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December 12, 2006

Kicked in the Berries.

Previously on Bear: After nearly four years of exclusive Sidekick use, Pat has grown increasingly frustrated with T-Mobile's complacency with the platform. As the four year mark rapidly approaches, Pat takes a new computer consulting job which offers him a BlackBerry along with free service. Having spent $300 on a new Sidekick 3 several months prior, Pat has a difficult decision to make. Will his loyalties to the Sidekick overpower that of the free BlackBerry, or will he sell out and go corporate, leaving Paris Hilton et al behind? Tune in tonight to find out.

And now, the conclusion.

So yeah, I'm a BlackBerry user now. It wasn't a very hard decision. Kind of a no-brainer, really.

If you read last night's post, you know my qualms with the Sidekick. Basically, the platform has stagnated. What was awesome in 2002 is now common place. I need my technology new and shiny, that's how I roll. Second-hand is for clothes and books, man.

Thing is, my BlackBerry isn't new and shiny. Nor is it old and busted, really. If anything it's reminiscent of the condition my Sidekick II was in when I sold it to that guy on the street back in August. It's not the condition of the device that's important though I suppose; it's the tech that's running behind it. And while BlackBerry tech is certainly older than Sidekick tech (1999 versus 2002), BlackBerry is new to me, and that's all that matters.

Perhaps the best example of BlackBerry tech in action is the email service (I also think it's a large part of what makes BlackBerries so addictive to people, I find out when I have a new message on my phone before my email client tells me... instant gratification). Sidekicks speak to POP and IMAP servers, but it doesn't write to either... and that's an important difference between Sidekicks and BlackBerries: the syncing.

To sync, BlackBerries are reliant on RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and Sidekicks are reliant on Danger/T-Mobile's HipTop servers. Just so happens though, RIM's setup is better than Danger's. (Case in point: you don't see Danger being sued over server technology, do ya?) What's so great about BlackBerry Enterprise Server is that it works just how you want it to, and you don't have to think about it. It just happens. Sidekick's syncing is nice too, but unlike BES where you can have your phone sync to Outlook or Entourage, T-Mobile's arcane "Desktop Interface" (an unintuitively named "web app" if you can even call it that), only works, well... on the web. Likewise, whereas importing and exporting data from your BlackBerry is as simple as firing up Outlook/Entourage, with a Sidekick you can import your existing contacts and calendars data via a web form on their site, but if you want to export... well... not so much. T-Mobile wants you locked in, man. If you want true Desktop syncing (but only to a Windows PC running Outlook), you can shell out $9.99 for "Intellisync for Sidekick." Thanks but no thanks Catherine Zeta Jones.

Anyway, long story short, BES works, and it works well. It's a more open platform. As is the world of BlackBerries in general, really. Want to install an app on your Sidekick? Okay, hit up The Catalog app (it's on the top and unmoveable, you can miss it), and then browse all of the three applications that are available and pony up the case, sucker. You only get to choose what we, the T-Mobile gate keepers approve. And any apps you buy might break when Sidekick 4 comes out. Okay, now, want to install an app on your BlackBerry? Okay, awesome. Find an app you want via the web browser, and install it. No really, just click on the little .jad file and go to town. That's it. Google Maps anyone? (Google Maps in my pocket alone sold me on the BlackBerry.)

It's not all porkchops and apple sauce, though. The single biggest reason for my hesitation to jump ship wasn't the data exporting like I thought it would be. Nor was it the kinda clunky interface of the Blackberry 7290 versus the SK3. (Quick aside: People criticize the Treo for not being designed from the ground up as a smart phone, but what a lot of people don't realize is that BlackBerries used to be big chunky pagers with keyboards way before they were phones. Consequently the Sidekick rules all from a usability perspective. Scene.) No, my biggest cause for concern was getting used to the BlackBerry keyboard. Da da dum!

What people whose only smart phone experience has been on a BlackBerry fail to realize is that there are better keyboards out there. I actually hate the BlackBerry keyboard. I'm getting used to it slowly, but I still don't like it. The Sidekick 3 has one of the best keyboards on the market, whereas the BlackBerry (at least the 7200 series) has one of the worst. Sweet christ, I hope it's the worst, because I feel for whoever has to deal with anything crappier. (Possibly the bizarre BlackBerry Pearl keyboard?)

The great thing about the Sidekick is that its teeny tiny little keyboard— while trunicated— at least makes sense. Letters and numbers are where they're expected to be, and punctuation is at least in the ballpark. Anything goes on the BlackBerry, though. Question mark? Oh, that's on the V key. How about a semi-colon? Oh, that's buried in the symbols menu. Symbol? Really? I know it's a shit piece of punctuation, but it's not an percentage symbol, jesus.

Another thing that was great about the Sidekick keyboard was that the keys were offset like on a real keyboard. This (as far as I know) is completely unique to the Sidekick. Every other phone I see with a QWERTY keyboard has the keys lined up in a grid. Q is directly above A, W above S, et cetera. That's what happens when an engineer solves a problem versus someone who will actually be using the damn thing. Sidekicks have always had little nubs on the F and J keys as well to help you type without looking, ala real keyboards again.

The only thing BlackBerry has on the Sidekick from a typist's perspective is the on software side of things. RIM again has the edge on Danger there. It's as if RIM knew they had a shitty keyboard, so they had to make the text input as smart as possible. For example, you never have to type a period at the end of a sentence on a BlackBerry. Weird, right? No, instead you hit space twice, and then start on your next sentence. The BlackBerry sees what you're doing and changes the first space into a period and capitalizes the first letter of the word for you. Not bad. Likewise, if you need to capitalize a letter, don't hit shift. Hitting shift is for pussies. Just hold the letter an extra half second, and it capitalizes itself. Need to put a accent on a letter? Hit the letter, then spin the scroll wheel until you get to the right accent. There's a bunch of little tricks, probably some that I haven't even found yet.

But that's sort of the problem, though. The Sidekick is great, because you can just type. You don't need to learn all of these little tricks, you just go. The BlackBerry is (again) like a Palm, where you have to relearn things to compensate for the device's shortcomings. It's 2006 guys... it should be the other way around by now. The device should be compensating for your shortcomings.

(Yes, I just wrote like five paragraphs about the nuances of the BlackBerry keyboard versus the Sidekick 3 keyboard... hey, it's Sweeps Week.)

Anyway, enough about keyboards. That's really the biggest thing, though. Also on the hardware side of things, I dig having a phone that can charge over USB. Very nice. No bringing around extra chargers wherever I go anymore. Also, speaking of power, the BlackBerry is pretty energy efficient. It has a comparable screen to the Sidekick (same resolution, actually), and operates on the same network, but it just seems smarter as far as battery use goes. Also, when you're really low on juice, it automatically turns the radio off while the device still has some power. This allows you to briefly turn the radio back on when you need it one last time to make that really important phone call. Nice touch.

Finally, wrapping up, I must concede that the Sidekick has one last leg up on the BlackBerry: it has the better fidgety behavior for when you're just sitting around hanging out. "The Sidekick Screen Flip" is hours of entertainment. The best thing I've come up with on the BlackBerry is turning it between my thumb and middle finger while holding the screen. Lame.

Anyway. Yes, so I've turned to the dark side of the BlackBerry. Rest in piece Sidekick. I do miss you, but I have no loyalties to electronics. I go where the tech is. Maybe the Sidekick 4 will bring me back into the fold.

Posted by pat at December 12, 2006 11:50 AM

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Posted by: Megan at February 9, 2007 12:25 AM

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