Asiacamera
My current phones - all metal and all black !
Why no Blackberry? Reason#1 : In my technologically-challenged home country (the USA), Blackberries are the latest fad....basically, an Internet-enabled telephone. An old technology touted as new. In Asia and in Europe we have been able to check email and surf the Net on our cellphones for almost 8 years already. 3G has been here since....hmmmm 2005? I was sending SMS's in 1999...on a trip to Colorado in 2002, I sent an SMS to a friend's phone in Denver and he didn't know what it was! Apparently, text messaging was "discovered" by Verizon and T-Mobile around 2003. On Symbian phones like the Nokia's shown here, I can get emails and surf the NET, AND run software apps as well..while sitting in a free WiFi hotspot at Starbucks or McDonalds, I can run a Voice-over-IP client (free) that lets me use Skype calls to any telephone number in the US and 20 other countries for about 2 cents a minute. I can also play MP3's and videos like an IPOD, choose my own browser, open and edit Excel, Word, and PDF docs, access my Outlook server, etc. There are hundreds of free applications that I can install and run on my Symbian-enabled (or Microsoft Mobile-enabled) phone. My phone is a computer.
Reason#2: Unless I am mistaken, there is still no WiFi in Blackberries. In Asia and Europe, there are many free WiFi hotspots (Starbucks, many restaurants and malls, many hotels, etc) and others that you need to pay a few dollars for an hour of access. With WiFi on all these phones, I can surf the Net without using the cellular network (which costs $$) and also get higher data rates. Many countries are taking the initiative that public WiFi should be free...like streetlights. Yes, the BB optimizes the data so that the data usage is very low. This is a very big advantage of the BB.
Reason#3 : Until recently, they looked like a plastic crappy toy calculator from Radio Shack. The newest models are starting to look OK but still seem to be constructed with the cheapest materials possible.
Reason#4 : I don't want push technology. I prefer to check my emails when I want to. I don't want emails popping in like SMS's ... this is the addictive element of BB - you HAVE to look at your email because your BB beeped. I can install the Blackberry Connect s/w on my Nokia phone and it will be able to have Blackberry services, but why would I want to?
Reason#5 : With BB, you are stuck with RIM's software (poor browser, no support for advanced HTML, you can't watch a YouTube video on your phone, etc). On my phone, I can use Nokia's browser, or use several others like Opera or Firefox. Most phones allow the insertion of an SD card with capacities up to 16 GB....for storing MP3's, files, or videos. Not possible with a BB. Oh yeah, what about the silly "sent from my Blackberry" suffix that is added to your emails.. LOL! Blackberry handsets bring us firmly into the 21st century...unfortunately, only to about the year 2001 though......(typed on my Toshiba)
My current phones - all metal and all black !
Why no Blackberry? Reason#1 : In my technologically-challenged home country (the USA), Blackberries are the latest fad....basically, an Internet-enabled telephone. An old technology touted as new. In Asia and in Europe we have been able to check email and surf the Net on our cellphones for almost 8 years already. 3G has been here since....hmmmm 2005? I was sending SMS's in 1999...on a trip to Colorado in 2002, I sent an SMS to a friend's phone in Denver and he didn't know what it was! Apparently, text messaging was "discovered" by Verizon and T-Mobile around 2003. On Symbian phones like the Nokia's shown here, I can get emails and surf the NET, AND run software apps as well..while sitting in a free WiFi hotspot at Starbucks or McDonalds, I can run a Voice-over-IP client (free) that lets me use Skype calls to any telephone number in the US and 20 other countries for about 2 cents a minute. I can also play MP3's and videos like an IPOD, choose my own browser, open and edit Excel, Word, and PDF docs, access my Outlook server, etc. There are hundreds of free applications that I can install and run on my Symbian-enabled (or Microsoft Mobile-enabled) phone. My phone is a computer.
Reason#2: Unless I am mistaken, there is still no WiFi in Blackberries. In Asia and Europe, there are many free WiFi hotspots (Starbucks, many restaurants and malls, many hotels, etc) and others that you need to pay a few dollars for an hour of access. With WiFi on all these phones, I can surf the Net without using the cellular network (which costs $$) and also get higher data rates. Many countries are taking the initiative that public WiFi should be free...like streetlights. Yes, the BB optimizes the data so that the data usage is very low. This is a very big advantage of the BB.
Reason#3 : Until recently, they looked like a plastic crappy toy calculator from Radio Shack. The newest models are starting to look OK but still seem to be constructed with the cheapest materials possible.
Reason#4 : I don't want push technology. I prefer to check my emails when I want to. I don't want emails popping in like SMS's ... this is the addictive element of BB - you HAVE to look at your email because your BB beeped. I can install the Blackberry Connect s/w on my Nokia phone and it will be able to have Blackberry services, but why would I want to?
Reason#5 : With BB, you are stuck with RIM's software (poor browser, no support for advanced HTML, you can't watch a YouTube video on your phone, etc). On my phone, I can use Nokia's browser, or use several others like Opera or Firefox. Most phones allow the insertion of an SD card with capacities up to 16 GB....for storing MP3's, files, or videos. Not possible with a BB. Oh yeah, what about the silly "sent from my Blackberry" suffix that is added to your emails.. LOL! Blackberry handsets bring us firmly into the 21st century...unfortunately, only to about the year 2001 though......(typed on my Toshiba)