21 October 2003 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Imagine getting and responding to emails on the move? Blackberry plans for you to do just that with its latest model the Blackberry 7230.

The need to keep in touch with people when you are out and about can sometimes mean the difference between getting the job and not. Currently for most of us, keeping in touch via email means either lugging an often large and cumbersome laptop around with you or darting into internet cafes at every opportunity.

Up until now to achieve the wonders of getting email on to this palm sized device you’ve needed to work at a large multinational company with a server the size of most people’s living rooms and costing a mere £20,000. That’s a setup which we are sure you’ll agree is a tad excessive to get the odd bit of junk mail and keep in touch with the chaps back at the office.

Now however, T-Mobile and Blackberry have launched a consumer model that allows you to forego the large back-end server for a monthly fee (Vodafone, Orange and O2 all purportedly have similar plans in the pipeline). What this means is that this service is now open in the likes of small businessmen and grannies alike.

For the unaware the Blackberry is a handheld device with a large colour screen and QWERTY keyboard. Its main selling point is that using “push” technology it allows you to collect emails as they arrive in your inbox rather than having to dial in to retrieve them. This means that for the connected you really are just that providing you are within a GPRS or wireless area.

Slightly fiddly at first, the device soon becomes easy to get to grips with after a little use and everything is controlled via a jog wheel and a back button. It would have been nice to see a D-pad similar to most modern mobile phones but then you can’t have everything. The QWERTY keyboard is big enough to bash out an email on - although we wouldn't suggest you try and type a lengthy document or your doctorate.

The unit offers all the usual array of features such as contacts, memo pad alarms and games and can be synchronised with a PC, but its main crux is the email function. When it comes to writing, reading and cataloguing emails the software is both simple and straightforward making it as easy as Outlook in your mail management.

This latest version can also double up as a tri-band voice phone and therefore accept SMS messages as well, although it has steered clear of MMS and the accompanying camera on the back.

Verdict

If you are a person that needs to be in constant touch with people over email this is certainly the device to do it with. The only set back is that with this much connectivity saying that you are out of the office will cease to be an excuse not to do any work or to be out of contact.

Score

Review Recap

Made by

RIM

Price as reviewed

£179 + monthly subscription and data allowance charges

Latest price

Compare prices

The good

Can pick up mail and text on the move

The bad

But not MMS and can’t take pictures

Quick verdict

For the person who needs email on the move this is the device to get it with

Score

Winner

Recommended articles