I chose a BlackBerry mostly because I really didn’t like tapping out long messages on an iPhone’s keyboard.  For plain internet browsing, I think the iPhone’s browser wins no-contest, but that wasn’t my main concern.  As it turns out though, I’m just ecstatic with this purchase, and I’m discovering more and more to do with it every day.

I was on Fido, but still had 11 months left in my contract.  I discovered that Rogers can be negotiated with to allow you to break your contract once in your lifetime, to switch from Fido to Rogers or vice versa, as long as you’ve been on your respective network for at least a year.

As the gadget comes up in conversation, I’ve noticed some inaccuracies, and as well, have found solutions to some common complaints:

1. Consumer BlackBerries do have push email (at least on the Rogers network).  It does not require a corporate server.  I have it set up with my Gmail account, but you can create an @rogers.blackberry email address instead if you prefer.  Without the slightest exaggeration, emails show up on my BlackBerry before my Gmail inbox.  The address to set this up is http://www.rogers.com/bis/ You can set this up from your desktop PC.  You will need the IMEI and PIN codes.
2. It took me a couple days to figure out, but with the default theme, you change the home screen icons by moving the applications you want to the top row of your apps menu. (Probably obvious, but two friends who’d had theirs for months never figured it out.)
3. The included browser is nothing spectacular, however you can install Opera Mini instead.  The 5.0 beta includes tabbed browsing even.
4. The included Maps application is quite rudimentary.  Google Maps is a spectacular replacement.  More information here.
5. I love the cohesive Messages programme, how it consolidates all incoming messages from your various IM applications, Facebook, emails, etc.  All except for SMS messages for some reason.  You can in fact combine the Messages and SMS apps by going to the Options in Messages, choosing General Options, and changing the SMS and Email Inboxes setting to Combined.
6. BlackBerry apps do not close when you push the red disconnect button.  They stay running in the background, eating at your battery.  This is actually a great feature, and a huge advantage over the iPhone, but if you’re not aware of it, you’re killing battery life and memory for running other apps needlessly.  Generally you can close apps by pushing the menu button and selecting Close.  Unfortunately this isn’t 100% consistent, and some apps require you use Exit instead.  (They often still have a ‘Close’ command, but in that case it won’t necessarily stop the programme from running.)
7. Related to the previous point, you can access applications running in the background by holding the menu button (the one with the BlackBerry logo on it).  Depending on your model, there will be programmes that you cannot actually close permanently.  (On my Bold, the Browser, Phone, Home Screen, Messages, and BlackBerry Messenger apps are always running.)

Some personal favourite apps include:

• ÜberTwitter is my favourite Twitter client.  It’s far faster than the seemingly popular Twitterberry/OpenBeak.
• Macleans is a nicely formatted version of the magazine, though it occasionally cuts articles slightly short and tells you to find the rest on newsstands.

The one minor gripe I have is that I can’t access Gmail-specific features from within the Messages app.  The BlackBerry suggested I download a special “Gmail plug-in” when I first set up my email account, which would allow me to do things like flag and categorise messages.  This works great, however I have to run it as a separate programme.  When I look at my email from within the default Messages app though,  I can’t do any of that Gmail-specific stuff.  It sort of defeats the purpose of having a consolidated inbox, and calling the programme a “plug-in.”  Hopefully I’m just missing something, or it will be corrected soon.