Autumn Marathon

Blackberry-Less in a Smartphone World

Somehow found myself walking down Lexington Ave in the rain yesterday with a SIM card in my pocket; just the SIM card, no phone.  For the first time in over two years I will be walking around without my email, my full-contacts, without a miniaturized computer. The situation was not intentional: I loved my Blackberry Pearl which I had since 2006 but whose keypad stopped functioning last Sunday.  I covet an iPhone, but getting one would require me to change carriers and commit to an expensive two-year plan which exceeds my consultancy’s current annual revenue of $0.  Our current T-Mobile plan will do for now.  As an alternative, I purchased a G1 (the Google phone) from T-Mobile the day after my phone died.  The G1 is a brilliant concept phone and I am sure that later phones with the Google Android OS will be a success, but unfortunately the current version is unusable for a business user. I walked into the T-Mobile store yesterday to return the G1 - fully intending to replace it with a different Blackberry.  However, I realized from the way the current RIM phones are being discounted and from the sales representatives, that the current versions of what I want are being phased out and will likely be replaced within a month.  So what to do?  I decided to cancel my Blackberry service and walked out of the store with my SIM.  Am currently using my tiny Moto flip phone, circa 2001.