For a couple of reasons--not the least of which was that I was getting tired of carrying both my Samsung telephone and my several-year-old HP Ipaq (which I could sync to my schedule on Outlook) with me wherever I went (and still didn't have a way to download my e-mail, unless I drug my laptop along), I broke down yesterday, and upgraded my phone to a Blackberry Curve.
One of my brothers (and at least one of our contributors) will probably give me a hard time about this--they're Apple folks, and possess the iPhone. But for me, going with the Blackberry made sense for a couple of reasons:
- I'm not as keen on the touch screens for typing--I like the tactile feel of the Blackberry's QWERTY keyboard (a reason why I didn't go with the slightly cheaper Blackberry Pearl, as well--it's keyboard is a bit different)--although it's small. I won't be typing long stories into my Blackberry, but it's adequate (and easier for me) for text messaging, Twittering, and (potentially) on-the-road posts for this site.
- Where I live and the wireless carriers. My iPhone loving brother has trouble with ATT's wireless service (or at least he did at Christmas time) when he gets too far away from major population centers in the state. I imagine some of those companies will have improved service over time, but Alltel (in the process of becoming part of Verizon) already has extensive coverage throughout the country, and the coverage throughout Nebraska that Alltel has is pretty good. I've only run out of coverage "bars" for brief periods of time as I've traveled through especially desolate areas of the state.
- While this Blackberry has some audio capabilities, I wasn't really interested in the machine for that--I already have an iPod. I wanted a phone that had e-mail capabilities, and the potential for some web access.
- I did a little research, and found that the Blackberry syncs quite nicely with Microsoft Outlook (and important element for me). After trying it out last night and today, I've found that it does, indeed, work pretty seamlessly.
- Supposedly, it can also be used as a modem for my laptop if I end up someplace that doesn't have regular internet access. Maybe a plus, although that would require me to know how to set that up.
There are, of course, a few quirks in the Blackberry that I'll have to get used to. But, I've been checking out Handango to see what other applications I can get, and it appears that there are some which might make my life a little easier. And I really like that I'll be able to read e-mails when I'm away from the computer. Who knows, maybe even answer some of them?
LLE
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