For years, I was a loyal Blackberry user. I had the 7290, 8700, and then the 8310. Heck, I even had the RIM 850 and 950 before I moved on to higher-end devices. I loved how RIM made their phones so reliable and messaging-friendly. The instant communication features that RIM had available for their phones were something that kept me close (and most importantly, loyal) to them.

But then the mobile phone landscape changed. Apple introduced its iPhone, and while I was smitten with its beautiful and gorgeous interface, I couldn't bring myself to buy one. For me then, Blackberry as a mobile phone platform was satisfactory and sufficient for my own needs. Great battery life, incredible accessibility as offered by its features, and so on. What more could I ask for?

But as the years wore on, I noticed that RIM wasn't doing too good of a job keeping up with the Joneses, so to speak. While the phones coming out were still reasonably top-notch devices in their own right (and in comparison to others released by other companies, too), the software was starting not to cut it anymore, particularly in the face of other phones that were making enormous strides in their offerings, consumer-centric focus, and overall end user experience.

Still loyal to RIM and its line of Blackberry phones, I stood steadfastly and did my research in preparation for another phone upgrade. I even decided on a Blackberry 9700 (Bold 2), and bought the thing. Yet 24 hours after having bought it (under the same carrier, no less), I realized it was more of the same. Nothing had really changed, aside from a few cosmetic touch-ups that RIM had applied to what was still an old OS beneath the surface. I was unsure of what to do.

Off to the store I went again, with my 24-hour-old Blackberry 9700 and the store receipt in hand, ready to look at other options. My eyes scanned the aisles, quickly considering the alternatives I had before me. Then they settled on one phone that managed to catch their attention – similar form factor to Blackberry phones, but with a much more advanced OS (and a touchscreen): the Palm Pixi.

Having already tried the Pixi's OS on a Palm Pre, I decided to take a chance and trade in my Blackberry for it. Upon activation of the phone, I was shocked to see how easily I made the transition in how I handled the phone compared to my old Blackberry phones. Typing was a pleasure as the satisfying clicking sensations emanated from the keyboard to my fingers, and the familiar form factor offered me a soothing and comfortable transition that I mastered rather quickly.

The OS and phone itself was pure genius. Touchscreen and physical keyboard capabilities merged into one and managed by an easy-to-use, intuitive OS that actually had good battery life management that ended up lasting me on a full day's use. Push e-mail worked remarkably well, too. This phone was everything that the Blackberry was not – modern, smart, and “with it.” So now I lay my Blackberry to rest and begin my mobile life anew with the Pixi.

Farewell, RIM. Farewell, Blackberry. May you get with the program ... And fast.

(Note: I wrote this as a mixture of it being a commentary and a story at the same time; don't get me wrong - I like RIM and Blackberry phones, but in the end, my own needs as an user weren't being met anymore, and I felt compelled to make a switch - hopefully someone at RIM reads this and learns from it before folks start switching over elsewhere en masse to get their mobile fix.)

You think RIM reads this website?

You never know.

BlackBerrys aren't for everybody. Enjoy the Palm with WebOS. I have one of those too (Palm Pre) but I much prefer my BB Tour.

I don't like the one-by-one deletions from my inbox the Palm OS forces me to use, rather than the BlackBerry's "delete prior" feature. I get a lot of email each day, and mass deleting is a HUGE time saver for me. I also like custom ringtones for SMS, MMS, email, etc. Maybe Palm will add this one day, but for now it doesn't do this. I prefer the BB Tour keypad to the Pre/Pixi as well. And if you send a ton of emails each day the keypad becomes a very important feature. I could go on and on about what I prefer about BlackBerry, but it's not really important to anyone but me. You use what works best for you. No shame in that!

There are some RIM employees who read this forum and some that are members. However, you may also wish to post your message on the official RIM support forums:

BlackBerry Support Community Forums - BlackBerry Support Community Forums

For a moment, I thought this was the same original post regarding RIM that we read about 2 weeks ago. Eerily similiar

ApacheIndian Redux.

Palm WAS a great company. Lost their first mover advantage. To each his own.

I came from the Palm side of the house. Waited until August to buy the Pre from Sprint. Had it lock up on me a few times, and once with a critical patient. Only way out of it was to do a battery pull. Luckily I had one of the company Nextels, and I was able to reconnect to the Doc at the receiving hospital and continue care. I also noticed that the Pre would become unbearably warm during use.

Maybe I just had a dud, but my wife's Pre was experiencing the same problems.

Ultimately I switched to a Tour, and she switched to an LG Lotus. Both of us are tickled pink with our choices. With me being a bit of a g33k, I like being able to upgrade OS's, etc. Granted I felt that the Tour's factory OS was not what it should be, especially in light of the upgrades(.230 was nice, .419 is even better). But I am overall satisfied with my phone. In fact, I have even managed to switch some of my long standing IPhone fanboy friends over to various BB platforms.

2 cents ok maybe 3
A lot of cell phone users look for features that the media states you cannot live without. This is ok just as long as they understand the reason there are a lot of different phones out there. RIM has stuck to their original business plan with a few logical upgrades to allow the business community to take advantage of technology. I like a lot of the new phones available but honestly would have a hard time selecting one if I no longer needed a blackberry. There is nothing to feel wrong about just select what you feel will do you the best. Palm and others make a nice phone with many fine capabilities and I for one would certainly look at them in the future but for now the BB gives me everything I need.

Ditto on tsac, took the words out of my mouth.

Each person has different needs, and there are many various nice models of phones that would suit those specific needs.

What you are looking for is not in a BlackBerry. What I am looking for is.

And the world is at a balance again.

RIM makes great devices. Their hardware is excellent. However, these days having a great hardware is only one part of the equation. I owned a Razr, the hardware was great! Slim sexy form factor that enclosed one of the worst software experiences of its day. But did I care? No, because all I did on my phone at that point in time was send the odd text message and talk. Now our mobiles are the center of our lives (well mine is at least). It is used for everything from playing games to watching videos. My Bold is great for messaging and talking just like my Razr was. But as soon as I want to hit the web, play a game, listen to music or watch a video I run face first into possibly the worst Smartphone O/S out there (well, windows mobile sucks harder). If RIM expects to be completive in the consumer market two years down the road it absolutely needs to rethink their software platform. And unless they do I will never buy a blackberry again. Hello Android! You look sexy!

There will always be another device.
First the iPhone - very, very successful. A few weeks ago the Droid. Gone and forgotten. Now, hello Android.

Consumers can be soooo fickle.