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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Cell Phones & Blogger

I know that Blogger has a feature that allows you to blog via your cellphone. How practical is this? Has anyone used it? I'm wondering if my posts would start looking like my texts:

Obamas l8est push 4ward in health insurnce seems 2 b a mistake. Altho i would like 2 c universal health care, i dont think it should be mandatory.

Ewww.

Anyway, I'm considering buying a BlackBerry Curve 8330. I've grown tired of the difficulty I have texting from my regular phone, and now that I have two jobs I'm responsible for, I need to have instant internet/email access anywhere at anytime.

Who has a BlackBerry out there? Has it been a rewarding experience? And furthermore, how durable are they? This is an investment that I don't lightly make. And I know that if I have a BlackBerry, I will actually be able to advance in my texting abilities. That is a huge plus for me, as it will save me from sounding like an idiot.

12 comments:

Angela said...

I had a blackberry for work for awhile, I ended up turning it off most of the time, I don't like being available outside working hours unless I absolutely have to be. In terms of durability, I never really dropped mine, did not do any hiking, biking or swimming with it, so not really sure if it would withstand those things. :-)

Also, a quick comment about texting, I guess I am still rather old school with this as I do not use the abbreviations and nonsense that most people do, it really bothers me when I get texts written that way as well. R u ok? GTG! Yuck!

The Lazy Iguana said...

If you are just going to do email then the blackberry type phone is fine.

If you need a web browser, get the newest iphone. A new one is going to hit the stores in a couple of days, so the current model is going to be selling for 1/2 price soon.

Saur♥Kraut said...

Ange, I admit the abbreviations are annoying, but they're so much easier to execute when you're busy and don't really want to take the time to spell out something on a standard phone. I'd be able to write more professionally if I had a QWERTY keyboard like the BB has.

Thanks about the BB input, but it doesn't help much. Did you like it better than the standard cell phones?

Lazy, Ahhh! Iphones are something I didn't look into yet. I'll check into that right away!

rawbean said...

I consider myself pretty good with technology but I am grade-A moron when it comes to blackberries. The other day a coworker was driving us to a meeting and he passed me his blackberry and asked me to find the number for the site supervisor. It was like someone handed me that Cryptex thing from the Divinci Code.

Also - thanks for the awesome comment on my blog. I would really like to hear you story! Sounds intense. And you are clearly a wiser blogger than I.

Saur♥Kraut said...

Rawbean, I like your style! ;o) Yeah, the technology is kinda overwhelming. I think of my grandparents, who could (or would) never master a microwave. My parents searched high and low to find the simplest microwave they could find and even then my grandparents struggled. I hope I don't get like that!!!

Thanks - I was hoping you wouldn't think my comment was acidic or I was questioning what you wrote. He's a strange bird, and I see his blog is gone now. I would like to think the best of everyone, but I know the worst exists.

One day I'll write about it. It's a cautionary tale for those people (women especially) who think that it's safe on the net or that revealing personal info won't have serious repercussions later. But, as I said, it eventually involved two police departments and the FBI and was ultimately solved (thankfully). It certainly could have ended badly. It happened during the early years of the net - in 1995.

You'd think after all these years everyone would know better, but there are many people of your generation who haven't heard some of the gruesome things that happened.

For instance, in the late 90s a woman was having an "affair" over the net with a married man (she was married too). They both were into S&M and sent each other very explicit, nasty emails including her fantasy of having her head chopped off while having sex. Then she erased everything from her computer (or so she thought) and left to have a tryst with him.

She was missing for a couple of days before the police were able to resurrect her emails and trace them to the guy. They found her, all right. Buried under her lover's kids' playset in his backyard.

True story - it made national news. For all I know, it made international news as well.

The Lazy Iguana said...

The Blackberry was the first of the "smartphones". This technology came about when someone decided that they did not need to carry around both a PDA and a cell phone - why not have a PDA that is a cell phone!!

That way, you could keep your PDA applications, and receive data over a cell phone network at the same time. Spreadsheets and email on your phone.

Well today smartphones are old hat. Blackberry devices are still made and still have the name from being the first to market. But they are not the only game in town anymore.

The I-Phone has the best web browser. The best. Nothing else even comes close.

But the I-Phone has its issues. For one, there is no keypad. Everything is touch screen operated. So typing out a message is done on the screen. I prefer buttons but hey. Whatever. You get used to it.

A lot of phones will do POP3 email. My phone does and it is neither a blackberry or an i-phone.

It also has a built in GPS with the Google Maps mobile application, a XM satellite radio application that would allow me to stream music if I paid the monthly fee, supports stereo bluetooth, has built in wi-fi, and a bunch of other useless crap a phone does not have to do.

Ed said...

I think you must be referring to a Crackberry. They are called that because everywhere I go, I see people hunched over texting as if they were addicted to it.

Saur♥Kraut said...

Ed, Most definately! ;o) I've heard it called that as well.

Lazy, Thanks so much for the lesson! I have to hunt down your phone number - it's been ages since we talked.

So if your phone isn't an IPhone or BB, what is it? And who are you getting your service from? I've got MetroPCS and I'm really very pleased with it. If I travel, it can be a problem, but I have a Virgin Mobile for travel when I'm out of Metro's ranges. But Metro is SO CHEAP and the service is now really great (it originally dropped calls often).

The Lazy Iguana said...

I have the ATT Tilt phone, from of course ATT. It uses removable memory media (another thing the i-phone does not do), for things like music and applications and it also makes software updates easy to do.

You are limited to phones by your provider. The ATT Tilt was only available through ATT, but I imagine it can be unlocked to work on any GSM (3G) network.

AQ said...

I have a blackberry curve 8320 / Tmobile. Love it! I have friends who have/had various forms of smart phones - iphones, blackberries, G1, on all kinds of networks. I still like my blackberry. I don't think I would like anything with a touch screen (at least I haven't played with one I liked yet). Besides as a cell phone, I primarily use facebook, email, and calendar. Like Lazy said, for me, the intention was to get a phone that was a PDA. All the other stuff was a bonus for me and I have started using other applications regularly. Strangely enough, I do not text much, but I am comfortable emailing from my phone.

Fred said...

I just recently bought the each of the girls a Blackberry. Thumbs up from each of them...they love it.

High Power Rocketry said...

I would love one, but simply cant afford the service ($100 monthly I think.)

Maybe some day? I will either get more money, or the phones will get a bit cheaper. Or inflation will explode turning $100 into $50 in a few years. The latter is most likely.