The Blackberry Pearl: Tech Corner

Let’s be tragically frank: Our last two phone bills were. Over. Six. Hundred. Dollars! We punctuate that to mimic the pounding of our heart when we opened our bill. This is what happens when you travel overseas, and pick up the phone when it rings. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

Anyhoo: We recently found ourselves in need of a new phone, as the last one basically rolled over and was like, "I’m not quitting; I just don’t want to fucking do this anymore." And so we were off to the T-Mobile store for a new Blackberry—which we recommend over the iPhone. Maybe others have had better experiences, but our BB is amazing overseas, with unlimited email for under $20: We emailed our way through Mongolia last summer and it cost $19.99! Also, this is totally anecdotal, but our iPhone friends have had problems with overseas usage and their battery. Plus, we were using our friend’s iPhone web browser, and we almost threw it across the room.

We’re plugging T-Mobile’s Hotspot at Home Service. We think it’s $10 or something a month (er, gotta check that bill) and you get unlimited calling when it’s using the wi-fi network. At first, we thought you needed to use T-Mobile’s dedicated router for this (it’s like, thanks, we already have like eight), but then we emailed, of all people, David Pogue, the tech writer for the New York Times, whose article about it had first alerted us to the service. Oh, no, he told us: We could use any wi-fi signal, around the world, as long as it wasn’t one that required a payment (like a day or hourly rate) to use. Like: say, if we’re in London, at the apartment we’re swapping for, and we use the wi-fi signal there, it’s free. It’s all fucking free. We’ve only been using it for a week, but our current minute usage is like five. This could change everything. We are unbelievably excited.

Above: the Blackberry Pearl 8120 with Hotspot @ Home Service, from $349 – $149, depending on your discount