I never thought I'd say this, but...

...I'm the proud owner of a BlackBerry Pearl. Brandon asked me to blog about this because he thinks it's so cool. Hee hee, Brandon's jealous of a piece of technology I own; I also never thought I'd say that.

So I've had my prior phone, a cute little Samsung flip model, for over 5 years. I'd like to think that I'm as tech-savvy as your average Joe, and I know there have been many advances in cell phone technology during the last 5 years, but my little phone was working fine, and we really didn't have the need or money for something fancier. Heck, Brandon's on his fourth phone just since we've been married (due to the untimely breakage of his models), so I thought I'd even out the score by keeping mine intact for so long.

Recently, though, my phone's been freezing up and taking over 5 seconds to recognize that I've pressed a key, among other quirks. The battery life is also very shoddy. My contract was up with T-Mobile, so off to the bargaining bench we went (whatever a bargaining bench is--I think I made that up).

Just a tip: if you are thinking of renewing your contract and are looking for a great deal, even a free phone, DO NOT go to the dealer. Although they have some great incentives for renewing with them, they aren't the best deal. Surprisingly (or possibly not, if you frequent this store), Wal*Mart has the best deals on phones for customers renewing their contracts. You can still renew your contract with your service provider, right there in Wal*Mart, and get a great deal on a phone.

This was just the case with us; I had researched on tmobile.com the free phones available with a 2-year contract and was about to decide between a Nokia 5310 (very highly rated music playback), and the Samsung Beat (a better quality camera phone, also with music playback). I'm not that interested in the music playing deal because I'm already more than satisfied with my iPod; but I did want the best quality camera available to me and the option of checking my email from my phone (a necessity on a campus where email is the official form of communication and I teach all day in an office with no computer access). Neither of these two phones really satisfied me in any of these areas, so I was about to settle.

I didn't realize it, but Wal*Mart is the only T-Mobile dealer in Rexburg, so we headed there; Daniel, a very helpful associate in Electronics, informed me that the BlackBerry Pearl was available for $18.87 with a two-year contract. I was very enthusiastic--these phones retail at up to $350! They have email checking capability, a music player, and a good quality camera--exactly what I was looking for, plus some extras I hadn't bargained on. I hadn't even searched BlackBerrys online because I assumed that they would be way out of our price range (free to $20). Not at Wal*Mart!

So I am now the owner of a BlackBerry Pearl. I'm still test-driving it, making sure I get reception in the Snow Building, etc., but everything is working great so far. Hooray, technology! (Sorry for your unfortunate time this week, Amy!) And Maria, my old phone is still working pretty well...it's got your name written all over it, if you want.