Feb 2009
BlackBerry Mania
Feb. 19, 2009 Filed in: Technology
Isn’t the BlackBerry a wonderful thing? I mean, really, it’s the best device I’ve ever used. And I’ve used quite a few of them. I frequent a few BlackBerry sites and occasionally check out Pocket PC, Palm and iPhone forums as well. I have a 3G iPhone that I do like alot but I’m not going into an iPhone vs. BlackBerry discussion here.
I thought I’d write about BlackBerry today cause of my recent experience. I’ve been using a Bold which I thought was the greatest thing since sliced bread...until the Storm came out. Ooooh. Touchscreen. Large screen with high resolution. I had to get one of these. But it was only on Verizon and that really sucked. Even though it came out late last year, I waited around for the bugs to get worked out and I had read reports that the phone kinda sucked. There are a ton of them out for sale now (for good reason) and are unlocked. So, I decided to pick one up and give it a try. After loading several beta OS’s on the thing, it’s on the auction block. Here’s why...
The Storm is nice device. It’s got some weight to it and the screen is beautiful. An iPhone it most certainly is not but it does have some nice features to it. I liked the click screen but hated that the screen has some play to it. I really wish there would have been an option to turn off the clicking when typing. As I had read in other reviews, typing on the Storm really does seem like a chore. The clicking to type made me not want to type out an email. It became something I dreaded.
Another thing that bothered me was selecting text to cut/copy/paste. I like a small font on my BlackBerry and trying to select text on it was a royal pain in the butt! I tried switching to a larger font but that only helped a little bit. The iPhone’s method for selecting text is great (with that magnifying glass) but you can’t cut/copy/paste! The Storm is horrible to select text but you can cut/copy/paste...sigh.
The OS is slow. It’s a fact. Play around with a Storm and then pick up a Bold. The OS is so much faster on the Bold. It reminds me of when the Bold first came out. The OS was slow too but it’s come a long way and I think the Storm will go in the same direction. There have been several beta OS’s floating around and I’ve tried them all. With each one comes a very slight improvement and, sometimes, a step back for one feature or another.
I will also say that I’m not sure my experience was hampered by using it on at&t’s network. When you use an unlocked Storm, you have to use it on the EDGE network and not 3G. I read alot of posts online saying they though EDGE was fine. However, I completely disagree. I have good 3G coverage in my area and found that the device crawled along at EDGE. When I went back to my Bold, it was like night and day. I think I lost some of the razzle-dazzle by not being on Verizon’s network while using the device.
So what did I like about the Storm? I loved the screen. Using Google Maps was great. Poynt had just released their Storm optimized version and that was alot of fun to use. As was PocketDay. The click technology was also fun to use (minus the typing) but I think there needs to be more options for how it’s used. I found a cool wallpaper changing app that would switch out my wallpaper at user defined intervals. I change wallpaper alot and this was a very cool app for me.
Even though it had some weight to it, I was okay with it. However, it felt almost to fragile to me. Putting it in my back pocket or tossing it on the seat in my car like I do with my Bold made me wince a little and I stopped doing it for fear of damaging the device.
That’s my two cents on the BlackBerry Storm. In short, I really like the direction they’re heading in with the Storm and am looking forward to checking out what’s new on the Storm in the next couple of months.
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Tour of California
Feb. 13, 2009 Filed in: Personal
Well, first of all, I haven’t been posting daily blogs recently. I think I’ve found that Twitter has sort of replaced the daily website blog post. Don’t you agree? So, I think I might scale back posts to once a week or whenever there’s something I want to post that’s more than 140 words.
Now then, about the Tour of California. It starts tomorrow! Woo Hoo! Very excited about the race. I had a rep that got me tickets to the Velodrome who has disappeared for some reason. It’s a big bummer cause I typically got tickets to the final stage of the TOC and I’ve left her messages with no return call. I’ve been following the Twitter updates from those in the cycling world and I wish I was up there taking part in all the events. But, I’ll settle for the Twitter updates.
Valentine’s is tomorrow, I’m trying to shake a cold and it’s supposed to rain again this weekend. I really need to be on the bike.
Gotta post something
Feb. 05, 2009 Filed in: Personal
I just realized it’s been a few days since I last put something up here. Sorry about that folks! Gotta admit though, Twitter is somewhat becoming a substitute for my blog. I put things up there more often than I do here. I’m trying to work on getting a BlackBerry Storm that’s unlocked for my at&t SIM. Thinking about giving it a good review...if I can get my hands on one. Other than that, check out the Twitter feed for what I’m really doing throughout the day. Until tomorrow!
Today is
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