corbosman

The thing that bugs me about BMW is that many of the phones that dont work are marketed as business phones. Nokia E50 for instance. How can such an expensive car as the BMW 5 or 7 series, also marketed as a business car, not support very common business phones. We're not driving fiat puntos here.

Cor

Rudy

There are many BT phones that pair fine for voice but not for phonebook since ther are multiple BT "flavors" that allow for different levels of communication between devices. The "handsfree" flavor allows for the voice part for things like a BT headset or primitive car interface. The more advanced flavors allow for more things like contact transfer, etc.

One question, is there any reason why you don't just get a BlackBerry so you can have "BlackBerry e-mail functionality?" I don't know too much about the E70 but after quick look at it, I don't see how it would be a substitute for a real BlackBerry.

I've been a huge fan of Nokia phones over the years -- my first Nokia was a 2190 http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/2190 -- and I've preferred them ever since then (and probably owned or used around ten or twelve different models.) I've also carried a Palm Pilot since the first model came out. Because of the Palm data that I've gathered for the last 15 years or so, I figured a Treo 650 would be a good idea for me to simplify my life (since the Treo had BT, etc.) The 650 as a phone sucks. The sound quality is sub-par on the earpiece, on the speakerphone, and via Bluetooth. As a PDA, it's fine except that only the "favorites" transferred to the BMW, not the entire contact list. I was able to get email, etc. and I was able to use the phone with the car via BT (although everyone complained that it sounded terrible!)

After much resistance, I'm now in the process of making the switch to the BlackBerry. At first, I didn't think the BlackBerry was anything special but after playing with one the last month or so, I can say that I'm truly impressed and very happy with this thing (an 8700c). The interface is much simpler to use than the Palm -- even after using Palm for so many years. The "push" email is much better than the "pull" mail client I was using on the Palm (I know I could get push on the Treo but it's a moot point now.) Mail messages are more tightly integrated with the contact database, etc. The icing on the cake is that the entire contact database transfers to the car and nobody tells me it sounds terrible (in fact I ask them how I sound and they say I sound great!)

The conversion of my data is an ongoing process but at this point but I feel it'll be worth it in the long run. Cingular is releasing the Pearl soon (tomorrow, I think) and I'll probably get one of those once I get a chance to play with it a little bit.

In my opinion, from a business standpoint, BlackBerry is the only way to go -- especially if you have your own BlackBerry Enterprise Server running on your network. The level of control you have over all the units deployed in the company is unmatched. (And on a personal note, one of the owners of RIM, the company that makes BlackBerrys, is buying the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team so I might as well help him out -- as long as he doesn't move the team out of town!)

Okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox now...can you tell I'm just a little excited about my new toy?

EDIT: It looks as if Cingular is ready to go with the Pearl -- I just found the following article:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2065876,00.asp