Captivated by Blackberry

Until recently I was the happy owner of a Blackberry Curve. That baby was the best phone I’ve ever had. It lasted through multiple droppings and 4+ years of heavy usage. No matter what hot new mobile device hit the market I hung onto my Curve. Near the end its battery held about as much power as an 80 year old man after a marathon so alas, getting a new phone couldn’t be delayed any longer.

Choosing a replacement for my dependable companion was not easy. I debated several options. I know that practically everyone has an iPhone and all those people seem to think that it’s the best invention since butter but I can’t say I’m the biggest of fans. I text a lot and texting on an iPhone is highly inconvenient. After my Blackberry’s easy keys I don’t think I could handle struggling to squeeze my fingers into tiny spots or flipping from screen to screen to find punctuation marks. Thus, I said no to the iPhone despite the many acquaintances telling me I “had” to get one. I seriously considered getting a Bold, the newest in the Blackberry line, as my replacement but Jason convinced me to try an Android for a change. I chose the Samsung Captivate Glide. I’m still not sure if I made the best decision; I miss my Blackberry. Here is some of what’s not right in the world without it:

1. My messaging life is practically unmanageable without a blinking light telling me when something new has happened. Does Blackberry have a patent on that or what? Why else would every phone not have a similar function? I have a tendency not to check my phone on the weekends so I loved that light. It meant I could ignore my phone but not miss anything. Now sometimes it’s 48 hours before I realize I have a message or missed call.

2. Smart phones are really dumb when it comes to power usage. My Blackberry, once charged, was satisfied for nearly a week but my Captivate is so needy. It gobbles energy faster than Pac-Man eats dots yet it’s too dignified to let me know when it’s drained. It just quietly shuts itself off. I’m accustomed to neglecting my phone; this charging regularly thing is something I’ll have to get used to.

3. My call log was much easier to sift through on the Blackberry. The Captivate lumps text messages and calls together so, since I text a lot, if I need to return a phone call I usually have to do some serious scrolling to find that call.

4. While my new phone has a retractable keyboard, the spellchecker doesn’t work when you have it extended. Someone in quality assurance must have been taking a snooze. So to those of you that have gotten texts from me that are so jumbled that you’ve assumed I’m speaking Swahili, my apologies. I blame the phone of course not my very substandard spelling skills.

Here are a few things I quite like about my new gadget:

1. The whistle sound it makes when you get a text message is delightful. What a happy noise.

2. The slide out keyboard is pretty sweet. I especially love that it has arrow keys. I haven’t quite gotten used to it enough to text at the supersonic speeds I used to on my Blackberry but give me time.

3. The Facebook updates on the home screen are right at hand and easy to flip through if you find yourself having a moment of boredom.

4. The notifications bar in the top corner shows you all the missed calls, voicemails, text messages, emails, Facebook updates, etc. that you’ve received. I like this feature a lot even though I still need to figure out what all the symbols stand for. Some aren’t as self-explanatory as you’d think.

5. The screen is much bigger than my old one. No complaints there.

I do like the fancy functionality of my new phone. It’s pretty nifty but dang it if I don’t miss my flashing lights and roller ball. I don’t care if Blackberry is pooh-poohed by those that claim more sophisticated tastes in phones. Say what you want, my steadfast mobile lasted through a couple of Jason’s phones, including an iPhone. So, as far as I’m concerned, you can all go call yourselves!

The jury is still out on whether the Bold would have been a better choice for my particular preferences than the Captivate Glide. Maybe this isn’t the droid I was looking for? But for now I’ll take my big screen, cute sounds, and nice keyboard. Just don’t be surprised if my texts from here on out look like they were written by a second grader.