ScoobyWon't

I keep meaning to bring mine home from work to charge. I'm impressed that I can get at least 6x24 hours out of it before I even have to give it a quick blast at work to make sure it doesn't die.

I've not looked into any of the other tricks you can do, but so far I've only used it for taking photos of injuries, taking photos of RTCs, submitting intelligence on ******* and checking reports against the police national computer to look for warning markers, Delta Deltas and warrants.

I've just got the software on it for being able to add missing persons reports and soon, I'll have some translation software where you ask someone to speak into the Blackberry and it then gives you a spoken translation into English. There's also a dictorphone type bit of software being made available to us, where we get a witness or injured party to make their statement into the blackberry and it then stores it as a word processed document for us.

Snazy

Friggin hell thats some super software there. But im sure there is an iApp for it out there lol.

Fair play though, great to see them getting used properly by the force How are you finding using it?

Love the translation idea. Im impressed with the Google voice app at the mo on mine, but thats not quite as good as that!

ScoobyWon't

I'm still all thumbs with it and find the trackball a pain in the ****, I'd be much happier if it was a Nokia style interface, but on the plus side, it's easier to type with seperate keys instead of predictive input.

It's brilliant for pulling up details of incidents that I go to. For example if someone dials 999 and I go to the scene of say a car crash, I can pull up all details that have been given to the control desk. I can then add details of every nominal (person) at the scene, every vehicle involved, the location, notes etc. I can also request further info from the police national computer and intelligence systems, to tell me who holds driving licences, what cars they are insured to drive, their policy numbers and insurance company, who the car is registered to, if they drink drive etc.

The other day I went to a drive-off at a petrol station. I entered the number plate that was caught on CCTV. The number plate came back as false and I was then able to submit intelligence reports to other officers to look out for a red Peugeot on that plate to stop. It also goes straight to the ANPR cameras so will flash up stop/check or locate markers etc for the officers to take action should they spot the car.

The funniest thing I've found is that the custody system we use (NSPIS) automatically emails you after your prisoner has been in the cell for a few hours. It tells you to contact the injured party to update them on what's happening. The best occurence was when myself and my partner turned out to double crewed to a domestic. She nicked the bloke for assaulting the girl, I nicked the girl for assaultimg him (you should have seen the teeth marks in his legs!). A couple of hours after doing so, my BB vibrates to tell me I have an email. It tells me I need to update him with what's happening to her - my partner gets the same telling her to update the girl with what's happening to her fella. As we were in the custody suite at the time, we opened the cells and told them! Sometimes you need to have a quick laugh when you're 4 hours in to overtime with no light at the end of the tunnel!

We got a couple of million pounds to develop all of this stuff, and it works. It means we don't have to keep going back to the nick to duplicate forms. We do it at the scene once, and then send it. Job done, then back off nicking more crims.

ScoobyDoo555

Now THIS sort of stuff is where the Blackberry shines......because it's doing exactly the type of thing it was designed to do.

By the sounds of it, it works perfectly.

For the domestic user, I still say that there's alternatives that do the job better.

I applaud Backberry (RIM) for dipping their toe in the domestic market, but they've got a lot to learn from the likes of Nokia. In all fairness, with the exception of a few bizarre omissions, Apple have.

Despite that, you're paying for a unique user interface (both BB and Apple) - this is what sets them apart at the domestic level - not the apps.

So to summarise

Blackberry - business
Apple et al - domestic

They all crossover...............BADLY.

Dan

ScoobyDoo555

Also to update my own position....

I'm still on my N95
However, we looked at the Berrys for the wife. And still said no.

She's now got a HTC Magic running Google's Android OS (cupcake)......
Had it a week so far, and she's really happy with it.

Free internet, plus email push from Gmail. Has GPS on it, so am just waiting for a decent satnav to be released. 3G & Wifi (automatically switches when available) 3.2Mpixel camera (with what seems like a very good lense - 'kin good quality piccies!LOL!) + the usual stuff.

What was great was because all of her contact numbers/emails etc are in the Gmail address book, turn the phone on, log in (once), and all the details are transferred to the phone automatically!!!

The calendar will also sync with both Mac's iCal and Outlook & Gmail calendar.

Touchscreen yes - but in terms of tactile use, it's VERY good (almost as good as the Apple products) Has a portrait & landscape aspect too - very quick to type on imho.

Android is a fantastic OS (also OpenSource which is nice ) - loads of apps out there and getting better and better each day almost.

Downsides? One really so far (and have been assured that it's on the way) - Bluetooth file transfer is ropey (non-existent!) Pairing to kit is good, but nothing else.
Mac support isn't brilliant either - only via limited Bluetooth.

The calendar info (such as contact birthdays etc) has to be put into Google's Calendar as an event - the OS won't pick it up from the contacts' data. Minor (and being updated)

As Wifey isn't an all-out business user yet, this was a very good option. Watch out for this OS - it's going to give a few of "them" a bl00dy nose......

DAn

Jerome

Update on mine.

Finally sold my Storm recently. Good riddance quite frankly - the worst phone I have owned.

Other BB's are great business phones. The Storm was a dire business and domestic phone.

ScoobyDoo555

FWIW, Storm2 is out in the next couple of months. Meant to cure all the issues and failings of the 1st Storm - pretty much a new phone then!!LOL!!

Shame really, as I thought the concept behind the phone was very good. Let down by some VERY poor executive decisions imho.

Dan

Snazy

Great to see the police force investing in time and technology like this. All sounds very impressive, and definatly moving things forward.

As for the Storm being poop! I have never seen the point in touchscreen BB's, it defeats the point of their market standing if you ask me.

Not sure about the crossover thing to be honest. Im not a business but I find myself using the BB far more effectively than I have ever bothered using apps on other phones. Even the calenders, reminders etc are set out just right for me.
A touchscreen phone (which I own) on the other hand is really not for me. I am on most of the time, but find them clumsy to use, and irritating at times.

Gmail along with googlesync is great for a lot of devices. I use it to back my phone up to wirelessly lol. Can never have too many backups eh. Very smooth to use, and simple too. Great for updating your phonebook, merging duplicate contacts etc.

I have heard great things about the Magic, when I posted it up a while back it looked good then. Since then a lot of people I know have moved over and are very pleased. Refreshing to see something hit the market so well

Well done for not getting sucked in by the chatter, and getting what suited you best.
Everyone needs/wants something a little different to cater for their needs, hence the market has SO many choices of device. Not just one from each brand. Nothing wrong with adapting the product to fit the market.

For me, BB is the right answer, the missus has just got one too, and loves it to bits. She too is using it far more effectively than she used other phones. Cant wait for the Onyx now

Snazy

Just thought I would revive this thread with a few bits of news...

BBM 5.0 is finally officially here.
New BlackBerry Messenger to Launch October 7th?!! | CrackBerry.com
Launches tomorrow. Been using this for a couple of months now, and I have to say I love it.
The full version will also included threaded SMS.... Mind blowing stuff huh lol

And another load of "my favorite free apps"
Keep in mind that some of these are for the US market. And others will only work on certain devices.
Top 40 best free BlackBerry Applications | All about Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Gadgets and the Web | Technorotic

And something that I cant wait for .....
A Close Video Look At The BlackBerry Bold 9700 | CrackBerry.com
YUMMY !

Snazy

9700 "COMING SOON"

BlackBerry 9700 Onyx to launch - Mobile News

bigsinky

holy thread resurrection Batman!!!!!!

Snazy

lol Had to be done Robin... I saw too many iPhone threads and panicked!
Just thought I would keep our minority in the know

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I got the activation email at work for my 8900 Curve and then got told gleefully by a colleague that in two weeks we can order Iphones instead, grrr.

Snazy

Sorry dude, but thats funny

Im sure it will all work out.