[Kurbski]

I dont know much about gadgets and have read online that CSX Intermodal in Jacksonville and Quality Carriers have their OO's using blackberry's. Is anyone using a blackberry? What type of applications are they capable of ? I know they are a phone and do email but can you do a daily expense sheet,upload BOL's,calculate fuelstops,select loads,confirm deliveries, use GPS, basic Maps and trip planning like a laptop computer on a blackberry? It would be nice to be able to save data and transfer it to a laptop later in the evening or at the end of the week. And not tote a laptop everywhere for numerous reasons including the added expense of an aircard if your regional and home on weekends. Appreciate any advice or opinions you have. Thanks

[Musicman]

I’ve got an 8330, which is not as fast as I’d like it to be (as far as processor). There are all sorts of programs you can install on them. One is a complete suite of Office compatible programs, which I bought, but the 8330 is too slow to efficiently run the program. There are faster BBs out there. AT&T has the "BB Bold", which is about as fast as they come.

They have full web capabilities (although they do seem to have some problems with macromedia Flash web pages) including email “push” which means that it will automatically send email from all of your accounts directly to your BB. I use mine to plan out my fuel purchases, manage my bank accounts, and keep up with accounts receivable. You can also run Google Maps with GPS which is a nice second opinion to my main GPS. If I’m going to a place I’ve never been before and have concerns, I can use Google maps to look at the satellite view of the area before I show up. Often, that will give me an idea if I will be able to find a place to park at a stop if I get there in the middle of the night and they are closed, for instance. You can also use Google Maps to look up info for any business. Want to know where the next wal-mart is? No problem, just bring up a map of your current location, zoom out a bit and do a “search map” feature and viola, you’ll return results for every wal-mart in your area complete with phone numbers, addresses and icons showing you where they are at on the map. I use the memo tool quite a bit as well. I keep track of truck maintenance, Oregon state line crossings, zip codes for PC miler routing (which is how I figure my miles for IFTA reporting), expenses, “to do” lists etc., until I get a chance to boot up the notebook and input all my data into the various spread sheets I use. We run team freight and stay moving most of the time, and it really used to be a pain to pull the notebook out anytime I needed to do something. Now I may go a week or two and never use it. You can also use your BB as an air card for your notebook. Sprint PCS is my carrier and they try to tell you that you have to pay extra for the capability, but I’ve not seen any extra charges on my account. I’ve not abused it though, and I imagine if you start using too much bandwidth, they’ll interrogate you about it.

At any rate, I absolutely love my BB and kick myself every day for not buying one soon. It has made my life sooooo much easier while on the road. Oh yeah, you can even post on CAD, Face Book, Myspace, etc. with your BB!