BlackBerryInsight

The BlackBerry itself was basically designed to be a business device - targetting the need of mobile email accessibility and security. The time changes, the users change and the user’s behavior changes too. Such changes came along with mulitmedia support (i.e. MP3, Video), higher display resolutions and even GPS capabilities. Inspirated on the article BlackBerry and GPS some time ago, I thought it is time to check the outdoor compatibility of my BlackBerry.

I used the following components for this evaluation:

1. BlackBerry 7290
2. BlackBerry 7290 Holster
3. Spot for BlackBerry
4. Holux GR-231 Bluetooth GPS receiver

If you don’t believe me take a look to the equipment image:

Because I just have a BlackBerry 7290, I need an external Bluetooth GPS receiver. There are many rumors in forums, blogs and other places which confused me before. As written in BlackBerry and GPS Article only the 7520 and 7100i BlackBerrys have a built-in GPS reciever. None of the other current models has. So please don’t bug me just because you fount “Location Based Services” settings in the BlackBerry options.

The technical issue:
Setting up the system is quite easy: Just switch the Bluetooth GPS on, go to “Options->Bluetooth” within the BlackBerry desktop and select “Add Device”. The BlackBerry searches for all Bluetooth devices in range and lists them. Don’t be scared if you find 10 devices while you are doing this in the subway. Many mobile phones, PDA and so on will be discovered too. However, choose the “Holux GR-231″ (by the way: the vendor says “Spot” and the BlackBerry should work with nearly all available Bluetooth GPS receivers in market). The best way might be to “trust” the device and be sure it is the first device in the Bluetooth device list. Now start “Spot” by clicking onto the green spot on your BlackBerry desktop and it automatically connects to the first Bluetooth device in its list. Once the GPS receiver has its first position fix (indicated by a blinking orange LED at the Holux GR-231) the position appears within the program.
More information about setup and other issues can be found at gpsphoneforums.com.

Back to the outdoor compatibility. It does not always make sense to take your BlackBerry to a “non-business” place. However, as mentioned before, the great display and the lack of other devices just put the BlackBerry to my no. 1 device.

The first thing I encountered was the holster / BlackBerry case. When I opened the BlackBerry box the first time after purchase I thought “Uh, what a snoppy funny thing”. However, it still looks some kind of weird while using this tool attached to my trousers but it is really helpful. The program “Spot” seems also to be designed to keep the GPS connection online while the BlackBerry is in the holster as well as you are using it actively. You will have your hands free to do some more important things while you don’t need to navigate. There are also some rumors on BlackBerryForums.com regarding the topic “How do you wear your blackberry?”

Another very positive aspect is the robustness. Most mobile/smart phones I have seen are looking like fancy, nice designed business devices but many of them are built of cheap plastic parts which might easily break. Even the display scratches quite fast. All these issues I didn’t encounter with the 7290.

Moreover, the BlackBerry kills all other devices in the manner of battery life time. The Holux GPS is specified to 8 hours runtime. Even it does not reach the 8 hours the BlackBerry outscores the GPS receiver at least by 5 or even by 6 times in battery time. Unbelievable! I didn’t expect that because the BlackBerry uses Bluetooth the whole time without break.

To Be Continued…
Upcoming in #2

• Unicode
• Realtime Input method change
• Multitasking
• More test images

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