Rush For Frustration

Recently I have been contemplating about a new phone. It is about time, as I have been using my faithful Samsung I600 for 20 months now. Two months ago I was given an iPhone, but somehow it failed to conquer my heart. Yes, it is a gorgeous toy. It has brilliant applications... I could play for hours with Bloomberg, rotating the screen up and down. Or watch music videos... But when it comes down to some serious business, the iPhone seems to remain a gadget...

So after long hesitation, I decided to give Blackberry a try. The Bold seemed like a perfect choice. Sync - perfect, it is able to fully synchronize with Google via the Google Sync. And it is able to synchronize with iTunes music library, I decided to by my master music meta data. I was about to buy one, but then I met a friend who had been using one for a long time. What scared me was his routine task of removing the battery twice a day... to keep the berry fresh and up to the task. No data connection? Remove the battery... Unable to complete a call? Remove the battery... Well... not exactly what I expected, while the old good i600 has been rock solid, especially since I upgraded it to Windows Mobile 6.

Windows Mobile 6 cleared most of the frustrating experiences I remember from the Windows Mobile 5 days... Like no HTML email or Bluetooth not connecting to the currently active handsfree device. Most is the correct word, as there are still glitches. Speaking of Bluetooth, sometimes it falls into a strange state, while connected to my Motorola IHF1000 car unit. Instead of routing voice calls to the car speakers, it starts playing system sounds instead. I could bear with that, but in this state the car radio is paused in a "call" mode. So I have to reset the Bluetooth subsystem (fortunately there is the Wireless Manager to do this, instead of removing the battery). But it is frustrating... so many years of existence of both Microsoft and Bloototh and they still cannot do it right.

Honestly I was hoping the Blackberry, being a business - oriented device would be stable first and things like daily battery removal would never be necessary. And then I read the rant by David Pogue describing his Blackberry Storm experience. It was a total rant. I just could not believe...:

Both of my review Storms had more bugs than a summer picnic. Freezes, abrupt reboots, nonresponsive controls, cosmetic glitches.

So far that has been enough to stay away from Blackberries for the time being.... There is no rush... I do not need frustration... I just cannot believe marketing and time lines drive the industry... Aren't people just tired with not working gadgets and endless glitches in the constant stream of upgrades?