Will Blackberry make their great Blackberry Messenger available for Android and iPhone devices?

I have to carry two phones each day. My personal phone is an iPhone 4 - I simply could not manage without my iPhone! I use it for calls, web browsing, email, my mileage calculator for tax purposes, my camera (instagram!), this blogg (this post was written on the sqaurespace app for iPhone), twitter, my Audible books... The list goes on and on!

However, my employer has supplied me with a great little Blackberry 9700. I also love the BB, it is not a great phone, neither is it a great 'consumer' or entertainment device like the iPhone. However, I have become so reliant on the Blackberry Messenger! My wife and many of my friends use BBM. It is fantastic to stay in touch, share pictures, and do it all for free. I know many people who have cut their monthly cell phone bill drastically through using BBM to stay in touch with friends and family all over the world!

It would be fantastic if Blackberry made their messenger available for iPhone (and Android)!

So, this story from One of my favorite blogs, jkontherun that discusses the possibility of RIM putting the BBM on iPhone and Android really got me excited! http:/http://gigaom.com/mobile/will-or-can-rim-take-the-road-ibm-once-travelled/

What phone do you use (or want) and what do you love about it?

I'm leaving my iPhone (for an Android Milestone and an iPad)

Yup, that headline may come as a shocker, but after about 3 years of using iPhones (if my calculations are correct, I got my first generation iPhone shortly after they came out), I am considering moving on - in a manner of speaking - from my iPhone.

Let me give you a little background first.  I have a 16Gig iPhone 3GS that is running iPhone OS 3.0 (so that I can tether it to my Mac, and use it on the MTN network in South Africa).  The iPhone has been relatively stable for an unlocked / jailbroken phone. In truth, when you jailbrake an iPhone OS device it looses quite a lot of its stability!  The phone has served me well in most instances.  The one annoyance I have had is that every so often the screen stops responding (I have to power off and on to get it to work again), and because I'm on OS 3.0 there are a few applications that I cannot run on my iPhone.  Also, I have found that the iPhone does not always work when I travel overseas (I have had to take to keeping my old Nokia E90 on hand just in case I land somewhere and find my iPhone doesn't connect to the local network).

Well, my personal phone contract came up for renewal late last year.  I posted a poll to find out what phone to get and didn't find anything worth upgrading for (most persons suggested the Blackberry 9000 or the iPhone at that stage).  So, when I upgraded I got the Nokia E63 and gave it to my wife. Her contract came up for renewal last week and so she offered me the chance to get a phone - I was surprised to find the Motorola Milestone (basically a European version of the Motorola Droid) on offer without the need to make any additional payment!  So, I snapped it up!

The Milestone is a great little Android phone (Android is the Google OS) with a physical keyboard, an exceptional screen (much better than my iPhone) and a 5 Megapixel camera (you can see the full specs here).  I have had it for about a week now and am loving it.  It works with our Microsoft Exchange server, there are plenty of great apps to help me manage my personal and work related social media activities (twitter, facebook, flickr, tumblr, QIK, youtube, wordpress etc.), the camera is fantastic for stills and video, it has HSDPA data and an incredible screen.

So, my iPhone is no longer my primary phone... What!?  Yup, I have decided to relegate the iPhone 3GS to second place in my arsenal of communication technology.  You'll notice that I am NOT doing away with my iPhone - I, like many South Africans, am in the position to have two cellular phones.  I have a private contract and one supplied to me at work.  So, my work sim card has now moved from my old Nokia E90 into the iPhone.  

There are some things that the Android phone does not do too well.  That's where my iPad comes in!  The iPad and the Milestone make for a perfect combination.  I can use my Milestone as a wireless hotspot for my 16Gig iPad, and the iPad functions like a great full powered computer on the road!  Last week at the Global Day of Prayer conference I used my iPad to keep track of each venue, each speaker, the timelines for plenary and track sessions, all important numbers, and even to show and create presentations for my own talks (as well as videos).  I used a ticker app to manage my time when speaking and used the iPad with a mifi to download email, update facebook, and even make some calls on Skype.

Just perfect!

Is anyone else out there using an Android phone (I saw a journalist recently with an Google Nexus!)?  Has anyone else given up their iPhone for a different phone?  ALSO, are there any more people in South Africa who have got their hands on an iPad?

I'd love to hear your feedback!  Blessings, Dion

Update on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 10:45PM by Dr Dion Forster

Well, perhaps my enthusiasm for the Android phone was a little too much!  I eventually swapped the Droid for a Sanyo Xacti HD camcorder and a Blackberry 8900 cell phone!  The Android has a great new home, and I have two great devices to use.

My reasons for leaving Android were simply that the keyboard on the phone was not good enough for me to use it for serious work, and I found the user memory too restrictive!  I have over 3800 contacts, when those are synced and you load a few applications the memory is full!  I found it frustrating to have to device which applicaitons I wanted to uninstall just so that the phone would work.

For now I am back to my iPhone 3GS and the Blackberry that I got in the trade.  A good solution for my two phone accounts - iPhone for personal calls and personal browsing and the Blackberry for work, work, work (email, work calls etc.)