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Even though I’ve had a cell phone for years, I put off getting a true smartphone. I thought it would be easier to have a separate PDA, a cell phone, a voice recorder, a laptop and mobile broadband access.

What was I thinking?!

Last week, I drove over to the Verizon Wireless store in Columbus, GA (it’s just across the river from here), and got the Blackberry 8830 smartphone.

Well, I actually went there to return the Blackberry Storm - really cool looking, but the super special touch screen didn’t seem ready to play. (Nothing worse than hitting a button which didn’t light up or activate - but another nearby did light up. But it still didn’t do anything.)

And the built-in accelerometer seemed confused. At the slightest movement of my hand, it would go to horizontal mode. And it was still vertical in my hand!

It was the Storm that brought me into the sheepfold of the smartphones! In the field of software development, the common wisdom is to wait for version 2 or greater of anything. Unless you want to be the guinea pig..er, tester for the software company. Unpaid, of course.

My experience with the 8830 has been fantastic. Everything I really needed as a Realtor in one compact and useful package.

There are several things I like about this phone, but I think the primary benefit to me is push email. I can set up to 10 email accounts to come directly to my phone, instead of having to rush to my tethered computer and pull up my emails.

And the very close secondary benefit is Internet access. No, not just on the phone - it allows my laptop to connect as well, via a USB cable!

I had Verizon’s Broadband Access service from May of this year, until I got the Storm. For reasons that I cannot understand, the USB modem for the laptop could only connect to the web if it could see a broadband access tower.

However, even if I had cell phone service in an area, the modem didn’t.

The strangest part is, with my new Blackberry and a much more affordable Data & Web package - I can access the Internet from anywhere I get cell phone service. Go figure!

If you haven’t made the jump to a smartphone, maybe it’s time to take a look!

David