Post #450: Blackberries, Anyone?

Treo 270
Treo 300
Visor Edge, with cover on left.
Treo 600 and 650 - not sure which is which. I think the 650 is on the right.

Looking over my career as a Geek, I have always had an electronic organizer at my side.

From the 32K Casio Organizer(which is the same size as my PDA with a 1G memory card in it) as an intern.

Then there was something by Sharp, which had a screaming 256K of memory.

Then there was the thing I found in the Air Force Base Exchange, which had 2MB of memory. It also had the original mobile Word and Excel functions which were not really compatible with the computer version. It could only synchronize with one computer - a tremendous example of fidelity in this world gone mad.

The screen did not survive a textbook falling on it as I worked in my office one night on call.

I got a Palm Something, with 8 MB of memory. I learned graffitti.

I got a bigger Palm, and gave my oldest brother the old one. Wifeofdadwithnoisykids realized there was a trend here but could not work out an intervention.

I switched to Handspring and got a Visor Edge. This has to be my favorite PDA of all. Aluminum case. It looked more like a cigarette case. "Cigarette, Mr. Dadwithnoisykids?" Histor the Wise is using it right now.

One day as I drove along, juggling a cell phone in one hand and the Edge in the other, trying to order pizza for pickup, I realized I had a problem. I needed to integrate my PDA with my cell phone.

Our babysitter, who was in the passenger seat at the time, realized I had a problem, too.

"Look out for that concrete post!"

She never rode in a car with me again, even after I got the Handspring Treo 270.

Big.

Clunky.

The company which serviced the 270 didn't cover us out in the boondocks south of Dallas.

The Treo 300 followed.

Then came the Treo 600.

Then came the Treo 650.

Wifeofdadwithnoisykids was still concerned, but knew that the business would allow a new PDA every other year.

I was enabled.

Then one day I noticed that there was another Windows based PDA which seemed to be taking over the palm-based operating system.

I got the XV-6700, which looks more like a vanilla ice cream bar. A QWERTY keyboard slides out to the side, and it has internet access. Now I could get onto websites and look at postage sized pictures of things going on.

Better yet, I could take pictures of things and upload them to my blog. I was never out of touch with my people.

Then, over the weekend, I spent too much time at a cell phone store, waiting for the children's cell phone to get replaced. I noticed that all cell phones have in effect become more than just cell phones. Nowadays all the phones have music and video options; in short, they have ceased to be tools and are instead entertainment centers that fit in your pocket(or purse). I was disappointed, knowing that one day my vanilla ice cream sandwich would melt, or dive into a toilet, and I would need to replace it.

Then I started looking at those really dorky Blackberries....