Text messaging was the highlight for today, in addition to calling T-Mobile’s technical support and addressing the attachments problem and the Web form issues that I described on day #48 and day #51.
Text messaging with the BlackBerry 8700, instant and economical
From the Austrian mountains, where the temperature is dropping quickly and the snow is already covering the side of the mountains, the BlackBerry 8700 text messaging capability helped me connect instantly and economically with several people across the world.
Unlike e-mail which requires that the recipient be on e-mail to get your message right away (which may not be the case especially in different time zones), and unlike a phone call which requires the recipient to take the phone (which may not be possible or convenient for them), text messaging delivers the message instantly to the recipient’s mobile phone but leaves them with the option of replying right away or deferring their reply. Just as importantly, text messaging is far less expensive than making a phone call especially when you consider the roaming charges overseas which can be $1/minute or more.
More on attachments
When I was trying to retrieve e-mail attachments earlier (day #48), I was getting an error message indicating that the request cannot be completed because of some missing service book information.
Today I called the T-Mobile technical support (by dialing 611) and I got this problem handled. To do so, I had to delete the existing service books first by connecting the BlackBerry 8700 to the laptop, starting the Desktop Manager, and then selecting the Backup/Restore advanced options, and clearing the service book entries. Then the technical support rep resent the service book entries directly to the BlackBerry 8700 handheld. There were two service books required, one for each of the e-mail accounts that I am managing through the BlackBerry 8700. We will see how the attachments will behave in the next few days, now that the service books are updated.
More on Web forms
When I tried to fill out the survey Web form using the BlackBerry 8700 browser yesterday (day #51), I encountered some issues relating to radio buttons and checkboxes. I wasn’t able to check the desired options. I tried the Trackwheel, the Space key, and the Enter key, but nothing seems to work with these controls.
Today I discussed these issues with the technical support rep, and we made sure that the browser configuration on the BlackBerry 8700 had Javascript enabled. and then tried to fill out the Web form again but without much success. The technical support rep indicated that some Web forms don’t work well with the handheld devices browsers, and that this problem is not specific to the BlackBerry 8700 browser. I did actually encounter the same problem when using the Motorola Q earlier in the 81-day-experiment. However, I didn’t encounter this problem with the Treo 700p, the Treo 700w, and the T-Mobile MDA (notice that these devices have a stylus and a touch screen, so I was able to use the stylus to check the checkboxes and the radio buttons).
In light of the above, and if you think that filling out Web forms on your handheld device is one of your important needs when you’re on the go, you probably want to explore this issue further. I think that you will find the devices that offer the stylus and touch screen interface to be more favorable in this case.
The BlackBerry 8700 battery life
What I noticed today is that the BlackBerry 8700 seems to NOT consume that much battery power. Even after a whole day of handheld activities (checking e-mail periodically, sending e-mail and text messages, and having had a long session with the technical support rep), the battery indicator has not moved much.
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