I swear, it’s not my fault. I got a call on Sunday while we were still knee-deep in the competition that Stick’s 3-year old terminally ill Motorola had finally given up the ghost. No display whatsoever. My first thought: Sure, I’m really going to be able to do anything about that on a Sunday night when I’m trapped inside a ballroom at the airport and have been for the last 72 hours…but whatever.

Monday comes. I look at my Samsung Blackjack which I have finally learned to like but not love and wonder…does it maybe make sense to give that to him and get something else for me? Something I like better? As quickly as the thought came, it disappeared. I smacked myself upside the head and got ready to go get him a Razr because that was the cheapest phone I could get that would stand up to harsh wear and abuse but still had Bluetooth and a decent keyboard for texting, which is what he does, mostly.

Off to the AT&T store I go, knowing that this phone will be a cash buy, since my last available upgrade replaced my lost/stolen phone this summer. Of course, once in the store I began to be galled by the idea of paying $250 for a phone that they gave away for free with an upgrade and the wheels started turning again…first slowly, then faster.

Then I met NicktheSalesman. Nice redheaded Irish boy with a sincere smile and a helpful tone. Really helpful. NicktheSalesman convinced me in short order that the most economical path to a new phone was not a Razr, but a Blackberry Curve. And not just a Blackberry Curve, but a RED Blackberry Curve. Really luscious red. The kind of red I’ve seen on the newer Toyota Prius that just makes me drool. Yummy, coolhot red.

NicktheSalesman speaks magic:

“It doesn’t run Windows Mobile 5.0″
“It really does push your email to you”
“The data plan is the same cost as what you have now.”
“It has GPS. It’ll only be $10 more per month.”

GPS? Hot damn, GPS! If you haven’t had the big fun of driving anywhere with me, you should know that I can’t navigate my way out of a paper bag, much less city streets in any kind of familiar or unfamiliar territory. I am the type of person who must be led by the hand, taken turn by turn, step by step through at least twice before I get it. Just ask Sticks someday to tell the story of how we ended up walking through Boston’s red-light district at midnight in July. Yes, if I’d listened to him, we wouldn’t have turned “that way” and would have been safely in our hotel. As it was, we ended up walking through a rather colorful part of town while he’s asking me (Loudly, I might add) why those women are all dressed that way?

So I swallowed hard and waited for the bottom line on the gorgeous little red Curve that I now knew I had to have but was sure I couldn’t afford. NicktheSalesman was apparently NickTheMagician, too, because he came back with a price of $300, with a $100 rebate. Holy crap, that was less than the Razr! How could any sane woman refuse? And so I told Nick that it was sold to the daft lady in blue who can’t read maps.

I love my little Crackberry. It really does push my email, and works beautifully with GMail. It has a beautiful screen that’s easy to see and battery life that’s about twice the Blackjack’s. But mostly, it just feels good in my hand. Not heavy but solid. Beautiful red with a rubber bumper that runs around the outer perimeter of the phone. An added bonus? It actually has a camera that takes decent pictures, and with a flash, too. Hooya, what’s not to love? It’s got nice voice quality and with a micro-SD card inserted, has plenty of room for music, video, whatever you want. It came with a travel charger, a USB sync cable, and headphones. I’m not a huge fan of the headphones (because the iPod-style headphones are too big for my ears), but they have the nice pushbutton feature to stop/start media and a nice sound quality if they actually fit. I will probably use my other headphones that are in-ear with the silicon covers with it, but still..it was a nice touch.

The keyboard is a learning experience after the Blackjack. My only complaint is that I have to remember to hit “Alt” before using a period, whereas the Blackjack had a dedicated key for that. Still, I like the space between keys and the way it feels..just a little clicky but not obnoxiously so.

The trackball on the thing is amazing. I have never used a trackball I liked until I tried this one. I almost passed it by because it didn’t have the side scroll wheel like the Blackjack until I played with it. The sensitivity and ease of use is incredible.

I am not in love with the standard fonts, but the browser is definitely nicer and Opera mini also helps. If there’s one thing they could improve, it would be the BlackBerry fonts. They’re big and ugly. I’m using the BB Casual font which looks like Comic Sans because it’s the best-spaced font of the bunch, but they could definitely improve it and make some nicer ones.

This thing is just so damn usable! I love how easy it is to do just about anything with it, from answering email to reading RSS feeds to taking a picture and sending it to someone. My family is truly grateful that my phone will now be the one talking to me and telling me which way to go next and when to turn…no one likes driving with me.

I made this move not a moment too soon, either. On Tuesday, Sticks tapped the FreewayDriverFromHell on the rear while changing lanes in stop-and-go traffic, while moving at less than 5mph. She immediately stopped her car in the middle of the 101 during rush hour, turned on her emergency flashers, and held up traffic on all sides.  There was NO DAMAGE to his car, not even a scratch, not even a scrape and hers had a little tiny dimple shaped like the bolt on his license plate. She called the CHP out over it and was on her cell reporting it to her insurance company within two minutes of the literal tap. Thank God he had a cell phone to call us so we could get our rep involved before she called out the frickin’ National Guard. Oy.

Yes, my name is Karoli and I’m an addict. And I don’t want to recover, I want everyone to join me. Crack(Berry) addicts, unite!

Technorati Tags: BlackBerry, Curve, cell phone, review, mobile, GPS, TelNav, AT&T