Goodbye Blackberry

I have been a Blackberry user for about 7 years. 

I got my first one, the pager style, back in mid ’98, at the suggestion of Seth Goldstein.

It changed my life, both for better and for worse.  But wireless email, calendar, and contacts has allowed me to do things I’d never have been able to do.

I kept 850 for a couple years and upgraded to the PDA style 857 in mid 2000.  I stuck with that device for about four years.  It was everything I ever wanted, except it didn’t have a phone.

That became a bit of a problem for me when I started to realize the value of having a phone integrated into the Blackberry.  So last year, I decided to take the plunge and get an integrated phone/PDA.  That prompted the "advice please" post that generated almost 20 comments and uncounted emails, all with great advice.

I thought very seriously about the Danger Sidekick and the Treo 600, but in the end I couldn’t abandon my beloved Blackberry and so I went with the 7100T.  I got one for myself and one for the Gotham Gal. 

The 7100t is a great device if you don’t mind the keyboard with two letters per key and the predictive typing software. I found it easy to use. The Gotham Gal hated it.

So she left the blackberry fold and went with the Treo 650 and she loves it.

My friend Matt Blumberg told me back when I wrote the advice please post that the best solution is the Treo plus the Good Link software. Our hosted email provider started offering Good Link and this week, I moved all my stuff over to them.  And my Blackberry server didn’t go with it.

So I am off the Blackberry for the first time in over 7 years.  I’ll miss it for sure because it always worked, never crashed, and helped me get stuff done wherever and whenever.  It was a great relationship.

But I am excited about the Treo 650 with GoodLink.  I like the camera, I like the phone, and I like GoodLink so far.

I’ll let you know how this new relationship turns out.