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Blogs and Blogging, Technology, Wireless
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Blackberry 7100t from T-Mobile

Despite the recent legal troubles for , there seems to be no stopping the momentum of their product. Though its popularity has been primarily confined to the corporate world, RIMâ??s newest entry is targeted towards a somewhat new market for RIM. The new BlackBerry 7100 (7100t through BlackBerry in the US) appears to be aimed at either the consumer market or simply those looking for a scaled down smart phone that contains only the essentials.

The best way to describe the is that it is designed for people who want email and capabilities on their phone and not the other way around. Many of the other smart phones on the market appear that they were designed with the PDA functionality first and then the phone was added as an after thought â?? â??Hey, how can we cram a phone in here?â?

Where the BlackBerry 7100t excels is in its simplicity. Iâ??ve always loved the thought of a PDA â?? I owned and used Palm, Windows CE, Pocket PC, and now the BlackBerry OS. The issue with all the others was twofold. One, I never used any of the functionality beyond calendar, contacts, to do list, and basic notes. Second, as a separate device from my cell phone, I never actually had the PDA when I needed it. The cell phone was always in my pocket, the PDA on my desk. The BlackBerry 7100t, in addition to its much heralded email functionality, contains the above basic functionality (calendar, contacts, to do list, and notes) that synchs seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook. I now have all the functionality I actually use, always on my person.

After using the device exclusively now for almost two months (the 7100t was released in October, 2004), I have few complaints. The sound quality is not the best (though itâ??s quite good) and T-Mobileâ??s network is now as expansive as some of its competitors. That being said, if youâ??re looking for the basic PDA functionality with email in a phone, the BlackBerry 7100t is hard to beat.

As I use it more, Iâ??ll add some more thoughts on its uses and capabilities. One Iâ??m currently using now and will post more details in the future, is that the 7100t can easily be used as a modem via itâ??s USB sych/charger cable. With a reasonably priced unlimited mobile plan from T-Mobile, this feature alone could be worth the price of upgrading to the BlackBerry 7100t.

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Blogs and Blogging, General
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Finally up and running

Well, I’m finally up and running with my blog. Somewhat surprisingly, it took me quite a while to get this created. One would think with my career in technology I’d be an early adopter and created a blog, but to this point I’d been unable to find an easy way to do so. After finally finding a useable technology for creating blogs, Drupal, my new web site is operational.

You may be wondering why I’m doing this. There are numerous reasons. As post number one though, anyone reading this is doing so way after the fact, but I digress… For this blog, tmarkiewicz.com, I hope to discuss mainly topics related to my professional career and passion in technology especially Internet technologies. In addition, I’m sure I’ll be opining on a variety of other topics, not limited to but including business, finance, investing, the weather, politics, and rock climbing.

For a first post, I think I’m finished. Welcome to the site and I hope you’ll be coming back to read more!

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