So I got a new phone today. I’m a little nervous about it too. See, I’m a blackberry addict – I just love it. I love the perfect integration with email, the keyboard, the internet browsing, the address book and calendar sync’ing and, of course, a phone that works with all that data. But the blackberry has some drawbacks that prompted the new cell.

One reason I got my own cell us because of the coolness factor. I picked up the new SLVR from Motorola and Cingular and if you have an iPod you know that this phone supports iTunes. When I get it hooked up, I’ll be able to copy some of my library to the phone and use it instead of my bulky 60GB jukebox. Its also very thin – making it more cool and also easy to hide away in small places. There are metal keys and VGA camera too which add to ‘the factor’. And there is even an application you can use to download your contacts to the phone – its no blackberry but it beats typing in 500 names and numbers.

But the real reason I got the the phone is because its not a work phone. The blackberry keeps me connected to work – as if I was at work – 24/7. This has me working all day and night and on weekends too. This past weekend, I was called and emailed twice for simple, non-work, related items. After worrying about what messages from the boss could be coming next all weekend, I decided to separate myself from my normally connected world. This isn’t easy, however, and I’m finding myself in the middle of a crackberry withdrawal.

I can’t get used to the crappy contact management system Moto came up with. Unless you read the manual, you won’t even know how to add a number to a contact that already exists in the phone. If you can’t find that, you end up with multiple copies of that contact but with different information.

The navigation is also bad. The scroll wheel of the blackberry us also one reason for its success. The tap tap tap you have to use around this horrible menu system slows me down considerably. I have gotten lost in the menu a few times.

And the email integration sucks too. Granted, I just complained about getting email on the weekend but that was work. I still want to get my personal email. Sending personal email – which I haven’t been able to do yet – is still important.

I think I’ll live with this but it will take some time. Maybe when I can leave my blackberry behind and still be in touch with those I want to talk to, I’ll be happier with my purchase.

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry.