The simplicity of mobility

Friday, August 17th, 2007    Posted by Carmi Levy

I’ve been spending a lot of quality time with my BlackBerry this week. Although I’ve owned mobile devices powered by virtually every kind of pocketable operating system you can imagine, the stripped down simplicity of BlackBerry’s design philosophy is starting to win me over. A few observations:

It doesn’t do everything. It only claims to do some things - like push-based e-mail - really well.

Its battery won’t die by lunch if you forgot to plug it in overnight. That’s because it isn’t overloaded with every feature known to humankind.

It works well one-handed. I know this sounds silly, but when I’m juggling a 7-year-old’s booster seat and a wiggly puppy, I don’t have extra hands to play with a stylus or navigate a clunky interface.

It’s quick. Looking up an address is immediate. I don’t have to stand there for 30 seconds wondering if the device crashed again.

So by replacing my older wireless device that was practically bursting with features but couldn’t really manage anything all that well with one that chooses instead to focus on doing a few things exceptionally well, I’ve become much more adept at using the thing as a real business tool.

I can’t help but wonder if the simplicity of my newfound wireless buddy doesn’t also hold lessons for the other aspects of my business life. Simplicity…I think I need to mull that concept around a bit more.

What do you carry with you when you leave the office?

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 3:10 am and is filed under Mobility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “The simplicity of mobility”

1. MissMeliss Says:
   August 23rd, 2007 at 7:29 pm

   I looked at the Blackberry, and ultimately settled on the Samsung Blackjack (my wireless access is through AT&T nee’ Cingular.) I picked it because I wanted a QWERTY device with a real browser, and so far I’ve been pleased though it took me three months to figure out why I could receive email but not send (it was my own fault).

   I sort of regret not getting a flip phone, because it does sometimes randomly dial if I forget to lock it, and when it’s on the desk I keep wondering why I have a calculator out…but over all, I quite like it.

2. Faith Says:
   August 24th, 2007 at 12:33 pm

   Blackberry for me, all the way. I never thought of myself as one of those people addicted to technology, but since ditching my duo of Palm and cell for the amazing integrated functionality of RIM’s darling, I’m like a techno-junkie.

   And, it’s not like I just got the device yesterday afternoon, either. I’m still using my version from two years ago and as addicted as ever. Not so much that I can’t resist the itch to go out and get the Pearl, but enough…

3. BreadBox Says:
   August 24th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

   I’m curious about how you feel about the blackberry versus the iphone: do they do relatively similar tasks? similarly well? does the keyboard on the blackberry make a huge difference?
   N.

4. Beverly Says:
   August 26th, 2007 at 9:56 am

   All I own is a Tracphone (sp?) I buy the minutes that I need since I rarely use a cell phone, but I must confess that I’m fascinated by all the doodads that are offered on phones or mobile devices or whatever they’re called.

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