Me and my (little) Crackberry

By Steve Outing on Dec 3, 2006 in Misc.

I’ve wanted smart-phone functionality for a long time, but resisted buying one because I couldn’t deal with carrying a brick around with me all the time. So I’ve stuck with small, lesser-function phones. Well, finally, I’ve found a smartphone that works for me! The Blackberry Pearl.

This candy-bar style phone is actually smaller and lighter than my last phone, but is a full-function PDA. I know many of you have been using Treo’s, Blackberries or other smart-phones for a long time. But I’m excited to finally have my e-mail in easily digestible form wherever I am!

And now I’m at least a little better equipped to snap photos with my phone; it’s got a 1.3-megapixel camera, whereas photos from my old phone were crap. It’s about time that the standard cameras in phones got a bit more reasonable, which is a good thing for eyewitness journalism. I toyed with getting a 3.2-megapixel camera phone, but was swayed by the PDA functionality of the Blackberry.

12 Comment(s)

On Dec 9, 2006, Amy Gahran said:

How much was this, Steve — if you don’t mind me asking. Also, have you used it much for web access, feed subscriptions, and IMing? What OS does it use?

- Amy Gahran
On Dec 9, 2006, Amy Gahran said:

How much was this, Steve — if you don't mind me asking. Also, have you used it much for web access, feed subscriptions, and IMing? What OS does it use? – Amy Gahran
On Dec 13, 2006, Anthony Moor said:

And Steve, does it connect with Outlook contacts like a Treo?
On Dec 13, 2006, Steve said:

Amy: Cingular sells it for $200 with a 2-year contract. Factor in $30/month extra for the unlimited data package. So far I'm using it for e-mail, Google Calendar, occasional web access … I'm really impressed! Great phone. The keypad is qwerty but each key has 2 letters — it's not like the bigger Blackberries with a qwerty keypad and a key for every letter. But it's still way faster to use than my old numerical keypad. OS: same as all Blackberries. Anthony: I'm not sure. I use Gmail and easily got it configured for that, so I didn't look into Outlook. (I assume so.)
On Dec 13, 2006, Steve said:

Amy: Cingular sells it for $200 with a 2-year contract. Factor in $30/month extra for the unlimited data package. So far I’m using it for e-mail, Google Calendar, occasional web access … I’m really impressed! Great phone. The keypad is qwerty but each key has 2 letters — it’s not like the bigger Blackberries with a qwerty keypad and a key for every letter. But it’s still way faster to use than my old numerical keypad. OS: same as all Blackberries.

Anthony: I’m not sure. I use Gmail and easily got it configured for that, so I didn’t look into Outlook. (I assume so.)
On Dec 20, 2006, Charlie Meyerson said:

Steve, welcome to BlackBerrys Anonymous.

For a sampling of other neat stuff you can do with these devices…

http://www.chicagotribune.com/blackberry
On Dec 20, 2006, Charlie Meyerson said:

Steve, welcome to BlackBerrys Anonymous. For a sampling of other neat stuff you can do with these devices… http://www.chicagotribune.com/blackberry
On Dec 22, 2006, L Snow said:

What about folks who use Verizon instead of Cingular?
On Dec 25, 2006, Matt said:

By the way, Steve, I’ve had my Pearl for a month now, and I’m only today trying out one of my favorite features — I’m posting this from my laptop, using my Pearl as a high-speed modem. No more wondering whether the hotel offers internet, no more canvassing for free wifi spots, just plug in the phone and we’re off. I followed the instructions here, and had next-to-no trouble. The Internet seems a little more magical when I’m surfing it at my (very low-tech, decidedly non-Internet-having) aunt’s house, which might begin to explain why I’m still Web-surfing at 2 a.m. on Christmas morning. Or maybe not.
On Dec 25, 2006, Matt said:

By the way, Steve, I've had my Pearl for a month now, and I'm only today trying out one of my favorite features — I'm posting this from my laptop, using my Pearl as a high-speed modem. No more wondering whether the hotel offers internet, no more canvassing for free wifi spots, just plug in the phone and we're off. I followed the instructions <a href="http://www.blackberryforums.com/blackberry-guides...rel="nofollow">here</a>, and had next-to-no trouble. The Internet seems a little more magical when I'm surfing it at my (very low-tech, decidedly non-Internet-having) aunt's house, which might begin to explain why I'm still Web-surfing at 2 a.m. on Christmas morning. Or maybe not.
On Apr 5, 2007, Logan said:

L Snow,

There are rumors that Verizon Wireless with have the Pearl come May, 2007 but this has not been confirmed yet. I am really hoping that Verizon is able to pick up the pearl!
On Apr 5, 2007, Logan said:

L Snow, There are rumors that Verizon Wireless with have the Pearl come May, 2007 but this has not been confirmed yet. I am really hoping that Verizon is able to pick up the pearl!