Blackberry vs Treo

[Epical]

Did a quick search, and the two threads that related to this were lackluster at best.

My mother's birthday is coming up, and for some reason I feel like getting her a really good gift this year. She's a very busy business woman who's always on the go and she's still using a fucking pen-and-paper dayplanner. I've tried to introduce the wonders of PDAs to her, and she's always dismissed them because she isn't a firm believer in technology (pen and paper will never crash on you, she says, but a computer will lose everything in a second). I've explained that you can back up all your stuff multiple times if she thinks necessary, but she still is skeptical.

SO, I'm going just buy one and shove it in her face... I'm 100% positive that once it's in her hand, she'll love it. My question is, I know there are two major players on the market: the Blackberry and the Treo. The problem is that I have no idea which is the better buy! My father has a Blackberry and he swears up and down on it (been using them for years now... since they became mainstream at least). There are a couple things that I don't like about the Blackberry that are "fixed" on the Treo (ie. touch screen, no stupid scroll bar, etc), but for a business woman who constantly needs to plan/schedule things, talk to people on the phone, possibly use the things as an MP3 player at times, and doesn't need a large amount of stress associated with the device, which do you think is the better buy? Any pros/cons? Model names?

I'm counting on you, BG, don't let me down!

[Vertabreaker]

Where's the neither option? ><

There's alot of other good PDAs/Smartphones out there then these two. But if it's def. a choice between these two I'd pick the Blackberry. I was actually going to get the Treo before I got my current phone (XV6700), and the things I didn't like about the Treo was lack of Wi-Fi (at the time), the keys were SUPER fucking small, especially for me having fucked up fingers(broken/jammed all at least one time from wrestling and snowboarding). I don't like the Palm software as well.

I personally like the scroll wheel on the blackberrys(if that's the model you're looking at). It makes searching and navigating a breeze. The keys are still pretty small but they're not clumped together as bad IMO then the Treo. Alot of the people I work with, about 90% of them, have Blackberrys and they all swear by them.

I've only ever met a few people that had Treo and liked it.

My personal opinion is check your local service providers and see what other options there are, but if you're locked into getting one of these two I would say go for Blackberry.

[Epical]

Alright, lets go outside what's asked here and say if you could suggest ANY model, what would they be? I just said Blackberry/Treo because I thought they were the most popular/best on the market.

[Ashen]

Samsung's Blackjack. My roommate has one. It's hot shit.

[Epical]

Heh, just checked the service provider my mom's on, and they support/offer:

Pantech PN-8200
Palm® Treo™ 700wx
BlackBerry™ 7250
BlackBerry™ 8703e
Palm® Treo™ 700p
Moto Q
BlackBerry™ 7130e
UTStarcom 6700

[dietvanillapepsi]

I'll throw out the obligatory iPhone shout out even though it won't be available for at least three more months.

My gf has a Treo and doesn't like it. I never asked what she specifically disliked. What I do know is that she drops off a lot when I am talking to her. But that might be because Sprint sucks and not the fault of the phone.

[SephYuyX]

I actually had this problem myself, I was looking to buy a new PDA and I narrowed it down to Blackberry and Treo. In short I picked a Treo 680.

Treo 700wx is hot shit, Id pick that up in a minute if it didnt cost so much and my service used it.

However.. if its for your mom, and shes never had one before.. the Treo can be kind of hard to handle, its very indepth and more advanced. Blackberry is for more of the 'lax computer person'. An inhouse business owner I help out sometimes has both, and he recommended the Treo to me.

[Saphirea]

Have and use both the treo and the blackberry.

Seph is right though, the blackberry is a bit easier to manage, however; in my opinion buying something like this for a person who has never used one before, it might be met with some resistance.

Personally I'd take my handy treo any day of the week, but blackberrys are easier to use especially for people who arn't technolgically savy as th rest. The 700wx is a nice unit though with EVERYTHING imaginable.

[Epical]

I should probably mention that she used a Palm Pilot for 6 months when her work gave everyone one as a "hey, try this out". She really liked it, but perhaps because it was free. The Treo, also being made by Palm, is a pretty close product, no?

[SephYuyX]

I should probably mention that she used a Palm Pilot for 6 months when her work gave everyone one as a "hey, try this out". She really liked it, but perhaps because it was free. The Treo, also being made by Palm, is a pretty close product, no?

The new treos sport windows mobile, older ones use palm, so there would be a slight difference.

[Saphirea]

If thats the case then yes they're very simular. If she's used a palm in the past, especially if it was a somewhat recent version she shouldn't have a problem.

I liked the feel and functionality of the palm better then the blackberry, but its much more personal preferance. The Blacberry's just seemed too clunky especially if you wern't using a headset with it.

Only thing is, if your mom is one of those people that uses a phone constently, i'd sugest getting a decent headset to go along with it, the back of them warm up a ton while being in phone mode and sometimes holding a warm phone can get pretty damn annoying.

[Epical]

Hmm, this 700wx does look nice. We already have a 3 year contract with our service provider, which knocks the price of it down to CDN$200. Might have a winner, I'd have to go see it in person. Anyone have this exact model?

Only thing is, if your mom is one of those people that uses a phone constently, i'd sugest getting a decent headset to go along with it, the back of them warm up a ton while being in phone mode and sometimes holding a warm phone can get pretty damn annoying.

Yeah, she already has a nice Bluetooth headset from her cell.

[Saphirea]

Well i'd say get it, its a good thoughtful gift. I've turned both of my roomates into getting a palm.

Also the 700 does come in a W and a P
W=Windows
P= Palm

I'd get the windows, easier native compatibility with office documents.

[Epical]

They support both the 700wx and the 700p... what does the x stand for?

EDIT: Nevermind, Wikipedia said that the 700p doesn't support voice dialing through the Bluetooth headset, and she does that all the time when she's in the car.

[SephYuyX]

They support both the 700wx and the 700p... what does the x stand for?

EDIT: Nevermind, Wikipedia said that the 700p doesn't support voice dialing through the Bluetooth headset, and she does that all the time when she's in the car.

wx is slightly better, it also has increased memory.

Oh, you might find this handy if youre comparing versions.
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/5...isonchaqh8.gif

[finale23]

wait for iphone? lol

[Saphirea]

One other thing to consider, I've found that integration via exchange is 10x easier through a palm then it is through a blackberry. Espescially if her work is arleady using blackberry enterprise or goodlink.

[Epical]

Other than a smaller screen, the 700wx definitely looks better to be than the 700p. Voice memos sound cool, but those are third party (or so that says) on the 700wx. It's fine though.

[SephYuyX]

wait for iphone? lol

iphone sucks as a pda, its nothing more than a ipod and a bad phone.

[Epical]

Going out to look at it right now... unless there's something that sticks out as a major red flag, I'll probably buy it. Thanks for the help everyone. =D