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After dealing with 6 windows mobile based smart phones over the last year, Verizon has finally upgraded me to a Blackberry. Of course not without some cost on my side, but it was worth it….I feel so free. I am only on my second day of post-windows mobile life, so there might still be some surprises in store for me. Here is my hit list of things I have noticed from the change.

Things I Miss From My XV6700

1. Windows Mobile has better Outlook integration. While blackberry redirector will send you your mail, it doesn’t have the same depth to allow you to organize your mail into folders from your handset and have that be done when you get back to the office. Something I used to do regularly. Also I can’t accept an appointment from my handset, and I haven’t figured out how to sync my calendar yet.
2. VPN directly from the phone. Although most of the time when I tried to use this it was flaky at best.

Things I Don’t Miss From My XV6700

1. The crashing and freezing. I haven’t had the Blackberry long enough to know if it suffers from the same fate. I hope not. Or I will be going back to a standard flip phone.
2. Every email being sync’d. I get a lot of automated emails from my systems. Probably in excess of 200 a day. They are put into sub-folders in Outlook by rules. I don’t need them on the handset, and Blackberry lets me filter which emails come to the handset.
3. Volume levels that are too quite. I had problems with both ringer volumes not being loud enough and in-call volume not being loud enough on my xv6700.
4. Batteries that don’t hold up.  Typically I would have to charge my XV6700 anytime I wasn’t out of the office.  Typically if I didn’t charge during the day I would get home at the end of the work day and be down to 40% or less.  If I talked in it for any sustantial length of time I would have to charge throughout the day.  My Blackberry, with talk and email and not charge during the day was 70% when I got home.  So my battery life is at least twice as long.

After owning a Blackberry for 2 days, I already understand why it has been so successful. It has a well thought out design. For instance the keyboard keys are smaller than they were on my XV6700, but I can type faster on the blackberry. It also has cool shortcuts on stuff like typing in email addresses. user(space)domain(space)com is translated to user@domain.com. The trackwheel is a great interface, allowing many of the functions to be done with one hand.

I could keep going on and on about little things they have thought of from a business user point of view, but I will wrap up with one last comment. The Blackberry has Tethered Modem Access to Verizon’s Wireless Broadband. It is an extra $15 a month charge, which I’m not crazy about, however, it works well (much better than bluetooth tethering ever did with my XV6700). Plug it into your computer with a USB cable and hop on the Internet. I was clocking speeds of 400-500KBS in an EVDO coverage area yesterday. So loosing the VPN capability from my phone really wasn’t a big deal because I can get online with my laptop whenever I need to.

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Since I ordered my HDTV I have been looking for the best HD programming deal I can find. I have talked to Dish Network, Comcast and DirectTV. I pretty much am looking at the most basic packages because that is channels I usually watch. Here is what I have found:

Dish Network HD Programming:
My monthly fee would be about $65 for the basic package with HD Programming. There would be a $199 install fee because they have to install a new dish and send me a new DVR. The DVR is dual tuner and can actually be wired to a second TV in another room. The second TV can only be standard def, but HD programming will be down converted to standard def if you try to watch HD stuff on the second TV. Lineup is 80 channels of standard def and 26 HD channels and local channels.

Comcast HD Programming:
Comcast is running “Ditch the Dish” which is a $400 credit that is spread out over $25 a month payments. The lowest package they have is the Digital Silver package at $73, but with the credit would be $48 until the $400 credit runs out. They have an HD DVR that costs $9.95 a month, it is dual tuner so two shows can record at once, but not dual TV. I could also get a cable modem for $33 a month for the first 6 months, and $45 a month after that.

DirectTV HD Programming:
DirectTV basic programming is 45.99 with an HD upsell of $9.95. There are no startup costs, but they don’t have an HD DVR in stock. But you can go on a waiting list on the website. The channel line up is 155 standard def and 7 HD channels, plus locals in High Def.

So in all of this it comes down to what you are looking for. I don’t lik the fact that cable tends to lure you in with low prices for 6 months, then up them. So long term it probably costs more money (and I don’t save the money on the broadband side). With DirectTV you seem to get more standard channels, but the HD offering seems to suffer. Also the waiting list for a DVR is not appealing. At this point unless I come up with something else, I think I will be sticking with Dish Network.

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Well my new XV6700 worked for 8 days.  Now I am pretty much down to a daily reset again.  I have called Verizon and asked to switch to a palm or blackberry based phone.  So far I have been told I would be called back and have not.  I called and talked to another rep who told me that I would probably have to grin and bear it through another phone so that I hit the “three strikes and its out” policy for another new model of phone.

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I’m one week in on my 5th windows based smartphone. Its another XV6700. So far I have been very surprised that it hasn’t froen up or messed up once. I haven’t had to reset it once. Hopefully this continues.

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