iPhone, Schmiphone...The BlackBerry Bold Is Here!

As Web Development Editor of the DP, Thomas Jansen is responsible for making sure dailypennsylvanian.com is running smoothly, and he has the additional pleasure of being hassled by html-incompetent Street editors every night over gchat.  We made him write this BlackBerry review, and it was pretty good once we translated it out of javascript.  J/K, gthom, write again soon kthx!

While the rest of you were sleeping in, I finally joined the Penn community. It happened last week--no I'm not talking about the election. I got my first BlackBerry. I woke up at the crack of dawn on Tuesday to stand in line at the AT&T store with dozens of my fellow voters six other Penn students waiting to get the Bold. Now, I won't be attempting to pull off The BlackBerry Clutch--you know you've seen it: perfectly manicured hand wrapped around can of Natty Light/red Solo cup with two fingers delicately holding a BlackBerry in an obnoxious neon-colored bumper. I will, however, be BBMing in class, in the elevator and while halfheartedly listening to casual acquaintances.

I've had it for barely a week and so far I can't say it's changed my life. I'd tell you that I was writing this from my BlackBerry, but that would just be a lie--not to say it can't be done! Seriously, though, you can edit your documents, read Under the Button and even browse Facebook with a program that's almost as shitty as the one for iPhones. The truth is, only one of those things is actually going to happen. I'll give you a hint: it's the one involving this blog. After all, 80 percent of Penn students use their BlackBerries for playing BrickBreaker, BBMing and occasionally calling/texting. (BlackBerries do email???)

The Bold  does pretty much all of these things just like every BlackBerry that has come before it. So what makes it so great, you ask? I can sum it up for you in two words: it's shiny. Everything about it--the screen is bright and crisp, the interface is freshly redesigned and even the leatherette makes you wonder why you spent so long trying to keep the back of your iPod from getting scratched. But really, it can't do anything your World Edition can't. It won't be on half of your friends' Christmas/Chanukah wish lists because the processor is nearly 7500% faster or because it has fully 1 giga-mega-femptobyte of built in memory. It'll be because either: a) it's new or b) they want to finally be able to BBM. Plus, iPhones are for Drexel kids.