It seems I’m blogging quite a bit about the mobile industry lately. I was a tech geek years ago with getting the best desktop computer money could buy. Then I realized I didn’t need the top of the line video card because I don’t play games. I never had the newest cell phone either. However, I was always a mild mannered hacker of sorts. Not the malicious kind, but the kind who always optimized his electronics for custimizability and perfomance. My second cell phone was a LG 4600 which I was able to put my own mp3 ringtones and backgrounds on. This was a few years before any other cell phone allowed you to do it easily. Then I got a Nokia 6275i which again was hackable to put ringtones, apps, and backgrounds on. It had GPS and I was able to put Google maps on it, without having data access.

The point I’m getting at is I never could settle for a normal cell phone. But then, I bought a BlackBerry Bold 9700, its what I’m currently using. While I was pleased at first with it, I became bored with it. I had played with all the settings and comfigurability and I wanted more. I feel I’m getting back into the hacking mode. I recently purchased a Nook Color because it was hackable and I was able to put an Android OS on it and use it like a tablet. That was fun and its a great tablet at half the price of an iPad. As for my BlackBerry, I still have 1.5 years left on my contract and I’m already looking to change phones. What am I looking at? Well, obviously not the iPhone. Not because I think its a bad phone, its a great easy to use phone. But thats it. It’s not very customizable. The Samsung Galaxy SII (S2) was released with great fanfare. It looks like a fantastic phone and people have already hacked certain parts of the Android OS. It’s a strong contender. As for the new BlackBerry’s which were announced today, well, they do look a little enticing. I’m not sure what the real upgrade of the new Bold is, aside from a touchscreen, faster processor and the new OS. Would it still be the same old BlackBerry? What are the new features? Is it more customizable? Those are key selling features for me. So far, BlackBerry hasn’t done much to say what else is new. Is that a job for the mobile providers to tell us? I think it’s both.