Quote:
Originally Posted by dwdmguy@optonline.net
Thank you for posting this.
You did however forget the option of Missing Snyc for Mac/BB
This will allow you to still use your mac apps such as Address book, iCal
Best,
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I'm glad to see this post. I went on Versiontracker.com last night, having just brought home my first Blackberry. PocketMac is roundly canned, but I figured since I was new to all this, I'd try it out anyway. Couldn't connect or communicate with the BB 8120 over USB at all. Three hours of trying various things (from a Powerbook G4/867 running Leopard), and I bagged that pile of waste.
Downloaded Missing Sync and it immediately sync'd my Address Book and iCal without argument. Once I get a microSD card, I'll see what it can do with photos and tunes.
The sync was painless. Except for the USB cord.
I come from a Nokia background. There is so much left wanting in this Blackberry, I'm very confused as to what the hype is about. My old Nokia could use iSync and bluetooth to the same laptop in Leopard. I could access the SD card images and music files without issue. I could use the phone as a bluetooth modem with this same laptop over AT&T's network in a pinch. Heck, I could use the WAP web browser to access secure pages for resetting servers via an APC PDU (something the built-in browsers of the Blackberry can't seem to do properly).
So while I wanted to make the 'big step' up, and am unwilling to return to the clutches of AT&T (hence, no iPhone for me for a few years), the Blackberry that could do wifi and was still small seemed a perfect match. Only, it's hardly perfect.
I don't expect Apple to write all the code to make this work. I suspect that the boys from RIM have a LOT to do with what the software of this device can or can't do, (eh?). So how do I make requests or suggestions for software improvements. Both Gates and Jobs understand that it isn't the hardware that makes the solution these days -- it's the elegance and functionality of the software. This Blackberry OS is very unfriendly from what I initially see. Where are the hooks to allow Apple to write the iSync scripts to sync? Where's the bluetooth connectivity for file management? Where's simple stuff like an easy-to-install (or, gasp, preinstalled) countdown timer or stopwatch like is written into my 4 yr old Nokia? I know the design of the Blackberry isn't going to give me nightvision video like I had with that Nokia 6230 -- some things just aren't going to be the same. But somethings are solely software. Smarter calculators (trig functions?) smarter timers, smarter bluetooth, smarter sync software so that third-parties aren't needed. (well, that's not fair. I'm gladly giving the Missing Sync folks money if I elect to keep this thing.)
Heck, why can't I simply force the phone to go ONLY WAP for sites to minimize the traffic (or the problems)? And why can't I use Opera 4 in landscape mode -- or is that the fault of the folks at Opera?
So many questions. At 24hrs old, this phone is largely a disappointment.