PVR02's Blog

We were recently upgraded from standard phones to BlackBerry’s at the office.  I have to admit that I was excited to finally get my hands on one.  However the excitement was short lived.

I was given a Pearl 8220 (First Flip BB) which I did prefer since I don’t want a huge phone and they wouldn’t get us the touchscreen ones.  Upon attempting to use this phone I found it to be extremely slow.  Navigating one menu to another could take 3 to 4 seconds each time.  On top of the menus being slow, actually shutting the phone off and back on could take as long as 5 minutes before the phone was usable again.  The second thing that drove me nuts was the keypad.  It is 5 buttons across instead of the normal 3 and then consists of their own qwerty type keypad with 2 letters per button.  After a couple of months of use I still find this more difficult to use than the standard T9 word texting interface.  Lastly I have to say I’m a big fan of the vibrate and ring option.  However on this phone you can only pick vibrate, ring, or vibrate then ring.  Not sure why they couldn’t have added it.  I have had to set mine to ring only and have missed calls where I couldn’t hear it when it was in my pocket.

Overall it handles nicely for reading e-mails (not so well for writing them) and it works alright as an actual phone with the occasional issue hearing the person you are talking to.  The quality of the hardware seems pretty cheap like you can snap it easily, kind of like a kids toy phone almost.

So the other day I received a laptop that had a virus on it that the user wanted cleaned up.  This is what was handed to me.

This laptop was so bad that when flipped upside down dirt, hair, etc fell out of the keyboard.  Needless to say I ended up using a USB mouse and keyboard to work on this machine.  We are trying to do you a favor and keep your machines running smoothly, please attempt to keep them clean or at least clean them before dropping them off.  A little Windex can do wonders on the appearance and odor of a laptop and screen.

I’m not sure about you guys, but I know in my office there are many times that I get cold.  This could just be sitting at my desk or if could be spending way too much time in the data center.  Last winter I purchased the ScottEVest Microfleece Pullover and have to say I am impressed with it.  I went ahead and placed a set of ear bugs into the pull over and frequently use them with my Ipod on those long boring jobs where you have to watch the screen or late nights patching systems after hours.

There are numerous other pockets to hold all sorts of other items (USB flash drives, mini cd’s, small tool kits, Ipod, keys, notes, water bottle, etc…).

I leave this one at the office, but hope to get some other gear shortly for me to keep around the house.  I’m just not sure yet, what to get.  If you have any of this gear, please let me know which you have and what you think of it.

Ever wonder where you can bring your old electronics and computers that are outdated and pretty much unusable anymore.  Well, Sony might be able to help you.  They have a recycling program that might help you out.

Check out their website here for more details and a location near you.