New Toy Semi-Review

So it's been about a month since I became one of the Followers of the Church of Crackberry (ie - bought a Blackberry).  I really blame Verizon and it's tempting offers: they frequently / periodically run a "buy a Blackberry for $50, get a Blackberry free," and about a month ago, Lara was in the market for a new phone and I noticed the ad.  I was getting tired of all the quirks in my old smartphone, and thought it would be a good deal for the two of us.  I mean, $25 for a Blackberry is hard to beat!  However, Verizon hates it's loyal, long-time customers and shut me down because the deal was only for new contracts, and no matter how I finagled it, they would not extend my contract or whatever to make me eligible.  Seriously?!  Why can't I be rewarded like new people?  Apparently years of loyalty mean nothing when you want a damn phone.  Only the people who have recently defected from another carrier get the special deals.  Maybe they should think about keeping the old customers so that THEY won't defect to ANOTHER carrier before they think about trying to steal new people away.... (deep sigh) Anyways, the story ends with Lara and Mom getting a phone for her, but I had to spend more money than I needed to at the time to buy my phone on eBay.  :(  Youngest sibling karma, I say. 

Yes, I got the pink one!  I am so girly.  I justify it by 1) I am a girl and 2) everyone has a silver phone so mine will stand out.

Well, all's well that ends well apparently, as I am hooked to my new Crackberry.  :D  That's not to say it isn't trifling in its own special little way, but I do like it better than my old phone.  Its OS is not as intuitive as Windows, but that's because Blackberry had to make up something different so that they wouldn't get sued by Microsoft.  That's probably my biggest gripe; that, and that I have found less free apps and games.  The Netlfix for Blackberry is far inferior than the Windows version, and I have yet to find a Solitaire that doesn't suck compared to my old one.  :(  For some reason, I have an aversion to paying for apps... even though there is a $5 Blackberry version of Oregon Trail!

The "pluses" are pretty significant though.  The internal antenna is better, so new phone gets better reception - like, "I can get reception in our room at work and don't need to huddle by the window" better reception.  :)   And the screen is set up for viewing better, plus there is no portrait-landscape orientation changes on the screen, so the programs bug out less often.  The internet browser is OK; I am used to running Mozilla on my computer, so anything on my phone will be worse for me until they can get Firefox on phones.  :P  AND, best of all, there's this thing called Blackberry Messenger that works just like AIM between Blackberry owners.  This means that Lara and I can communicate all we want and not rack up texts since it runs off the data plan. Yay!

I did rush out and buy a cover (because I am a clutz), and I think it's a nifty one.  Lara says it makes me both girly and coordinated.  I just know that I like it and it matches my phone.  :)