[DaBlackberryBoy]

Before posting, I am a newbie to the forum, but been around bbf.com for some time...And I will direct my question/thread/post to all for your advice...

I stopped using Outlook as my "PIM" when I had my 8700g due to calendar/tasks issues that plagued me. I loved the integration with Outlook, nice and simple. At that time I was a BB novice, and knew nothing about BES and hosted exchange OTA syncing. I have since upgraded to a 8800 and purchased todoMatrix/ideaMatrix to act as my "PIM" which is working great. The one most important thing missing is calendaring though (calendaring to me is being able to see what all is on your agenda and being notified that you already have something planned as busy, out of office, etc,.). Sometimes I double book appointments and meetings, and do not know that I have until its too late. Like the rest of you all, I am very busy and rely on limited knowledge and my software to let me know what is going on so I can prevent double booking and keep a true "schedule". Right now I assign a context called @Appointments to all items in TM that are appointments so that then I can keep track of appointments - it works. I have been trying to push the RexGuys into trying to integrate either their own custom calendar or else the native BB calendar into TM so assist with this minor but important flaw, but no luck so far. They have been working on their Outlook integration that is coming up, but because I am unsure what what all of that entails, I will assume that what I call "calendaring" will not be implemented, until I hear it from them.

So due to that, my questions/concerns:

- I currently use TM/IM from Rex, they compact their databases so that the space/memory that the programs take up is optimized via their special database design. If I switch over to BES/hosted exchange, how does the BB device handle storing data? (I would say on average that I probably have 300+ tasks, 50+ appointments and 25-50 emails vary from day to day, but emails stored I keep about 1MB most of the time)

- I come from the land of WM devices, but have become a BB convert. I like the idea of being able to login to the OWA and do stuff and it syncs to my device and vice versa. (I do this with RexWireless and their RexDesktop). But I really like Outlook as it will keep things simple and my device can try to remain what I call "pristine" of third party apps. But at the same time, I like what third party apps provide. In this sense, I like being able to nest folders and whatnot in TM, but you could do that in Outlook with some setup, I just never tried it. Can anyone provide any of their pros/cons that they have between TM and Outlook, to help me see other points and perspectives.

- Pricing, who has the best price on exchange hosting and also the best SERVICE, which is obviously most important? The only downside I see with BES/exchange hosting is having to pay a month charge, but that is not an issue.


I know in the end it is my decision with what I am most comfortable with. Basically, whatever is the most productive is the most comfortable for me. I know some of the questions are loaded, but any friends any help would truly be appreciated. Thanks!

[DaBlackberryBoy]

Anyone here??!!!!??