[serious] Just Picked Up a BlackBerry Bold / Your Preferred Mobile OS

[Kasracer]

There is a question at the end, so please read through my ranting

I've always been a huge Windows Mobile fan since you can really do anything on that platform. I've owned the T-Mobile MDA, Treo 700wx, HTC 6800 and most recently the Treo 800w. I kept moving and looking for my next phone with Windows Mobile hopping the next one would fix the bugs I've encountered. Every Windows Mobile 6/6.1 phone I've had (6800 / 800w) never had a fully working button lock; it would work but after a while it would stop and I'd have to either reset it or factory restore it to get it to work again. I also experienced quite a bit of slow down and it's a pain to use it without a stylus.

So, being extremely fed up with my Treo 800w, I decided to give BlackBerry a shot.... and holy crap. I picked up a BlackBerry Bold this weekend and I've got to say this phone is incredible! This phone is faster than any Windows Mobile phone I've ever used (including the Touch Pro; which is actually kind of sluggish). I have full web browsing, push e-mail, MMS (why the hell does Sprint not off MMS for Windows Mobile?), I can run any application I want just like Windows Mobile, programming for it is very easy (you can even write programs with JavaScript; as absurd as that sounds), it has a stylish interface and even a well working media player.

Hell, YouTube even works on this puppy and it has very loud speakers (stereo sound even).

Overall I've got to say that, so far this is the best phone I've ever owned. Has anyone else gone from Windows Mobile to BlackBerry and had a similar or opposite experience? Has anyone gone the other way and found Windows Mobile to be better? If so, what BlackBerry OS were you on (4.5/4.6 or something older)?

[nemaroller]

Yea, I've only ever had WM, but people who have blackberry's always seem to like them. Unfortunately, I guess I'm just not important enough to own one.

[mendhak]

It's not Blackberry, it's Crackberry. I've tried it out a few times at work, I don't think anything beats it in terms of functionality and productivity (something iPhone users fail to understand).

I also realized the potential addiction to it (you'll get there soon), so I chose Windows Mobile because I wanted to write my own apps for it (as I have, which you failed to even test out for me ) and not succumb to pointless marketing hype.

And, funny you should ask, I did recently discover PointUI which is a Today screen replacement which is much faster than the default Today screen (not sure how). It's also very customizable in that you can configure it and write your own themes or applets for it. Fast, responsive and easy-access to information you need. It also has an RSS feed on the front which you could disable or customize, but I decided it was sufficient reason to get a data contract.

The only phone that I haven't tried out is the Android... but I'd like to hear what people think about it.

[Kasracer]

I'd like to see Microsoft upgrade Windows Mobile. They should at least move it to Windows CE 6 (Windows Mobile 6/6.1/6.5 run on Windows CE 5). That PointUI is neat, I might play with it when I have some time.

which you failed to even test out for me

Hey man, I'm busy! If I find some time I'd be happy to test.

I have an Axim X50v, Treo 700w, HTC 6800, and a Treo 800w I could test it on.

[zaza]

iDon'tThinkSo

[Hack]

Am I the only person on this planet that has a cell phone for the sole, singluar, purpose of making telephone calls?

[techgnome]

hack- nope.... that's all mine does... doesn't even come with a camera.... I do use mine for texting a lot... which has me considering a new phone with a full keyboard. I'm tired of hitting numbers repeatedly to get a single letter... only to go past it, and have to keep hitting the button to go all the way around.

-tg

[Atheist]

Blackberries are rare in Sweden, so I've never used one. I've been using Symbian Series 60 for years until just recently when I switched to Windows Mobile...certainly an improvement! I love being able to develop .NET applications for my device.

[nemaroller]

The only phone that I haven't tried out is the Android... but I'd like to hear what people think about it.

I downloaded the Android SDK and emulator when that Google contest giving out 50 $25,000 rewards for most inspiring software was announced: http://code.google.com/android/adc.html

Putting aside the SDK and emulator, the winners of the contest wrote the most mundane silly apps, therefore, my initial gut instinct that I had no chance of writing something in the top 50 was completely wrong, and I could have paid that $25,000 toward my mortgage.

Anyway.... you can still download the SDK, the emulator was painfully slow when I tried it a year ago, but I'm sure it has gotten faster since. Also, you will wamt to download eclipse to do any really development of apps for Android since Google gives you a plug-in, but in any event, its not at all difficult to learn how to program against it since most of it is Java calls:
http://code.google.com/android/download.html

[Kasracer]

Interestingly enough, you can develop BlackBerry applications inside of Visual Studio 2005 / 2008 with JavaScript!

You can also do the whole Java route which would probably be better.

[Harsh Gupta]

No.

My parents gave me a simple mobile phone so they can track me whenever they want to.

3 years down the line, total call duration never touched 30 hours. (dunno how to react, but many people make fun of me because of this.)

[techgnome]

don't feel bad... I still don't have an account for Linked In, FaceBook or MySpace. I doubt I ever will.

-tg

[Hack]

Really don't feel bad...I don't even know what "Linked In" is, but I'm glad I'm not.

[Kasracer]

I have an account with MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. I created the MySpace account just to reserve my name (literally nothing else is there). I created my Facebook account because a friend asked me to but I very rarely log in and do anything.

LinkedIn, however, is a very different beast that I participate in. LinkedIn is for professionals looking to keep connections to past co-workers. I've actually found positions and contracting work from LinkedIn and it's been a very helpful tool for me. I'd recommend it for any professional looking to stay connected with others. LinkedIn also keeps your full resume as your "profile" and will show anyone who has recommended you.

I like LinkedIn

[mendhak]

hack- nope.... that's all mine does... doesn't even come with a camera.... I do use mine for texting a lot... which has me considering a new phone with a full keyboard. I'm tired of hitting numbers repeatedly to get a single letter... only to go past it, and have to keep hitting the button to go all the way around.

-tg

Today, someone at work came up to me with his Nokia 6100 and asked me if I had a charger for that phone. I asked him to try Noah's Ark.

I think once you make the switch to more featured phones, you start depending on those features. So it's creating necessities without which you'd still be alright.

[techgnome]

mine's a Nokia 6030.... started life as a $25 pay as you go from Cingular... it's now with AT&T, as a "regular" phone... I'm finding myself using the text feature a lot and I jjust hate all that typing.... bleh... I thought about getting something more feature filled, with Wi-Fi if I could, and with Windows Mobile (or CE, what ever) ... but the more I thought about, would I really write apps for it? Probably not... and how often would I use the Wi-Fi feature.... not as often either... so I don't know what I'll end up going with.

-tg

[TomGibbons]

I used to be a die hard WinMo fan but ever since I got my G1 I can't imagine going from Android to WinMo again.