What is the best device for cellphone and easy text messaging

One advantage of using the BB, if you're going to be doing a lot of texting back and forth, is that you can do it via email or PIN messages (blackberry to blackberry messages) and not have to pay for SMS usage fees. Also, Windows Mobile annoys the bejesus out of me.

rbs http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/49447#751137 "One advantage of using the BB, if you're going to be doing a lot of texting back and forth, is that you can do it via email or PIN messages (blackberry to blackberry messages) and not have to pay for SMS usage fees." That's something I've been wondering about. Is this PIN messaging, Blackberry to Blackberry, available through any carrier that supports Blackberry devices (such as Cingular), without incurring the SMS fees?

I have a Windows Mobile phone (MDA on T-Mobile) and I've played around with friends' Blackberries and I have to say that the Blackberry wins hands down. It does what it's supposed to do (messaging) and it does it well. It's much quicker, snappier and easier to use than a WM phone and if I hadn't spend so damn much on my phone I'd dump it and get a BB. My phone was sluggish and needed software and OS upgrades from the get go. I've upgraded the software 3 times in 4 months and although it has gotten better, overall it's no match for a Blackberry.

The Blackberry is simply an indispensible device. It is so much faster. It works so easily. The only drawback is the tasks, which suck. For everthing else, it dominates.

I too, have an e61 that I love, and I agree with ASM.

Get a T-Mobile Sidekick. It has the wins of the Windows Mobile devices over the Blackberry (more complete internet features, etc etc), without costing as much as those devices do. Also, the keyboard is better, and the OS basically never crashes. I've had one for three years.

Oh, oops. I didn't notice that you're in a contract with Cingular until '08. Stupid contracts. Forget the SK :(

Can't tell you which one is better (although i would assume that the WM would have sluggishness as a drawback....) If you get a full Cingular data plan, unlimited SMS messages are included.

I had a WM5 device this past year and came to absolutely loathe it. The SMS via Pocket Outlook is subpar and overall WM5 was incredibly sluggish (even with a 416MHz processor, which surprised me) and (still! after 5 versions!) crashy. As an extra kick in the nuts the cameraphone functionality and video was laggy to the point of being nearly useless and the phone functionality was similarly bad for dialing and answering. I've recently switched to a Blackberry Pearl on Cingular and after about a month, am still loving it. I've also played around with a friend's 8700 - in both cases the Blackberry OS is super-responsive, it's texting is impressive (lots of very thoughtful shortcuts, a visually ugly but surprisingly functional context-driven menuing system) and the email delivery (w/ IMAP IDLE support) + PIN messaging (yes, this is available on all carriers and gives free direct BB to BB messaging) + threaded SMS is great. So to answer your questions: 1. No, for the love of God and all that is holy stay away from WM5. 2. It's absolutely not true that texting is as quick and easy on a Windows Mobile phone. It's more clicks, not as well thought for typing or cut and pasting and other operations etc., slower to load and switch into, and doesn't offer threaded views (well, the new Treo 750wx does and I believe a hacked version is floating around... but that still doesn't bring WM5 devices to the same level as BBs). In any case, the Blackberry wins hands down. Also, it runs Google Maps Mobile (and other J2ME Apps) much better than my WM5 did. Another bonus for me is that RIM has paid for a blanket Pocket Mac license so I can sync on OS X flawlessly (something that never got working w/ WM5). They both sync fine on Windows.