my new toy

So my days of carrying around a Palm Pilot like it was a third arm have given way to this little monster. It's called a BLACKBERRY, and it's a vicious little thing. Not that different than a Palm Pilot, really, except for two things: always-on email and cell phone. So there's no escape. You're reachable wherever you go (at least wherever the nice folks at T-mobile have elected to place an antenna). I find myself reading email while I'm in the car, while I'm watching TV (okay, I have a laptop so I'm used to that), while I'm sitting in a movie theater waiting for a movie to begin, while I'm eating breakfast at a restaurant . . .

Crazy.

But I found myself adapting to it extremely quickly. I've been a gadget-freak my whole life, and I could always imagine myself being able to do these things with a Palm Pilot or a cell phone. Now that the technology has caught up, it was easy for me to pick it up and run.

I remember my first Palm Pilot. I installed a program called AvantGo, that allowed me to download a bunch of websites while it was connected to the computer, then take the data with me later. I used to sync it every day at work, then take the stuff with me to read later. So this isn't actually that much different. Slower, actually, since it downloads them in real time.

And the Blackberry is far from perfect. The little keyboard up there is far from terrific. I picked up "graffiti" (Palm's stylus alphabet) within a few minutes, so I was perfectly happy entering data with a stylus. This thing requires you to push those little keys, then wait for it to guess what you're trying to type (notice there are two letters on each key). It means constantly looking between the keyboard and the screen. Hardly efficient.

The speakerphone is nice and loud. A+ there. And the phone is relatively easy to use. But the organizer half of the device is really inefficient compared to a Palm. You have to use the little thumbwheel on the side to navigate anywhere, and that's not always very fast. With my Palm, I could just tap wherever I wanted to go.

And my biggest complaint is the lack of software development. Palm has a gigantic developer community, so I could find new programs every week (and usually free ones) to load onto my Palm. Not just games either, but useful little utilities that would help me track my mileage, do currency conversions, set alarms, or read movie listings.

(Corey just walked in and called me a geek for spending all this time writing about my Blackberry. Yes, I am!!!!!)

Anyway, I like the new-gadget-ness of the Blackberry, but it's not the most elegant, beautiful piece of technology I've ever had. Feels a little like going from a Mac to a PC.

Posted: Tue - February 1, 2005 at 09:44 PM

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my new toy

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