Good News, Bad News

The good news is that my Blackberry Pearl—yes, my Blackberry Pearl, my girlphone, my skinned and sharky nuisance—is rapidly breaking down. After mashing back together, again, the eight tiny pieces that make up the trackball, it no longer rolls to the right. There are plenty of workarounds available for the time being, but this situation is clearly unsustainable. Compound this with the fact that there is a completely shattered but not-completely-essential ninth piece to this assembly, and with the fact it’s a Blackberry Pearl—yes, a Blackberry Pearl, a buttony thing for lady execs—and, well, it is come time for a new phone.

The bad news is that I have to choose a new phone. Here are the problems.

1. I am with T-Mobile. Yes, T-Mobile. I never leave the city, so T-Mobile has been fine. And when I do leave the city, it’s actually rather nice to have poor reception. This is not an actual point of advocacy, it is just the matter at hand.

2. My contract is nine months from expiring. The breakage fee is $200.

3. I am not due for a handset upgrade. Even to replace my current phone would run an embarrassing $300. “How much did you pay for that Blackberry Pearl?” $300. This answer is unworkable. The cheapest Android phone is $350.

4. So, these iPhones? What do you think? How much should it trouble me that they don’t have a flash? I use flash surprisingly often.

5. This is my livelihood. This blog brings in $2200 a month on average, but that number is greatly affected by any kind of wobble in quality at all. I cannot afford to make the wrong decision.

6. One of these items is untrue.

So, dear reader, thank your for time and: which phone should I buy?