10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Great combination of phone and computer
Date of Review: Jul 1, 2005
The Bottom Line: Great combination of phone and pda, if you need phone and computing functions on the go in one small, powerful package the Blackberry 7230 is for you.
I purchased this Blackberry 7230 to avoid carrying around both a mobile phone and my Palm Treo 90 pda. As a phone and pda, the 7230 is great, and I got the added bonus of email and full internet access. I have had it for 2 months now.
As a phone
As a phone, the 7230 performs everything I need and does it very well. The numbers are overlaid on the keyboard in standard phone layout so it is easy to dial. Clicking on the phone button at the top of the pda will immediately get you to the phone screen, regardless of what you were doing before. The phone is well integrated into the Blackberry, such that while you're on the phone you still have full access to the rest of the Blackberry's functions. Some phone features I particularly enjoy are:
1) Your own phone number is always displayed on the phone screen (useful at the beginning before you've learned your phone number by heart)
2) The volume can be changed on the fly using the scroll wheel
3) When dialing a phone number you can use the letter keys (such for 1-800-GO-FEDEX)
One obvious disadvantage it has as a phone is lack of bluetooth support. Another is that because of it's PDA dimensions, it doesn't intuitively fit in your ear. Sometimes you need to move it around a bit to find the best sound.
As a PDA
As a PDA, I was a bit disappointed in this phone compared to the Treo 90 it was replacing. It has all the same functions as a Palm-based PDA, but doesn't perform them with quite the same style as a Palm. Phonebook entries can't be organized into folders, for example, and neither can memos. The sharpest disappointment was in the lack of third-party software (especially freeware!) I had grown accustomed to with the Palm. Because of this I have started writing my own freeware for Blackberries and I hope that spreads so that more programs will be offered soon.
The best part of the Blackberry that makes me completely satisfied in it despite the shortcomings listed above is the email and web browsing capability. It's a very freeing feeling to be able to access mail and web from anywhere without wires! I can check out a new camera on epinions.com while standing in BestBuy, or check on the recent prices of a vintage radio on ebay.com while at a garage sale.
I got a great deal with this phone through a promotion with United Airlines, so the phone was free with just a one-year contract with T-Mobile ($60/month for unlimited data and 1000 minutes/month talk time). That was too good to pass up. If I had the same deal with any choice of smart phones, I would like to try a new Treo to compare with the Blackberry – it might have all the great advantages I like in my Blackberry while at the same time having the vast Palm software base that I miss. Until then, the Blackberry 7230 is hard to beat.
