Let me open by saying I’m not always the easiest  to please when it comes to technology. I’ll often start out impressed with something, but after 2 or 3 hours I’ll start to find things that annoy me, and end up hating it.

But I’ve been Blackberry Unite! for several weeks now, and I’m still loving it!

Blackberry Unite! combines the following features:

• Shared calendar and contacts
• Private email server
• Remote file access

The entire server runs on your home PC, and unlike their enterprise server, you do not need Exchange to run it. The heart of Unite! is the Blackberry MDS (Mobile Data Service Connection Service).

Installation

Installing Blackberry Unite! is as simple as running the setup program, and letting it do its job. Once installed, you configure the server through your web browser (IE only, Firefox did NOT work for me).

The first step in adding Blackberry Unite! to your own Blackberry is plugging your device into your desktop. Once the server detects your Blackberry you can register it.

Once registered, your Blackberry will receive several new service books which support the various Blackberry Unite! features. This registration also ensures no other Blackberry device can remotely access your information, the PIN level authentication is extremely reliable.

Once the Blackberry has been added, you can add an email account. Blackberry Unite! can retrieve email from POP and IMAP accounts, and forward it on to your device.

I’m not entirely sure what the advantage is of having Unite! do this for you when most people will already have Blackberry email service from their operator, but I guess that the ability to host your own Blackberry service might be interesting for people who do not trust their mobile operator, or who prefer to have a backup email provider. The Unite! email service can operate together with your current email setup, so there is no need to stop forwarding messages to your current email account.

Policy and device management

The device management page is nice and simple. It allows you to do things like a remote wipe, a remote password change and even limiting services on the device. These features are normally reserved for corporate clients using the Blackberry Enterprise Server.

You can even disable specific features of the device (like SMS messaging or Internet browsing). This means you can safely hand the phone to your kids (or an employee) and limit what they can do with it.

Changes in the options are remotely "pushed" to the device, so you do not have to be anywhere near the phone to make these policy changes. Remote policy changes can not be deleted by simply erasing the device or pulling the battery.

If you have kids, then you’ll love this feature; you can allow or block calls to specific numbers through the web interface.  Daughter calling her boyfriend too much? Block him!

Just like with phone numbers, you can also permit/deny access to specific web sites. It is not a replacement for parental controls, but it can be handy for blocking access to stuff like Myspace.

Shared contacts and calendar 

The shared calendar and contacts feature is handy if you want to share information with the other Blackberry devices you have included in your Unite! server (a maximum of 5). Contacts and appointments are synced over the air, and you can enter, edit or delete appointments or contacts directly through the web interface. Updates arrive on your phone within a few minutes. Despite several attempts, I was not able to get my existing contacts pushed to the Unite! contacts database. New contacts show up in my list, but I’d hate to have to manually enter all of my current contact information into the new database.

Unite! Remote Access

I’ve saved the best for last. The remote file feature is by far the best part of Unite! Once Blackberry Unite! has been installed, a new folder shortcut appears on your desktop. Clicking that takes you to the Unite! file transfer folder.

In the transfer folder you’ll find three items; deleted, FROM Blackberry and TO Blackberry. Each folder does exactly what it says.

Anything you place inside the TO Blackberry folder, will sync directly to your device, and the FROM Blackberry folder allows you to browse the SD card and the Unite! files folder. The SD card structure has links to all the important folders, including voice notes, pictures, music and video. You can easily copy files into it, or even remove files you no longer need. Any file actions in this folder, instantly take place on the device and will be carried out as long as it is connected over Wi-Fi.

Blackberry Unite! also offers syncing and browsing the other way around; you can access files on your desktop PC directly on the Blackberry. Once Unite! is installed, a new application is available for your device; Download Manager.

Download manager is where you can remotely view files, check the progress of transfers and view completed file transfers.

The best part about the “Browse Remote Files” option is that works over the cellular network, as well as Wi-Fi. I’ve tried browsing my home PC when I was 400 miles from home, and was able to see files stored on my desktop, and download documents. The only exception is that downloads are limited to 1MB when on a cellular network. Wi-Fi does not have this limitation, and I’ve transferred a 48MB video file without any problems. The transfer speed is quite acceptable, and the download was completed in about 3 minutes.

Unfortunately my screen shot program does not work when I’m connected through Unite! or when Unite! is running and I’m connected to my desktop, so I’ve made some photos that should give you an impression of what the remote file browser looks like:

Once again, my apologies for the poor quality photos, but I hope they give you an idea of how the user interface works. In the first photo you see the 3 options of the file browser, photo 2 shows the local drives on my PC, photo 3 shows an actual directory on my PC, and in photo 4 I’m downloading a 32MB audio file.

The remote browse feature is without a doubt the most powerful feature I’ve ever seen on a Blackberry. The ability to have remote access to any file on my PC is brilliant. It doesn’t matter where you are, you have a secure connection to your PC and you can download any file you need. Authentication is done on a PIN level, so you also don’t have to fiddle around with login credentials.

Final thoughts

Blackberry Unite! isn’t perfect. The installation sometimes leaves a little to be desired, in my case it took 2 attempts to get it installed correctly.

The support documentation from RIM is fairly limited. The help file offers very little of what it’s made for. Blackberry Unite! is a very new application, but I’m convinced that it will evolve over time into a very high quality application. On my PC I’m unable to access the Unite! web interface through Mozilla Firefox, so it’s the one application on my PC that requires Internet Explorer.

The contacts and calendar feature are pretty, but there is as far as I can tell, no way to import your current contacts into it. Nor can you sync Outlook with the shared calendar, then share that with your other Unite! users.

But in the end, the web based management features and the remote browsing application make this one heck of a program. Like my title says; it brings the Blackberry close to perfection, and certainly puts it miles ahead of any other smartphone on the market.

Blackberry Unite! is FREE and can be downloaded here.