That cheap Nokia I bought didn’t work out as well as I had hoped.  The keyboard was really bad, and it didn’t work in the U.S.  That last point isn’t a huge problem, but it was inconvenient.

So, pictured above you’ll see a hand-me-down BlackBerry 8100.   After unlocking the phone, adding a new trackball, battery, battery door and a silicone case, I have a nice phone with a much better keyboard.  Surprisingly, all of those parts only cost around $20 USD.

I can’t really give a complete opinion on the phone as I’m using it on a voice/text only pre-paid plan.  However, I will say that the  8100 is a nice size with a nice keyboard and a decent display.  The camera is a bit of a disappointment, but it does an adequate job.  The USB port for charging/data transfer is a huge improvement of the proprietary Nokia connectors, and the semi-common 2.5mm headphone/mic jack had proven useful.  The built-in MP3 player is clunky, but functional, and is a reasonable substitute for carrying my iPod shuffle.  Other than that, the interface is fairly nice, and the trackball is a reasonable input device (when it isn’t dirty).

Since I don’t have much else to say, here are some shots from the camera in different lighting conditions:

The Eriksen at Eagle Park

A foggy Winter day at Fox Creek

An Amtrak train

Rusty bridge

An archway