Well company has decided that rather than have money, they're rather get a BES server. Apart from the rediculous cost of the server, I gather we're all gonna be ditching out non-blackberries and moving over to blackberries, as activesync will be killed. I gather there would also be the added cost of a BES subscription on the user's cell phone.
For that we get blackberries crappy maps, limited apps and the so called advantage of push email, calander etc, which activesync seems to do fairly well anyway albeit with a battery draining knock. Oh and access to BES which if BIS is anything to go ny, is not exactly the fastest, most latent free connction around. (Where is the BIS server, South Ameria or something?). Perhaps BES will be better...
Sigh, and I got got an iPhone4.
Damn I really hate Blackberries...
Is active sync really such a security hole? I can't see how MS would use ActiveSync if it were so bad.
How does BES work differently to activesync?
| Intel C2D E7300 | Asus Striker Extreme | CL X-Fi ME | Asus 8800GTS | Aopen 700W |
| 2*Seagate 1TB Raid | Samsung 2232GW 22" LCD | Team Extreem 2GB DDR2 800 |
The whole point behind BES is control rather than saving money. If you look at it purely out of saving money you miss the buss by a long shot. I pay R250 for a 3GB data bundle whereas the CAL's on a BES server costs more then you still need to get BES enabled at your mobile carrier which costs still more every month. The whole free data point is moot as you pay more for that free data than an average user will consume in a month. The whole thing with BES is that you can lock the phones down to the point where they can only phone certain numbers or you can block the phone once it has reached thresholds and things like that. Like I said it is about control and not about saving money. If you want to save money get an Android phone, which btw is 100x better than any BB, and get a monthly data bundle. All in all should not cost you more than R450 or even R500 per month.
Dude, seriously. How big is your corporation? BES Express is free for up to 100 users so I've installed it on our server, took less than a day to implement and as a business tool it's FAR superior to most other systems (ans we tried them, believe me). As a company, do you think your boss is more interested in being able to download an app that can make fart noises or what is proven to be the best mobile business tool? Also, there is no extra cost to the user for BES, the cost is carried by the company.
Jonboy..... We are an IT support company.... Our support staff is in excess of 400 employees. Do the math. They don't want cost savings they want control. Also we are busy developing software for the BB at the moment to be deployed to the techs' new BB's and to say the least BB development is not very brilliant. Deploy the app on two identical, and I do mean identical BB's and the layout comes out all mangled on one of them...... Arrgggg.... I hate BB. Developed the same app for Android in 2 days and deployed it on a couple of handhelds in our office without any issues. But the BB just does not want to work as advertised.
RuadRauFlessa wrote:Jonboy..... We are an IT support company.... Our support staff is in excess of 400 employees. Do the math. They don't want cost savings they want control. Also we are busy developing software for the BB at the moment to be deployed to the techs' new BB's and to say the least BB development is not very brilliant. Deploy the app on two identical, and I do mean identical BB's and the layout comes out all mangled on one of them...... Arrgggg.... I hate BB. Developed the same app for Android in 2 days and deployed it on a couple of handhelds in our office without any issues. But the BB just does not want to work as advertised.
But does Belix work for your company? Because again, for staff of under 100 I cannot recommend a better implemented, cheaper system.
Nope he dues not but I had to voice my opinion and give him my 2c worth. Like I said if you look past the fact that you have oh soo much control over the usage of the devices with BES then you are missing the whole point. Yes in small numbers it can be cheaper than other options but the control you gain over the devices can override any other deciding factor. We are stuck developing on the stuff purely because of that single fact.
My condolences Belix. I had to manage the BES server at my previous job in NZ as well and my hatred for those horrid BlackBerry's can't be expressed in words...
Thanks guys - under a 100 users currently, so perhaps the implimentation co is getting it free...but we certainly are not. We've been nailed over R200K just for a hardware deposit, and that excludes migration costs to a new server and who knows what else. But hey, if the big cheese prefer to listen to the outside party that writes the quote, rather than the idiot who has to try and run it, so be it!
Besides, I like those fart apps for my apple...
| Intel C2D E7300 | Asus Striker Extreme | CL X-Fi ME | Asus 8800GTS | Aopen 700W |
| 2*Seagate 1TB Raid | Samsung 2232GW 22" LCD | Team Extreem 2GB DDR2 800 |
is there at least a way to get other emails outside of the BES email, such as hotmail, gmail etc? Last time I looked, it did not seem possible.
Someone is punishing me, just becase I complained about BBs so much, now I'm forced to use one instead of an iPhone...
| Intel C2D E7300 | Asus Striker Extreme | CL X-Fi ME | Asus 8800GTS | Aopen 700W |
| 2*Seagate 1TB Raid | Samsung 2232GW 22" LCD | Team Extreem 2GB DDR2 800 |
seriously.. it's a smart phone.. it does what most others do... what, precisely, is the drama? would it be improved with a lower case "i", an R8000 price tag and some wannabe-hipster-appeal marketing?
if anything it does a damn sight better job of making phone calls... which means the phone moniker is probably more deserved than anything produced by apple.... :/
@-Prometheus-: utter twaddle... where'd you get that? there's a reason the UAE was demanding that RIM provide access to unencrypted copies of all BB mail...
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so - Bertrand Russel
Nope, I had a 9700 and more recently a Torch and they absolutely suck as smartphones compared to the competition from HTC, Motorola, Samsung and Apple. The Torch which is the damn flagship model has a crap camera, crap screen, slow and laggy OS, needs constant reboots to even function properly as they constantly run low on memory hence the introduction of the Quick Pull app. My iPhone 4 never experiences ANY of these issues. Never dropped a call and haven't rebooted or switched it off in over a month without the memory running low and crippling it...
Trying to browse a simple website on a BB is pure agony. It does what other smartphones do yes, but it does those things infinitely worse...
then you've been alarmingly unlucky,.,.. we run 8520/8900/9700, (i use both the 8900 & 9700 on a daily basis), units throughout and have yet to experience anything remotely akin to what you're identifying... :/
the only time i've had to update the OS is when vodacom recently rolled out changes to their MMS system which required the update...
the torch was always an iphone wannabe piece of junk... it was recognised as such even before it was launched... our head honchos fell for it because they're marketing victims... they learned soon enough...
in closing: it's not a pc, it's a phone... who cares about browsing?... does it make phone calls? yes. does it deliver mail securely?yes. job done and dusted... everything else is window dressing for the terminally flashy-nonsense-addicted...
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so - Bertrand Russel
They are rolling out all the execs at this client (where I am at the moment) with Blackberrys. The BES server transfers the data from the exchange server (which for some strange reason is sitting in the states). I spoke to the IT guys and they have not had any serious complaints (they were interfacing with Lotus Notes before which was fairly buggy). Most of the employees here have BBs now and everyone is happy. And the IT guys say it is relatively simple to manage.
And as you all know - I love my BB. Never had any problems on it (that I did not cause myself). So stop panicking. Everything will be alright.
As it's primary function, which is basically a portable email device and phone it works very well yeah. The browser, camera etc are things I need in a smartphone though which is why I just can't have one as an every day phone, but to each their own. They definitely have a use in the corporate world...
Personally I dislike them becasue I have to help our office fellows try to use theirs...I also don't like getting steamrolled into using one. I find the OS irritating and non-intuitive. And I cannot maintain multiple email accounts, at least as far as i know, unless I'd like everything dumped into one email folder. Maybe it's because we needed more than BIS and did not have BES that we had a number of issues. For example, no data transfer until you 'register' the phone with the provider...which required BIS at least. Since we did not use BIS, having to subscribe to it when WAP would have worked just as well. eventualy figures out I could just change the AP and it works fine without BIS or BES. Just everything about BB seems to involve subscriptions, costly software and restrictions...
I've been a nokia fanboy for a long time, but my latest E72 with it's crap web browser...when it is not running out of memory, occassional reboots, email does not have real HTML support, and it only handles one exchange acccount. OS is seriosly dated, and unless simbian^4 offers something special, I think nokia will be relegated to the budget phone section...
Iphone4 also has it's irritations, such as no profiles, no sms folders, no alarm when the phone is off (Seriously, WTF!!), no sms delivery reports and a few other things, but the browser is an absolute dream (apart from no flash support which even the nokia had). Full HTML, and email load right away, no delay like the BB we've got. Touch screen qwerty keboard is great. And OS is a pleasure to use.
Manily I dislike BES becase it nails you to one phone make, take it, or get no email.
| Intel C2D E7300 | Asus Striker Extreme | CL X-Fi ME | Asus 8800GTS | Aopen 700W |
| 2*Seagate 1TB Raid | Samsung 2232GW 22" LCD | Team Extreem 2GB DDR2 800 |
Belix wrote:no alarm when the phone is off (Seriously, WTF!!)
You turn it off?! Since my original iPhone 2G days mine hasn't been off, ever, besides when updating and things. I seldom reset either unless I have to for some reason...
Agreed regarding the BB OS. I really find it horrid, especially once you're used to how well iOS works...
iOS does indeed have a few annoyances for users switching from old school business phones. My father just switched to an iPhone 4 from a Nokia E71 and he immediately asked me about the SMS folder thing...
I am surprised that he didn't ask you about the call dropping thing A colleague of mine has one and he keeps an old Nokia handy for when the iPhone 4 starts dropping calls.
A colleague of mine has one and he keeps an old Nokia handy for when the iPhone 4 starts dropping calls.