[plug] Time to replace palm m130?

[James L. Clarke]

Chris, and others who may be interested,

Personally I use a BlackBerry (Yes I know it's not FOSS, but it's not M$ either)

While not a full PDA, what it does, it does well and it is pretty fast because
it doesn't have the bloat that comes with most of the modern PDAs.

Emailing: Direct from the device (push service, that is as soon as the email
arrives on the server it comes to the BlackBerry) using the mobile phone
network, can roam (triple band) to practically anywhere in the world.

Calendaring: Never miss an appointment. Same with the email as soon as someone
request a meeting it comes to your device. As soon as you enter a Calendar entry
in Outlook or Notes (not sure if it can work on any FOSS calendars though) it
updates the device using the mobile network. No need to plug the device in and
manually sync for this.

Tasklist: Have to plug in and sync this with Outlook or Notes, but it works well.

Memopad: Have to plug in and sync this with Outlook or Notes, but it works well.

Address Book: Have to plug in and sync this with Outlook or Notes, but it works
well.

Web browsing: Supports WAP (WML) and HTML

Can access corporate Intranets.

Customised Java Applications can be added the BlackBerry for everthing from
Games to remote server management, and a VNC client.

Built in keyboard is faster that stumbling arround with Styluses (but, some
people have gota have there Styluses!)

Use very strong (military grade) encryption to comunicate over the mobile
network/internet with your server and the data on the devices is encrypted as well.

Downsides: (this is with the 2 year old model I have, so might be improved in
new models) No Javascript support, no support for SSL websites, uses GSM (that
is max 36KBit data transfer, but with email this OK because it only gets the
text of the email from the server unless you specifically ask to see the
attachments, then you wait!), word/powerpoint/pdf viewer is text only, excell
viewer is pretty limited, using it as a phone without the hands free kit is not
too great.

Also there is no MP3, MIDI, or video support, but that would just bloat it
anyway IMHO!

Has anyone had any experience with BlackBerries and Linux? Unfortunately
desktops at work are all M$, but having tried various PDAs, and phones, I would
say that the BlackBerry has the most painless integration with Outlook or Notes
ever! Would be interested to know if they will(can be made to) work with Kontact
or Evolution (even if it is a third party hack).

If anyone is interested in having a look my BlackBerry, I am normally at the 
PLUG seminars (at OSWA) and I am happy to give you a demo. Remember my
BlackBerry is two years old and I know there are better ones now which use CDMA
(364KBit).

Cheers,

James

PS I don't work for BlackBerry or any dealers of BlackBerry, just my opinion
after using the BlackBerry for work for the past two years.

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