The Blackberry family of handheld devices is like remote controls
for your desktop e-mail. Messages punched out on the tiny Blackberry keyboard are automatically routed over the wireless
e-mail service. And vice versa. The beauty of it is that replies look like they came from your main machine, and copies
of sent and received e-mail are also stored on your desktop.
Using the thumb wheel to scroll through long text messages quickly becomes second nature on the pager-size
Blackberrys, but the RIM 957 Blackberry
gives your thumb a rest. Along with a rechargeable lithium battery and more than twice the memory of the original
Blackberry, the RIM 957 Blackberry breakthrough is its vast display
(16 or 20 lines, depending on the font size you choose). The image is bright and crisp, and easily bests that of its
Palm competitors.
First and foremost, the RIM 957 Blackberry
is a wireless Internet solution. It boasts an always-on connection, so e-mail is pushed your way like on a pager.
Meanwhile, Web content from GoWeb and PocketGenie is available. But although the
RIM 957 Blackberry calendar
and address book sync with numerous desktop PC apps, the
RIM 957 Blackberry doesn't
have the myriad third-party applications available that Palm or Pocket PC devices do.