It's smart alright

It's smart enough that it makes up it's own mind. It seems that most of the positive reviews I've read come from people who use Blackberries as business tools. The kind of people who can give their troublesome phone to their IT people. Unfortunately, I bought this phone as a consumer who wanted access to Verizon's 3G network. In my experience it is perversely obstinate, balky and weird. It ties itself in knots regularly and the only solution is to remove the battery and reboot it. I wish I could I describe some of my problems in more detail but they're never the same problems. Blackberry ownership is an endless game of " What is it now???" The over all impression it gives is that it is run by delicate mechanisms involving springs and gears that need constant readjusting. I am a little afraid that a valve might stick, causing the boiler to explode in my pocket.

Having said all of that I have to add I'm happy with the network. When I can trick the phone into doing something it can amaze me, only to leave me wondering how I can make it do that again. Please don't mention the words "learning curve". It's a phone, a troublesome phone.

Update: I've owned the phone for two months now. It continues to do things for reasons of it's own. The other day it decided to do a reboot of itself. Unfortunately I was trying to use it when it suddenly decided to do that. The browser is pretty much useless, unless you like reading weird error messages. You're almost never going to be able to use it to access the internet. There's always a problem loading the page or a problem with the radio or a problem with something.

I will concede that the phone itself, the physical object, is well made and sturdy. The software kind of reminds me of my first computer running windows 95. It's buggy and weird and absolutely no thought seems to have been given to the user.

Final update. Less than 3 months after purchase I've given up. Between the phone and Verizon's notoriously lousy web presence I spent two hours trying to pay my bill. Every time I pressed '3' on the keypad the phone hung itself up and opened the calendar. (not even on that day's date). At the end of this ordeal I turned off the Blackberry and reactivated my old phone. The Blackberry is for sale on Craigslist, unfortunately activating the Blackberry left me with a two year contract with Verizon. Because I bought a 'smart phone' it will cost me $340 to buy myself out of the contract. The worst money I've spent in some time.

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