Sometimes you just have to say goodbye for the greater good 😦
Ever since I got my hands on the G1 back in January 2009. I feel in love with the Android operating system. Since then it’s came on in leaps and bounds. When first had the G1 there was no on-screen keyboard, you had to open the phone up and use the physical keyboard, but never the less the potential was for all to see. Three years on and now the little green robot rules the roost and the battle between Apple and Android has meant that mobile technology has accelerated faster than anyone probably would have predicted just a few years ago.
Since my G1 I’ve had 4 other Android phones. I’ve also had the HTC Hero, the Nexus One, the Desire Z and finally the Samsung Galaxy S2. All were/are amazing phones in their own right for example the keyboard on the Desire Z is a joy to use, whilst the Galaxy S2, technology wise blows anything other mobile out of the water right now. Unfortunately whilst the power of mobile phones have increased dramatically the battery technology has not. At the time of writing this I currently am still using the S2, and whilst I am totally in love with the hardware that Samsung has employed, the battery life is nothing short of terrible. This is something that myself and my other half have been thinking and talking about for months now.
If you are a heavy user like I am, Twitter, Emails, SMS, I find that the phone will get to about 14:00 or 16:00 and require charging (after unplugging it at 07:00), and considering I work 8:00-17:00 most days this isn’t the greatest of scenarios. Also when I go to visit my other half in Derby. I know that there is no chance it will last the day until I get home. Despite the love of the hardware and the operating system it’s got to a stage where enough is enough and so I have decided to go back to a company that I know makes phones with astonishing battery life. RIM.
I can hear what some of you are saying now. “RIM are on the way out” etc. But over here in the UK, Blackberry is doing very well. I can sit on the bus one day and count numerous people who are carrying Blackberry’s. The reason why I’m going back to them is on past experience. I used to own a Bold 9700, and I could use it heavily all day, use Twitter, Google Maps and listen to music on it, and not have to worry about the battery. At worst it would need recharging by the time I go to sleep around 01:00, and at best I could go another day or two before I had to plug it in. In a world now dominated by apps I think this is the way I want to go. The Blackberry app store might not have many apps in it, but it carries the ones I need. Twitter, Facebook, Google Maps, Thetrainline, Getglue, Foursquare are all there. If I want to get sucked into a world of apps again I will buy myself either an iPod Touch or a Galaxy S player.
I want to be able to communicate in one or another when I want to without looking at my battery going “hmm that’s not going to survive if I do X or Y”. With a Blackberry I know I can do this. The push notifications are second to none, as I know that Email, Google Talk, Twitter and Facebook all operate through the Blackberry Internet Service, I don’t have to worry about missing anything from them. And then we come to the keyboard’s, I have never used a physical keyboard that is as good as a Blackberry keyboard.
So what am I looking to purchase? Well i’ve put in an order for a Bold 9700 again. Yes I know it’s a couple of years old now and runs an old operating system (even when I upgrade to BB6), but I know it’s reliable, I know it’s going to last me the day, and at the end of the day, I know it’s going to do exactly what I want it to do. The other one I was looking at was the Pearl 9105. It’s a “candy-bar” phone that looks very very nice. Despite it using predictive text, typing on it is meant to be fantastic.
Despite all this I know it’ll be hard to let go of my Galaxy S2, it can do everything apart from declare war with another country, although sometimes I do joke that it has artificial intelligence. It wouldn’t surprise me if, in the middle of the night it goes for a walk and plots out how it’s going to continue on it’s conquest for world domination. It’s a fantastic phone, easily the most technically advanced one in the world right now, but it can’t do what I need it to do. It can’t last an entire day without it needing to be put on charge at sometime, and to be honest, that’s what I need from a phone. I love all the games and apps, but first and foremost I want to be able to use the phone as a communication device anytime of the day. Whether that’s to make a call, text, tweet, poke, email, Gtalk or bbm. I want to be able to do it and not be keeping one eye on the battery bar.
Sometimes needs must, and right now switching back to a Blackberry is right move for me.
Lashings of Liam 