[Dutch169]

Greetings. I don't own a BB yet but use an old one (really old) at work and the only problem I've had with it is connecting to a secured site. I believe its more the site problem then the BB problem. I currently have the Verizon SMT 5800 smartphone. Love the phone but tired of it freezing and restarting. This is my 9th phone since Sept 07 ( 3 Plam Treos / 1 Palm 700 Wx / 3 Verizon 6800's / and 1 previous Smt). I don't destroy the phones but use them alot for work and they all would freeze up constantly. Since I am paying alot for the service, I believe that any problem I have should be fixed immidiately by Verizon (who's solution is to send a new phone). I need to be able to read MS Word documents for work and need them quick. Now for the noob questions:
1. Can I get a program to read, edit and create MS Words Files.
2. What type of internet browser is available and can 3rd party programs be uploaded such as Skyfire.
3. Can I receive text (written / picture / video / sound) like I do now.
4. Does the BB freeze alot and what are they problems I should look for and to avoid.
5. How easy is it to operate. Not a dummy but I look for ease and speed to access files, and phone numbers.
6. Does BB have a push to talk model (Verizon Carrier)
7. With all that asked what would be the best BB for me?
I really appreciate the time you have taken to read this long post. Would like to have all this info and more before I jump into this.

[Allyson Kazmucha]

Greetings. I don't own a BB yet but use an old one (really old) at work and the only problem I've had with it is connecting to a secured site. I believe its more the site problem then the BB problem. I currently have the Verizon SMT 5800 smartphone. Love the phone but tired of it freezing and restarting. This is my 9th phone since Sept 07 ( 3 Plam Treos / 1 Palm 700 Wx / 3 Verizon 6800's / and 1 previous Smt). I don't destroy the phones but use them alot for work and they all would freeze up constantly. Since I am paying alot for the service, I believe that any problem I have should be fixed immidiately by Verizon (who's solution is to send a new phone). I need to be able to read MS Word documents for work and need them quick. Now for the noob questions:
1. Can I get a program to read, edit and create MS Words Files.
2. What type of internet browser is available and can 3rd party programs be uploaded such as Skyfire.
3. Can I receive text (written / picture / video / sound) like I do now.
4. Does the BB freeze alot and what are they problems I should look for and to avoid.
5. How easy is it to operate. Not a dummy but I look for ease and speed to access files, and phone numbers.
6. Does BB have a push to talk model (Verizon Carrier)
7. With all that asked what would be the best BB for me?
I really appreciate the time you have taken to read this long post. Would like to have all this info and more before I jump into this.

1. definitely yes on if you have the capability. there are several programs that will do this.

2. Opera Mini is probably one of the favorites.

3. Yes, blackberries are text machines. Best phones you'll ever text on (IMO)

4. BBs are very stable. I never really had freezing issues. All phones freeze up occasionally but I never had a problem that wasn't solved by a quick battery pull.

5. It's a learning curve, but after you get the hang of it, you'll never want to put it down. Just make sure you give it time to get used to. It's different, that's for sure.

6. Yes, Verizon offers a push to talk service, but keep in mind, it's only good for verizon to verizon customers and you have to both have the push to talk service.

7. I'm not quite sure which BB smartphones support this, but from a Google, it says they do. Someone may know more than me. But it comes down to, do you want a full qwerty, do you want GPS, wifi? Etc...the only one that can make this decision is you. Do some research on different BB verizon models, and go from there.

[Mista Stringfellow]

Welcome to Crackberry.

[Fubaz]

Welcome to CB!
you will not regret the switch!

And as for Question #7, if you do decide to go PTT im not quite sure, but i think the models are limited with that functionality.

but regardless getting a BB will not be a mistake

[kingrx]

welcome to cb!

[Dutch169]

Thanks for all the help. I went to verizon today and was looking at the curve and pearl. The sales person couldn't really tell me too much about them. I thinl I'm leaning more towards the curve but like the size of the pearl. Also he told me that I would have to pay $70 for the program to read my MS documents. Beside the size os their any difference between the two. Again thanks for all the help.

[thekarens#CB]

Os 4.5 has docs to go so you won't have to pay for that. That was one of my considerations since I'm going to school part time.

Think you asked about pic text and bb doesn't have that. You can email pics but not text them.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Dutch169]

Does BB use the same ringtones as reguler phones (wav, midi etc files) or is it a different type. I'm a big ringtone fan and like to have alot of options. I also have alot of pictues on my phone and take alot (all stored on a memory card). I need to access them quick. Any problems with that. And what about video files and texts. Does BB use a media player that can play windows media and what form of video/pictures does it take. I know I am asking alot of questions but would like to get info from people who use this everyday instead of a salesperson.

[Allyson Kazmucha]

Os 4.5 has docs to go so you won't have to pay for that. That was one of my considerations since I'm going to school part time.

Think you asked about pic text and bb doesn't have that. You can email pics but not text them.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Um you can text pics. Since when couldn't you do that? I sent picture messages on my curve on a daily basis. A pic message is an MMS and yes, all blackberries support them.

[hearmeoutx]

Um you can text pics. Since when couldn't you do that? I sent picture messages on my curve on a daily basis. A pic message is an MMS and yes, all blackberries support them.

Actually, picture messaging is carrier dependant. If this user is using Sprint, unfortunately It is not supported. Also with altell, it is not supported on their pearl.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Allyson Kazmucha]

Actually, picture messaging is carrier dependant. If this user is using Sprint, unfortunately It is not supported. Also with altell, it is not supported on their pearl.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Really? My friend sends me pics of her daughter on her BB w/ Sprint all the time. I didn't think she had a data plan.

Apparently she gets out the a** pay per use data then as I know she pic messages a lot. It always comes from her phone number though? That doesn't make sense? And she gets pics I send her.

Now I'm thoroughly confused.

[thekarens#CB]

Sprint does not support MMS on their blackberries at this time. There are work arounds, you can send it via BB messenger or email it, not through reg text.

The only time I find it an issue is when my partner is out shopping and she wants to text me a pic of whatever she wants to buy. Unfortunately I haven't convinced her to switch to a BB as of yet

[Disturbed_Angel]

Verizon dose MMS and SMS. all my ring tones are .wav format, though I dont know what other formats are allowed.

[jbeachy]

Os 4.5 has docs to go so you won't have to pay for that. That was one of my considerations since I'm going to school part time.
<snip>

Verizon does not yet have OS 4.5 and from what I've been able to learn there is no ETA. If you're brave, you can download another vendor's version and delete the file vendor.xml before installing. I'm on a company phone so I'm not allowed to do that. Meanwhile, I'm using eOffice by DynoPlex, a doc management system compatible with non-4.5 OS. Available at Crackberry store or www.dynoplex.com.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Dutch169]

Made the switch yesterday. I am having a hard time getting used to this. I still can't read my MS Word documents like I was I could. Also this litlle tiny picture id thing sucks. I tried that Picture ID program but all it did was let my ringtone constantly ring forcing me to turn off the BB.

[Duvi]

Made the switch yesterday. I am having a hard time getting used to this. I still can't read my MS Word documents like I was I could. Also this litlle tiny picture id thing sucks. I tried that Picture ID program but all it did was let my ringtone constantly ring forcing me to turn off the BB.

Welcome and congrats on your new toy.

There are apps out now, but if you wait for 4.5, you will have to purchase the program if you would like to create from scratch. I've heard work-arounds (saving blank docs and then "editing" them )

[jbeachy]

Welcome and congrats on your new toy.

There are apps out now, but if you wait for 4.5, you will have to purchase the program if you would like to create from scratch. I've heard work-arounds (saving blank docs and then "editing" them )

Hmm� I thought Documents to Go (included in OS 4.5) supports creating Word and Excel documents from scratch. I know for a fact that eOffice does (I'm using it on OS 4.3).

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[madhaus]

What I thought was cool about the BB is that it can play MP3 files as ringtones, no more having to create them. Ringtones are usually stored as MIDI. One of the crackberry non-noobz can answer the question of whether it can play standard ringtones as well.

The Roxio Media tool that came with my BB seems to do a conversion to .m4a (MP4) with music files. Cannot tell you if it converted WAV but I think it did.

I have not loaded any video yet so can't answer that question either.

[madhaus]

Verizon dose MMS and SMS. all my ring tones are .wav format, though I dont know what other formats are allowed.

You can use files in your music area, either on the device or on the memory card, for ringtones too. You are not stuck with what comes with the device or what you already own.

And you could use a tool like Audacity to edit WAV or MP3 files down to a place in the song that makes a good ringtone, then store it where-ever you want, music or ringtones, then use it. Audacity is a PC app, not a BB app, it is a very robust sound editor. Just google it.