Verizon Blackberry 8703e

I finally switched from a Samsung i700 to the new Blackberry 8703e. I'd been suffering the Windows-devices blues for almost two years with that i700. Finally I don't have to fight with a needlessly counterintuitive and time-wasting user interface.

The good: It just works. E-mail arrives instantaneously. You can't even imagine the difference this makes until you feel it. I'd been using POP3 e-mail for years. The 5 minute delay in receiving e-mails seemed perfectly normal. The blackberry delay of 10 seconds or so enables a whole new use of e-mail. Blackberry e-mail can be used like chat. The faster response time enables me to send shorter notes, confident that any details can be quickly clarified in a second speedy e-mail.

The bad: I managed to screw up the internet access. The phone was supposed to bridge my laptop onto Verizon's high-speed EVDO network, but the VZAccess software never quite connected correctly. There are so many settings in here that my inner geek, in love with fixing his own messes, has given up and sent me to re-install and call the dreaded tech support line. No amount of googling is going to fix this trouble.

All in all, the speedy e-mail and full keyboard are changing the way I view the phone. I had always assumed the old i700 and it's "mini" version of windows was the most laptop-like device I could create. The Blackberry OS, with its much better replacement of e-mail, has dramatically increased the amount of time I'm spending on the device instead of my laptop. It's hard to argue with that kind of result.