Smart Phone

The slippery slope invited me to get a new phone. Verizon offered me a freebie if I would stay with the service. No particular complaints with Verizon service, unlike all the talk I hear about AT&T, so I signed up for a Blackberry Curve.

A whole new gizmo.

My previous cell phone was a phone. You could text, take pictures, sort of maintain a calendar, but it was either laborious to do so, or sub par. I rarely used it for anything but calls. This Blackberry was made for these tasks. I am learning to perform them.

I have yet to reach wizard status in keyboard proficiency—some muscle memory gains still  remain for me—but I can now produce a message without typos.

I can send those messages, and pictures, to Facebook and Twitter. Immediacy is fun. The camera aint bad. Just yesterday I took this picture and uploaded it while out walking:

I have gingerly approached apps. Here we reach an area of resistance. I do not want to pay.

I have never made a purchase from the iTunes store. This is not Ludd talking, This is the guy who does not want to go all spendy with digital wonder. Talk about slippery slope.

The iPod, the Kindle, and now smart phone apps siphon money from your credit card as quick as envy. That anytime urge can be requited with alacrity. I do not want to join that. Such purchases that I make shall be done after cool contemplation.

And though the iPhone looks sweet, I am glad I got a Blackberry. Apple’s penchant for highlighted design at times seems misplaced. The efficiency with which the iPod click-wheel, for instance, moves, triggers unnerving increases in volume. It’s a cool toy, and it is just a wee bit stupid.

Armed with a new ringtone, “Voodoo Chile”, from the essential Blackberry site Crackberry, I am ready to move forward into the 21st century.