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Well, this is what happened to me couple of weeks ago, and here’s my absolutely personal, unofficial, impression of it.After 3 years with many Windows Mobile devices, tons of freewares, tweaks, and even WinMo development, I received my very first BlackBerry.

Ignoring my guilt (I’m sorry Microsoft!!!), I decided to give it a try, mainly for science purposes, but also, embarrassing to admit, because of the cool trackball which always reminded me of Iron Man’s source of power.

At first glimpse, BlackBerry 8800 looks very good. The form factor is one of my favorites: “Candybar QWERTY”, the keyboard seems to be solid, there’s no camera but I can do without it for a while. 

Week #1: Great simplicity, quick access to everything!

The first thing I did after turning the device on was to look for the Start Menu. I was surprised to find out that RIM completely forgot about it, but since I never liked it anyway, I thought it may not be such a bad idea to remove it after all.

The second thing that I leaned was that there’s no “Programs”, “Games” or “Settings” folders whatsoever. I mean, come on, flat shortcuts list? This is so seventies! It reminds me of the first black & green Palm I had, like 500 years ago! My brain is unable to function without having my stuff organized in folders!

On the other hand, try to think of a new Windows Mobile user trying to find his way around so many screens of Windows Mobile: ‘Today’ screen, ‘Programs’ folder, ‘Settings’ folder, ‘Running Applications’, ‘Connections’ window, Start menu, soft menus, and many more. On second thought, one place for all shortcuts does give quicker access – no need to panic – it may just work.

So after few hours I knew my way around and I was ready for some real action. The great thing about BlackBerry is that things remain simple, and unlike many Windows Mobile stuff, everything works exactly how you expect it to work.

Small example: you compose a new email from your inbox folder. Once you send it – you see the sent item in “pending” mode – in the same list with your received items, and after 2-3 seconds it disappears, indicating it was sent successfully. It may not sound so important, but in case of a failure in sending the email – the unsent item will remain in your inbox, with a red X icon, indicating something went wrong.

In Windows Mobile, you wouldn’t know about it, and if you are suspicious person – you would have to switch views manually to the ‘Sent items’ view just to see that your sent mail is not there, and then you’ll have to switch again to the ‘Outbox’ view – which is where you lost email is. A small example of simplicity that really can make a difference.

Week #2: Great phone, perfect keyboard!

An old man once said that true friends are the ones who are willing to talk to you while you are driving in your car and your mobile phone is connected to a Bluetooth hands-free Car Kit. Because those are the times you need them the most (you are bored, driving…), and for them, it’s an unpleasant experience (they hear you like that: “h##! ho## are y##? I have a ### story fo## yo###, wa##nt to hear abo### it?”)

With Blackberry, I finally got most of my friends back! At last I can use my Bluetooth hands-free Car Kit and have a decent conversation (Which goes like that: “hi! how are you? I have a great story fo## you, want to hear abo### it?”, Reply: “Listen, I’m busy right now, I’ll call you later…”).

Besides, I have to admit that the phone quality in Blackberry is much better than most of the Windows Mobile devices I’ve been using so far. The phone features are also nice, and the contacts lookup is almost as good as the built-in Today plugin of the Palm Treo 750.

Keyboard is also something which I like very much, the keys are thick enough and I found it very easy to type.

Week #3: NotePad Nightmares

OK, week #3 has arrived and I’m still happy with my new toy although I have to admit that things are becoming a bit too simple for me. I mean, the entire user interface feels just too “text based“. It’s almost as if I’m trapped inside an endless ‘NotePad’ application! I need to get some fresh air! I need some sliding windows, gradient buttons, gestures, visual effects, give me something!

I decided to spice things up a little bit, and what’s better than fishing some cool freewares in the endless ocean of free stuff – the Internet.

(*Freeware = a useless application that someone created for practice, fun or seeking for personal glory, most of the time there’s nothing to do with it, sometimes the only thing you can do is resetting your device because of it, and every once in a while you can find some really great stuff for free).

Windows Mobile is packed with free tools, applications, tweaks, and I think this is one of the reasons so many people like messing with it. I tried few Blackberry sites, and I must say I was very disappointed with the results. Out of 5 downloads, 4 were not really free, but the worst part was that all of them had the same textual look and feel. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a BB novice or not, but I’m not sure I will ever find something that can match with the fancy Windows Mobile stuff.

A good looking user interface cannot be a replacement for usability, I know that, but as a gadgets fan – I must say that sometimes I do want some great looking applications which makes me feel happier. (I think this is why they call it “look and feel“).

Week #4: Summary

OK, so I’ve been using this blackberry thing for almost a month now. Just like dating, everything seemed to be perfect at the beginning, it was almost love at first site, but now I’m certain BlackBerry is not the one for me. (handset I mean…)

I think Microsoft can learn a lot from the great user experience BlackBerry gives. It definitely opened my eyes about few things in mobile user interface. The phone is great (my friends are willing to talk to me when I’m driving!), the keyboard is the best I’ve ever used, but at the end of the day, the BlackBerry OS seems much too simple for people who are looking for “geeky excitement” with their mobile toy like me.

I think I’ll give it another try for a month or two, but I’ve already set my eyes on my next target:

Samsung Omnia - here I come!

Gil Bouhnick (59 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Gil Bouhnick is a guest writer at MobilitySite and the owner of The Mobile Spoon. He is a Director of Mobile Solutions at ClickSoftware, running ClickSoftware's MobileFever, and constantly trying to examine new mobile trends and technologies.