I'm taking a look at the Blackberry Curve

I’m taking a look at the Blackberry Curve out of curiosity. Why? Well, before the iPhone changed my life I was committed to my Motorola Razr V3. I was an early adopter of the original Razr V3 just like I was with the iPhone. Basically, when a co-worker placed the Razr in my hand, I screamed! I was hooked in an instant. I’m that girl that knows what she wants right away. A week and $500 later I owned a Razr. I was loyal to my Razr for the simple reason that it was the first phone I had that fit anywhere I put it. It was sleek and slim. So, when Blackberry became popular and I saw people checking their emails on the train, the airport, and generally anywhere while they were out and about, I wanted to do the same. Fortunately, I discovered I could on my Razr. Unfortunately, it was a slow and frustrating experience. So, I went to AT&T (my service provider since 1997) to check out the Blackberry. Even though it had a keyboard that wouldn’t require me to hunt for “c” behind “a”, and “b”, even though I could check my email on all my accounts, and it even had a screen that would allow me to read more than 3 words at a time (the Razr's screen was big when it first came on the market), I still couldn’t adapt to the Blackberry. Size was everything to me. In this context smaller is better ;). For two years I would go check out Blackberry smart phones at the store, and they were always too bulky and unattractive. I refused to compromise. At on point, in a moment of weakness I even got a cheap used one from a friend that was upgrading and never took it out of the box. So, had Blackberry Curve beaten Apple in the slim PDA race by at least a mile I would have bought a Blackberry first for certain. It would have to have been a mile at least. This metaphor translates to at least a year before the iPhone because when the iPhone was announced six months before it’s release it was all I wanted -- no other device turned my head. So, now that Blackberry has finally come out with their version of a slim smart phone, I thought I should at least take a look at what they came up with.
I have read two reviews, and gone through the official website, yet before I give you all of my two cents I have to go see it. I can’t stop wondering about it’s real size ;) So, I’m off to the store…
Remember, technology should adapt to you, not you to it.

Go Gadget Gurl!

Black Friday Bargains!!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm sitting amongst all the newspaper ads. I only have Internet access via my iPhone at my mom's home. So this will be a short post. My mom has webtv dial-up which is really only good for her email. The best web-only and in-store deals are going to be found by checking out retail websites like http://bestbuy.com and http://wal-mart.com.

The Apple Store starts its special deals at 12AM PST at http://store.apple.com and all retail stores have special hours tomorrow. Among the newspaper ads Best Buy is the only retailer offering all instant savings deals. Other retailers' best deals are based on mail-in rebates. I have only had "sometimes I get it" success with rebates. So, I skipped those deals. Finally, there are websites that track the best deals like http://bfads.net, http://blackfriday.com, and http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com. Below are a few of the best deals I found. Happy Thanks-taking!

• Best Buy Panasonic 42" Plasma $899.99 (small print 15 per store)
• Best Buy Sony laptop 1GB/120GB/DVD+RW $399.99 (small print 15 per store)
• Radio Shack Magellan Maestro 3100 $129.99

Sent from my iPhone

Finally!

It feels good to be back :) I have been on a long hiatus doing personal development, yet my Gadget Gurl persona was always in effect. I absolutely love my iPhone. I have read reviews that call it "elegant". I agree. I spoke to an iPhone user yesterday and she said it soothed her. Scrolling through her contacts list slowed her down during the day. I agree again. When I'm frantic and I attempt to scroll, my iPhone doesn't respond elegantly to my taps. It jumps from K to Z and back to A, that visual cue of my energy snaps me out of my mind frick and I focus on the task of looking up a number or appt. I slow down, lightly tap the screen, and my iPhone responds to me like a gentle breeze. My new iPhone user friend and I shared experiences for a half hour. This spontaneous conversation confirmed it was time to slow down and hang out with Go Go Gadget Gurl again. So, this isn't a random, one off post. I plan to follow-up with a review of the Blackberry Curve, the lastest in the new thin trend (actually it's hardly a trend since we want our technology smaller and smaller...implants are already on the fringe), take reader polls on your favorite mobile phone, favorite and worst mobile phone feature, and of course support my iPhone friends with the latest Apple news, hacks, and rumors on what's next...speaking of what's next I'll report on Thanksgiving the best gadget bargains I find in the newspaper inserts for all you Black Friday shopaholics ;)

iPhone Coming June 29!!

Well it’s official! The iPhone is to be released June 29th. I am relieved! Apple officially announced it in their new iPhone commercials. I don’t know about you, but it’s easier for me to wait when I have an end date. Hence the countdown clock to the left (courtesy of www.hashemian.com). Woohoo! It’s less than a month away! ☺ I have also added a subscription form, so I don’t spam everyone every time I add an new entry to this blog. Sign up and you’ll be sent update notices automatically via email. And if you don’t sign up I won’t spam you. So, sign up! The subscription form is under the iPhone image to the left. Finally, I want to thank everyone that received my initial announcement. Your feedback was great! ☺ I want to especially thank C Dotson ;) for submitting the first comment and inquiry. I did some research and the rumor is the Chinese character version of the iPhone will be released in 2008. I’ll keep you posted.
Well now it’s time to get ready for our iPhones. If you’re like me I don’t use the Contacts and Calendar on my iPod. Since iTunes will be used to sync the Calendar and Contacts, I think it’s time to do some testing. I have an iPod Nano, an iPod Photo, and an iPod Video (I know, way too many, maybe I’ll post one or two on craigslist). So, my next post will be on the migration of my contacts and calendar from my Moto Razr V3 and my Palm Tungsten E (I told you I held out) to my iPods. This will be done on my PowerBook G4 and my iMac. If I’m feeling especially generous I might test iTunes on a PC. It all depends on my patience quotient, and if anyone really wants me too ;)
Have a miraculous week!
Go Go Gadget Gurl!

The Apple iPhone is Sweeet!

So, after reviewing what I wrote on Sunday. I decided maybe it was a good time to check out the keynote Steve Jobs gave at MacWorld in January 'O7 in which he announced the iPhone. I'm sure you all are thinking that I would have already done that, but I hadn't....for some reason I kept putting it off everytime I visited the apple.com site to look at iPhone pictues and read about it (yes, I did this more than a few times). I have to say, now, after looking at the keynote, the iPhone is Sweeet! I am more excited now than I was before....maybe it was a good thing I waited to listen to the keynote, because I really really really want one now. I woke up this morning feeling like I've been waitin' in line for tickets to see a Prince concert (and that's the only artist I have ever stood in line to get tickets for). My favorite feature? Visual Voicemail. You see a voice mail list. It's a list of your voice mails on the screen, and you can select which one you want to listen to. If you want to listen to the fifth message, you don't have to listen to the four before it, or skip through them to get to the fifth message. You just select the fifth message from the list, or the second, or the third, it's your choice! Nice!

Oh yeah I have one take back -- the web sync with your .Mac account idea -- it seems that I was a little over zealous with that idea. The Apple iPhone is going to sync through iTunes for PC and Mac users. So, you'll sync your calendar and your contacts through iTunes the same way iPod users sync up the contacts and calender on their iPod now (I'm guessing they do, I don't...yet) -- put the iPhone on it's dock and it automatically charges and syncs contacts, calendar, music, video, and photos. Very cool. I still like the web sync idea...future feature.

Finally, I decided to check out some Apple iPhone forums to see if their were updates on the release date, and what the memory sizes will be, because a salesperson at Cingular told me the iPhone would be released in 20GB, 40GB, and 80GB models. From everything I've read today this is way wrong. In the MacWorld announcement Steve Jobs said it would be released in 4GB and 8GB models. After reviewing everythingiphone.com and cnet.com I found no recent news disputing this. Those sizes seem small for video, but the sizes are the same as the iPod Nano's memory sizes. And the iPod Nano is the best-selling iPod in the iPod family. 'Nuff said until we get to use it. On the forums and news it seems that Apple is now saying the release date is late June. The latest date I saw was June 29th. Some reports said June 2oth. Ugh! And there is a news report saying that the release will definitely not coincide with WWDC '07 which starts June 11th. Ugh! I know, I know, "Patience is a virtue. Whenever the iPhone is released , it will be the perfect time"...yada, yada ,yada....I want my iPhone;) Go Go Gadget Gurl!