Knowing there are a few bods on here who know about this kind of thing can someone explain to a dumb blonde how they work please.

What is the difference between how they work and then using my mobile phone to collect my email.

Just starting to work for myself and wondering if I should ditch my phone for on so I can get my emails or not.

Ta muchly.

With a blackberry the mail is sent to the phone.

I have a pearl (Blackberry 8100) and love it.

So how does that work - do you have software pushing it from your PC?

No, it comes direct from the ISP (or your own mail server).

Be aware Blackberry contracts are not cheap...

As an ex blackberry 8800 user owner, I have to say they do have their con's as well as the obvious plus points regarding mail.

Plus points, as said, the Blackberry internet service is pretty good so you get your mail delivered to the handset, and they have great keyboards and the pearl thumb controller is fantastic.

Battery life on the 8800 was outstanding.

The reasons (apart from OEM BT Capability) I have returned to Windows Mobile from Blackberry are'

Blackberry does not support HSDPA or 3G for high speed data access, you are limited to GPRS or edge at best meaning that web browsing is tedious and large attatchments take an age to download

Blackberry does not support HTML mail, if you receive lot's of HTML mail it can be a niggle, neither does it support flash.

For me, I use direct push on the Windows mobile device to get mail and have an unlimited dataplan so have high speed data / internet access whenever I have 3G connectivity. It was the lack of 3g support that killed the blackberry for me and now I use a HTC Trinity / P3600 with 3G, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, built in GPS and it's one of the best devices I have ever used (after dabbling with N series phones from Nokia)

So how does that work - do you have software pushing it from your PC?

You can do it that way if you want with the blackberry desktop software, but see Nick's post, it can and usually does come from the ISP

Unlimited data - must cost a pretty penny! Only worth it if it's your business lifeline, I would hazard?

Unlimited data - must cost a pretty penny! Only worth it if it's your business lifeline, I would hazard?

T-Mobile FlexT Nick, £35 per month and a fair usage policy of 8GB of mobile data and £180 worth of calls and free evening and weekend calls to mobiles and landlines. my entire business revolves around being contactable by mail .

Cheers chaps

What's the story behind your sig. Tony? (apologies for the hijack, Heather)

What's the story behind your sig. Tony? (apologies for the hijack, Heather)

Apologies again to Heather, but a mod could move it

I got "spanked" up fairly badly years ago as a soldier and had to have my left pelvis plated and have had problems with dislocations on the left shoulder.

I have been getting a lot of pain from the hip / pelvis region and the shoulder has started to pop out again after 3 seperate operations to stop it, so I am having to have surgery to fit new plates to the pelvic bone as the exisiting one is breaking up and a shrinking of the shoulder capsule to stop the shoulder popping out.

I need to drive to get to clients, and it's going to be a problem "clutching" for a while after the operation and changing gears, so I am going for a DSG to allow me to get into the driving seat quicker and get some cash flowing back in post surgery.

As my current vRS is poverty spec , no arm rest / jumbo box, sometimes my shoulder aches like a complete bugger after a lengthy trip, and if I am using motorways it sometimes "freezes" so I have real difficulty in changing gear after a prolonged motorway session (which is why I try to shy away from them, and of course could be dangerous in certain circumstances).

I could have got something else, but in reality my dealer made me an offer not to be refused on an elegance DSG, but I will miss the RS, especially as I have it pretty well sorted now with the subtle mods etc.

Sorry for war and peace, but there you have it

Ah - sorry to hear that. I can only imagine what "spanked up" means :scared: