as a Flash-Disc (all-in-one-at-the-same-time).

What I would say about Android however is you'll need some Apps from the AndroidMarketplace to make it just that bit more. Things like a decent call/sms blacklist, something like Flip-Silent so it goes to silent mode if you place it upside-down on a table, etc. Browse the market for other things you might want (e.g. I like Waze instead of GoogleMaps as my GPS software). Also (no matter which phone / OS you decide on) you'll need an Anti-Virus, iPhone and Android's had some nasties lately (BB have had in the past as well). I'm using Lookout on mine, but I know AVG also makes one as do many others and they're all available from the market as well (should be similar for WinPho & BB, maybe even iPhone).

If you want to see some decent reviews: http://www.reghardware.com/mobile/handsets/

[twinscythe12332]

as irneb has suggested, think about android as well. They're looking really competitive at the moment. Microsoft is losing market share due to a number of screw ups, and the number of times someone has handed a BB to our local IT guy and said "hey, please make the mail work" is scary. (I've never been a fan of BB, I don't like the way they treat developers and customers)

[irneb]

I'm with you on the BB score - while the phone works well and easy to use, getting it setup so it works with the WiFi in office and then also with our mail server was a nightmare - so for IT guys it's not the nicest phone to have around. And while I'm at it, the iPhone is even worse in this case - Apple's idea of "It just works" only applies if everything else is also Apple (don't mix with windows / linux / etc.)

As for WinPho going down the tubes ... perhaps. If you look at the world-wide usage it's a close match between Symbian (Nokia) 31% and Android 33% at the head, then comes BB 14% & Apple 16% (losing huge ground on Android since last year - when they were closely matched), and just nudging itself out of the "Other" category comes M$ 3%. Although Nokia has signed a contract with M$ to use their WinPho7 on Nokia's new phones. Whether that's good for Nokia or not is probably up for grabs, it's definitely giving WinPho some CPR.

[AmithS]

Thanks irneb, i have a few more things to think about.

Do you sync you contacts and calender with outlook on your pc or thunderbird or do you have another method?

[AmithS]

Ive been reading up abit. Can someone confirm for me with Android, you can sync you gmail email, contacts & calender to your phone via 3G ?

Is this true and has anyone tried it out?

[IanF]

Ive been reading up abit. Can someone confirm for me with Android, you can sync you gmail email, contacts & calender to your phone via 3G ?

Is this true and has anyone tried it out?

I do this with both wifi and 3G it does sync great with google apps

[irneb]

Ive been reading up abit. Can someone confirm for me with Android, you can sync you gmail email, contacts & calender to your phone via 3G ?

Is this true and has anyone tried it out?

That's actually the default way of syncing. To sync directly with your PC (i.e. not through google) needs some wangling / extra Apps.

[irneb]

Thanks irneb, i have a few more things to think about.

Do you sync you contacts and calender with outlook on your pc or thunderbird or do you have another method?

There's several video tutorials, just did a google search for android sync contacts calendar email and clicked the videos option on the left.

However, most of those show Outlook or direct to GMail, or even Google Apps. With my Thunderbird I usually just have TB linked to my GMail contacts through gContactSync (a free addon) and calendar as a normal iCal calendar through the link Google provides. Emails are no problem at all - they load normally (especially if you use IMAP, but even POP3 works fine if you set it to not delete from server for a few days).

If I want to update direct to my phone (or visa versa), both TB and Android reads iCal and VCF files directly - so all you need to do is export & import. Some programs do this all in one step for you - I think that's what that CompanionLink software does for Outlook as well. The biggest problem with contacts is usually that one program / device has a different field name for something specific, or like Google does combines fields into one (e.g. Postal Address is one single field in Google, but in TB it's Postal Street, Postal Suburb, etc.) - that's where some of these add-ons / programs make it a bit less geeky to import/export/sync.

I know BB can also sync similarly - though I haven't tried doing so myself (perhaps someone else could comment). And you'd assume that WinPho can at least sync with Outlook right (well does it)? iPhone can only do so through iTunes - unless you go and "Jail-break" your phone, which is going to void any guarantees. This is why I'm saying you need to demo a few before you decide, some ways are subjectively easier for some people - and you may find one to work more the way you actually like. I can't say for certain which you would prefer, maybe you even like an iPhone-iTunes combo - who knows? I just don't like that idea, but that's just me.

As far as I am concerned, you can't go wrong with a decent Android (some of the cheapies don't run too well though). BB's RIM has had a very good name in the past, but seems to be losing some ground. Nokia's Symbian is a dead horse (even though it's still the most used OS for all cell phones combined), they've even put it out of its misery in favour of WinPho7. WinPho isn't "bad", unless restarting every few hours isn't really your thing! iPhone works very nicely and there's quite a few extras as you get with Android as well - but you'll get tied into the Steve Jobs way or no-way click. As for others ... I'd be a bit sceptical about an OS which has such a small market presence as to be combined into a group named "Others" and all together only having 3% share. That's not saying Meego / WebOS is bad, I've heard great things about them - it's just, will you get extras easily, support, etc.?

[AmithS]

Hi irneb

Thanks for all the advise, it really helps. I have been out of the technology world for so long its taking me time to catch up.

I really like the Android system and possibilities (and to think this was not an option of mine - i do vaguely remeber my wifes 20 year old brother telling me something about it at a braai)

I would appreciate if you could help me with a few more items (im busy testing somethings out )

I got the gContactSync to work.

I installed the lightning calender add-on - but i cannot figure out how you sync this add-on with a google calender ? Please help

Thanks a million

[irneb]

You don't really need the Google Calendar addon - though it makes it slightly easier than using the normal WebDav / iCal which comes standard with TB, though not as much as you'd notice. Basically iCal / Google Calendar Addon creates a live copy of your Google calendar inside TB.

In order to get hold of the codes it needs, open your Google calendar in a web browser. At the top-right, click on Settings and then Calendar Settings. You should now see the Calendar Settings page (open on the General tab). Click on the Calendars tab - you should now have a list of all your Google Calendars (including any subscribed calendars such as SA Holidays). Click on any one of them to see their info - at the very bottom would be a Private Address. Copy the link under the iCal button. Those in the normal Calendar Address is so you can share your calendar as read-only to others.

Start a new calendar in TB (File --> New --> Calendar), choose "On the Network" & click Next. Choose either iCal (the default) or Google Calendar (if you've got the addon). Paste the link you've copied into the Location field. Click next, give it a descriptive name, and choose its background colour (to distinguish it from any other calendars). From now on you have a on-line & off-line version of your Google Calendar(s). Which will also sync with your Android phone. You can drag the calendars in order in TB's sidebar - the top one would become your default, but any time you create an event you can still save it to a different calendar, or even modify it and save to another.

If you want your own calendar (i.e. not through Google) you need to right-click & export any of TB's calendars as an iCal file. Plug in your phone's USB/Bluethooth/Wireless, copy the iCal to it, unplug it and then use any of the free iCal tools on the market - something like this: https://market.android.com/details?id=at.aichbauer.ical

With some of those you can have it "backup" the iCal (and even VCF for contacts) files periodically to the phone's memory card. Then every time you plug it into the PC it will be available for import to TB (or whatever else you're using). You can even have TB link to this through "Publishing" a calendar to such iCal file - that way every time your phone's connected you can edit it in TB. Then import it into your phone.

If you have an Exchange server, you should be able to setup TB to link to its calendar (or perhaps use some other addon like Zindus). Your Android should already have the capability to link directly to it through the Corporate account type (instead of the google type).

Thus far for me the easiest is to use the Google Calendar - no need for any import / export at all. It's live in all of TB, Google Web & Android - all at once. There probably is a quick-n-easy way to sync between the PC & Phone without needing to be online - I haven't tried all of the 1000's of apps on the market yet, so I can't say for sure. Anyone know of a good one, please chip-in!

[AmithS]

Thanks for all the info, i am basically sold on getting an Android phone now. Thanks for the advise it seems like a good alternative to using an exchange server type setup and 1 of the easiest ways to keep most of everything in sync.

The last thing i wanted to ask you is, have you used the send from (where you change the email address that you sending your email from) feature and does it work?

Thanks for all the advise, been very helpful.

[irneb]

Do you mean in TB? I haven't come across this in Android as it sees each email address as a separate email system.

In TB there's a drop-down at the top of the "Write a new message" window with the word From: before it. It lists all the accounts you've setup and then uses that account to send. If you also have the Signature switch addon installed you can even have your signature adjusted according to which email address you're sending from. BTW depending on which folder you were viewing when you clicked the "Create a new message" button you would automatically send from that account. But if you forward / reply it will use the origin account irrespective if you've moved the message to another account's folder. You can still use the drop-down to change though. If you simply want a "false" From field you'll need to setup a dummy account and set its Outgoing Server to use one of the others.

And yes, I've used it several times: receiving an email on my gmail account and replying to it through my corporate account. I'm unsure how to do this on Android though ... will have to look at some forums. BTW you can get other email clients on Android as well:

• http://www.brighthub.com/mobile/goog...les/89966.aspx
• http://slideme.org/application/maildroid

I haven't tried one of these though. But this discussion's actually made me realize the default mail app isn't all that great at all. It hasn't been a problem in the past, but now I'm going to try that MailDroid app, or maybe the K9?

[AmithS]

Apparently with the latest version of Gmail client (ver 2.3.2 or something like that) on Android version 2.2 and higher you can handle multiple email accounts and send from addresses etc... as you can in your actual gmail web client.

I am hoping this works well as this will be a very important feature for me.

Left me know how the others go.

[irneb]

Thanks! I've still got Android 2.1 on my phone. Waiting for the update from Motorola, I don't particularly want to go and root my phone in order to install a non-branded Android 2.2. But I'll let you know if the other clients are any better.