Bye-Bye Blackberry: Part 1

I had planned to end Labor Day Weekend with a review of a chess book, but the Blackberry situation demanded my attention. Watch for the chess book review though!

I've had a Blackberry for some time. I got it because I didn't like being chained to the computer.

One issue I've had is the almost complete lack of compatibility with Macintosh. Yes, there's a way to back things up, but that's about it.

I've also had a few them die, and all in the same way. The USB port used for power and data seems not to hold up, and when it starts to fail, you can't charge the phone.

So, when the current Blackberry's USB started to fail, I had a long talk with the people at T-Mobile.

I know they'd have given me a new Blackberry, but that's a hassle as I have to reload Cyrillic, and that requires Windows.

The compromise was a G1. There's no Exchange support, but I don't need it as I don't use Exchange.

If you're wondering "hm, why not an iPhone" the answer is simple-they are expensive and I don't want to have to rely on a touch screen in case I have to type something. I like keyboards.

I read up on the G1, and realized I'd need a dedicated gmail account. That's not as bad as it seems, as a gmail account can read other accounts.

Setting them up was fairly straightforward, but gmail seems to be a little balky about reading external accounts. I do like the idea of having all of my email on Google's servers, just in case something goes wrong somewhere. One of my primary accounts is hosted through Swissmail, and they are very reliable, but you can never have too much reliability.

T-Mobile advised that they have to make some settings changes for the G1. The plan is to pick up the G1 tomorrow, call T-Mobile, plug it in, and then set it up. I'm hoping this is not much more than putting in the SIM card, as email should be more or less sorted via the gmail account.

I went to T-Mobile today and bought a package of screen protectors and the polycarbonate case for it. It will be like Gort in Forbidden Planet (not the remake, please!), but, if airline inspectors want it opened, that may be a problem as I've read these cases are very difficult to get off once put on.

I should have an update at some point tomorrow.

Patrick Jost