The Crakberrymaster Blog

My Curve

2009-02-07T22:40:00.000-08:00

So I am up late and thought would add another post before I hit the sack. I occurred to me that while I have told you a little about me I really have not told you anything about my berry. So here goes and sorry if I bore anyone out there, but if you are like me you are into hearing how each person makes a berry their own.

I have a Red Curve 8310 from ATT. I went with the red since I was seeing the silver one all over the place. I have done many things to it since last Feb when I got it. I think the very first thing that I did was get on google and look for apps and wallpapers. This led my to CB, and that's about the time my berry tweaking started.

I won't go into all of the details but as of this post I am running OS 4.5.0.110, that is the latest from ATT. I am also running a the Dimension L theme that came with 4.5 though I have been messing with this really great iberry vibe L theme from www.berrythemes.com. For a background pic I am using a custom Prime background that my girl made for me. It can be found on CB for free by the way, as can the Boondock Saints theme that she made.

As far as apps go, I have a few. I use Viigo all the time and find that it is one of the best RSS readers for the bb, the fact that it can pull all of my google reader threads is really nice. Twitterberry is my twitter app of choice. For maps I am using Windows Live Search as I find it does all I need it to. Opera Mini is in use more then any other app, though with 4.5 less these days. I am using the Facebook app but I will get into that another time.

Well that's all for now, until next time keep "crakin".

The Crakberrymaster

Carrier Rants and Raves

2009-02-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

If any of you out there are like me, one of the thing that is the most frustrating is that the carriers control the Blackberrys that we have access to. This is becoming a bigger problem as there are many great new Blackberrys hitting the market. I would love to be able to buy anyone of these great devices but I am limited to what my carrier has. It seems to me that this is not a good buisness model for the RIM and all the other device makers. Take the Storm for example. It seems to be selling like hot cakes. Good for VZW sure, but is it good for RIM? The same could be said for the Bold, great for att, but not so great for RIM.

If you think of the carriers like cable companys it makes even less sence. Inagine if you were a COX subscriber and they told you that you could not get a Sony HD, since they had a deal with Phillips. People would go crazy, heck congress would most likley get involved. But if it is a cell phone carrier all the rules seem to go out the window.

Here in North America we have another problem as well. VZW,Sprint,Alltel and several others are running on CDMA. This makes it even harder when it comes to phone selection. What if I wanted to get the Palm Pre, guess I am just SOL. There is no way I am going to leave a carrier that that I have been with for some time just for a new phone.

I think that this could be fixed a couple of ways. First make GSM the standard for all carriers world wide. This would at least allow any phone to be unlocked and run on any carrier. I think that this would also have a great side effect. If carriers do not have the advantage of having the latest and greatest phones, they would have to work on things like improving coverage and customer support.

Well that's it for now. Any thoughts from readers would be great.

The First Time

2009-02-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

Hello all. This is my first post here at the The Crakberrymaster Blog. In this post I will give you all a little background info about me. I spent most of my life working in customer service in the retail industry and trust me I have sold it all. Through the years I have always found myself drawn to new and shiny things. This led to my interest in all things tech. While I am not an expert by and means, I do have a great passion and try to learn as much as can all the time.

The intent of this blog is to share my passion about my favorite piece of tech. The Blackberry. I have been a blackberry user for over a year now and can honestly say that I am not sure how I got by without it. Throughout I will be covering many different issues in the berry world.

I want to say right off the bat that I owe much if not all of what I know to the great folks over at www.crackberry.com. Thanks to all the members and mods I have learned how to do so many things that I have already forgotten some of them. So to the CB team, thanks guys this blog would never have happened without you guys.