Rating: 
Summary: helpful hints from a new user for personal use
Review: I bought one of these on [the web] for SUBSTANTIALLY less ...than new, and I am quite pleased. But I would feel burned if I had bought this new, as even basic service is [dollar amount] a month. The service providers should do like the cell phone companies do and get you hooked for free or dirt cheap. For all I know, that's how I got this one; it was in sealed packaging with Motient (a national provider) all over the box.I imagine most people get this through work, so someone has already configured everything. But I'll be the one to state the obvious: you buy the thing. You contact the service provider, none of whom seem to care to make this at all easy, and motient actually had me call a number and give my email over the phone to a guy who didn't identify the company at first. This did not inspire confidence, but otherwise they have been top notch. Then you send "register now" message that is preloaded. you will get a message back saying that your device is recognized. Now you're ready to go.
Next, I would send an email to your desktop account (hotmail, etc.) From that email, you can determine what your blackberry email adress is. I have no idea why they don't make this step less convoluted; again, I guess with business users, everything is pre-configured. Your blackberry address is like any other email adress, and can respond to any email address, not just other blackberries. I tested from desktop to bb and back over and over; it took at most 10 minutes to go through, slower for bb to desktop. I was most awe-stricken when I put in a fax number with area code and the thing printed my message. Now I just need to figure out how this function would be of any use to me. Anyway, it was included with basic service. ...The BB on rimroad is much more honest re: coverage and support than any company trying to sell the same to you. The last two are "I can't believe they're free" portals to headlines, weather, fed ex tracking, etc that you can receive via mail. Makes you realize how helpful the web/net/email could be once we get bored with graphics and Java. Beware the headline updates on cnn.com/msnbc.com if you have basic service. You get giant headers and trailers for very little trade off in info. There goes your monthly 150 kb. Wireless coverage from motient is a little better than my Sprint Nokia, which is to say not great. It does better in windowless rooms; it seems to have the biggest problem with cinderblock. If I did depend on this for my job, I would be very, very disappointed.
As a Pda, I like it more than my palm, as I can enter things more quickly and work it one handed. Harder to read, however. But again, I am hardly a power user of my palm, which stays home by the phone more often than not.
Rating: 
Summary: great for checking e-mail on the go
Review: This device is great for getting your e-mail on the go. The thumb scroll is great for reading e-mail. The only problem I have with this unit is that the backlight needs work. It is too dim. Also the non-email functions could use some improvement.
Rating: 
Summary: Blackberry compared to Palm Pilot
Review: Love the wireless email functions on the Blackberry, but the PDA functions come up short. The main problem is that you can only search on messages, not on calendar/appointments, or memos or tasks. Thus, if you know you have a meeting but don't know when it is, you can't find it. Also, if you're synching with Lotus Notes, you'll notice that the location of the meeting and who you are meeting with are not captured by the Blackberry, which is kind of a pain. As soon as the Blackberry gets the PDA stuff down (and adds the wireless phone which shouldn't be too difficult), they'll be the best on the market at the size (thin) they are. I haven't tried the Palm 705 or something (wireless email), but am told that it doesn't compare on the email side.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother with express shipping
Review: I was in a hurry and about to leave town so I ordered a new 950 and paid extra for express shipping. What they don't tell you is that once you receive the Blackberry you have to register it. Once registered, it supposedly takes three business days for the Blackberry to be operational. I registered on Monday over one week ago. On Thursday they said it could take up to five business days. On Monday morning they said it would be on by 5:00 p.m. At 5:00 p.m. it still wasn't on and Aether customer service was closed. On Tuesday they finally stated that they could request expedited service to get the thing connected but it could take 48 hours. So much for the extra expense of express shipping and so far Aether's service has been really lacking. Oh, they are very pleasant, they just can't do anything to help you. Maybe my rating will be better when I finally get to use the thing.
Rating:
Summary: DONT GET DUPED! (Like I was)
Review: You are forced to use Aether as your service provider no matter how bad their service or terms are. Other providers will let you switch by releasing your PIN number. This is a total sham. Aether is clearly a bad company, not looking out for the user.
Rating:
Summary: No regrets
Review: this puppy is worth every penny. i'm never tied to my office anymore and travelling is laptop free now. 98% reliable for sending messages but you know if it didn't go through so the risk factor is nada.
Rating:
Summary: Blackberry 950
Review: The battery (AA) in the Blackberry 950 will last for weeks even without shutting it off and even with lots of daily usage.
Rating:
Summary: Battery Life & Coverage: Factual Details for Your Review
Review: 01-22-2002 Update: Still love it. Internet Edition. Regular Duracell AA Battery lasts a minimum of 10 days, and up to 3 weeks. Note: you CAN choose your preferred "reply-to" email address [at least with Earthlink]. This review is prompted by several comments here about battery life. My RIM 950 Internet Edition arrived just prior to the national WTC debacle. First, I installed the supplied (Duracell) AA battery and allowed time [5-6 hours max] for it to recharge the internal li-ion battery; that back-up internal battery is what ensures that data will not be lost if the AA battery drains. Immediately following that initial charging, I used the "status" command, under "Options", to determine that battery strength was then at 86%. During the week of September 10th, I pulled, quite literally, hundreds of web pages into the device, via the free trancell.com service; I was assisting a friend, who had a loved one on floor 94 in the first tower struck, to locate pertinent information. I also exchanged much more e-mail than would ordinarily be the case: my cell phone did not work at the time, and land-line phones [Connecticut] were also of little use during the heat of the crisis; but the RIM worked fine throughout. Let me be clear here-- that Web-concentrated researching was virtually round the clock until Friday morning, when I had read enough to understand precisely where the plane struck [between floors 91 and 96], and its implications. Note that prior to purchasing the device, I researched it thoroughly for about 2 months, both here at Amazon.com and at the message boards at rimroad.com, as well as throughout the Net generally. Thus, I understood that employing certain steps would prolong the 950's battery life. Accordingly, I made it a point to keep the device upright at virtually all times, as opposed to laying it down on a desk or the like; and, set the auto-off feature to turn off on weekdays between 2 and 7 a.m., and weekends between midnight and 10 a.m. Despite my profoundly heavy usage during week one, the battery initially installed had dipped only to 33% by the 7th day of use. Nonetheless, I started out with a new battery on that day 7. During the 2nd week, each day I received at least 3 selected news headline packages, each of which typically involved my follow-up requests for about 5 or so full-text articles. I also exchanged, on average, about 30 emails daily. By day #14, that 2nd battery was at 52% strength. In short, I now see that folks were correct at rating battery life at 1-2 weeks, on average, for the "950". To the contrary, the 850 [which uses a different network] is well-known to be a battery hog, typically offering only 2-3 days of battery life, regardless of battery conservation attempts. ...I continue to use my Casio E125 for PIM-related data, although the RIM has this feature as well. However, I did import my Outlook contacts into the RIM's address book; thankfully, that too proved to be a no-fuss, no-sweat procedure. I use the RIM for virtually all e-mail tasks these days, and also to secure- automatically- daily updates of particular web pages, news, stock quotes, instant messaging, etc,-- all such services being free offerings from various 3rd parties [see rimroad.com "General" board for details]. I remain pleasantly mystified by the sheer intuitiveness of the device. Indeed, I seldom use my notebook [desktop replacement] for email anymore, and I've noticed that when it comes to "surfing the web", I'm more inclined to employ the RIM-- it's simply easier and quicker, all the way around, thanks to the stripped down plain text involved. My primary pre-purchase concerns focused on coverage and battery life. Now, my singular regret is that I didn't learn about or purchase this device earlier. The battery life is incredibly good, and in-house coverage puts my cell phone to shame. In terms of comparative signal strength in-house, my cell typically hovers between 2-3 bars; the RIM, 4-5. You need only 2-bar strength to transmit via the RIM. Try a conversation with a 2-bar strength cell phone, and you'll quickly develop the ability to create multi-syllabic cuss words! In closing, while I fervently believe that everyone has a right to voice an opinion, I do wish the "it's great/lousy" remarks were coupled with the FACTUAL DETAILS giving rise to the conclusions stated. I've tried to do so here, so you'll better understand why I recommend, withOUT reservation, that you grab the 950, yesterday!
Rating:
Summary: worthless
Review: I loved this thing for the first 24 hours. then i found out that the rechargeable battery uncharges is 1 day, even if it is in sleep mode. Other batteries also last about a day. This means, that for this gadget to be of any use whatsoever, other than for sending emails on your way to and from someplace with a charger, you'd better be prepared to feed it batteries constantly. I really regret buying it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Quite Ready for Prime Time
Review: I am an early adapter of gadgets, having bought a Pilot 1000, then a Palm VII, and Visor Deluxe. My friends raved about Blackberry's ease of use for email and how much it helped them to stay in touch with clients so I bought one. Unfortunately, we use Lotus Notes at work and although we have a Domino server set up, the software seems to have a few glitches synching with Notes' calendar, to do, and memo features. Email works pretty well. I subtract one star because the synching of emails into folders is not perfect, causing me to have to save email into folders first on the blackberry and then on my PC. I am told that this is due to Notes and that if I used Outlook things would work better. Still, at this point in the technology curve I would expect RIM to have worked out the glitches for all sorts of email and PIM programs. So I'm thinking of going back to my Visor and installing a wireless modem for it (which I understand works perfectly).
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