BlackBerrys are heralded as one of the better phones out on the cell phone market. Ever since I first laid my eyes on one, I have wanted one. Lucky for me, I am a customer with Verizon Wireless and they have an special program for their loyal customers. Once every two years you are allowed to obtain a new cell phone at a discounted price. If you go through their website online you can get even more of a discount. Now since I had always wanted a BlackBerry, and anytime I saw one my jaw would drop in fascination, I decided to bite the bullet and get one. The phone was not free, I wanted to get the latest most bad-ass BlackBerry on the market, the BlackBerry Tour. I sent away for it for only a mere $148.00 after taxes. I was alright with a really expensive bill every month because I figure I would use the phone a lot. I figured the newest blackberry would be a good phone, after all it is a BlackBerry. I sent away for it early Sunday morning and received it at about noon on today, or a two day turn around. After a short eight and a half hours I using the phone I want to take it back.
That is the reason why I think my experience is unique. BlackBerry’s are supposedly amazing phones. I found it to be sub-par. There are more options than when you go to Subway for one of their sandwiches. It is hard to remember where things are and how to access their options. On the other hand the phone is not what it is cracked up to be. I expected a nice user interface with the brand new app store, but that didn’t happen. The navigation of most apps are rather confusing and slow. The BlackBerry line of phones are known for corporate use, or for those who need to text a lot and who use email a lot. I figured I could see myself doing that. However there was one huge flaw with the BlackBerry Tour and that is the fact that its QWERTY keyboard’s buttons are too small. I make just as many mistakes as I did with the LG Dare, which is a horrible texting phone. Virtually it is impossible to use the Tour the way it was intended.
At around 8:30 PM I decided I am going to try and take the phone back, get a cheaper phone, a cheaper plan, and the LG EnV3. The only good phone I ever had was an LG EnV. It was this funky orange color but it was a great phone. I could type faster on that, than I could a normal computer keyboard … maybe not quite.
To be honest, and fair, the Tour is not that bad of a phone. I probably overhyped the phone in my own head. If someone had small thumbs, or used to the BlackBerry interface this phone is one of the best on the market – especially for Verizon smart phones. It just is not for me. I wonder if I am the first to ever exchange a BlackBerry for a “dumb” phone when money is not a factor. I have to admit I am not happy about having to take it back. As I still stare at the phone something inside me says, “give it another chance! This is the phone you have always wanted!” It is just not possible for I am too disappointed.
There is a possibility when technology gets better, and I start my career I will give it another try because my job might demand a smart phone, where right now it is not a necessity. Another possibility is when the iPhone comes out to Verizon I would diffidently get one of those. I already have the iPod Touch which is the same thing minus the phone component. I just actually feel sad. I wanted this phone for so long, I finally got it, and I WANT to like the phone so much but it is quite difficult.
If I end up “stuck” with this phone I won’t be happy, but I will not be horribly angry either. I do not hate the phone, I just feel for the price I am paying per month, and for the device itself, I should LOVE the phone and that is not happening.
I came across an interesting piece of news last night. The Church of Scientology was banned from making edits to Wikipedia. Apparently they were being bias when editing article in an attempt to push their agenda down other peoples’ throats. This unfortunatley will not be the end to scientology as it is only an interesting little factoid. Although I can be labled as one who is skeptic of religion, I still have respect for the belief systems of the world. The only exception is to scientology as it is clearly fake. I really do not understand how people can believe such odd things. Anyway, I picked this story up off of a blog that I read called Unreasonable Faith written by Daniel Florian. Take a look at the post he wrote about it, as well as the links to the article which he provides 
Ok this is neat. I went out and purchased an 8.0″ digital picture frame today. I have been looking at these things for a while now. I purchased two, one each for my mom and my pop, over the winter holiday. Through that I was able to see the technology as well as how good some of the brands and the way the devices work. I must say these are quite clever.
