Use the BB Pearl as a "regular" phone?
My wife might be in a situation soon where she will be needing a new phone. She uses it pretty heavily for work, but getting an expensive Data or BlackBerry plan is out of the question. Without going in to all the details, she will only have a calling plan...period.
With that said, would she still benefit from getting a Smart Phone for the calendar, organizer, contacts/address book..etc.? I don't have any experience with Smart Phones, but someone told me that they usually have a better layout for contacts & stuff like that. I know that if she got a BB Pearl and didn't do email on it, she would be wasting the phone's potential...but she would still have a good phone with a few improvements over a regular phone...right? What do you guy...
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With that said, would she still benefit from getting a Smart Phone for the calendar, organizer, contacts/address book..etc.? I don't have any experience with Smart Phones, but someone told me that they usually have a better layout for contacts & stuff like that. I know that if she got a BB Pearl and didn't do email on it, she would be wasting the phone's potential...but she would still have a good phone with a few improvements over a regular phone...right? What do you guy...
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in my opinion getting a smartphone without a data plane is useless. The main points of a smartphone are email and web browsing capabilities. if your only looking for simple pda features; every single phone has them (notes, calendar, reminders, alarm clock, password saver, calculator ect ect) In a smartphone your really not gaining any pda features with the exception of reading and or editing word excel and powerpoint documents. The only thing your gaining on a smart phone are usually a larger screen and a query key pad..which the pearl doesn't even have. Another thing; I'm pretty sure you have to sign up for a data plan with cingular when you buy a smartphone or BB to get the discount price. At least they told me i had to. My advice would be...
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Thanks for the reply. I hadn't heard about having to sign up for a data plan to get a discount on a smart phone. That could be an issue.
Yeah, I know almost all phones have an address book, caledar & stuff, but on many phones some of that stuff is kinda buried in the menus and it's a little cumbersome to use. Isn't that stuff easier to access and use on a smart phone? The Pearl doesn't have a regular QWERTY keyboard, but it has a variation of one that, in my oppinion, is still a lot better than typing on a standard phone keypad. I saw somewhere that the Pearl can be had for anywhere from $100 to FREE now so it's not any more than buying a good regular phone. If it would be a little better for her, I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad way ...
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Yeah, I know almost all phones have an address book, caledar & stuff, but on many phones some of that stuff is kinda buried in the menus and it's a little cumbersome to use. Isn't that stuff easier to access and use on a smart phone? The Pearl doesn't have a regular QWERTY keyboard, but it has a variation of one that, in my oppinion, is still a lot better than typing on a standard phone keypad. I saw somewhere that the Pearl can be had for anywhere from $100 to FREE now so it's not any more than buying a good regular phone. If it would be a little better for her, I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad way ...
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The at&t rebate won't work if you sign up without a data plan in case those deals have that as part of it.
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A couple things. you can still get a discount on a bb if you dont get the service you just wont recieve your rebate. the the bb thats run 150 after rebate will really be 250 no rebate. also she will not be able to get picture messages or download ringtones or anything data related. no emails or web or any of that. basically you will cripple the phone to do text and talk with some pda functions. same with the blackjack if you dont get the internet package no rebate. the blackberry internet is only 29.99 a month so its pretty inexpensive. while the blackjack internet is 39.99 a month.
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That's good info...thanks. So if I want to add my wife to the family plan that our son and I are on now, and get her a Pearl with a plan that will allow her to do email n stuff, what will the addition charges be? Bare with me...I'm new to all of this. 😕
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The blackberry data plan is 29.99 a month but does not include pixs or text messages. For $39.99 you will get 1500 pix & text; $34.99 you will get 200 pix or text messages. Emails are unlimited on the blackberry data plan.
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plus when you add her to your family plan its 9.99 so if you add her and add the blackberry with 1500 text thats only 50 more a month that you will be paying thats not all the bad. its only 40 with no text
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I was actually paying 45 a month on my BB for 1500 texts and unlimited data. and that was only about a month ago. Have the prices gone down on data plans?
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ya actually about 2 month ago when they realesed the unlimited texting they dropped the prices on pda connect and blackberry connect. unless you are doing it all through an enterprise server then it cost more but if its all personal email and stuff its only 39.99 for bb with 1500 text
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I am also trying to help my girlfriend get a phone and she is looking at getting a Pearl without the data plan. The thought being that she doesn't need the data plan now but when she starts back up with pharmacy school in the fall she will eventually be using a program to keep track of medical information for consulting patients so she will need the data plan at that time.
Basically I think having a blackberry and no data is not a bad idea, you will enjoy the phone layout, calendar etc and you may eventually want to get a blackberry plan.
By the way, I found out too that if you have a blackberry without a data plan you cannot send and receive picture messages even if you have a messaging plan. You have to have internet access to do...
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Basically I think having a blackberry and no data is not a bad idea, you will enjoy the phone layout, calendar etc and you may eventually want to get a blackberry plan.
By the way, I found out too that if you have a blackberry without a data plan you cannot send and receive picture messages even if you have a messaging plan. You have to have internet access to do...
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Thanks for the reply. That was my point too...even though she wouldn't be using all of the features of the Pearl, it would still suit her better than a standard phone. And if we did decide to add the BB plan later on, we could. 🙂
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Not a problem, just expect to pay more. The mail in rebate is not applicable without the BB feature and most stores have a "feature discount" further bringing down the price.
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