I've been offered a free upgrade to a Blackberry Pearl 8110 with 12 months sat nav subscription on my Vodafone contract, so I thought I'd check out the whole "Crackberry" thing.

The first thing that annoyed me is the way that the word "Blackberry" has developed into a generic term for any email capable smart phone. It's the "Oh, I like your iPod", "It's not AN IPOD!" thing all over again. Then I was surprised to discover that Blackberries don't connect directly to the Internet, they use "Blackberry Internet Service" or "Blackberry Enterprise Service", whatever they are, which you need to pay extra for, over and above your usual handset Internet access. So that's an extra £5 a month to Vodafone. Then my Exchange hosting company want an extra £6 per month for the privilege of "enabling" a Blackberry. Oh, and basic things like flagging an email for follow up on a Blackberry. No sorry, not supported. HTML email? No sorry, not supported. DRM, so I can use Napster? No sorry, not supported. 3G? No way.

Anyway, still curious, I ventured into a store to try one out. The "trackball" that the Blackberry Pearl uses and that is supposed to make it so user friendly drove me mad within seconds. I spent several frustrating minutes trying to navigate the menus by manipulating this plastic nipple "trackball". "Let's see what the calendar looks like, no calendar, err.. no try again, where's it gone now?". Aaaah!

All in all a pity, as it looks like a great deal on paper and I'd still recommend Vodafone by the way. Great coverage, good prices and customer support. Just don't get a Blackberry...