Blackberry

Blackberry 8900 Javeline Review

2009-07-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

The next generation of Blackberry Curve

With the launch of the new Blackberry Curve 8900 (Javelin), the brand Blackberry has added yet another feather to its cap. It is out in two models- one, with a commitment for three years that has data and voice and the other without the three year commitment but which comes at an additional cost for the SIM free model.

Seeing the features and facilities that the Blackberry Curve 8900 is offering, the model with the three-year commitment seems to be the best buy. Those individuals who are into cell phones and latest gadgets can see its features and decide for themselves about the merits of the Blackberry Curve 8900. Let us take a brief peek and find out...

Features of the Blackberry Curve 8900:

The new Blackberry Curve is loaded with features that you cannot afford to miss at any cost. It combines all the features of an Mp3 player, DVD player and that of a mini computer which has access to the internet.

Listing the most exciting and newest features of the new Blackberry 8900 curve:

Instant Messages on Your BlackBerry 8900: One of the great features of the new Blackberry 8900 Curve Javelin is the Instant Messaging Facility which allows you to send and receive messages anywhere provided you have a signal on your phone. Using this application you can be in touch with your family and friends by sending instant messages through Yahoo, MSN or other similar messengers.

Efficient contact management: With the new Blackberry Curve 8900 you can efficiently manage and access your contacts and information. You can run availability tests.

Messaging features: Apart from the instant messaging features you also get notifications on your Blackberry that tells you when you have a new text message. Emoticons are also provided to help you express your feelings better.

Media features: Blackberry Curve gives you some of the coolest media applications like:

Wireless Music: Now you don't have to entangle yourself with all your headphone wires. The Blackberry comes with quality headphones or speakers as per your choice that plays your music through Bluetooth stereo.

Unlike other phones the Blackberry allows you to play and shuffle your playlist even when you are messaging.

Transfer Your Songs and Videos: You can transfer your desktop iTunes and music files to your Blackberry 8900 with a click. You can share or transfer songs and videos with your friends and family very fast through the Bluetooth facility on the Blackberry.

Live TV or videos: With the Blackberry 8900 you can watch the morning news while you travel and see high resolution videos on the go.

Rip and Share Your Songs: You can rip, transfer and convert your video and audio files with the Roxie Media Manager in no time which is pre-installed in your Blackberry.

Storing media and data: With the micro SD card, you can store more files on your Blackberry 8900. You can add the BlackBerry Remote Stereo Gateway to your BlackBerry 8900 Smartphone to carry all your music and data files wherever you go.

Other great features in the Blackberry 8900 include Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities. Also there are loads of camera capabilities which help you take excellent quality pictures.

Conclusion

Though the Blackberry 8900 Curve (Javelin) maybe a bit over-priced but it is worth the money. When you get the BlackBerry 8900 Curve and activate it, you will have access to tons of new and exciting features. It is truly a technological revolution.

How to disassembly Your Blackberry part 2

2009-06-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

Blackberry 8800

Blackberry 8900 Javeline

Blackberry 9000 BOLD

Blackberry 9500 Storm

How to disassembly Your Blackberry part 1

2009-06-30T17:44:00.000-07:00

Blackberry 7100i

Blackberry 7130e

Blackberry 8100

Blackberry Pearl 8220

Blackberry 83xx

Blackberry 8700c

Blackberry 8703 e

DIY..
do it with your own risk..

Pink Blackberry Bold

2009-06-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

Bold only for boys??????I don't think so...this is the pink Bold just for girl take a look ^^

come on boys...get this pink Bold for your girls...

Themes for Javeline 8900

2009-06-24T09:33:00.001-07:00

Free download....

Free OTA Software for Blackberry

2009-06-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

Free to download

- Adzan OTA
http://download11.getjar.com/downloa...65/azan_pc.jad

- Autolock
http://bbsoftware.weebly.com/uploads...9/autolock.zip

- Blue Ctrl (pairing with computer to replace bluetooth mouse, used for presentation)
OTA bluCTRL Controller 0.1.2 for BlackBerry
http://www.bluctrl.com/bbapp/bluCTRL.jad
bluCTRL Receiver 0.1.0.112 for Windows
http://www.bluctrl.com/receiverapp/b...r0.1.0.112.exe

- Blacklist OTA
http://www.i-softwarelabs.com/public..._Whitelist.jad

- CaptureIt OTA (BB screenshot)
http://m.thetechmogul.com/

- File Lock
http://bbsoftware.weebly.com/uploads...9/filelock.rar

- File scout OTA
http://live.streamhosting.ch/bb/BBFileScout.jad

-Google Latitude OTA
http://www.google.com/gmm

- MiniMoni OTA (view total traffic gprs)
http://www.ehnert.net/MiniMoni/MiniMoni.jad%20

- Opera Mini
http://www.mini.opera.com

- Quick pull OTA (hard reset with schedule)
http://go.mobihand.com/?op=dlmh&pd=22989&l=1&ps=257

- Speedtest OTA
http://www.xtremelabs.com/assets/mob.../speedtest.jad

- Vlingo (voice command)
http://www.vlingo.com/vlingo/blackberry.jsp

BOLD WALLPAPERS

2009-06-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

BlackBerry Onyx Overview

2009-06-22T01:32:00.000-07:00

With so many existing and upcoming BlackBerry device models that look similar (yet different), it's becoming a bit confusing to differentiate at a glance between models. We have an upcoming article with our theory behind RIM's multiple device strategy, but in the meantime the big thing to note about Onyx is that's unassuming and slick form factor packs a ton of punch:

3G device - GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS (Bands: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
480 by 360 display, beveled edges
256 megabytes of internal memory (same as Curve 8900, 8520)
1550mAh M-S1 battery (same as Bold)
3.2 megapixel camera, with flash and auto focus
Processor: Not 100% sure actually, but am hearing its a Tavor processor that may be running even a bit quicker than the Bold's 624MHz processor (definitely seems snappy)
GPS, WiFi (UMA capable but we'll see what happens there), and all the normal stuff you'd expect on a BlackBerry smartphone

BLACKBERRY

2009-06-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

it appears that President Barack Obama gets to keep his BlackBerry after all, but some experts are questioning whether the Research In Motion device will provide enough security for the president.

The BlackBerry maker?s performance reflects a rising demand for smartphones, and shows that Research In Motion is holding its own against some smartphone rivals such as the Apple iPhone and the Palm Pre.

A BlackBerry is a handheld wireless device created by Research in Motion (RIM). BlackBerries read email and calendars from enterprise-class email systems, such as Indiana University's Exchange service, and most models also function as cell phones.

If RIM decides to endure the injunction, while hoping for a fast review of NTP's patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, then BlackBerry users must consider their options, according to Martin Reynolds, vice president at market research firm Gartner.

The 8800, which costs $300 with a two-year AT&T contract, meshes the newer Pearl features with the traditional traits of older, if duller, BlackBerrys. These improvements are well-done overall, producing the thinnest BlackBerry with the longest-lasting battery. Email menus were comfortingly familiar, and its phone worked well.

Please note minimum requirements below for the Blackberry device software version on your phone. Contact your mobile service provider for questions regarding upgrading to the required device software version your BlackBerry.

The BlackBerry 8800 is striking, with a bright screen and dark-blue coloring that looks closer to black. I dropped it by accident several times, and it seemed sturdy — a good sign for a device that will be used often. Shiny silver markings accent its sides, top edge and main navigational buttons.

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry works best if the Slingbox Software is up to date. To make sure that your Slingbox is up-to-date, be sure to download and install the latest version of SlingPlayer Desktop on your home computer and connect to your Slingbox.

BlackBerry Enterprise Solution support for Lotus Notes? email encryption is designed to increase usability of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. With BlackBerry Enterprise Server v4.1 BlackBerry smartphones are able to read Lotus Notes encrypted email.

To find out, I spent a month with an iPhone 3G and a BlackBerry 9000 Bold (the professional model that RIM recommended as the best to compare to an iPhone) to see how well each would fare in my daily grind.

With the unlimited data plan (the only way to go with a device like this anyway), you can also use the phone as a tethered modem to a netbook or laptop like how I used to do with the Nokia. Very useful especially when streamyx isn't the most reliable thing lately.

You need a Blackberry to stay connected with the American public? Isn't that what email is for? It doesn't have to be wireless email.
BlackBerry is a Smart Phone device that is mainly around phone and email.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images, and symbols are the exclusive properties of Research In Motion Limited. RIM, Research In Motion, "Always On, Always Connected", the "envelope in motion" symbol, and BlackBerry are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries.

What do most users who have both Gmail and BlackBerry do today? They forward Gmail to their BlackBerry.

"RIM's design is much more bandwidth-efficient than its competitors, so carriers make the most money off the BlackBerry platform," said Nick Agostino, RIM analyst with Research Capital Corp. "Once two carriers in the same market offer BlackBerrys, they start to compete against one another and RIM is the beneficiary.

The campaign appears to be working. Exclusive iPhone carrier AT&T has as many BlackBerry users as iPhone users, according to Andy Castonguay, director of mobile device research at Yankee Group.

"The total value of a device goes far beyond the physical phone itself," said Castonguay. "Service, reliability and functionality all play a part in the total valuation, and BlackBerry continues to distinguish itself in those terms.

Additionally, system administrators can create and send wireless commands to remotely change BlackBerry device passwords and lock or delete information from lost or stolen BlackBerry smartphones.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server does not store any email or data. To increase protection from unauthorized parties, there is no staging area between the server and the BlackBerry smartphone where data is decrypted.

BlackBerry App World Tour and Impressions

2009-04-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

Apple’s App Store concept has essentially colonized the idea of mobile app distribution, with every major smartphone platform rushing to open their own. RIM’s takeoff, BlackBerry App World, launched yesterday. How is it?
The Scope
In a single metaphor, if the iPhone App Store is Whole Foods, RIM’s App World is more like the food section of a Target—it does some of the things the App Store does decently enough, but it doesn’t match the breadth and depth or the polish that makes you feel good about having spent $8 on a bag of local handmade sustainably farmed artisan organic granola.
The grocery metaphor actually extends a bit further: While Whole Foods can be your exclusive grocery store, Target’s food section isn’t

likely to be the only place you shop—similarly, the App Store is the exclusive (legal) place to get iPhone apps, while you’ve always been able to grab your BlackBerry apps from anywhere you want. So App World is more about creating a convenient centralized point to funnel the BlackBerry platform’s already vast developer community and software through—not to create a brand new ecosystem, like the App Store did. Still, increased interest and development will probably happen as a result. They’ve got a few hundred applications in the store to start, which isn’t too shabby.
The Shopping Experience
It takes the iPhone App Store and turns it into a very BlackBerry experience—lots of scrolling text lists, tapping the BlackBerry menu button to access shortcuts and secondary functions (like reviews), or to go to the top level App World menu. It works well with the trackball, even if it isn’t as fun to browse as the iPhone’s App Store. (I haven’t tested App World on a Storm, but if it’s exactly the same, the UI would suck on a touch phone.) Even though you’ll run into tons of progress bars as you move around the store, it does load fairly quickly, even over EDGE.
I wanted to avoid comparisons to the iPhone’s App Store, but RIM so clearly modeled theirs on it, it hurts. You even have basically the same set of icons on the botton as the App Store: Search, Top Downloads, Categories and My World (which lists your own apps). Instead of a “featured” button, featured apps take up most of the screen, with one app displayed at a time, dominated by an Apple-style app icon (Bloomberg’s especially). It’s nice, but not especially intuitive if you want to quickly glance at the list of featured apps.
Payment for paid apps is clumsier, as Walt Mossberg notes—you have to link it up to a PayPal account. Granted, BlackBerry doesn’t exactly have iTunes already sitting there for a simplified system, like Apple does. It would be very cool if it could be linked up to, say, an Amazon account, where I could seamlessly pay for apps along with music, movies, books and whatever else they’ll sell digitally.
Downloading and installing free apps is hitch-free, just click and boom, you’re downloading. Then you get the usual OK/Run confirmation when it finishes. Downloading and installing the Ticketmaster app over Wi-Fi with an average 5Mbps downstream according to Speedtest—a mere 171KB app—took about 45 seconds. The 1.2MB Google Talk took about a minute to download, and another 20 seconds to install. Over EDGE, I had more than timeout downloading a larger app like Facebook.
The app manager screen feels a lot like Firefox’s download manager, actually. Some apps tie up your phone while they’re installing (at least on our test Curve 8900), but usually, not for very long. Uninstalling apps—or installing a new version to replace an old version—however, is a pain. When I uninstalled the Facebook app, I had to restart the phone! And when I installed a new version of Google Talk, I had to restart again. What bizarro world is this, Windows 98?
Other Gripes
Some of the more prominent BlackBerry apps also appear to be missing from store—notably, TwitterBerry. Presumably, this will change over time as more apps pop up and App World becomes the definitive clearinghouse for BlackBerry apps.
The UI could use some fireworks stuffed in its stuffy pants—for the most part, I like the BlackBerry UI, but I feel like it needs a more dynamic style to make app shopping fun. You guys want me to spend money, right? (Making it literally easier to spend money would help with that as well.) Oh yes, a desktop version would be nice too—a gripe we had with Android as well.
Overall, it works well enough—it’s definitely easier than scouring far-flung corners of the internet to find the apps you’re looking for, provided they’re available in App World. But there’s definitely room for it become a more unique, smoother and sexier experience.
Posted by matt buchanan
April 2, 2009

Blackberry Secret Code

2009-03-15T00:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been type blackberry secret code in your blackberry????
this information let you know how your berry works...
enjoy...

1. Change signal strength from bar to numeric : ALT + N M L L (Sure Type : ALT + N N M L L) on home screen.

2. view Data Usage & Voice Usage : type B U Y R (Sure Type : B U T T E R) on [option],[Status].

3. view Refld & ServiceUserId : ALT + V I E W (Sure Type ALT + V V I I E W W) when open a message.

4. view Event Log: type ALT + L G L G on home screen.

5. show Help Me : ALT + CAP + H (Sure Type : ALT + R A C E) on home screen.

6. show SIM Card information : M E P D (Sure Type : M E P P D)on [options],[advanced options],[SIM Card].

If Your BlackBerry going crazy...

2009-03-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

If your Blackberry going crazy,overload or just be stupid like stop for receiving email, so slowly to operate, the chat box not responding or your gprs so tiny just do this tips:

1.remove Your batery within 1-2 minutes.
This funciton just like doing location update on regular cellphone but in regular cell phone we can just turn off it but in blackberry we must remove the batery.

2. HRT Registration
from Options - Advanced Option - Host Registration Table - (push the option button) - Register Now
This fungtion to ensure Your Blackberry registered on Blackberry network server. ThisTunnel link will be trigger your Blackberry into capital GPRS/EDGE/3G.

3. Send Service Book (SB)
just send SB via email setting (browser: http://operator.blackberry.com)
if your blackberry still going wrong.

How To Mantain Your Blackberry??

2009-03-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

To be able run the blackberry service properly like texting, e-mail, browsing, or just chatting we need bigger file free in our Blackberry. we can check it by press the Alt + Shift + h, you can find information about file free and the others.
If you are blackberry addict and heavy user (intensive with browsing , e-mail, and also chat) your free memory will getting less. To run Blackberry properly
and smoothly we need at least 10 mb free memory. More free memory, more faster your blackberry.

To maintain the file free we can restart our Blackberry if you use qwerty, type shift+alt+del or you can just remove the battery. Don't forget if you still use 4.2 version of your OS, just upgrade to 4.5 and you will see a lot of file free compare to 4.2 version.

Blackberry Bold review

2009-03-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

BlackBerry Bold is RIM's most powerful, polished handset ever. With 3G, a glossy new UI, a real web browser, serious hardware and an almost beautiful body, the Bold doesn't redefine the BlackBerry experience, but it does elevate to the highest point its ever been.

Fundamentally, it works and plays just like every other BlackBerry, but with a load of small-to-medium improvements, updates and tweaks that add up to a richer, more refined phone that also looks far better than the rest while doing its thing.

Screen

Yes, the Bold's 480x320 screen is dazzling enough to warrant its own section dedicated simply to praising it. Incredibly rich and contrast-y with stunning pixel density, it's so nice you want to touch it. I actually tried to once or twice to hit okay on a dialog box, forgetting that it wasn't the touchy kind of screen. It almost makes reading the plain text of an email depressing, knowing you could be looking at a gorgeous video instead.

Keyboard

A BlackBerry lives and dies by its keyboard. When RIM diehards countered reckless banter about the death of the BlackBerry per the iPhone's Exchange support by pointing to the keyboard. After you get used to the slight angle shift in the Bold's keys, they're fantastic, like a delicately balanced wine, with a perfect blend of springy, punchy and spongy. The glossy navigation keys are overly large for reasons I cannot quite divine. The backlighting is beautiful.

Body

It's hands-down the best looking phone RIM has put out, not to mention one of the most attractive pieces of kit on the whole market, even if the clean chrome on black is borrowed from another phone (and we're not saying it is). It looks like an incredibly modern business device, what you imagine people with more important jobs than you would carry to conduct business that's more important than yours, while talking to their accountant about how much fatter their bank account is than yours. It exudes power. Welcome to 2008, RIM design department.

It's larger and wider than the Curve, but it still feels fine in my hands, which aren't giant-sized by any means. The faux-leather backing, however, is absolutely puzzling, like RIM tried to add a touch of class in the same way Donald Trump's hairdo gives him a touch of handsome. In other words, it's fake as crap and feels tacky. Insignificant, really, but it's actually the thing I hate most about this phone. Nonetheless, it feels rock solid.

Connections

It has everything you want: 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi. Despite earlier reports that it suffered from bad 3G problems, I found that it was more consistent and reliable with its 3G connection. It wasn't uncommon to grab four bars of signal where, say, the iPhone only saw one. (I realize bars are not standardized or totally accurate, but the disparity between the two was often significant, two or more bars.) In drive-testing, handoff went smoothly. GPS was slower than I would've liked, more often than not taking up to a minute to get a lock, and the maps app could be snappier (and prettier) than it is, but it'll do. At least on AT&T it will immediately have a decent navigator app.

Battery

It's a champ. Despite lots of 3G browsing, email and other everyday app use, a half charge right out of the box got me through an eight-hour day with no problem. Expect more detailed battery test update later, but all indications are that this thing will last you throughout the day with no problems at all. Way to go, RIM.

Browser

Okay, so there was some controversy about how quickly its browser renders compared to the iPhone. In my tests over Wi-Fi-and believe me, I triple checked to make sure it was on Wi-Fi-it was either tied with, or just behind the iPhone, like the dude who lost to Michael Phelps by a finger tip. The speed difference really is trivial.

It's the best BlackBerry browser ever (this phone is a lot of "best BlackBerry ______ ever"), and one of the most usable mobile browsers around. In other words, it's actually usable. Not a miracle. The trackball isn't the most elegant way to navigate pages-largely because of the zoom metaphor-but it gets the job done, and the vast majority of the time, the Bold shows you pages the way they're supposed to be. It definitely sets a standard for what mobile browsers should do at a minimum, and it's fine for light surfing.

What's a BlackBerry without email? Perhaps wisely, RIM chose to mostly not fix what ain't broken, adding small but significant tweaks like the ability to see pictures in message, full HTML and attachment viewing. Otherwise, it's basically the same experience you're used to. The higher res screen makes the text pop more and adds clarity, but it's not any prettier, which somewhat stands out against the rest of the overhauled UI.

Media

The Roxio-powered desktop Media Manager still sucks total balls-can you please get a decent integrated manager, RIM? And the music/video setup is essentially unchanged-same menu system and organization-but it has a cleaner, less tacky skin on top that makes it look like it's greatly improved, even though it isn't.

But! Watching videos on this thing is a-maz-ing. The sample Speed Racer trailer was so gorgeous and yummy, I almost wanted to watch that 80-car-pile-up of a movie. Almost. The external speaker is surprisingly good, too, with richer sound than most other handsets. Still, this is one of the areas of the phone that needs work-the video quality nearly woos me into giving it a pass-but I can't emphasize enough how much it needs a decent media manager.

OS & UI

RIM has re-skinned the entire operating interface, shifting from pixel-y, realish bitmaps to slick, almost Tron-like high-res icons that have a neon pseudo-science fiction modernist feel to them. One issue: It's no longer immediately apparent what each icon does, so expect to hover initially. (With Precision Zen, the theme with splashes of color, it's easier to discern what icons represent.) I like them, but it's really an issue of personal taste-still, future skins will benefit from being able to go high-res.

All of the top-level menus have been cleaned up as well, with crisp white text on a black background. It feels nice, and goes with the look of the handset itself, conveying the sense of it being modern and powerful. Unfortunately, when you go into applications themselves-mail, contacts, etc.-or deep into settings, you feel like you've entered a time warp three years into the past. It's like eating a tuna sandwich after a piece of sashimi-the tuna sandwich alone, uncontextualized, is fine, but next to a pure, clean slice of maguro it looks like crap.

Startup on this device has been exceptionally slow-I initially thought my unit was busted or something (maybe it is), though I suppose BBs are always damn sluggish on cold starts. For the for first minute or so after booting, the OS kind of chugs as well, but after clearing the pipes, I guess, it runs totally smoothly, as it should with its speedy 624MHz processor.

Still, overall, it's the same BlackBerry OS as before, just prettier and running on snappy hardware. If you're used to a BlackBerry, you won't have any problems getting around. If you're not, well, it's one of the easier mobile OSes to learn and deal with, everything is more or less up front, and on top, at least, it's pretty.

Conclusion

This is RIM's best phone ever. Does that mean it's the phone for you? If you're a BlackBerry fanatic, yes-it really is the phone you've been waiting for, if you're not hoping RIM radically changed the recipe. Because they didn't. It's cleaner and brighter, but it's not an overhaul by any means. It's a more powerful and beautiful distillation of the same experience.

For other people who were eyeing it as the time to switch to BlackBerry, the issue is less straightforward. As I said in the intro, it's coming into a complicated world, where it has more consumer crossover appeal than a flagship RIM device-currently, the 8800-ever has before. (No doubt, even more people are looking at it in light of 3G problems on other handsets, either suit-and-ties who were considering the jump, or people looking for their first high-end smartphone, though more of the former.) At its heart, this thing is a corporate workhouse. It will play movies, music, browse the internet and all of the things consumers usually want-and do it well-but it is coming from a different mindset than the iPhone, something to keep in mind if you're torn between these two phones.

AT&T has not set a price (or a date for that matter) but we're hearing that it will not touch the $199 mark when it launches in September. Depending on how aggressively RIM and AT&T want to push it, it looks like it could go as low as $249, but $299 seems more likely, another factor that makes it more suited to corporate than consumer. (Update: We're hearingthat it's definitely $299, and it will hit September 12.) Still, whichever side you're on, this is a fantastic phone that perhaps pushes the BlackBerry experience to its peak. The flipside of that is that with its next generation of phones, RIM might have to radically reinvent it to stay ahead of the game.

iPhone???? NO Blackberry is on the Mood....go Berry!!!!

2009-03-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

The iPhone Menace
Only the BlackBerry can save our nation's productivity.

By Paul Boutin

On Wednesday, Apple cut the price of its top-of-the-line iPhone from a wallet-breaking $599 to a less-terrifying $399. This price reduction comes as reports have emerged that July sales of the iPhone outnumbered those of all other smartphones combined. With my battered, aging BlackBerry on its last legs, I went back to the Apple store to try to join the crowd and sell myself on trading brands. But after a few hours of side-by-side comparisons, I'm convinced more than ever that the iPhone isn't the device for me. I'll be replacing my BlackBerry with ... another BlackBerry.

The iPhone is definitely a cool, sexy gadget. As I wrote in January, it's less a phone packed with extras than a full-fledged computer for your pocket. Its big display and touchscreen interface make Web surfing and video watching a whole lot easier than on any other smartphone. It bundles support for Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo! Mail. It doubles as an iPod. It does YouTube. And it's even more hackable than a BlackBerry. Along with this week's price drop, Apple has added a built-in iTunes Music Store, so you can buy and download tracks whenever you're in range of a Wi-Fi network. At $400, an iPhone is incredibly tempting.

But in my career as a writer, I need my phone to do work. I have tight deadlines, and I need to communicate with lots of people in a hurry. When I'm in a tight spot, my BlackBerry always helps me out. It also sends a subtle signal to my correspondents that I'm getting a lot done. An e-mail that says "Sent from my BlackBerry" gives the impression that you're on the move but still chained to work, e-mailing from the elevator. An e-mail that says "Sent from my iPhone" conjures an image of a doofus who wants you to know he has an iPhone. More important, the BlackBerry packs three crucial features that leave iPhone owners fumbling behind me.

The keyboard. The BlackBerry keyboard is an engineering wonder. I have a model with a full QWERTY keyboard rather than a downsizedphone pad, and I can thumb-type my editor with one hand while hanging off the side of a San Francisco cable car with the other. iPhone's virtual on-screen keyboard is a whole lot cooler, but it loses its luster as soon as you have to meet a deadline. After hours of practice—the trick is to tap the virtual keys lightly with your fingertips, rather than trying to press down—I still mistype my own name.

The iPhone's built-in spellchecker adds to the confusion. It alternates between correcting words I don't want it to correct—my friend's nickname markc gets auto-corrected to marks—and somehow letting brazen errors slip through: I just sent an e-mail "from the Apple Stpre."

No matter how much I practice, I still need to stare at the touchscreen to type correctly. I'm sure there's someone out there who can iPhone with his eyes closed, but I've yet to meet him. Touch-typing BlackBerry users, meanwhile, are everywhere, thumbing away behind steering wheels or with their hands tucked under the conference table during meetings. Sure, we're a highway menace, but we're productive.

Contacts. In my career, fast personal networking is as important as fast computer networking. I've set up my BlackBerry with a hot button to jump to my contacts in midcall or mid-email. The iPhone's home screen, on the other hand, includes YouTube and Stocks but not the Contacts app. When you do find it, you'll see the iPhone lacks the all-in-one "spotlight" search that's built into Apple's other computers. You can only browse your contacts by first name, last name, or other categories, and you need to go back to the phone's settings screen to change the browsing order.* This looks fantastic if you have 24 contacts but falls apart when you've got 240 and aren't good at remembering people's last names. Really, anything beats having to scroll through 300 names with my finger.

AutoText. This is the secret genius feature that puts the BlackBerry over the top. On both SMS and e-mail, my BlackBerry lets me create my own shorthand. For example, if I type sland then press the spacebar, the sl automatically changes to Slate, saving me from having to reach for the Shift key and three extra letters. While hustling down the sidewalk, I can quickly thumb "il mt u n cn at the ca st ccc" to send the message "I'll meet you and Christina at the California Street cable car." Rather than resort to childish SMS argot ("c u @ cbl cr k?"), I can type for five seconds, yet still get my point across in full-length, clear English.

The iPhone does have two advantages I wish BlackBerry would catch up with. First, it's a true multitasking computer. If I try to load a Web page on my BlackBerry browser while I'm in the middle of a phone call, I get an error message telling me to wait until the call is done. The iPhone can use a Wi-Fi connection to let me surf while still talking. Second, Apple forced AT&T to break with tradition on voicemail. The iPhone's Visual Voicemailfeature lets iPhone users scan a text list of all voicemail messages in their inbox and jump to any of them in any order. AT&T won't let me do that on a BlackBerry. Neither will anyone else.

Aside from the obvious benefits of Visual Voicemail, it's hard to conjure a scenario in which any of the iPhone's gee-whiz features will help you get any work done. Multitouchis fun to play around with, and it's neat to rotate the screen from portrait to landscape. I'm skeptical that either feature will ever help me meet a deadline. Apple hasn't yet succeeded in turning its fetish object into a productivity tool, but BlackBerry's maker, Research in Motion, has done the reverse. The company made its business tool into a fetish object by starting with functionality (check out the original model) and gradually growing into sexy shapes like the Pearl and the Curve.

While I can't imagine ditching my BlackBerry for an iPhone, I'm clearly in the minority. That worries me. Whenever I visit a tech company here in Silicon Valley, the work focus is inevitably disrupted by some dork who whips out his Apple phone for a demo. (Yes, I've seen the thing you can do with two fingers on the photos. No, I don't want to see it again.) If the sales stats mean that professionals are replacing their handsets en masse, iPhone could be the biggest productivity hit to American business since that Dancing Baby video. We've got to do something—but first let me take this call.

Phones with BlackBerry e-mail client

2009-02-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

* AT&T Tilt Operates on 3G/HSDPA/850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 240 x 320 pixel touch screen, QWERTY keyboard
* HTC Advantage X7500
* HTC TyTN Operates on 3G/HSDPA/850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 240 × 320 pixel touch screen, QWERTY keyboard
* Motorola MPx220 (selected models only), Operates on 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 176 × 220 pixel screen

* Nokia 6810 Operates on 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 128 × 128 pixel screen
* Nokia 6820 Operates on 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, American variant on 850/1800/1900 GSM network, 128 × 128 pixel screen
* Nokia 9300 Operates on 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 128 × 128 and 640 × 200 pixel screen
* Nokia 9300i Operates on 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 128 × 128 and 640 × 200 pixel screen
* Nokia 9500 Operates on 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 128 × 128 and 640 × 200 pixel screen
* All Nokia E-Series phones (Excluding the Nokia E71 and Nokia E66 models)
* Qtek 9100 Operates on 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 240 × 320 pixel touch screen and QWERTY keyboard
* Qtek 9000 Operates on 3G-UMTS/850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 640 × 480 pixel touch screen, QWERTY keyboard
* Samsung t719 Operates on 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 176 × 220 pixel screen
* Siemens SK65, Operates on 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, 132 × 176 pixel screen
* Sony Ericsson P910 Operates on 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM network, American and Chinese variants on 850/1800/1900, 208 × 320 pixel screen
* Sony Ericsson P990
* Sony Ericsson M600i
* Sony Ericsson P1