Apples Are Only Good For Pies

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jespsen

Life was much simpler when Blackberry and Apple were still just fruit...and Samsung only the classics! 

How is this for ironic? I am writing this on my Samsung and I am complaining about Apple while my Blackberry sits in rice recovering from it's unexpected Polar Bear Dip on Christmas Day. Firstly, clarification on Polar Bear Dip for those who may not know. It's popularity has grown into a world wide phenomenon with the ability for national news to quickly become global fodder, I was not so worldly growing up for sure! Regardless, a polar bear swim is when humans for unknown reasons wish to emulate polar bears and swim in near frozen water. Being resourceful however the quick swim in the frigid water is often followed up by a  re-heat in a hot tub that has been set up on the shore line. Similar to the Nordic countries like Norway that roll naked in the snow before jumping in the sauna. Well not people with heart conditions :) In Canada they are often done to raise money for some charity rather than pleasure.

I was retrieving and praying

But back to mobile devices, for the second time in as many years, my phone took it's own polar bear dip when it plunged into the icy depths of toilet water. Yes, the water was clean and being as I quickly and without thought as to cleanliness reached in and pulled it out, I can personally attest to the frigid temperature of the water. It was very sobering...yes I had been drinking. The last time it happened the phone was a Blackberry Bold and was less than 24 hours old and alcohol was not a factor. I was so mad at myself. As fast as I could make it home, I put it in a container and covered it with rice. And left it there with the battery beside it for several months. I was, quite frankly, terrified to take it out in case it didn't work. But alas it did work and that phone was a gem until I fell down the stairs with it in my back pocket and the camera quite working. Once a device is water damaged, and yes technicians can tell, repair cost are out of your pocket and no work is guaranteed. As my son put it, water damage can continue to occur unseen in the form of corrosion within the casing. He felt that this was actually the cause for the camera malfunction.

Blackberry Torch 9800

Having access to several phones because of his age (and line of work), he graciously provided me with a new (to me) phone with a working camera. It was a Blackberry Torch and if even possible, I liked it better than the Bold. The screen was bigger to accommodate my old eyes and it combined the touch screen feature with the qwerty keyboard that I love. Without ever having an iPhone, I always looked at them as a toy/plaything whereas a Blackberry was a tool. Although I never had the phone, I did own an iPad for a time. Yes, I succumbed to the hype. It was an overpriced toy! With no capacity for flash, compatible word processing programs and only the touch screen to type, I found it difficult to use it productively. So I got rid of it, in favour of the Samsung tablet that I got a companion keyboard for, making it similar to my baby laptop (10 inch screen) that I used to take everywhere with me. I loved my little eeePC that I got free during a promotion with the Royal Bank of Canada back in 2008. I hear you, "if it was great why replace it?" Well, I'll tell you, the "h" quit working so I resorted to cutting and pasting every time I needed an "h". You have no idea how many words have an "h". It got to be a real nuisance when if came to any serious writing. Many words didn't show up on the spell check. Hat:at, show:sow, that:tat. You get the point. The iPad was a poor substitute and so along came the Samsung. It's a tablet, a working laptop computer and with it's Polaris Office system, it's a dream. I am aware that it is possible to buy a keyboard to work with the iPad, and I may even agree that I did not give the iPad a fighting chance without said keyboard, but the roadblocks I came up against just wasn't worth the trouble. For me.

I use my mobile phone as a portable office. Appointment cards are wasted pieces of paper, because everything went into the calendar of my phone. I can't make a personal phone call, because all my contacts were in my phone. My note pad was filled with thoughts, ideas for writings and cool things I read. E-mail was the best and quickest way to communicate for even those times when I couldn't answer the phone. Social media, browsing, text and bbm were all bonus tasks that could be performed.  Oh yeah and it was a phone too! Losing it was like severing my right arm. Suddenly the house was too quite without the familiar Pink Panther theme singing to me with an alert of an incoming call. Bugs Bunny letting me know "What's this? A letter for me", Mr Bean would implore me to "Pick up,  pick up" when a specific friend tried to reach me. I guess my phone was a working tool as well as a toy :)

RICE-A-PHONI
For this trick to work, the container needs an airtight seal.

It's the holidays and I don't have disposable money to rush out and buy the latest and greatest electronic just because it is new. But I was lost, I honestly did not know what was on my schedule of things to do or appointments to attend while my beloved Torch was relaxing in a rice bath oblivious to my trauma. lol. God bless my son, who came to my rescue again. Today his selection is somewhat more limited and I had the choice of a Blackberry Bold without a battery (sadly I don't have a stash of batteries at my disposal) or an Apple iPhone 3. The iPhone 5 was recently released so I guess this one is 6 months old. haha! Okay a little older, but isn't it crazy how fast new models are released in the electronics industry? 

Trying to be unbiased, I am very grateful to have any phone that can remind me of the numerous commitments stored in my calendar and my personal contacts. How sad is it that I cannot contact my own children without my mobile device? What a world we live in. To be fair to me however, during the four years of his university experience, my son probably went through 6-8 phone numbers - who could be expected to remember all of those? My daughter did go through fewer but it was just easier to rely on the phone to know them. All I needed to know was their name and press the picture of the phone handset. So, when I got the iPhone, I inserted my Sim (memory) card and...nothing came up. No contacts. On the up side, my calendar showed that I had some time to try and figure out this new device.

The phone is used, and thusly did not come with a manual and no, I did not look one up on line. But user-friendly should be mandatory in these devices that are produced to be used across the generations and even for people without internet access. Blackberry, that was once so addictive that it was referred to as "Crackberry" because of it's ease of use as an out of office connective device. It became as necessary as the office stapler. But RIM has fallen out of favour lately with it's failed foray into the tablet market. The Playbook was plagued with production and distribution problems and people just gave up waiting and scooped up tablets already tried and true on the store shelves. Confidence in the business slid as fast as the stock prices. The cell phone market had also changed. There were new and innovative companies trying to gobble up market share and the large business market had been taken over by the social masses who wanted a gaming device as well as a phone. Admittedly, the larger screen is preferable for viewing pictures and videos. But for productivity, nothing beats the Blackberry in my opinion.

YES! I admit I'm an addict :)

So here are some of my beefs with the iPhone 3. It is possible that some have been rectified in the newer versions that have been released or that I am just not aware of a fix. Also, when referring to Blackberry, I am including the Curve, Bold and Torch, as I have experience with all and they all have the features listed unless otherwise noted.

1. Sound preferences. On a standard Blackberry you have profiles that apply to all phone tones. Normal, loud, silence all, phone calls only, vibrate only to name a few. Plus you can create your own. Ring tones that are downloaded and assigned to specific functions or contacts do not need to be separately programmed. I cannot find this very handy feature on the Apple, when during the night I only want to be disturbed by phone calls not incoming e-mails.
2. Alarm. This would also be affected by #1. If a wake up alarm is set on the Blackberry, the sound preference is irrelevant. Your alarm will go off and wake you up. And during the night the phone behaves as a bedside clock, that is just a handy feature all around but especially if you are travelling. Last night I set the alarm on the Apple, then having no options, turned the phone volume down and if the alarm went off, I didn't hear it. Another Blackberry perk, the alarm goes off continually until you shut it off or snooze - and the amount of snooze time is chosen by you as well.
3. Sound alerts. I have not downloaded any ringtones onto this temporary phone, but am not pleased that I don't have the option to change the tone for e-mail and calendar alerts. A noise emits from the phone and I have no idea why. Waking it up from sleep-mode and I have to guess and check my e-mail etc to see if that is what the notice was. The Blackberry gives me a flashing light to indicate activity and a count of and indicator for new activity along the top of the screen. Ringtones don't matter for even on silent these alerts will be present. Again, in terms of productivity this is very efficient.
4. Version. I don't really know if this is unique to Apple but I have never experienced it on Blackberry. Programs are always coming out with newer versions with what they think are improved features. As witnessed by the mass protests when Facebook rolls out a new version, the public is not always willing to concede the improved aspect. Regardless it happens and this is a perfect example of this Apple blemish. iPhone says I have the latest version on the phone, Facebook says I don't. So I can't get facebook app on this phone. On the forums, Apple devotees blame facebook, others blame Apple. I don't know but it makes this phone a rather costly brick.
5. Browser. We all know that if we go over our data usage we are dinged like crazy. On the Blackberry I could close the browser and was confident it was not running. On the Apple, I am just not sure that I trust a "back" button to log me off. This could be a paranoia issue and lack of confidence in the product issue. 
6. Apps. Having a Blackberry, I could never quite understand the need for apps, except for playing games. Why do I need an app on my phone for the bank when I could just as easily go on their website via the browser? I got an app to turn my phone into a flashlight and a weather app. That was about it. What I see standard on this iPhone, I am beginning to understand the need for all the apps. There is nothing on this phone to be a productive piece of equipment until I visit the app store. 

I am sure there is more I could beef about but I will stop and concede that like the Mac computer vs the IBM compatible there is room in the world and a market for all the various types of devices. Computer or phone, it all boils down to the same thing for me. Productivity vs creativity. The Mac has always been the computer of choice for the creative minds that want to draw and create on the screen. The IBM was preferred in the workplace.This mentality is illustrated perfectly in the school system that stocks it's elementary school computer labs with Macs and their high schools with IBM compatible units. 

I am creative with a pencil or paint. My mind is very imaginative. But my electronics I prefer to be for my productive side - writing etc. I can see why some would prefer the iPhone with the necessity to customize it's usage as beneficial for the creative and inquiring minds that like to understand and explore electronics. But for others like me, I just want a device that will work the way I want without driving me crazy how to figure out how to do the simplest of tasks. I am told that I am not using the Samsung tablet to the fullest extent and I haven't even scratched the surface of it's capabilities. That may be true, but for now it is doing exactly what I want. Anything more would surely be a bonus and I will investigate if this damn iPhone would just tell me if I have an appointment I am late for? 

The only thing I know for sure is that in the future I will be keeping a spare Blackberry within reach for the next time I find myself in this predicament. Hopefully it won't be water related! But for now...

Anybody have a Blackberry I can borrow? :)

UPDATE: The love affair resumes. The new (to me) Torch and I are together again. He even has a new name, Roger. I am not too thrilled about his background, but I am willing to overlook that small imperfection. Until the rice releases my first love and we are re-united.