[I've never documented my own personal choices between this and that, mostly because I figure no one really cares, there are plenty of people out on the internet that do it better than me. Well, it's a new year - why not try something new?]
I am currently going through a little trial period to decide which device to use as my primary mobile phone: a Blackberry 8320 Curve or a developer T-Mobile G1.
My primary mobile for the past year and change has been the Blackberry 8320 Curve with T-Mobile. I am pretty happy with the device: having previously used a BB 7230 (my “blueberry” as I liked to call it) at my previous job, the Curve has been an impressive upgrade. The Curve is my personal phone and is hooked up to the BES server at work so it’s my work phone as well. When the G1 came out, I was tempted to switch over (”finally, T-Mobile gets a cool non-BB smartphone!”) but I still had a year left on my BB contract and I waffled about jumping into a v1 Android device. Hmm.
Oh, I should mention that my employer is also the same company that put out Android. The Googler in me felt like I should do my duty and try out my own company’s products. Then Google made the decision for me and gifted developer versions of the G1 to all US employees for the holidays. Yes, Google really does encourage eating its own dogfood - dogfood in the shape of a black brick that occasionally rings.
Now I have a Curve and a G1. I didn’t think it would actually be hard to ditch my Curve for the G1 but… I find myself strangely fond of my Curve. From a work perspective, I was concerned about moving away from reliable email powerhouse. The more I thought about it, though, the better I felt about unplugging from the always-on environment of having a Blackberry: a G1 with a less dedicated email push function is probably healthier in terms of work-life balance. What I’d get in return is a device that is running on the cutting edge of mobile software development and fostering a creative third-party application marketplace.
So, I’ve decided to give the G1 a 2-4 week trial run to see if the phone fits. I am going to attempt to blog my experience, which I think will help me in the end decide which phone I stick with. And no, I will not be considering an iPhone as a third option.