Red Echo

March 10, 2008

I’m back home. It is, of course, raining. Two weeks of mostly sunshine was a nice break, and it will be spring here soon enough, but the dark skies on top of the jet-lag leave me feeling a bit disoriented.

I left my phone at the San Francisco airport. I had a longish layover, so I plugged in the charger, found a comfortable spot in the departure lounge, and settled in with a magazine. Next thing I knew I was waking up to the sound of my name on the PA. I made the flight, but forgot all about the phone until the plane landed. Oh well – the phone was pretty old anyway, but rebuilding the contact list will be a lot of work.

The Blackberry Pearl is tempting because it’s small, has email, and comes in red. I’m not completely sure about the whole mobile internet thing, but it can’t hurt to try it out.

Driving on the left was easier than I expected. I had a couple of slightly disorienting moments when dealing with complex roundabouts, but never actually ended up on the wrong side. On returning home, however, I find I have mentally swapped the turn-indicator and windshield-wiper controls.

3 Comments

  1. Mars, Welcome back!

    FWIW I have a Pearl and love it. I only do email and IM occasionally and the smart typing support works really well so that the smaller keyboard works out fine. I got mine from Tmobile and their $20/mo Blackberry service also gives you unlimited Internet access on your laptop via Bluetooth. I use it with my MacBook Pro every day on the train.

    Comment by Joe Huber — March 16, 2008 @ 11:42 am

  2. That’s cool! I did end up buying a Pearl, but I got the email-only service for now. $20 for mobile internet service sounds great! I didn’t know you could sync up the phone and the computer that way.

    Comment by mars — March 16, 2008 @ 10:59 pm

  3. Yep, I can use Internet Connect from the menu bar to open an internet connection and everything happens automatically via Bluetooth. I can even leave the Pearl in my pocket the whole time. Really helps make the train time productive.

    Comment by Joe Huber — March 18, 2008 @ 7:24 pm