by Brian
I broke down. I have succumbed to the powerful pull of the technology monster. At left you see a sparkling image of my new SmartPhone. A Blackberry Curve to be exact.
My technology consultant, Josh (who is a confident 22 year old), has suggested that I should get "with the times" and own a PDA. I recently had canned Nextel due to unbelievably poor service, and switched to Cingular. I got a great deal on Motorola's v365 phone, a very good phone. Josh makes a good point, however, that the time to get the PDA is when the carrier is offering me a $200 rebate when signing up with a new two year agreement.
Onto the Internet I go. First to Cingular's site to see what phones are available and at what price. I spend a lot of time looking at all of the pretty pictures and the different data plans available.(For the uninitiated, in order to use the PDA as a PDA, you have to subscribe to a Data Plan in addition to your cell phone minutes plan)
Then I go to CNEt.com to check out the reviews of the PDA's. At this point I had decided to go with the Blackberry Pearl. The Pearl is very trendy and sleek with a lot of cool features. I read all of the reviews and decide the Pearl is for me. So I head up to my local cellular dealer, Murray Cellular, to get my new SmartPhone.
I don't know about you, but I tend to drop my cell phone on hard surfaces, like concrete and ceramic tile floors. So I insure my phones against everything. Insurance for the v365 no problem, insurance for the Pearl, or any PDA for that matter, not gonna happen. Pearls without the sign-up rebate, should I drive over it with my car, are going to run me about $500. I pick up my beautiful v365 phone off of Sandi Love's desk and head out the door. I need more information.
Back onto the Internet I go, because that's where guys who are "with the times" go when they need more information. Try googling (is that a word?) PDA insurance. No luck. I can't believe it! if Google can't help me, then what hope is there for a guy like me?
I call my insurance company. They will have to get back to me later. Meanwhile, I learn that my e-mail comes to me over a M!@#$%^&t Exchange Server (sorry Bill, no free plug here). Guess what? The Pearl cannot receive e-mail over the exchange server. Next I decide on the Palm Treo 750.
Check out the user reviews for Treo's. Not good. At least the people who have M!@#$%^&t Mobile on them. Any shocker, they crash all the time. I crave stability in my technology devices. After all, if they don't work what good are they?
My insurance company calls me back and sure enough there is a rider I can get on my homeowners that will insure my PDA and other portable technology. Hurray! I am back in the market for real!
People love their Blackberry's, the user reviews say. After an extensive read and review of all the Blackberry's I decide on the Curve. It's the latest and the greatest! Nice size, I like the keyboard, 2 mega pixel camera and a whole lot more.
I have owned my Blackberry for a whole week now. I have figured out how to make a phone call and I have also used the Memo Pad feature twice this week for my grocery list. Still haven't got the e-mail to come to my phone yet, but I am confident that it is just a matter of days before I am Mobile e-mailing.
My PDA will let me surf the Multiple List Service from my phone which is an awesome service to folks who I am helping to Buy a home. I'm sure that there is plethora of features that will make my life just wonderful and my service to my Real Estate clients even more awesome than it is now.
Gotta go. My PDA is ringing. I really do feel like I'm close to getting "with the times!"
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