Rantings of a Black Polemicist

I see why geeks love Blackberrys.

Saturday, May 27th, 2006 | General

I dropped my Razr on the driveway running to a job interview last week. Its body cracked and some important-looking cable was exposed, leading me to believe it might be time for a new phone.

I needed an organizer too, so I figured I’d just get a pda-phone. I’m stuck with Cingular for a while, so a Blackberry 8700c and a Treo 650 were my two options. I’d done the PalmOS thing before and wasn’t really in the mood anymore. The Blackberry looked like it might be worth the risk, so I grabbed it and signed up for Cingular’s wireless high speed Internet product, EDGE.

Within the first few hours, I realized how well designed this thing is. Using it is a wonderful end-to-end user experience. For example, I recieve an email message. My Blackberry makes a cute sound that specifically notifies me that I’ve got new mail. I pull my it out of my holster and the screen automatically turns on with my new message displayed. Neat. I didn’t have to turn it on, open my mail program or use a freakin’ stylus. That’s too easy.

I’ve noticed that I now read email while driving. Is that bad? When my special e-mail notification goes off, it feels like a reflex kicks in. Left hand on the steering wheel at 12 o’clock, right hand on the holster. Pull. Click. Swing. Eyes to e-mail.

It’s like the world is right at my hip. I can google something at the mall. I can read Slashdot during commercials. I can Wikipedia anything while sitting at a stoplight. That’s insane.

I can telnet to my server in the UK. I can monitor its top processes live, right fom my Blackberry. No one in their right mind would admit this, but I sometimes sleep with my blackberry on my pillow, showing my server’s top processes. It’s like I’ve got the heartbeat of my server in on my cheek as I drift off to sleep.

I know, that’s unhealthy.

Here she is, top processes and all: