For months, I’ve been thinking about getting a new device to replace my old cell phone. I needed a new phone for many reasons; mostly for enhanced Social Marketing capabilities and for group SMS texting.
Why group texts? Well, PALO! has a pretty large fan database that includes email addresses and cell phone numbers. People sign up at gopalo.com or they fill out a card at our shows:
This is the back of the PALO! card
Several days before a show we send out an email informing the fans of that week’s show. A similar text message is sent out the day of the show. While there are some great services for SMS and email marketing including mobilestorm – at some point I hope to upgrade to something along those lines – for now, things are still on the DIY tip. With my old phone, sending the text messages was a tedious process.
Investigating available smart phones, I had it narrowed down to the iPhone and the Blackberry Tour. It seemed like the iPhone could do everything I needed, so I bought one. Being a loyal Mac lover since 1985, this was an easy decision. However, within a few hours, it became clear that the iPhone wasn’t gonna work for me. First of all, two out of three words that I typed came out as gibberish or were “corrected” incorrectly. But the real deal killer was the fact that its texting capabilities are extremely limited for my uses. And there doesn’t seem to be “an app for that”.
I went running back to Verizon and bought a Blackberry Tour. Although not perfect, typing on its little hardware keypad is much easier for my thumbs. But the holy grail is that this device allows grouping of contacts and sending a single message to the entire group. So this week, I’ll have a much easier time connecting with PALO! fans via SMS.
In fairness, the iPhone is a gorgeous piece of technology; using it is almost a sensual experience. But if the Blackberry lacks some the iPhone’s sexiness, that doesn’t bother me; I need to get my stuff done. An added plus: I think I actually prefer the Blackberry’s Twitter and Facebook apps. And the camera is pretty darn good too.
So, if you’re a Blackberry devotee, please share some of your favorite apps or features. I’m hoping to get up to speed quickly. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you soon in real life!
My favorite for twitter is ubertwitter and pandora (with the Palo! Station). And People magazine
Stevie,
I always say the iPhone is for games, fun and apps and the BB is for when you want to get the job done. It didn’t even take you that long to figure it out!
xo ~ Alli
(on my 4th BB)
I hear ya, but I still love my iphone. The GPS is more accurate and user-friendly than Blackberry’s (according to my Blackberry-using friends!). What’s funny is that I actually had a dream last night in which I was using the GPS on my iphone because I was lost! Now that’s a little crazy …
Ok, and I can easily use my favorite Twitter app, Tweetbox; emailing is a dream; and the voice memo app is very helpful for note-taking on the road.
There are other benefits but I admit that the group texting issue is a BIG problem. The only way you can do it is pick your recipients, one by one. After you go through that headache at least it does remember the group you created, so you don’t have to go through the process twice.
Thanks for the post, Steve!
Corinna
Hi Steve-
Thanks for the post.
I must clarify one of your earlier posters, one Allison Nazarian. If you really want to get the job done you get both.
Now step off!
~Mike
Hi Steve,
I’m a huge APPLE fan, but like Allison said, iPhone is more for the fun person out there, the BB is for real work!!! I have a CURVE and I can do anything that the iPhone can and more…
Apps that I use in BB
UberTwitter
Facebook
Pandora
Yahoo! Messenger
AIM Messenger
BBM – Must have!!! (My Pin: 30Cba7d2)
And obviously, I think email/text is way better in a blackberry than on an iPhone, especially that the Tour has threaded SMS Messaging…
Welcome to the BB Club!