New Cell Phone Number

Hello everyone, just a quick note that I have changed my cell phone number. My old number will remain active indefinitely, but I will stop carrying it with me soon. If you do not have my new number let me know and I will find a way to get it to you.

iPhone update

My iPhone vs. Blackberry debate has come to an end. The verdict being, I am sticking with my blackberry. I played with an iPhone for a while and while it has its nice features, I feel that it lacks the raw business power of the blackberry. Granted, the iPhone does have the wealth of support from itunes and the untold numbers of apps available there, I would rather own the device that cuts down on the flare, and goes with functionality. Don't get me wrong, the blackberry is not without its flaws, I simply was able to get over the flaws of the blackberry much faster than those of the iPhone. For those of you who are big Apple fan-boys that are going to whine and cry of my critique, here is the answer to your question before you ask. My biggest complaint is this; have you ever tried to type on the iPhone in any window other than safari? IT SUCKS! the touch detection was horrible for me. I don't have huge hands, but the iPhone was constantly registering keystrokes for letters that I did not intend to type. Not a huge problem unless the predictive text engine sucks as much as the iPhones does. And heaven forbid you type something you didn't want to and it finds its way into the custom dictionary. Then you have a whole new problem to deal with. Granted I did not own the iPhone I was testing so I did not want to tear it apart and change all 3 of the settings it will let you change. The point being, that for a first time user, the advanced settings and functions were hidden in typical Apple fashion to keep them away from the normal users way. While this streamlines everything and gives the user interface a nice look, it doesn't help someone like me that actually cares about the nuts and bolts. To be fair, I might like the iPhone more if I spent a little more time with it, but I already own a blackberry, and the cost to switch far outweighed any gain on my part. So to cure my previous ailment discussed in the last iPhone post, I am purchasing a new iPod touch to replace my aging iPod to run my apps and do everything that iPhone can do minus the phone and camera.

I Need Help!

Alright people, here is my problem.

I have searched high and low for the one piece of technology that does it all. You know that one thing that keeps track of your calendar, does the chores your wife asks you to do before she nags you about them, accepts phone calls from the people you do want to talk to but conveniently ignores those calls you don't want to answer (that way you really can blame it on your phone) syncs seamlessly with Microsoft exchange for email, contacts, and calendar, will freeze time so you are never late to work (no fast-forward though because that would be bad. we all know what happened in the movie "click"), run any application no matter what device it was originally designed for, and it must have a touch screen, play music, and not cost 4 million dollars. Now I know that I left a few requirements out but I didn't want to make this a 20+ page post.

But seriously, I currently own a blackberry pearl and love it. Only problem is, it doesn't have WIFI, and the useful software apps are few and far between. I am not married to my blackberry at all, I simply have not run across a device that I was convinced did everything the blackberry did and more, without introducing more problems. I have thought about the iPhone, but no one that I know who owns an iPhone knows anything about it other than it looks cool and was the next best gadget that everyone was buying so they had to have it. I cannot find anyone to talk to that owns an iPhone that I can really talk to about the stuff I care about. Not just the GUI but also its advanced features and how it really compares to the blackberry and others. Before you write me off as an idiot, I will tell you that I have been able to find more than enough apple fan boys that can do nothing but drool over the thing. But that isn't what i need. I need someone that will get over the fact that it is an apple product and tell me more than what it can do(I can find more than enough information there), but also what it cannot do.

What I really want is a device that will do everything my blackberry does, (Email, phone, calendar, contacts, extra apps, ect..) and will run some industry specific apps. I used to own a PalmTX handheld before it was stolen from me, and I used it to run several sound and lighting applications. This was awesome while I was at work, but also meant I had to carry my Palm along with my phone and any other tools that I needed to work on a given project. That is a lot to have on you at any given time, especially if you are up in the catwalk when you are not really supposed to have that stuff on you in the first place. I have recently discovered some software apps that run on the iPhone and the iPod touch and will not only run new and improved versions of all my old software, but also run new apps that will allow me to directly control my lighting console and any other DMX device directly from my iPhone or iPod touch using the built-in WIFI and other protocols. The simple solution would be to buy and iPod touch and keep my blackberry and continue to live my life. However, then I would be right back to carrying 2 devices with me all over again. Therefore the better solution would be to get an iPhone. Problem there is I am not sure that I will like it, and that I am unsure of how it will handle everything I throw at my blackberry as well as the added load of my industry applications.

So now do we all understand my problem? I would be glad to own an iPhone if I knew it was the right device for the job.

BTW, sorry to everyone that has been mad at me for not blogging enough. I promise to make it up to you!