The Before and After Speaks for Itself

As a slightly tech addicted docomo customer I wanted to keep the rock solid signal docomo provides even in the hinterlands of Japan. As the negotiations began back a few years ago between Apple and the mobile service providers in this country, I watched in dismay as they set up something with softbank. I spend a good portion of the year out in the countryside and am well aware of the softbank customer disclaimer, “I’ll see if I can get a signal and call you when I get there.”

I waited for iphone to get set-up with docomo. There were rumors but nothing happened…so I waited some more and waited a few months more until I couldn’t take not having a smart phone anymore. One chilly evening in December I found myself in Yodabashi Camera buying a blackberry and switching over my account from the pricey Sharp 906i touchscreen mobile with a 5mg digi cam I had been using. Over fancy camera features, I wanted wifi. I wanted to sync with my google calendar, contacts, and gmail. I wanted to stop beating my way through the Japanese language only i-mode websites and have full web browsing. I wanted a twitter app, wordpress app, evernote app, and flickr app. Basically I wanted my phone to catch up to web 2.0.

I’m a big mac fan and a sucker for the bells, whistles, and endless app options for the iphone but I am having a great time with this blackberry bold. While I imagine I’d get used to the iphone touchscreen, the tactile nature of the keyboard is a real bonus. I have also found enough available for me to get it to do almost everything I want it to, including sync podcasts from itunes. I am more than a bit annoyed with how long it is taking Skype and RIM to come out with Skype for blackberry but it probably won’t be too much longer now.

While I like it’s overall appearance, I did find the full black look a little unimaginative. Coveroo out of San Francisco, California has a whole heap of battery cover solutions to pimp out a blackberry. Mine now resembles something of a college dorm tapestry which I’m pretty happy with. It’s not an iphone but I love this device and in addition to all the web 2.0 stuff, it does radical things like make phone calls wherever I happen to be.