[jslacker01]

Hello,

I'm currently on an old Windows Mobile phone, but I'm considering moving to a Blackberry (probably the 9630/9650, as I'm on Sprint). I do, however, have a few questions that I haven't been able to find clear answers for in the manuals or here on the forums. I'd appreciate any insight you might have.

1. I currently sync my gmail through imap. I've seen threads here that mention people having to delete messages to clear up space. On my current phone, I can specify to only sync and display messages from the past X number of days (I usually keep a week's worth). This works for 99% of my email. If I am using a BB, will it try to sync my entire inbox, or can I specify the settings the same way? If I need a message further back than that, I can just hop into the webmail client and search for it.

2. With the email, I can also specify to download the entire message, and optionally any attachments. Can I do this with BB? I've seen threads about long messages being truncated, but I'm not sure how recent some of them are and I couldn't find a clear answer on RIM's support pages. Attachments aren't usually a big deal, but I always want the entire body of a message to arrive.

3. I sync my calendar and contacts with my work's Exchange server. Is this possible through BIS? If not, how well does the Google Sync work? I don't need immediate syncing (a couple times a day would be fine), but I am really spoiled by automatic over-the-air syncing and I can't really imagine having to manually wire up via USB to do it anymore.

4. How is battery life on something like the 9630? I realize that's going to be subjective. I'm a very light user of my phone (maybe a dozen texts in a day, 5-10 minutes on the phone, light web surfing and the occasional picture taking and MMS). I don't do music or use bluetooth and rarely game. In a perfect world, I'd like a phone that can go 3 or so days at this level of usage before recharging (but I'm probably dreaming).

5. I'm really interested in the phone being fast and simple to use for the basics. I've heard of BB's being both blazing fast and laggy (needing battery pulls, etc.). If I'm mostly sticking with the built-in apps and a few random other things, how well do you think it would work? For comparison, I only restart my current phone around once a month on average right now.

Anyway, thanks for any insight you have.

[FlashedBlaze]

All I will comment on is your issue regarding battery life. With your usage the phone may last up to 4 days at least. If not more. I have sent like 50 messages. Been in like a 10 min phone call. I have been surfing cb for a while. I downloaded a theme from the app world. I am still at 85 percent. I charged my phone last night and it like like 5:30 right now.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[sedalia066]

1. My IMAP server synchs only unread messages and not the entire box. Deletion can be on the handheld only or on both server and handheld.

2. Very long messages are truncated. The limit is rarely met in my e-mail.

5. BB is quirky for new users. Fabulous once you get the hang of it. See BB 101 in the help forums to get off on the right footing.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[jslacker01]

Thanks for the insights. It's appreciated.

[godzilla07]

1. There's autodelete from your BlackBerry's local. You still may have to delete the messages once you get to Gmail, but you can set your BlackBerry to auto-delete messages after a set period of time. With the newer devices, this really isn't needed but I keep it at the stock of 30 days. Also, the BlackBerry will not sync your inbox when you first get it. But you'll get all your messages as time goes on.

2. Yes, long messages are truncated. I don't remember how large my New York Times message is every morning, but the messages are always truncated before I get to the editorials. It's pretty annoying. You will have to specify, every time to download messages in an e-mail though. Every time, there's no automatic option.

3. Direct Exchange sync requires BES for BlackBerry. You'll be paying extra for BES. Google Sync can work but it's not as good as Exchange sync. What's your plan? Export Exchange contacts to Google, then sync Google with Exchange and Google with BlackBerry? It's complicated but I guess it'll work.

4. It sounds like you'll get 2 days out of a 9650. I can push 2 days with my 8900 if I follow the same usage pattern. It's best to charge your phone every night, I can't think of many cases where you're at home and forget to charge.

5. The 9650 is a modern BB and should be pretty fast. The browser and Facebook app are laggy and will lock up, but that's the only real case of slowdown I have had. You won't have to do a battery pull very often.

My advice is to wait another month or so for the 9650. Since you'll be new to BlackBerry, might as well go for the best. Your WM phone can't be that aggravating. I'm in a similar situation though with Android, I'm waiting for the Evo to come out on Sprint but I'd love to ditch my BlackBerry right now if I could. But it's not worth being stuck on last-gen hardware to get a nice phone 2 months in advance.