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Salty · Aug 31, 2007, 10:03 PM

Hey all, well I spent the last three weeks working at a call centre (never again) I actually got to do the whole, "I QUIT!" Sorta thing... but it was actually prompted by my telling me that I needed to avoid talking about my personal life because I was gay even though the obnoxious shallow smoker women were talking about molesting our trainer person very loudly...
Anyway now a day later I have a MUCH better job doing sales for a cell phone carrier in Canada. Or rather I work for a dealer for that carrier. Anyway, the iPhone isn't available in Canada, but I seem to get the next best thing which is a brand new company BlackBerry! So I'm just wondering if anyone wants to let me know if there are any sites like "MacNN for BlackBerries" I rather like the idea of having an Apple and a BlackBerry. Eventually when the iPhone does ship up here I'll probably get one and hopefully be able to use that instead... or I may love the BlackBerry we'll see.

Anyway I'd really like to get some software to sync the thing with my MacBook as soon as possible. I also plan on buying a 2gig MIcroSD Card for it asap as well. Best part is the thing is only gonna cost me $16 bucks a month!
Oh I guess I should also be happy that I get a new job, and to work for a company that requires me to have a mental capacity greater than that of a drunken monkey.

turtle777 · Aug 31, 2007, 10:25 PM

Well, for $ 16 / month, that's a good deal.

Hopefully, your new company will not "encroach" your personal life as to expecting that you would read and respond to emails 24/7.

At this point in my professional careers, I wouldn't want a Blackberry. This would just mean that everyone would expect me to check and respond to emails ASAP.
I just started training all my folks that I read and respond to emails only TWICE a day, at 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM. Gosh, what a deliberation. All this constant emails checking and responding really kills productivity.

-t

imitchellg5 · Aug 31, 2007, 10:56 PM

BlackBerry is not a brand new company. They've been around forever. $16 a month is an amazing deal btw.

turtle777 · Aug 31, 2007, 11:14 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

BlackBerry is not a brand new company. They've been around forever. $16 a month is an amazing deal btw.

Dude, he was saying that the Blackberry is brand new, and his company (the one he just started working for) is paying for the device.

-t

Mastrap · Aug 31, 2007, 11:44 PM

I had a BB for about three month before getting rid of it again. I hated the way it encroached into my life. Once you've got one, people (clients) expect you to be available 24/7. I personally am much happier without one. If you need to call me after hours, just leave a message. I'll attend to your problem tomorrow morning.

irunat2am · Aug 31, 2007, 11:50 PM

I just got a Blackberry Pearl and switched to AT&T yesterday. So far so good. Although, I cannot get my e-mail working, and when I open the browser it just sits there. This is most likely because it's in GSM mode right now, and I need EDGE to get on. I've driven all over Portland (which isn't small) and still cannot find an EDGE network/connection/whatever anywhere. Stellar.

Good luck at your new company and with the new phone! That's a sweet deal

KeriVit · Sep 1, 2007, 12:48 AM

Blackberries are gay.

But YYYYYAAAAAy YOU! really. I'm jealous. of the techno, not the job.

wallinbl · Sep 1, 2007, 07:25 AM

I've had one for four years (well, about 5 of them). You can get addicted to it and feel like you need to respond to everything every time you get an incoming message. It happened to me, and I know a lot of people that do it. I'm at the point where I've turned off notices of incoming messages - I check it when I feel like it, but I don't let it interrupt me.

Wiskedjak · Sep 1, 2007, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by Salty

I'm getting a Blackberry!

You have my sincerest condolences.

Agasthya · Sep 1, 2007, 09:40 AM

Get an 8800 series.

imitchellg5 · Sep 1, 2007, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Dude, he was saying that the Blackberry is brand new, and his company (the one he just started working for) is paying for the device.

-t

Oh, oops. I thought he meant he was selling phone from the "brand new company BlackBerry".

MacosNerd · Sep 1, 2007, 06:27 PM

I have a BB for work also. They can be good and bad. Good in keeping in touch, and knowing what's going on, bad because its an electronic leash. Now if I get emailed at 10:00pm because someone wants something done a server there's an expectation that I get it done that evening.

Salty · Sep 2, 2007, 01:39 PM

Well thankfully they're giving it to me more just so that they can e-mail me sales numbers and stuff like that. Not to mention this way I can show it off to customers. I don't mind the idea of being able to be tethered though, I regularly find myself thinking, shoot I hope I don't miss person x if they want to talk to me. This way now I don't have to worry about that, all they have to do is e-mail me... and it looks like there's an IM client too but I'm not sure how that works.
Anyway I think I'll let a lot of calls go to voice mail and not answer all the e-mails I get. At the same time I doubt I'll get too too many.

I just love the idea of being able to get ahold of people when I need to, and not having to look for pay phones anymore. I did say I wanted my first cell phone to be an iPhone... oh well, I guess I'll loose my Cellular virginity to RIM instead.

And by the way, yes I know BlackBerries have been around for a good long while, and I'm aware that BlackBerry is more of a brand, the company is called Research In Motion, they're also Canadian... yeesh guys give me some credit.

irunat2am · Sep 2, 2007, 01:43 PM

Yea..what's up with the blackberry messenger. Is that to any blackberry, or any blackberry on your specified network. Haven't figured everything out on my pearl, yet.

Salty · Sep 2, 2007, 01:55 PM

Hmmm I was talking about the fact that I saw an IM client on their site for both Google Talk and Yahoo! messenger. I'm really hoping they come out with an MSN messenger though since I use MSN far more than any of the others (as do most Canadians.)

alligator · Sep 2, 2007, 02:27 PM

I have a BlackBerry and hate it. You may very well like yours, but I'm forced to have one due to work and I wish the stupid thing was never invented.

Nivag · Sep 2, 2007, 03:43 PM

I've got a BlackBerry and a personal mobile (cell)phone so work doesn't get in the way of having a life.

I found the option to have it auto switch on and off during the week. it's starts at 8.30am and goes off at 6.15pm. That way it I don't have to remember to switch it off in the evening and get rudely awaken buy a stray email message.

Otherwise i'd be calling it my Crackberry.

check out Magmic Games - Play Anywhere for some games on it to pass the time of day

irunat2am · Sep 2, 2007, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by Nivag

Magmic Games - Play Anywhere for some games on it to pass the time of day

Thanks for the link. Might come in handy sometime

Yea salty, I found an all-in-one program with every fricken type of messenger program in one package, but it was $50. I don't need to IM that badly. If you find a good one for cheap (free? this is 2007..free..hah.) lemme know

mduell · Sep 2, 2007, 04:16 PM

Ramble for IM, jmirc for IRC.

spacefreak · Sep 2, 2007, 09:31 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

it was actually prompted by my telling me that I needed to avoid talking about my personal life because I was gay even though the obnoxious shallow smoker women were talking about molesting our trainer person very loudly...

If that's how you view your coworkers, then I'm sure they're better off without you.

If you don't want to be judged for your personal decisions, don't judge others for theirs.

Salty · Sep 11, 2007, 10:09 PM

Space Freak, that's not how my boss saw it he was horrified to see me go since I was one of only two people in the group who even knew what we were doing (which is pathetic cause the job was brain dead simple)

Anyway I'm having trouble figuring out how to clean out the device since the person before me apparently didn't clean it out. And I got one of the old blue ones... I wonder if the screen has dimmed over time or if it was always this weak.

analogue SPRINKLES · Sep 12, 2007, 01:08 AM

How much data you get for $16?

BB are good but everything is ass next to the iPhone. I'm in Canada and I have had a fully working one for a month.

Big Mac · Sep 12, 2007, 02:52 AM

Is Salty coordinating his posts with MacNN's ad server? Upon returning to the forum home page, I got a Blackberry advertisement.

- - e r i k - - · Sep 12, 2007, 03:23 AM

Originally Posted by alligator

I have a BlackBerry and hate it. You may very well like yours, but I'm forced to have one due to work and I wish the stupid thing was never invented.

Funny. That mirror my boss' feelings exactly.

He wishes he could get an iPhone.

mitchell_pgh · Sep 12, 2007, 09:51 AM

The BlackBerry phenomenon is a little amazing. While I think it's fine for many things, it's really disheartening to be talking to someone (especially if they are in sales or customer service) and have them hold up their BlackBerry (mid sentence) and start checking their email.

It's happened to me on a number of occasions, and it's rude. It's rude on many levels.

Salty · Sep 13, 2007, 12:07 AM

Yah my boss perpetually looks like he's busy cause he's checking his blackberry. And yah I'm waiting till I can get a company sanctioned one. I'll make it my new demo (probably) At the same time though I'm going to need to put it onto an iPhone plan too cause apparently my plan is only 200 megs not unlimited like I'd been told. But yah for 16 bucks a month I get 2500 minutes and 200 megs of data. Which is pretty dang amazing. That said I really want to upgrade to a nicer demo, hopefully next tuesday I can win a new one... maybe.