If you have been around me, or worked with me over the past few months, you’ll know that the cell phone I have been toting around was in need of an upgrade. It’s a topic that would infiltrate my mind whenever I thought about mobile technology or happened to drive by a retail cellular store.

I have always been the content owner of a variety of Nokia cell phone models. The Nokia phones I owned weren’t bad by any means, but it just always seemed like there was something better on the market when it came to the latest and greatest in cell phone technology.

I have been deliberating the newest smartphones for a while now, and I always seemed to have a reason why I could wait just a little bit longer before I made the plunge into a new cell phone and accompanying cell phone plan. See, I was not on a contract with my previous cell phone provider. My contract expired a couple years ago, and I have since been on a month-to-month plan. “No commitment” is music to my ears. The idea of having to sign my life away for another couple of years had been a bit intimidating since I always have the thought in the back of my mind that I could end up going anywhere at any given time. But I have come to accept that thought, since I did just sign a new contract.

Also, every time I thought about purchasing a new phone (and signing a new cellular contract), it seemed like a new phone model release was only a couple months away. So why not just wait until the next release? Another factor was the thought that I was on a plan that was giving me a large amount of free minutes per month with the “long time customer” perks. If I were to sign a contract for a smart-phone, I would lose those free minutes.

I was also paying a monthly rate that seemed unbeatable, but then again, it was for just cell phone service, not a data plan. There have been so many reasons to not sign a new cell phone contract that would put me past 2005 in cell phone technology. I was stuck in a cell phone conundrum: I needed to upgrade my cell phone situation, but there were plenty of seemingly-legitimate reasons of why I should not.

Most recently the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and HTC Touch smartphone models have been the objects of desire. I can’t say that the Palm and HTC were big contenders, in my mind, although they are no doubt big players in the games of cell phone wars. They just weren’t at the top of my personal list. For me, it seemed to come down to the iPhone and the BlackBerry. Both the iPhone and BlackBerry have large development audiences, which was a big factor in my choice, outside of all the other conventional features.

A couple days ago, I just couldn’t take it anymore. The impulse-bug hit me and I decided that nothing was going to stop me from getting a new phone. So, after it was all said and done, after all the dust had cleared, I ended up going with none other than the latest and greatest BlackBerry model.

I am now the owner of a BlackBerry Tour, model 9630. This sucker seems to have it all. This phone has only been on the market a couple of weeks. I’m sure, in time, I will find a reason to harp on a feature that it does not have, but so far, it’s functionality has kept me efficiently occupied.

What was the deciding factor? The button keypad, as opposed to the iPhone touch-screen keypad. I tried a demo of each phone. It’s not that the iPhone touch-screen was difficult to use or that I’m not a fan of touch screen. I was just able to navigate and type much faster with the BlackBerry keypad. I was able to get used to the BlackBerry faster than the iPhone, and it just felt more natural and made more sense for me than the iPhone.

However, since I am traditionally a PC guy rather than a Mac guy, if I were to make the move to Apple, the phone is probably where it would happen. Don’t get me wrong, I own an iPod, and I use it all the time, but this seems like a basic device compared to many of the others that are on the Apple product line.

Here’s the kicker: To my surprise, I am now paying less than I was for my previous cell phone plan. I even have unlimited Internet usage on the new BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Development Fundamentals by John M. Wargo is available November 2009. Until then, get the content of the book before it publishes with the RoughCut version.

The first resource for corporate developers building applications for the gigantic BlackBerry® installed base: 20,000,000+ devices

• Everything developers need to develop for the world’s #1 enterprise mobile platform
• Covers both the “hows” AND the “whys” of BlackBerry development
• Includes detailed coverage of RIM’s newest capabilities
• Identifies BlackBerry’s limitations, and shows how to manage them
• For both experienced mobile developers and those moving from other environments

Fundamentals of BlackBerry® Development is the solution: a comprehensive, independent guide to the platform, its development tools, and today’s best practices for BlackBerry development. Respected third-party BlackBerry developer John Wargo illuminates the entire BlackBerry Mobile Data System platform, identifies the types of applications that can be built for BlackBerry, discusses the platform’s unique capabilities and limitations, shows how to make the right upfront design choices, and walks you through writing and testing efficient, high-performance applications.

Wargo covers both native rich-client BlackBerry applications and web-based mobile applications for both business and consumer environments, and shows how to make the most of BlackBerry’s back-end server components to simplify and optimize communication with virtually any data source. The information in the book applies to developers building apps for their own enterprise’s use as well as to programmers developing apps for sale on the Blackberry app store.

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