So my newest toy, courtesy of work is the Blackberry 8800.

One of the newest features of this blackberry over my last, the 8700, is the addition of the built in GPS receiver.  While I generally do know where I am, I have played with GPS before and I do like the idea of having a handheld device capable of giving me my location to within a few metres.  It seems so Star Trek, and being that I am a nerd who grew up wishing he were aboard the Enterprise (any one of them), something that brings me closer to Trektopia is always a welcome addition to my life.  The GPS in this device seems to be quite capable and has functioned well in my limited testing.  It finds the satellites quickly, and promptly tells me where I’m at.

While the built in software doesn’t have the capability of speaking turn by turn directions to me, I believe there are other 3rd party applications that offer this.  I am not too interested in that though.  I find if I have a map, which I always have handy by way of Google maps, and I know where I am on that map…reaching my destination is not too difficult.

Another addition is the voice dialing system.  Now, there have been around for quite some time, but I do like this implementation.  Rather than having to create a specific voice command for each voice dialing entry as I have had to do in the past with other cell phones, this one uses a voice recognition system that will allow me to speak the name of the contact as it appears in my address book without any prior training.   It has been quite good at understanding me so far.  Again, one step closer to the Trektopia. "Computer, tea, earl gray, hot."

And finally, I am glad they finally added expandable memory via a MicroSD card slot.  Now I can use my BB in a similar manner to a USB memory stick, which I so often have trouble keeping track of.  I have yet to lose my Blackberry.

I do love the toys…..