Feb 17, 2010

The BlackBerry saga

Here's the saga of my former smartphone, the blackberry 9530. It is not a pretty tale and it involves money, reboots, missing apps, and a lot of swearing.

The Issue


It all started when my screen started acting up. My screen would occasionally not recognize a tap or a press.  At first, I thought it was a mistake I made: my hand was too cold, I pushed too quickly, or some other crazy sounding thing.  I would attempt to click on the PodTrapper Icon and get nothing…It didn’t happen frequently enough to warrant sending the unit in for repair, just enough to keep the embers of irritation glowing.  I do seem to have a slight calibration issue.  It is definitely an issue that has cropped up overtime.  While that is an annoyance, the bigger problem is stability.

The App Problem


The one thing I love about the BlackBerry platform over other platforms is the openness. I am not reliant on one company to bless, anoint, or whatever religious analogy you care to use an application.  Granted, there are pros and cons to both styles of thinking.

On the Open-Plus side, I can run whatever I want.  IF want to search for an app that will replace the included apps, such as a replacement web browser, or email application, I can.  As of right now, the only web browser that is available for the iPhone OS is Mobile Safari.  Yes, Opera is working on the Opera Mini browser, but it hasn’t been submitted for approval yet.  On the Non-Open-Plus side, I know the apps that have been approved work.  I haven’t really seen an iPhone/iPod Touch app crash that wasn’t related to the app requiring a data connection, and said connection leaving without leaving a note.  I’ve had a couple of bomb outs on my iPod Touch, but it always brings me right back to the home screen.  I’m getting on an apple rant, so let’s look a the downside of Open-Apps.

On the Open-Minus side, I can run whatever I want.  Since the code isn’t tested by RIM for Operability, You can get some pretty bad apps that crash.  on my BlackBerry, I currently have about 14 apps.  I don’t keep them all running all the time…mostly because the Storm 9530 has a small application memory size.  I am getting a message about once every two days on my storm saying it is out of application memory, and that to remedy this, I should delete some apps.  Seriously?  why is my application memory so small?  I have an 8 gig SD card in there that is 75% free?  Can’t I dedicate some of that to applications?  Granted, I am frustrated by this, but I think this gives way to the penultimate reason…

I am a Cheap Geek


I really am.  I agonized for over a year about getting a smartphone.  I was practically drooling when they announced the Moto Q back in May of 2006.  I eyed that baby for a long time.  It wasn’t until the close of 2007 that I finally took the plunge and picked it up.  It took me another 6 months before I finally got a data plan to really use the thing for more than a glorified calculator.  I held onto that thing until February 2009 when I got the Storm.  I really loved it!  At the time, I could justify the $29.99 a month, as money was a bit more freely flowing with both my wife and I working.  With the birth of my Daughter Anya in December, it really made me rethink my Mobile Priorities.

Don’t get me wrong, I still really like the storm!  SmartPhones in general are still my go-to Gadget dream scenarios.  I can just think of a better thing to spend the money on.  I’m sure I will venture into the SmartPhone arena again, but for now, I’m experimenting to see how I do without 24/7 Internets.

Does that mean I’m completely happy NOT connected 24/7?  No, but I still get all the stuff I want out of my iPod Touch that is on loan.  The question is, when I have to give up the touch…will I get my own?

2 comments:

Pants said...

Yea I agree about the app memory--it's silly for it to be so small! I get the same message about needing to delete. I usually ignore it, and sometimes it does remind me to delete something I never use, but it is still stupid that you only have so much space.

markus said...

Yeah. The app memory thing really gets me. It is also present in android.