Confessions of a Blackberry Traitor

Well I’ve now been an iPhone user for just over a month. I made such a big deal about my anxiety related to giving up my Blackberry that I thought it would be worth putting it all to bed with one last Blackberry/iPhone post. As it turns out, the world hasn’t ended, at least not yet. I can now admit that I had a minor Chicken Little moment leading up to the deactivation of my blackberry and the permanent extinguishing of my little flashing red light. 

No matter how I feel about my Blackberry, the iPhone is a thing of beauty

There is clearly life in my post-Torch world. Who knew?  It did take about 2 weeks to get through the initial withdrawal stage. Every time I spotted a flashing light (even out of the corner of my eye), I had a real physical response. I learned that I live in some kind of freakish Pavlovian blur where any little flashing light can evoke a programmed response. I also learned that it doesn’t even have to be a red flashing light. Any colour will do. I’m ashamed to admit that even seeing the flashing signal light on a passing car has caused to me look for incoming mail. Sad.

In the absence of the flashing red light, I’ve got my  new iPhone set up to send out every conceivable signal it can when I get an email, just to make sure I don’t miss anything. Where my little red blackberry light felt like my pulse, my iPhone’s vibrations emulate an actual heartbeat when I get a message. Problem solved.

On the positive side, I have been introduced to the world of apps. I had no idea what I’ve been missing. I didn’t realize that I was so disorganized and out of control. Thank you App Store for helping me solve all the problems I didn’t know I had. I have discovered so many new things, and I now understand the truth behind the marketing slogan, “There’s an app for that.”  If there isn’t an app, it’s just not a problem worth solving.

At the moment, I have four different weather apps on my device. One from Yahoo, one from the Weather Channel, one called Solar, and one called Swackett. Yahoo is very utilitarian, the Weather Channel app is highly informative, Solar is fun, and Swackett is like a game. The problem?  None of them agree. Four weather apps, four different forecasts. None of them have effectively replaced simply looking out the window, and none of them is better than the one I had on my blackberry.

It's Solar.  It doesn't do much, but it sure is pretty

It's Swackett.  It does so much, it's hard to get the weather.

I now have an app called Card Munch. The purpose of Card Munch is to take a photo of somebody’s business card, and the hamsters inside the device add the contact details to your contact file, then, and here’s the magic, search the card-owner up on Linkedin, and send them an invite to connect. You would think that as a Linkedin junky that Card Munch would be right up my alley. I’ve had it three weeks and I haven’t munched a single soul. I suppose I’m just a Linkedin purist. No short cuts.

 

I also have an app called StoCard. The purpose of StoCard is to store the details of all your affinity and loyalty cards in one place, instead of in your wallet. You can simply take a picture of the bar code on your Baskin Robbins Frequent Buyer card and shazam, it’s in your phone. I spent a great deal of time adding all my frequent flyer cards, my hotel frequent guest cards, my Air Miles card, and guess what?  I’ve never flashed my phone. Not once. I privately think those people who flash their virtual Starbucks card instead of paying cash are just a little bit hoity toity for me. (Sorry, honey.).

Have you heard of Songza?  Of course you have. Songza is about curated soundtracks for your life. If you wake up on Saturday morning and you’re sitting around the house sipping your chai tea, petting your cat while doing the New York Times crossword, and you need some background music, Songza anticipates that need and abracadabra, a list of songs you’ve never heard by artists you’ve never heard of is ready for your listening pleasure. If it’s Tuesday night and you’re standing in the kitchen yelling at the kids because they’ve ignored your demands to empty the garbage for the eighth time, and the dishes you told them to put in the dishwasher on Monday are still in the sink, guess what?  Songza doesn’t have a list for you. If you need a playlist for that you’re on your own. Maybe I should create that app.

I guess I just don't have a lifestyle that requires a soundtrack

So all in all, the transition to iPhone was pretty smooth. Our friends at Apple don’t make it as easy to load up your custom ringtones as our friends at Blackberry do. Transferring my contacts and syncing my calendar didn’t happen as lickety-split as promised, and managing email is a little quirky. They clearly designed the iPhone for pleasure over business, and now they’re working the business in. It’s fun. Accessing the internet is better and faster. And now, in breaking news, I kind of like it. Words I never thought I’d say. You heard it here first. And I promise, Ana Maria, you’ll never hear about my Blackberry again.