I recently acquired a Samsung Focus which is another run-of-the-mill phone with a full touch screen front that are supposed to be “innovative”. Who knows if the new iPhone 4S will redefine the type, that’s probably a matter of opinion. Anyway, the point I’m getting to is that I went from a BlackBerry Pearl to a Curve, to a Bold 9700 and finally to a WP7 Phone and somehow I miss my BlackBerry. I miss BBM, the longer battery life, message integration, switching languages on the fly, docks that don’t require pushing or pulling, one-handed operation, the security features as well as a full non-touch QWERTY keyboard. These are very resilient and durable devices. I left my Bold 9700 on top of my car and when I took a curve at 30 mph it went flying into a ditch. It has a couple of punctures and scratches on it but when I put the battery back in everything worked like a charm. I seriously doubt that would be the case with other types of smartphones. I believe in several areas the BB’s still can’t be beaten. If you’re a very social person and do lots of messaging and email. I don’t think the BB can come close to being beaten.
As you may know if you actually used one, Blackberries are way behind in the App department with their “developer unfriendly” OS, which is the root cause for the lack of Apps, plus their hardware and screen sizes don’t match up to the current Androids, iPhones, or WP7s, but they make up for it with their excellent messaging capabilities. Even then, you still have a great assortment of quality Apps such as KiK, Whatsapp, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Foursquare, Gwabbit, Poynt, Flixster, Google Apps, etc. I still would like a great Blackberry app for WeightWatchers though.
It seems like all the tech sites, from Engadget to CNet and everywhere between, are plastered with iPhone “news” each day and folks have to be jerks and crap on other peoples phones, that’s just the way it is. People calling carnage to RIM CEOs and their unconventional two CEO approach. Fact of the matter is that even basic Blackberries are very good communication devices for most people and let’s face it, unless you are a geek the vast majority of your time with your phone is e-mail/text and calling. They still have a big market share overseas, are making money, and have good chance at coming back with BBX and being able to run Android Apps.
The reason I bring this up is because it has become standard to just bad-mouth BlackBerries, and they’re somewhat shunned, which led to me trying out the “trendy” touch screen phones due to all the online reviews and talk, but in hindsight I would rather have a Bold 9900 because that better suits my needs.