I'm doing a major upgrade on my cellular service to make it easier for me to access CH outside of the home office. I could use some feedback from people who are familiar with this topic in helping me pick out a phone.

My carrier must be T-mobile for network reasons. Top factors are as follows with 1 being the most important
1. Ease of typing for web forms
2. Web-browsing quality/speed
3. Ease of email use
4. Phone/Data reception
5. Voice clarity

Based on research thus far, I'm looking at the following:
Sidekick II
Tmobile MDA
Blackberry 7290
Blackberry 8700g

I've read a good number of reviews, and they all seem to rate the phones at about a 7.5-8.0/10 range with mostly good reviews with really bad ones scattered in between.

Any suggestions or experiences with the above would be very helpful. TIA.

I dont know about those phones, but I do know that I can access the site from my standard motorola flip phone. It is a little quirky, but I can read the inbox and thats of primary importance when mobile.

There are still on-going issues with Rimm (Blackberry) in court. Im not sure how that will effect the future, but they will most likely settle.

sidekick ii. I use to own one. I looked into two of the phones on your list trying to upgrade from my sidekick, but nothing has surpased it for ease of use with webbrowsing and e-mail. the bad things about it are, no mp3 player or video player, no memory slot.

Tmob mda, the use of the phone itself is poor and logging on to the web can get much more complex in a jiffy.

Been using the Tmobile Blackberry 7290 and its predecessor for the past couple of years and am very happy with it. Best thing is that I can use it, dependendably, in Colombia and SEA (LOS, Phils, Indonesia) when I travel to send/receive emails and texts instantaneously. Cost is 1.5 cents kilobyte or $15 MEG. I only wish the RIMM company avoids getting sued so much over patent issues. Some Websites such as Yahoo are easily accessible (kinda slow) but accessing Clubhombre (which I can do) reveals unusual formats from the Blackberry. My comments are in parenthesis.

1. Ease of typing for web forms (Very easy and fast as it has a QWERTY keyboard)
2. Web-browsing quality/speed (Relatively slow access but dependable as I noted)
3. Ease of email use (Again, very easy, dependable and makes you incredibly productive).
4. Phone/Data reception (excellent data/phone reception and reliability on Tmobile system in my day to day use).
5. Voice clarity (using the phone, the speaker calling sounds a bit muffled compared to my other cellphone, but no problems understanding speaker).

Also, Verizon has a pretty good Broadband system for your laptop that is $59.99/mos and accessible anywhere you get reception. They also have Blackberries and Verizon (IMO) is one of the best services out there. Only problem is I can't use Verizon blackberry out of the U.S.A.

Oh yeah. I forgot about the Verizon Aircard.

My company gives me the aircard for my laptop and its about 3 times the speed of dial-up. Its a PC-Card that goes in the side of the laptop.

I say dont go with the phone. Go with a mini-laptop equipped with both the Verizon Aircard and capable of picking up WIFI hotspots.

Yeah, if you do a lot of typing and browsing outside of the office, the wireless broadband is the way to go. Just beware that the $59.99/mos is a special add on price for existing Verizon clients (otherwise it's $79.99/mos) and you have to purchase the card separately for about $50 bucks. The wireless Broadband is indispensible IMO if you're highly mobile, I get good to great reception in most, if not, all the places I frequent. One drawback is that I don't think you can use it outside the U.S.

(1) I tried Tmobile hotspot. Some Int'l locations, but only useful if you go to Starbucks (crowded), Kinkos, Borders. I paid $29.99 for unlimited monthly.

(2) Sprint Broadband (spotty coverage)

(3) There are other wireless hotspot provider companies to investigate like BOINGO.com. No special modum, cheap at $21.95/mos, and decent international converage (espec. Asia).

(Message edited by merlin on May 02, 2006)

I use the Blackberry 8700g. The site works fine. Lots of scrolling but thats to be expected.

I am using my Blackberry to view the site right now. I am using it to respond to this thread. It works fine, only one suggestion, the frames make it a bit cumbersome. I would make a mirror site with flat pages.

Also, perhaps some button that gives you the option to clear your cache. I sometimes have friends use my Blackberry to look up movie time....Doh! What's this? You get the picture.