9 replies to this topic

[Dade]

My boss has it in his mind that he really wants a Blackberry. Anyone have any distinct bullet points as to why we should be getting him a Pocket PC or Smartphone device rather then the Blackberry.

My personal main objection is BES and that PPC devices integrate well with Exchange especially now that we can use push email.

[nevawlkalone]

Dade, on Jul 5 2006, 07:43, said:

My boss has it in his mind that he really wants a Blackberry. Anyone have any distinct bullet points as to why we should be getting him a Pocket PC or Smartphone device rather then the Blackberry.

My personal main objection is BES and that PPC devices integrate well with Exchange especially now that we can use push email.

It depends what he wants to use it for....

If its purely email only then a blackberry is the way forward.  It is instant update, constant connction and is fairly cheap on vodafone to.  The software goes straight on the exchange server and on to the users PC/Laptop and is fairly easy to set up once installed (type the exchange account into the PC/Laptop software, configure the blackberry to look at you server and you away(. Fixing problems is fairly straight forward as not much goes wrong and if it does and you cant sort it blackberry/vodafone user support are fairly good *in my experience*.

PPC's are along the same lines software wise...goes on the exchange server, activesync on the PC/laptop bu tother thatn that i have no experience of push email with them.  Also i find them better if he/she needs on the move email access....and with T-Mobs Wnw pakages and the new HSDPA (or an anagram like that) high speed net access on the move is a breeze.

HTH

M

[mcwarre]

In one word..... Security

[chucky.egg]

From what I've heard (and I'm no expert on the subject) security is much the same on both.

The key things for us were the cost of the BES software and hardware (I don't agree that it should be on the mail server itself).

If you already have Exchange 2003 SP2 and, ideally, one or more WM5 devices (most networks will loan you a handset for testing if you don't already have one) then there is no reason that I can think of to go for Blackberry.

If you don't already have Exchange then it's not so clear cut, you probably need to trial each

[greenturtle]

I seem to recall that there are blackberry viruses around? If so then your safer with a PPC as to date there are no virus for windows mobile yet !

[mcwarre]

chucky.egg, on Oct 19 2006, 20:51, said:

From what I've heard (and I'm no expert on the subject) security is much the same on both.

The key things for us were the cost of the BES software and hardware (I don't agree that it should be on the mail server itself).

If you already have Exchange 2003 SP2 and, ideally, one or more WM5 devices (most networks will loan you a handset for testing if you don't already have one) then there is no reason that I can think of to go for Blackberry.

If you don't already have Exchange then it's not so clear cut, you probably need to trial each

Chucky,

You will find that the majority of firms with a decent security policy (I have first hand experience of seimens and MoD) will not touch blackberry but will use PDAs if issued by them............................

[Confucious]

Push email on WM5 is much beter - I thought you needed a seperate server for Blackberies? With Exchange WM5 just works - and you can view attachments properly.

I loved my Blackberry when I had it a couple of years ago but things have moved on since then, I certainly would't go back to a Blackberry from WM5!

[gerryr]

as previously posted, if you already have exchange server 2003 then why would he even consider paying even more cash on the blackberry system when you already have a system there.

We recently setup some of our directors with WM5 devices (push mail although personally I don't see anything wrong with just polling every 15-30 mins but I guess instant sounds better   and they're very happy with them.

gr

[JamieDow]

Basically from an IT point of view it will cost you around £1500 for the Blackberry Exchange Enterprise software so that you can integrate it with Microsoft Exchange functionality. They are good devices but I have found that we were better off with pocket pc's at work as they are better value for money.

[emozeoren]

Send him to our site www.emoze.com he'll quickly understand that if his business wants to save money he has cheaper, safer & friendlier options...