Month: April 2006

5 Reasons why I am not going Blackberry yet

I got Leah a Blackberry last X’mas and so I have been able to see how well its emailing capability works. I am tempted to switch from my Treo 650 to the Blackberry 8700c later in the year when my contract is up for renewal. But there are still a few things that are stopping me from switching over:

  1. Expensive solution for document editing. The Treo comes with DocumentToGo 7 for free whereas the Blackberry comes with nothing. And the cost of a DTG equivalent for BB is at least twice the price, sometime three times.
  2. Inadequate PIM support for the Mac. PocketMac for Blackberry is now free but it is severely lacking in features. No sync over Bluetooth, no application loader, does not use Tiger Sync Service. I am hoping that Mark/Space (maker of Missing Sync) will develop a version for Blackberry.
  3. No camera. Granted I don’t use it that often but when I need a camera, it is there on the Treo. I’ll definitely miss the ability to take photos on the go and email them to Flickr.
  4. No music player. Even though I have an iPod already it would be handy for occasion where I won’t want to carry a phone and an iPod, such as listening to podcasts. AAC support is a must since most of my tracks are encoded in AAC. MP3 support will be nice too.
  5. And… there is no #5.

Having said that, I am impressed by the base level of functionality of the Blackberry OS. Scheduled alarms, profiles, etc. are all built-in whereas they are optional and sometimes cost extra on the Treo.

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More choices for smart phones

Another reason I am undecided on which phone to upgrade to is compounded by the rumoured Treo ‘Hollywood’. Slimmer, no antenna, and support 3G; sounds perfect right?

Well, I also remember the Nokia E61 yesterday and that is definitely on top of the list. The E61 really does everything, supports all the 3rd party email clients, plus Wi-Fi! The only downside is that there is no confirmed carriers for the US yet so if I want it now I’ll have to buy it from Europe, unsubsidised, which means at least $200 more than a subsidised BB or Treo.

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A Scanner Darkly

The last few times I went to the cinema a new trailer was shown with funky pseudo-animation effect. Turns out it is for a movie called A Scanner Darkly, with Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Robert Downey Jr. More importantly, it was based on a story by Philip K. Dick who also penned classics such as Does Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner), We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (Total Recall), The Minority Report (Minority Report), and Paycheck (Paycheck).

So you can guess my surprise earlier tonight when I was looking for a new book to read, now that I’ve finished Droid Maker last night, and found a mint copy of A Scanner Darkly in the midst of my bookshelf! I didn’t remember buying it but I noticed that there was a business card wedged in the first few pages so I took it out and examined it. It was a business card from the Citibank manager when I first arrived in NYC more than 5 years ago. Obviously I bought it back then and had only read a few pages before I moved onto other books. But wasn’t it coincidental that I found it now, just before the release of the movie? The scientist in me says no, but human instinct says yes…

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Auto Show

I went to the New York Auto Show yesterday with my friend TJ. The show is not as large as the ones I went to in the U.K. but considering the lack of space in the Javis Center that is understandable. Somehow the excitement is just not there. There aren’t that many great cars on the floor that make me want to buy one. The Saturn Sky is probably the only exception and that is one imported from Europe (kind of)!

Photos are on Flickr.

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