I love having the ability to get all my email forwarded to the blackberry, it's so convenient. And the improved typing system on the 7100 makes it extrememly easy to reply to them all in a snap. The large color screen is definitely a big improvement over regular phones. The 7100 offers not only email capability, but also a large Address Book, Task pad, Memo Pad, Picture storage (which you can download from your emails), numberous built in ring tones, SMS (aka text messaging), an easy to use internet browser, games and so much more. I love my 7100 and would recommend it highly.