[BitPusher2600]

The following is a long, probably boring story I wrote originally to myself about my little trip to the right now with BlackBerry, my brief affair with a Lumia, and how I'm proudly rocking a Bold 9650 stuck on 2G in the face of the modern everything. It's just some guy's story that nobody knows so who cares right? Thought I'd share it anyway in case anyone might find it slightly interesting.
______
______
I've got my 9650 back online after a brief stint with a Lumia 900. My history with BlackBerry and here I had a little affair I want to write about. Funny thing really. Specs. Should I dare switch out a 1.5ghz phone with a 4.3" screen for a 500ish mhz device with a tiny screen but a wonderful keyboard? You know, lately I have been taking stock of what I actually do with the Lumia since my Netflix is presently broken. Naturally, ATT 4G via Straight Talk is probably going to be a better experience oh say a hundred times over than slow hardware absolutely limited to T-Mobile EDGE (2G) via Simple Mobile hands down. This whole debate would absolutely be a riot to any rational person. Anyway though, without Netflix, my usage of my phone has been limited to writing, camera use, web browsing, and check ledger use, not to mention EQ lacking music playing walking at the park. Really and truthfully, that is all. I have many games on there but never find myself interested in playing them, knowing I have my TV and accompanying Xbox at home. Big beautiful ones like Final Fantasy, down thru simple sh*t like Angry Birds. I just never find myself too interested in getting down on that. I have my SkyDrive set up but never really use it. Honestly, one of my biggest issues I've had since day one with Windows Phone isn't the extreme annoyance of being unable to get my data off the phone without Zune, no, it's been the typing experience! I've said and still maintain that Windows Phone has the best virtual keyboard implementation I've ever used to date, and I've had both iPhone and Android having tried several different third party keyboards on the latter. Thru all my experimentation and tech itch, nothing for me tops a real keyboard, but I have to say with regard to BlackBerry there's more than that. I've never felt that loyalty and affection for anything quite like I have for BlackBerry. My practically obsessive love for iApple in the past was kind of forced and clouded because 1; it was my first smartphone and experience in true "mobile" computing. 2; I didn't want to give up the love I had for 'Apple Computer Inc', the long dead company and entity it was, the "Think Different", Macintosh making company that I grew up with and do love, cherish and miss. Nope, they are long dead, but that Apple logo it carried touched that part of my heart and it felt good. It didn't take long for me to notice the change in actual products and the actual company itself. That long ago though, I didn't have any hands-on with BlackBerry, hardly knew what a BlackBerry even really was. Hell, prior to that, as in back when I had a flip phone and was coveting an original era Moto Razr, I had seen a BlackBerry or two in a job I had cleaning offices and wasn't sure it was even an actual phone, perhaps more a PDA. At any rate, it was in my mind that it was some expensive office tool and something no average consumer would have a use for.

Next came for me a Droid X, and the obsession for mobile computing grew substaintially worse. I admit, there were aspects of the user experience I didn't care for, and always felt the apps I was using in general felt a little less evolved and smooth than what I had experienced on the iPhone, but comparatively speaking, the phone was pure freedom to me in that I did not need a special client to get my data off of it, could download and store any type of file to my heart's content which is key to some people as being part of your smartphone literally serving as the equivalent of a laptop in my view, and of course the big screen and overall design of the phone was damn sexy, at least I thought so.
By the time I had been rocking this for a bit and becoming a more engaged reader of tech news and the like, I was learning of the battle lines that existed between Apple and Android lovers, and got a sense of both humor and sorrow from it all in that people were extremely nasty to one another and would often attempt to tear down the next man as a human being solely because he saw more pros and less cons in regards to one platform choice or another. It was in this however I formed a great bias against BlackBerry because I picked up on what was a popular misconception that BlackBerry was solely a business man's brand and only rich, snooty suits (or stuck-up wannabes) were the only people that should have anything to do with them. Further, the whole thing was behind the times in all comparisons of the Droids or iPhones (which I was considering touch screen, specs, and apps.)

What I'm sure is one of my biggest flaws as a human being is the fact I've had a hard road and made bad choices as a kid. Further, I never possessed the drive or brain power let alone financial capacity to go to college. I was a C student at best in high school and just barely passed remedial math in high school as it was. Never even made it to algebra 1, and only graduated because the basic math class was renamed after a shakeup in the school's offerings and that renaming of the class made it somehow count as another credit, so I lucked out and was therefore able to graduate. Anyway, I do suffer a bit of a philistine attitude when it comes to people who are successful whereas I just cannot find a means to be. My lot as a generally perceived failure and low-income wage earner leaves me with a small but relevant attitude against people who are better than me, and to tie this all back together, those people, be they angels or scoffers when it comes to people like myself, are people I don't appreciate in my personal life and associated BlackBerry directly with them. Besides, there wasn't anything I could see these people doing that I could not do on my device anyway, so leave the demographic to them.

I not being the brightest had made some mistakes and accumulated financial debts that took me from living just above water to holding my breath to survive. I've had the same job as a floor care guy at a well known retail chain since my first smartphone, but not being a great income, it tends to get overwhelmed by the end of the pay period. Don't need TV service and never wanted it anyway, but do need a car and a roof and so on. Anyway, it was thru all of this me and my Droid became Craigslist users. I needed money and gave up the ship. I decided that my needs outweighed my wants since food and utilities are crucial and sold the phone whilst picking up an 8830 for nothing. I figured it was better than no phone at all. That was a bit drudging at first, as I felt like some kind of hypocrite to myself in having bought into this brand, but it was either that or a flip phone, and I was quite used to having actual internet browsing and checkbook balancing software on hand.
That experience was a slow one indeed, but what a lesson. I eventually grew quite fond of the keyboard, and as time moved forward I would occasionally wheel and deal trades and whatnot on Craigslist and while always well behind the times in device generation, I've had a few BlackBerrys now. The prejudices against people who I feel look down on me for being unable to succeed and living in a gutter, whatever. I guess I'll be that loser that would shrink into some ignorant sense of esteem and wanna whoop your a** if you ever got in my face about it; you may live better than I but nobody walks on me. Can't get a girl to even look at me on dating sites and whatnot, but oh well. I'm not proud of my lack of accomplishment, but I survive and have a little girl that loves me very much so I'm not a total waste as far as I can tell. As for prejudices towards BlackBerry, what a horrible mistake I had made back then and it's gotta be funny within some train of thought as to just how quickly that died. The keyboard, the UI, the data security, man I had just fell for it. Flash forward several years and here I am to this day, unable to leave BlackBerry, and have a disgusting emotional attachment to everything to do with it; company and brand, device and its functions, a literal best friend.

The advent of Windows Phone, I must say, has really pulled at me since it's inception. I have carried a Lumia 900, not because I could really afford it, but it was more or less free because I know someone well who moved on and didn't give a sh*t about it. It was the first thing in a long time to win my attraction, and with it's ups and downs, I find all ins and outs of the UI sexy. I think the Windows 8 experience so many seem to dislike is awesome and very pretty. I still wish I could afford a modern PC that could run it. The phone is relatively awesome and fast. I eventually got to a point where I thought to myself, I'm finally ready after a few years behind BlackBerry to make myself move on (why I don't know for sure) to something new school and stick with Windows Phone.

Remember that emotional attachment I mentioned with regards to my BlackBerry; that never has and apparently never will go away. I have had the same 9650 for what feels like forever, and at one point had, and man do I regret ever selling, my 9900. What a real mistake, as it took some serious sacrifice for me to get it, but I figured that even though the Lumia 900 is dead since the advent of Windows Phone 8, I moved on right? Nobody cares about the 9650 so why not keep it, it's not worth anything in the market but very special to me since I've had it longer than anything else I bet I've ever owned, and the 9900, I need the money and can't use both and it will afterall pull in a decent piece of cash. I did it, sold the mofo and rocked the Lumia but still did a lot of personal writing and blog writing on the 9650 anyway. It was just a far easier typing experience, since my speed floats between 60-70wpm on BlackBerry was in the mid to high 30's on the virtual. ts maybe half a year or a hair more with the Lumia, and I still felt this sorrow deep in my chest everytime I'd look at my Bold sitting there in the corner in it's charging pod. A fancy alarm clock. Everytime I see a BlackBerry referenced anywhere, I feel a brief tingle of sadness because I miss the digital ecosystem I lived in and trusted so deeply the longest time total. Well, I kept the Lumia 900 for my daughter to play games with and so on and thanks to the prepaid carrier Simple Mobile, I am back on my 9650, and actually far happier for it.

Did anyone catch that?
I was on Straight Talk with an ATT oriented SIM, and had 4G, now on Tmobile EDGE only with a much slower device. No, any sane person wouldn't go for that, but sane I'm not. I love BlackBerry just a little too much and being it can still serve my crucial needs like managing financial responsibilities and schedules and the like, it's a-OK with me. Of course I'd deactivate it in a heartbeat for a 9900 or a Q10, but it would still be a permanent piece in my apartment, as we have never been parted since I first acquired it and never will be. I have to wonder if the big shots at RIM, pardon, BlackBerry could even fathom someone having such a personal devotion to their product, another day's work for them. Something that is disposable and singular in origin. That degree of loyalty, obsession, emotion, what have you, might be what some call unhealthy. I don't necessarily regret having an affair with Windows Phone in the personal sense, because it is frickin' awesome, very pretty to my eyes, and fun to use. It is not BlackBerry though, and doesn't 'feel' as good to me. I can't connect to it, not even close. My smartphone Is not "just a phone" or a tool to me. It's something much more personal and I doubt many people actually develop genuine, sincere emotions for some electronic device. Doesn't matter, nobody else lives in my shoes, nor should they want to in the first place.

I hope the world enjoys it's HTCs, it's Samsungs, it's iDevices. I'll stay (what they'd consider to be) buried and gone and rock my 9650 in the face of it all until I can figure a way to afford the upgrade to a 9900 or Q10, or whatever comes next. It's cool to investigate and keep your eyes open on what's new, but if you have any emotion in you, don't ever fight yourself on it. It's not specs or features, it's one's heart that matters at the end of the day, and no, it's not unreasonable for the most important possession one owns to be key to that very end.
--Q

[BergerKing]

The following is a long, probably boring story I wrote originally to myself about my little trip to the right now with BlackBerry, my brief affair with a Lumia, and how I'm proudly rocking a Bold 9650 stuck on 2G in the face of the modern everything. It's just some guy's story that nobody knows so who cares right? Thought I'd share it anyway in case anyone might find it slightly interesting.
______
______
I've got my 9650 back online after a brief stint with a Lumia 900. My history with BlackBerry and here I had a little affair I want to write about. Funny thing really. Specs. Should I dare switch out a 1.5ghz phone with a 4.3" screen for a 500ish mhz device with a tiny screen but a wonderful keyboard? You know, lately I have been taking stock of what I actually do with the Lumia since my Netflix is presently broken. Naturally, ATT 4G via Straight Talk is probably going to be a better experience oh say a hundred times over than slow hardware absolutely limited to T-Mobile EDGE (2G) via Simple Mobile hands down. This whole debate would absolutely be a riot to any rational person. Anyway though, without Netflix, my usage of my phone has been limited to writing, camera use, web browsing, and check ledger use, not to mention EQ lacking music playing walking at the park. Really and truthfully, that is all. I have many games on there but never find myself interested in playing them, knowing I have my TV and accompanying Xbox at home. Big beautiful ones like Final Fantasy, down thru simple sh*t like Angry Birds. I just never find myself too interested in getting down on that. I have my SkyDrive set up but never really use it. Honestly, one of my biggest issues I've had since day one with Windows Phone isn't the extreme annoyance of being unable to get my data off the phone without Zune, no, it's been the typing experience! I've said and still maintain that Windows Phone has the best virtual keyboard implementation I've ever used to date, and I've had both iPhone and Android having tried several different third party keyboards on the latter. Thru all my experimentation and tech itch, nothing for me tops a real keyboard, but I have to say with regard to BlackBerry there's more than that. I've never felt that loyalty and affection for anything quite like I have for BlackBerry. My practically obsessive love for iApple in the past was kind of forced and clouded because 1; it was my first smartphone and experience in true "mobile" computing. 2; I didn't want to give up the love I had for 'Apple Computer Inc', the long dead company and entity it was, the "Think Different", Macintosh making company that I grew up with and do love, cherish and miss. Nope, they are long dead, but that Apple logo it carried touched that part of my heart and it felt good. It didn't take long for me to notice the change in actual products and the actual company itself. That long ago though, I didn't have any hands-on with BlackBerry, hardly knew what a BlackBerry even really was. Hell, prior to that, as in back when I had a flip phone and was coveting an original era Moto Razr, I had seen a BlackBerry or two in a job I had cleaning offices and wasn't sure it was even an actual phone, perhaps more a PDA. At any rate, it was in my mind that it was some expensive office tool and something no average consumer would have a use for.

Next came for me a Droid X, and the obsession for mobile computing grew substaintially worse. I admit, there were aspects of the user experience I didn't care for, and always felt the apps I was using in general felt a little less evolved and smooth than what I had experienced on the iPhone, but comparatively speaking, the phone was pure freedom to me in that I did not need a special client to get my data off of it, could download and store any type of file to my heart's content which is key to some people as being part of your smartphone literally serving as the equivalent of a laptop in my view, and of course the big screen and overall design of the phone was damn sexy, at least I thought so.
By the time I had been rocking this for a bit and becoming a more engaged reader of tech news and the like, I was learning of the battle lines that existed between Apple and Android lovers, and got a sense of both humor and sorrow from it all in that people were extremely nasty to one another and would often attempt to tear down the next man as a human being solely because he saw more pros and less cons in regards to one platform choice or another. It was in this however I formed a great bias against BlackBerry because I picked up on what was a popular misconception that BlackBerry was solely a business man's brand and only rich, snooty suits (or stuck-up wannabes) were the only people that should have anything to do with them. Further, the whole thing was behind the times in all comparisons of the Droids or iPhones (which I was considering touch screen, specs, and apps.)

What I'm sure is one of my biggest flaws as a human being is the fact I've had a hard road and made bad choices as a kid. Further, I never possessed the drive or brain power let alone financial capacity to go to college. I was a C student at best in high school and just barely passed remedial math in high school as it was. Never even made it to algebra 1, and only graduated because the basic math class was renamed after a shakeup in the school's offerings and that renaming of the class made it somehow count as another credit, so I lucked out and was therefore able to graduate. Anyway, I do suffer a bit of a philistine attitude when it comes to people who are successful whereas I just cannot find a means to be. My lot as a generally perceived failure and low-income wage earner leaves me with a small but relevant attitude against people who are better than me, and to tie this all back together, those people, be they angels or scoffers when it comes to people like myself, are people I don't appreciate in my personal life and associated BlackBerry directly with them. Besides, there wasn't anything I could see these people doing that I could not do on my device anyway, so leave the demographic to them.

I not being the brightest had made some mistakes and accumulated financial debts that took me from living just above water to holding my breath to survive. I've had the same job as a floor care guy at a well known retail chain since my first smartphone, but not being a great income, it tends to get overwhelmed by the end of the pay period. Don't need TV service and never wanted it anyway, but do need a car and a roof and so on. Anyway, it was thru all of this me and my Droid became Craigslist users. I needed money and gave up the ship. I decided that my needs outweighed my wants since food and utilities are crucial and sold the phone whilst picking up an 8830 for nothing. I figured it was better than no phone at all. That was a bit drudging at first, as I felt like some kind of hypocrite to myself in having bought into this brand, but it was either that or a flip phone, and I was quite used to having actual internet browsing and checkbook balancing software on hand.
That experience was a slow one indeed, but what a lesson. I eventually grew quite fond of the keyboard, and as time moved forward I would occasionally wheel and deal trades and whatnot on Craigslist and while always well behind the times in device generation, I've had a few BlackBerrys now. The prejudices against people who I feel look down on me for being unable to succeed and living in a gutter, whatever. I guess I'll be that loser that would shrink into some ignorant sense of esteem and wanna whoop your a** if you ever got in my face about it; you may live better than I but nobody walks on me. Can't get a girl to even look at me on dating sites and whatnot, but oh well. I'm not proud of my lack of accomplishment, but I survive and have a little girl that loves me very much so I'm not a total waste as far as I can tell. As for prejudices towards BlackBerry, what a horrible mistake I had made back then and it's gotta be funny within some train of thought as to just how quickly that died. The keyboard, the UI, the data security, man I had just fell for it. Flash forward several years and here I am to this day, unable to leave BlackBerry, and have a disgusting emotional attachment to everything to do with it; company and brand, device and its functions, a literal best friend.

The advent of Windows Phone, I must say, has really pulled at me since it's inception. I have carried a Lumia 900, not because I could really afford it, but it was more or less free because I know someone well who moved on and didn't give a sh*t about it. It was the first thing in a long time to win my attraction, and with it's ups and downs, I find all ins and outs of the UI sexy. I think the Windows 8 experience so many seem to dislike is awesome and very pretty. I still wish I could afford a modern PC that could run it. The phone is relatively awesome and fast. I eventually got to a point where I thought to myself, I'm finally ready after a few years behind BlackBerry to make myself move on (why I don't know for sure) to something new school and stick with Windows Phone.

Remember that emotional attachment I mentioned with regards to my BlackBerry; that never has and apparently never will go away. I have had the same 9650 for what feels like forever, and at one point had, and man do I regret ever selling, my 9900. What a real mistake, as it took some serious sacrifice for me to get it, but I figured that even though the Lumia 900 is dead since the advent of Windows Phone 8, I moved on right? Nobody cares about the 9650 so why not keep it, it's not worth anything in the market but very special to me since I've had it longer than anything else I bet I've ever owned, and the 9900, I need the money and can't use both and it will afterall pull in a decent piece of cash. I did it, sold the mofo and rocked the Lumia but still did a lot of personal writing and blog writing on the 9650 anyway. It was just a far easier typing experience, since my speed floats between 60-70wpm on BlackBerry was in the mid to high 30's on the virtual. ts maybe half a year or a hair more with the Lumia, and I still felt this sorrow deep in my chest everytime I'd look at my Bold sitting there in the corner in it's charging pod. A fancy alarm clock. Everytime I see a BlackBerry referenced anywhere, I feel a brief tingle of sadness because I miss the digital ecosystem I lived in and trusted so deeply the longest time total. Well, I kept the Lumia 900 for my daughter to play games with and so on and thanks to the prepaid carrier Simple Mobile, I am back on my 9650, and actually far happier for it.

Did anyone catch that?
I was on Straight Talk with an ATT oriented SIM, and had 4G, now on Tmobile EDGE only with a much slower device. No, any sane person wouldn't go for that, but sane I'm not. I love BlackBerry just a little too much and being it can still serve my crucial needs like managing financial responsibilities and schedules and the like, it's a-OK with me. Of course I'd deactivate it in a heartbeat for a 9900 or a Q10, but it would still be a permanent piece in my apartment, as we have never been parted since I first acquired it and never will be. I have to wonder if the big shots at RIM, pardon, BlackBerry could even fathom someone having such a personal devotion to their product, another day's work for them. Something that is disposable and singular in origin. That degree of loyalty, obsession, emotion, what have you, might be what some call unhealthy. I don't necessarily regret having an affair with Windows Phone in the personal sense, because it is frickin' awesome, very pretty to my eyes, and fun to use. It is not BlackBerry though, and doesn't 'feel' as good to me. I can't connect to it, not even close. My smartphone Is not "just a phone" or a tool to me. It's something much more personal and I doubt many people actually develop genuine, sincere emotions for some electronic device. Doesn't matter, nobody else lives in my shoes, nor should they want to in the first place.

I hope the world enjoys it's HTCs, it's Samsungs, it's iDevices. I'll stay (what they'd consider to be) buried and gone and rock my 9650 in the face of it all until I can figure a way to afford the upgrade to a 9900 or Q10, or whatever comes next. It's cool to investigate and keep your eyes open on what's new, but if you have any emotion in you, don't ever fight yourself on it. It's not specs or features, it's one's heart that matters at the end of the day, and no, it's not unreasonable for the most important possession one owns to be key to that very end.
--Q

Dunno why folks haven't posted on your thread, I can understand how you feel, sometimes, our personalities just meld with a piece of equipment. I can sum it up in a simple quote from Hamlet: This, above all, to thine own self be true. I still know people working with the 9650,and even a couple still rocking the Curve 8300 series. They love them, they still work, and it gets done what they need done. Thanks for sharing your story!

[jaydee5799]

Thank you for sharing your story and god bless you man!
Keep strong and keep faithful. Both attributes that you have which make you a great daddy, I'm sure!

[BitPusher2600]

@BergerKing, thanks. I didn't much expect responses, because even with something relevant to BlackBerry most people don't have interest in others personal lives, not that I would blame them. I actually posted it just in case though some people love to bash BlackBerry, and can look and see that someone who was a BlackBerry loyalist broke, tried something else, and ended up "coming home" and doing so by going so far as to give up modern spec'd hardware and 4G for older hardware stuck on EDGE (gotta roll with what I can afford afterall.) Silly but true.

@Jaydee,
That was actually the kindest compliment I've ever had lol.
Frankly, i've never had much in the way of good luck with anyone to do with the female race in general. Truthfully, my little punkin loves on me all the time, so I suppose in some fashion or another I at least did something right in my lifetime though I'll never know for sure exactly what, other than perhaps being willing to sit down and play dollies in her dollhouse with her. What's funny is one of the characters I have to be she calls Obie which is a little Brainy Smurf figurine, and it's holding a big black cellphone, which she calls his BlackBerry because she's used to being around mine. Funny no?

[bb624]

What a beautiful post OP. Your daughter is very lucky to have such a heart felt dad with beautiful emotion. I too love Blackberry, too much I think and wonder why?? Have been with Blackberry since 2007 and simply have never had the urge to change. I too have a 9650 in a desk drawer resting for who knows what but I can't part with any of my former Blackberry devices. Today I am lucky to have a Z10 an absolutely perfect device for me.
Thank you for sharing your story

[aghatrsrtfda]

Thank you for sharing your story and god bless you man!