Two years ago I wrote a post on how I decided to pick a blackberry curve over the iPhone. I’ve lived in regret ever since. My friends who have had their iPhones the last two years remain happy (At&T issues aside) and are certainly ready for the next iteration. Moreover, the old iPhone remains in constant comparison to mobiles currently being released and even those in prototype phases. Any phone worth its mettle looks like an iPhone and offers functionality that Apple popularized and nearly perfected.
I went with the blackberry and it has been problematic (T-Mobile issues aside). Within the last year the phone has proved sluggish, unreliable, and in varied states of freezing. Hardly a day goes by where the curve’s battery isn’t pulled for a hard reset. It’s limited in OS functionality, application availability, web browsing, music or video playing. The curve’s only good use is text related. Twitter is fine and messaging/e-mail is OK. However, it’s a smart-phone and should be able to do a little bit more. Attempts to perform outside basic text usage proves cumbersome and clunky. I’ve taken a good share of pictures on the device and the Google Maps application has proven useful, perhaps the only two redeeming qualities; yet in this day and age a phone with a usable camera and map isn’t much about which to get excited. Especially when considering the sluggishness that coincides with using any of these features.
All is not lost. Today Apple is holding their World Wide Developers Conference [IGN live blog] and the obvious news being the release of a new iPhone. The standard I hope that they set though will exist in the cloud, leading to seamless integration/syncing of several devices we use everyday: phones, computers, and the web. Mostly though I want a cellphone that can navigate my public library catalog, allowing me to search and request items without problem. The blackberry browser on the curve supports this but it never really works. Blackberry had their two years and failed, time to move onto a brand that has rarely let me down.
