Office on the Go

Author's Rating:

Pros: battery life, signal strength, feature rich with web zones.

Cons: backlight does not come on automatically unless in phone mode. As a Phone, Awkward.

The Bottom Line: 
Great Value for the money with lots of features in one package. Email, mobile web and PDA are great. Phone is awkward. Must get 411 application.

Author's Review
I bought the 6230 about a month ago. I have T-Mobile service and am using the RIM device as my Phone/PDA/EMail/Mobile Web device. My initial draw to the device was the email capability. I can get email from multiple accounts all on the 6230. I can also respond and create messages easily and quickly. After having the device for a few days I discovered how valuable it can really be.

Out of the box this thing looks intimidating. Lots of buttons and functions present themselves immediately. The initial set up of the account services and email was not quick, but rather simple. You can set everything up via the RIM device/Internet, or call your provider and ask for Blackberry support. Not knowing I had the option, I did both and would recommend calling your provider for help.

It took a little less than 24 hours for the mail service to sync with the 6230 via T-Mobile. And that's okay, because there's lots to do with this device. That being said, you may want to start looking for good documentation on the web immediately. Other than the setup information, the manual that comes with the 6230 is worthless. Blackberry.com will have some .pdf files and the pdastreet.com blackberry forum is very helpful.

The 6230 is a good PDA. Not great, but it has the basics and is very in depth in its functions. You'll find an address book, email program, calendar, notepad, task list, calculator, and mobile web applications as part of the basic PDA offerings. It can be syncronized and backed up using the supplied PC software. RIM did a good job making this ergonomically correct and smart. The QWERTY keyboard mirrors that of a standard US PC keyboard and is easy to use. Functions like tapping the space bar twice inserts a period and moves to the beggining of a new sentence automatically capitalizing the next letter, make up some of the smart features of the device.

As a phone the 6230 is acceptable, barely. It's awkward to say the least and lacks the easy to use features of a standard mobile phone. The 6230 does have 2 quick phone keys that allow you to access the phone feature at the touch of a button and uses all 26 letters as a one touch speed dial. The lack of speaker phone and plain awkwardness of using the phone and keypad make this not the best choice for a phone only option. However, coupled with the PDA, Mail and web features it is well worth it.

My service signal has been OUTSTANDING. I travel a lot and many times to the same locations. Recently I had no service with my Motorola and just the other day was at the same location with a strong signal from the 6230. The battary life has been much longer than I anticipated. Using the device rather frequently for phone and web applications, I get 4 or five days of battery life before I'm only at 25% life left. Charging the 6230 is fast and easy. Like many other PDAs it uses a USB cord that can be plugged into the PC or to the supplied AC adapter.

There are limited third party applications available. However the 6230 uses an upgradeable Java platform that can be custom developed if you know Java programming. The free 411 application that is available (rimroad.com) is a MUST for travelers. It allows you to use the 6230 for surfing google, yellow pages, and white pages. It also can give turn by turn directions from MapQuest.

Overall the 6230 has been a workhorse. It fills a niche at a low cost and offers all the functions many business travelers are looking for. My add on service from T-Mobile is $29.99 a month and gives me unlimited email and web services. BARGAIN! My 6230 was only $170 from a local T-Mobile retailer in Saint Louis.