Goodbye iPhone 3G, hello Blackberry Curve

I just put the order in for a Blackberry Curve 8900, and a new mobile phone contract with Orange. It's going to give me the same functionality I actually use the iPhone for, for far less money.

In summary;
  • The handset is free with the contract
  • The contract is a third cheaper than the iPhone
  • 400 minutes per month
  • 300 texts per month
  • Unlimited internet and push email
  • It has a keyboard!
Having lived with the iPhone for the last 18 months – or rather, two iPhones (both of which have broken in some way), I've been looking at alternatives for a while. I considered the new Google Nexus One, but decided not to wait for it in the end – it's going to be expensive, it's first generation hardware for Google, and it's another touch-screen phone. The major failing of touch screen phones in my experience is that you cannot easily type while on the move. It never occurred to me until I tried to do it – having the tactile feedback of real buttons is a huge advantage.

Having seen my better half's Blackberry Curve 8520 in action for the last few months, I have become more and more aware of it's benefits. Battery life would be a good one – it lasts for days. That's right – plural. Days of continual use. The iPhone spends nearly every evening on charge. Most of the benefit from the Blackberry (for me) can probably be derived from one application for it though; Google Sync. I use Google Mail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts – which will all integrate transparently with the Blackberry.

Rather than do any kind of unboxing when the phone arrives, here's a video somebody else did…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZ9gYvC_Po&hl=en&fs=1]

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iPhone, Blackberry, or Google Phone ?

In mid February, my iPhone contract runs out – I am therefore starting to think about what I will do. Anybody who knows me (in the real world) will know I have not been the biggest fan of the iPhone for quite some time;

My main issues with the iPhone are;
  • The O2 network in the UK is pretty poor
  • The unlimited data plan is expensive
  • Battery life is pathetic – I have to charge my iPhone 3G every night
  • The camera is very poor
  • The handset is fragile – I am on my second 3G handset; wireless has broken on both of them
  • Google Mail only supports push by simulating Microsoft Exchange
  • Apple rule their walled garden like Nazis
It's not all doom and gloom though;
  • The iPhone user interface is still much better than anything else on the market
  • iTunes integration is naturally very, very good
  • The various Twitter and Facebook applications are very good
The decision over what to do comes down to a few observations of what I use a phone for these days – having owned an iPhone for the last 18 months, the novelty of being able to run all manner of crap on my phone has pretty much gone; I would rather have a phone that does a few core things well. I would like a phone that has the following;
  • Good battery life
  • An inexpensive data plan
  • Good email client
  • Good task list application
  • Good SMS client
  • Good camera
  • Good social network client (Twitter and Facebook)
I'm seriously considering a Blackberry. If I switch to Vodaphone it will be a third cheaper than an iPhone each month, the handset will be free, the camera will be better, and it will have a keyboard!  Of course the elephant in the room at the moment is the new Google Phone, which is being introduced at 7pm GMT this evening if the media is to be believed. It's interesting because Android (the Google mobile operating system) appears to be the first good open platform for mobile devices.

What to do… what to do…
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Messages from the Clouds

clouds

No, I have not bought a copy of “The Cloud Spotters Guide“, neither have I suddenly started reading the collected writings of Billy Meier (I’ll let you look him up on Google).

My work email has been transmogrified from the company email servers into “the cloud”, wherever that might be. I would like to imagine it’s something akin to the cloud where the Weatherman lives in the Rupert books, with a kindly benefactor sorting through post bags. In reality, it is far more likely that “the cloud” is a faceless office building in Washington, holding rack upon rack of servers with Microsoft badges on them.

The idea behind my email being stored there rather than here is to protect against loss of service. Again, in my mind, I am imagining a Godzilla like creature stomping across the land, and sitting on our offices with an almighty “WHUMP”. The reality is far more mundane… we had two power cuts this morning alone.

Are you still awake?

Okay. Slight scare – and even somewhat related to cloudy internet stuff. I thought my iPhone just bricked itself.

About half an hour ago in a fit of “I wonder if this will work” curiosity I switched Google Mail over to use Google Sync instead of IMAP – basically meaning the iPhone can then annoy the crap out of me and go ding every time an email arrives.

The phone suddenly went dead. Black. Blank. Devoid of life. The buttons didn’t work. Plugging it in didn’t work.

I’m not completely sure it’s what caused it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was my meddling. I cannot describe my relief when I rebooted it (via a panicked search on the mighty Google for methods to do so) and the apparently dead phone woke back up.

I’m not sure if it was pressing madly at the buttons, or casting multiple colourful curses that fixed the phone. The more scary thought is how dependant I have become on the iPhone. It holds email, notes, calendars, reminders, task lists, photos, and most importantly it can do impersonations of Mr T.

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Camera Bag on the iPhone Rules…

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Jonathan’s Posterous

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Now we're having fun…

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Jonathan’s Posterous

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