SH Sean Harding/blog
TIBTIL: The Gadget Edition
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

I enjoy Ms. Mindy’s Things I’ve Bought That I Love. But there’s a serious lack of gadgets and other geeky accoutrements happening there. It’s really been getting me down. So I’m going to step up to the plate. I’m taking one for the team. I’m providing a community service. I’m filling the void. I’m bringing home the bacon (does that one work?).

Yes, I’m going to tell you about things I’ve bought that I love. And most of them will probably be gadgets. Hold on to your hat. Today’s winner is the BlackBerry Pearl.

Every cell phone I’ve owned has had something I hated about it. The MicroTAC was way too big and heavy, had horrible battery life and could heat a small apartment. The Nokia 8290 was nice and small, but had no Internet features at all. The Samsung SGH-E105 had a nice screen and a web browser, but the pointy antenna always probed me in undesirable spots when it was in my pocket. Finally, a couple of years ago I decided to move to a BlackBerry for better web and email support. I got the 7290, which was a big leap in functionality over my previous phones. It was also huge, clunky and had a pretty crappy screen. Suck.

I got the Pearl the day after Christmas, and it’s awesome. Ok, it still has a couple of things I hate (why must the camera suck so much? Why must the memory card slot be in such a stupid place?). But on balance, it’s the best phone I’ve ever had. It’s nice and small — it slides right into my pocket without making it look like I’m smuggling 8-tracks. The screen is bright, sharp and easy to read. It’s better for reading email than the 7290 because it separates out my work email and personal email (when I’m on vacation, I really don’t want to have to look at my work email to check my personal messages). Even the tiny little not-really-QWERTY keyboard is very usable.

I’m hard to satisfy (that’s what she said), but the Pearl makes me happy. What more can you ask of a cell phone?

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