Earlier this week, I wrote about the problems I was having with my new Treo 700wx with Windows Mobile 5.0. The biggest (and unresolvable) issue was the impact it was having on my vision. Any time I would read anything on the Treo for over 30 seconds, when I tried to look at something else (my computer screen, road signs, text on paper) I was unable to focus on those for almost 20 minutes.

So I swung by the Verizon storefront in So. Burlington on my way to a fabulous cruise on Lake Champlain on Wednesday night and exchanged it. A few days earlier, Richard Hale Shaw had shown me his Blackberry and how easy the user interface is to navigate and how it's possible to modify the font. I bet this will be a big selling point for the aging market of PDA users!

I recall Richard showing me his Blackberry a number of years ago (I believe in early 2004) at dinner in Boston during a Sys-Con conference speaker dinner. I guess it takes me a while to absorb information like this.

I've had this for less than two days now. I haven't had a chance to use it a lot as I have no cell service at my house, and unlike the Windows Mobile phone, it doesn't know how to get on my network when I have it plugged into the computer. So, when I was out and about this morning, I had to sit in a parking lot somewhere to set that up.

I really like the user interface. Very intuitive, simple to use, simple to navigate and more than enough functionality for me so far. One of the first things I did when I started playing with the phone was change the default font: I increased the size and made it permanently bold.

The model I got, by the way, was the 8830 World Edition. When I was asked which one I wanted, I said "I don't know" and the rep said "well, why not get the latest/greatest". I agreed and took the box without even looking at the device! It does have GSM and he put a card in there for me, so if I get to go on another exotic trip in the future (whether for a conference or - hard to imagine - an actual vacation) I'll be able to use the phone. Granted, this is Verizon, so I can only use their SIM and whatever service they attach me to, but it's not like I'm a constant world traveller, so that's not a problem for me.

The only downside is that it's not black, so I think I might call it my Chromeberry.