Blackberries were the first of the phones to be really, really smart. And the are, except for use as a phone! If you want to check or send email, they are wonderful. Ditto for a quick web search. But I have found them to be a little lacking in the basic phone category. The answer is to use it only with a blue tooth, but whenever I've forgotten my little ear appendage, it's been difficult to hear and be heard in phone mode. Other than that one thing, I think they are pretty nifty tools of the trade. Of course, now I use an iPhone, which helped me to break my Crackberry habit.