About Toronto Wireless

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Why BlackBerry: A newbie's perspective

Via: www.BBerryDog.com by Laura Mayerchak.
WhyBlackBerry
Hey doggies!! It’s hump day yet again and this summer just seems to be flying by. I hope you all have been enjoying nice weather, cookouts, and family fun! If you’ve been an advocate of our site, you are well aware of some of the new polls and opinion pieces that are all part of our “Why BlackBerry?” series. Per request of the boss, I have been asked to share some of the reasons as to why I made the switch and what makes me love my ‘Berry.
Before I joined the BB world, I was on a typical, standard flip phone, using only the text messaging feature to stay in touch with the world. Looking back on this now, with my ‘Berry by my side, I feel as though my old phone should be labeled as a prehistoric machine that is completely unfit to ever be held by my ‘Berry loving hands again. As you might already be able to tell, I am completely and totally enthralled with my decision to switch over to BlackBerry. Apart from the extra monthly service charge (which is totally worth it in my opinion), I have virtually no complaints about anything regarding my phone. You must know though, that I am a newcomer in the technology world, I have little knowledge of operating systems, interfaces, and all that other lingo that some of you may be more familiar with.
But let’s get down to business: Why do I BlackBerry? Being a student in college, it’s almost required that you be in contact with your email constantly throughout the day. Professors like to use that medium more than any other to assign work, give class updates, and post schedules. With the BlackBerry, not only can I link my school email to my phone, but I can also add all my other personal emailaccounts and be notified in one general inbox on my phone when I receive a message. This to me, is one of the greatest features BlackBerry has to offer. Speaking of messages, as I mentioned earlier, I am a texting fiend. Rarely do I make phone calls (unless it’s to my mom, who hasn’t quite gotten the hang of texting) if I can just as easily pull up my contacts list and shoot a text to anyone I choose. The SMS and MMS options provided as the main messaging systems on BlackBerry have proven themselves time and time again.
Never do I have to worry about reaching a particular inbox limit, which forces you to delete all messages to make room for new ones. Never do I forget what was said previously because conversations on the Berry are stored in Instant Messenger format (where you can view both party’s replies). The only downside is the 160 character limit in SMS, which can easily be fixed with one of the many BlackBerry apps (which I will come to a little later). Not only do you have the option to send SMS texts to non-BlackBerry users, but there is also the BBM option, which has seriously changed the way I message.
With BlackBerry Messenger, I have the ability to stay in touch with all of my contacts who also have the option to BBM. With an easy exchange of PIN numbers and a quick confirmation text, I can let my thumbs type as much as they want to those I’ve connected with. The cool thing about BBM is that it allows you to create groups that you can ‘conference’ with, which kind of simulates a conference call, only though messenging instead. You can assign yourself a picture so that all your BB contacts can put a face to a name, and you can also update a status, much like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and any other social network. There isn’t a limit on the characters you can type and send to your BBMer’s, so if you are a long-winded texting junkie, this is definitely right up your alley.
Aside from my favorite past time to absolutely wear my poor thumbs out on the impressive QWERTY keyboard, I love to jump on AppWorld and peruse through all the Apps offered. Spanning from business, entertainment, news, food, and practically any other category one could imagine, RIM offers a very wide variety of mostly free Apps that are easily downloaded. I’m a semi-big gaming person, and the games are practically unlimited on the BlackBerry. Even though some are just demos and others you do have to pay a small fee for, the availability and accessibility of just this one particular category proves to show that AppWorld definitely has it going on.
When I first opened the glorious box that held my precious BlackBerry, I’m not going to lie, I was feeling a little apprehensive about learning how to work this new thing that seemed so complex to me at the time. After some much needed hands-on with it, and opening all my apps, downloading new ones, setting up accounts, and really just learning new little tricks in general, I came to love my ‘Berry. There are so many things that I could go on and on about all the wonderful features and the moments when I just said, “Cool! This thing is awesome!!”. All in all, I never fully comprehended the reason why so many of my friends were making the switch until I did so myself, and honestly, I’ve become a CrackBerry addict just like the rest of them. But this is nothing to be ashamed of! So go out there and make the best investment of your life (if you haven’t already done so) and come back here to tell the team at BBerrydog why you are such a big fan of the all-loving, fantastic, amazing thing that the world knows as BlackBerry.

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