After a long and painful analysis of cell phones, I decided that I was ready to move away from BlackBerry.
BlackBerry is my favorite brand that has allowed me to be a prolific blogger. BlackBerry devices have actual physical keyboards and that’s what makes them so special to me. I would have to stop blogging altogether if there were no more physical keyboard phones on the market and everybody switched to virtual keyboards. I very rarely blog at a stationary computer because I never have the time. About 90% of all posts and comments are written on my BlackBerry while I’m between classes, meetings, and errands. Right now, for instance, I’m blogging from a bus that is taking me to my Grad School committee meeting. After that, I will blog some more while I walk from the meeting to my office. I can’t produce this amount of text – or anything larger than 2 wobbly sentences – on a virtual keyboard.
Different models of my favorite BlackBerry have been with me for as long as I have been a blogger. But then something happened to the company. BlackBerrys stopped being sturdy and reliable and became flimsy and annoying.
The BlackBerry Torch (that I have in my hands right now) has finally made me decide that I have to get over my brand loyalty and look for something else.
I got my Torch for free and my heart goes out to folks who actually paid money for the device. I’ve been using it for 2 years and the phone is already practically falling apart. A tab that is supposed to hold the most important front buttons together fell off a long time ago and I’ve had to reattach it with tape. This looks really great on a $600 phone. The battery needs to be charged at least 3 times a day for you to get any good use out of it. A one and a half hour phone conversation depletes the battery from a full charge to dead.
The Torch had a tendency to freeze up for absolutely no reason from Day 1. And the apps would cause more aggravation than help.
So I went ahead and ordered a Samsung Galaxy. I wish my brand disloyalty pays off.
Clarissa's Blog 
At least you didn’t buy an iPhone š
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No, I will not be crossing over to the dark side. š
The wireless company tried hard to get me to order iPhone 5. Bleh.
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I also find it difficult to the point of near-impossibility to type on a virtual keyboard. I have no idea how people get used to that. I require some form of tactile feedback.
On a regular, full-size keyboard I type around 100wpm. On a virtual keyboard, I type at most 3-4 words per minute. It’s agonizing.
If in the future we move to all virtual keyboards I will stop communicating altogether, I guess.
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I have seen large Kindles with a real keyboard. Can they be used for blogging? If not, it is something Amazon could start marketing.
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I too am frustrated with my BlackBerry Torch. I bought it after my brother-in-law insisted that I had to get a BlackBerry when my LG (with a larger keyboard than the Torch) died. He was the biggest fan of BlackBerry I know. When I got the Torch, he was so jealous, and bought one for himself as soon as he could, even though I was having issues with it since day one.
Since then, he has had one minor incident with his Torch, and traded it in for an iPhone. I still am plugging along, because I absolutely need the physical keyboard, even though I have had to restore my Operating System twice already.
Let me know how the Galaxy works out for you. That is the one I am leaning towards.
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