RIM makes some great devices that are becoming more and more consumer friendly. I still think they have work to do on making things look more modern (take a look at the text list of options), but they have started adding some media functionality. I like that they support Java applications and find many of them highly functional (Gmail, for example) and wish Windows Mobile would do a better job with this functionality. The BlackBerry Bold is a very nice piece of hardware with an amazing display and well-designed keyboard. There are Windows Mobile devices that are similar, but not as good and I am not looking for a Windows Mobile-based Bold here. I would like the same BlackBerry OS, hardware and experience, except for the ability to sync to an Exchange server.
One other thing about BlackBerry devices is that they communicate through the BlackBerry servers or other servers with the BES. I would prefer to rely upon my company's server with Exchange to provide me with full service at all times, rather than suffering the occasional BlackBerry outage.
I could have lived with the Bold as a secondary personal device with my AT&T SIM, but I already have the T-Mobile G1 that doesn't sync with Exchange and I cannot have two primary devices with no Exchange support.
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