My first instinct was to do an excited post about my new 8520 as soon as I got my hands on it back in early January (barely a month after it came out), but upon further thought, I figured “Let me use it for a while and then I can really let people know if it’s worth the trouble…”. Almost two months later, the answer is a resounding YES! In my humble opinion the Blackberry Curve (8520) is one of the best handsets I’ve ever owned, PERIOD. As such, READ ON for my Top Five quick reasons as to why YOU might want to get your hands on one too. *wink*

1. The TRACKPAD is the greatest thing to hit this planet since OXYGEN. Seriously, if you’re a longtime Blackberry fanatic like me then I’m sure you’ve had a BB long enough to have had annoying trackball problems. The trackball was the single reason I ditched my old Bat-phone (RIP Pearl 8100: July 2006 – January 2010), and I’m happy to report that upgrading to a phone with a TRACKPAD was seamless and WONDERFUL. The trackpad functions on the same principles as the ball did… just with less room for error and less friction (thus less wear and tear in the long run) since it’s touch sensitive. Trust me – when you go TRACK, you’ll never go back lol.



2. The screen is much more brilliant (and bigger) than my old Pearl… great for day to day use (BBMing, texting, web-surfing, etc), and even BETTER for viewing photos and video. Frankly, I’m dying to finally get on a plane so I can load it up with a movie or two and fully enjoy the beautiful LCD screen’s brilliant picture for a whole film. Bottom line – only the Blackberry Bold has a bigger, better screen than this one, and just barely at that!
3. Speaking of movies, the 8520 is GREAT for multimedia. It has Play, Fast-Forward and Rewind buttons up at the top for easy access to all your mp3s and videos, and it takes great photos too. The only down side for me is that I can’t see how RIM declared this their “multimedia” phone but neglected to add a FLASH to it. As a result, taking pics at night is tricky if possible at all, but I’ll overlook that in favour of all the wonderful other multimedia bonuses listed above.



4. Continuing on the multimedia path, I’m happy to report it has a STANDARD earphone jack instead of one that only fits RIM-issue headphones. So now you can plug your fancy-shmancy professional headphones into your BB and get brilliant sounds for your music mp3s or watch a video with crisp psuedo-surround sound. Been waiting for THIS for a while and it delivers BIG TIME. Try it and see for yourself.
5. There’s like a ZILLION great apps for Blackberry but almost all of them work better on a newer BB like this one with its faster processor and better graphics quality. The only negative thing I can really say overall about the 8520 (other than lamenting the absence of a flash) is that I really wish it included GPS. Certain apps (like Google Maps for instance), do work using Cell-Tower approximation (bouncing a signal off the closest cell-phone tower to ascertain your current location) but it’s not as accurate as GPS, and there’s many apps that don’t work because they assume a modern phone has GPS built in – which it SHOULD. Fix that RIM.

All in all I can’t say enough good things about the Bat-Phone 2.0, AKA the recently-released Blackberry Curve 8520.Great application of technology, good call quality, very user friendly – all around and great product, especially if you’re a BB lover like myself.

I’m still very curious about the 8520′s big brother, the Bold 9700 which is a little more powerful (and has the built-in flash and GPS that I now crave), but I’ll hold off on upgrading to that because NOW I’m hearing there will be a new upgrade to the touchscreen Storm…

Anyway, that’s my two cents on the Blackberry Curve 8520, so I’m off to send a BBM to Management to say that this blog post is done. Mista Vybe OUTTT!!!

I’m sure the “sneak peek” picture above has you curious already, so TRUST ME when I tell you that you NEED to read the ENTIRE BLOG POST so you can find out all about the amazing diamond and gold encrusted Blackberry phones designed and made by Alexander Amosu for Amosu Ltd. One of Amosu’s phones is literally advertised as “The World’s Most Luxurious Blackberry”! Hmmm – sounds like a phone fit for a SUPERMODELROCKSTAR (AKA Mista Vybe) – right? ;-)

For those of you that might not know the name, Alexander Amosu is a UK-based designer who specialises in “blinging out” Blackberries for the rich and famous, through his exclusive custom phone company, simply named Amosu Ltd. As the designer himself said: ““To have an exclusive phone that cost more than anyone else’s is like owning a Bentley as opposed to a Ford. The type of phone you own speaks volumes about your lifestyle and ambition. That’s why celebrities, footballers, actors and millionaires come to (Amosu) for their phones”.

I don’t know about YOU, but I totally LOVE Amosu’s phones! Especially after looking at some of Amosu’s products – like THIS Black Diamond Bold from their Limited Edition line.

My personal favourite, however, is THIS Limited Edition diamond and gold encrusted Amoso Curva!!!

With 4,459 brilliant cut diamonds set in 18-carat yellow solid gold, it takes the concept of the “pimped out” phone to new levels, and that’s before you add the “global conscierge service” that comes with each phone.

In addition, Amosu will only make 3 of these £120,000.00 phones (for the record, that’s $201,128.91 US dollars at current exchange rates), so the owner (that would be moi) would be able to say that they have a truly EXCLUSIVE handset.

Hmmm… and it would look great inside one of those Louis Vuitton phone cases that I mentioned in a previous post! Okay – that’s it… consider the Curva SOLD!

Mista Vybe inna yuh Dancehall again (with a besssssss phone lol) outtttttttttt!

Okay – so I took Lil Man to see the movie “Shorts” today (AKA “Adventures Of the Wishing Rock”), in which the premise was of a small American town’s inhabitants letting loose their wildest desires when they happen upon a rainbow-coloured rock (“big stone” to Trinis lol) that grants the holder unlimited wishes, and that premise got me thinking: What would I ask for if I was going to be granted One Wish?

Hmmmm…

Put an end to World Hunger? Steups! I’m sure there’s a scientist who’s THIS close to cracking that one somewhere…

World Peace? Dang.. well what would all those out of work soldiers and terrorists do then?

Besides, why ponder such heavy issues when there’s SO MUCH COOL STUFF out there to be had by tech-heads like me, right?

Let’s see… very high on the list would be the awesome Black Berry Tour 9630.

Touted as Blackberry’s most feature-filled phone yet, it combines the best features of two previous models (Bold & Curve) which I already loved wayy more than my current Pearl 8100. The thing has world-roaming capabilities, Bluetooth, GPS, a highly-rated full QWERTY keyboard AND a 3.2-megapixel camera, backed up by an awesomely sharp 480 x 360 pixel display all housed in a sleek new design and the only down side is that lacks Wi-Fi capablities. (Thankfully I don’t surf wi-fi on my phone – that’s what the Batcomputer is for lol).

Another strong contender would be the 2nd Generation iPod Touch.

Note that I said iPOD and NOT iPHONE. I’m very happy being a Berry man when it comes to phone/messaging capabilities, but I do enjoy the listening/fun factor of my current iPod Classic 30GB, so why not upgrade to the classy 32GB iPod Touch? In addition to music and movies, there’s TONS of amazing games and other crazy apps that do everything from make music to help you excercise. Haven’t seen one that grants wishes like the rock in the movie though… hmm – Apple – is there “an app for that” too? lol

Hmm – maybe I should get some uber-cool Louis Vuitton leather cases for the iPod and the Blackberry while I’m at it too?

Hmm – and maybe I should get the iPod blinged out with some Swarovski Crystals too? That’s the IN thing for the rich and fabulous nowadays isn’t it?

Okkkk – maybe NOT! lol

I know!!! I could get some really funky wheels – like the 2009 Hummer H3X!

Not only is a rugged machine on the outside when it comes to tearing up the road (with a 3.7 liter inline five cylinder engine that puts out 242 horsepower and cranks 242 pounds-per-foot of torque), but it’s also steeped in luxury throughout (keyless doors, plush leather interiors with embroidered headrests, 6-disc cd-changer, standard XM satellite radio, etc).

AND to top it off for true gadget-lovers like me, it’s gizmo-friendly for your pleasure, with features like a Universal Remote (activate all its features at the touch of a button), Bluetooth connectivity (allowing my BlackBerry Tour to pair with it) and 3 strategically-placed 12-volt outlets throughout the interior (so I can plug in my Macbook Pro and charge the I-Touch and the Blackberry Tour lol).

Can you say NEW Vybe-Mobile? lol

Ahhh well… in the end it’s probably best I can’t wish for any of the above right this econd, because then I’d have to go hunting for a new Batcave (aka Home) thats worthy of housing all of the above… hmm sounds like I’d need something like a Wayne Mansion than a Batcave, right?

Ok then… back to work I go. Gotta go grind out some tunes in the studio to pay for all this stuff and the new crib!

Mista Vybe inna yuh Dancehall again.. OUTTTTT!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! *deep breath… count to a million… do meditation excercises… think peaceful thoughts*

Yeah – so the Bat-Computer is now in the shop, and since the show must go on nothing stops MistaVybeWorld.com from rolling, I’m actually writing this blog from *gasp! gulp! HIDE FACE IN SHAME* a PC laptop!!!!! A freakin’ DELL for crissakes!!!

STOP LAUGHING!!!

Anyway – moving on and backtracking to the scene of the crime… I was working on the laptop over at my Mom’s house, got up hurriedly when my Mom called out to me to come do something for her quick, and in my rush to hustle over to where she was, kicked the USB cord that connected my laptop to my Blackberry Pearl at the time, in the process making the Bat-Computer topple off the laptop table it was perched on and fall to its untimely death.

I won’t even bother to go into how I had JUST replaced the malfunctioning origjnal harddrive with a brand new one just recently, or how I was musing about getting an upgraded model of the Bat-Computer at this point… that’s what the Archives are for.

All I can really let you know at this point is that I whisked the laptop off to the same folks that fixed it the last time, hoping and praying that the malfunction which kept it from booting up was at least fixable, since I didn’t exactly budget for $2000 – $3000 or more (US dollars) to buy the new Macbook Pro I want so badly.

After much hoping and praying on my part and extra prayers from the rest of the MistaVybeWorld.com Team, I’m happy to say that the problem turned out NOT to be the logic board, but, in fact, the hard drive, which at least is a fixable issue.

Sadly, in this instance “fixable” means shelling out more $$ for ANOTHER brand new hard drive and having it formated and such by the fix-it folks. Fixable, but costly and frustrating. That’s 3 hard drives in like a 2 months folks – NOT cool.

But – at least I can take some solace in the fact that the Bat-Computer will indeed ride again, and in the meantime, I’ll be posting (on this blasted DELL) and trying to retain some semblance of “normalcy” online…

In closing I just want to say a heartfelt thanks to all those who reached out to me on and offline, or who just offered prayer or Positive Energy for the unfortunate laptop situation.

Fear not people – the Bat-Computer lives… kinda.

Get well soon Bat-Computer – I need you back!!!!!

Anyone that truly knows me knows how attached I am to my laptop. Even the nickname I gave it (“The “Bat-Computer”) indicates how much of a necessity it is to me on a daily basis (could Batman really fight crime effectively in the comics/cartoons without his trusty super-computer? I think not lol). But as much as I love and am grateful to the Bat-Computer for all it has done and continues to do for me daily (including typing up this blog post), I have to admit, I’m in lust with another Computer Love: the new and improved Macbook Pro (2009) “unibody” model.

COMPUTER LOVE: The Macbook Pro 2009! from MistaVybeWorld on Vimeo.

In all fairness I am working on an UPGRADED Bat-Computer, as a faulty hard-drive forced me to upgrade to a faster, bigger drive (7200 RPM, 300GB) right after my Germany trip. After getting my new hard drive installed and upgrading it to run on Mac OSX Leopard, I aptly renamed my old faithful laptop “The Batcomputer 2.0″.

But… a man’s gotta dream right?

And right now my computer dreams are of this – the new and upgraded Macbook Pro (2009 model) – called the “unibody” model, because the entire “body” of this Apple laptop is all carved out of one solid block of aluminum – which makes for a sleek, ultra-modern new look… and don’t even get me started on the slick black keys and the brilliant glossy display!

Add to that more more processing power (2.53GHz is the lowest possible intel-duo processor available as opposed to my current measly 2.16 GHz), much more RAM (4GB – almost twice my current 2.16GB), a bigger/badder hard drive (320GB out the box as opposed to my original 100GB), and you’ve got a deal that can’t be beat.

For those less tech-savvy – that means it does everything faster and better than before lol ;-)

So… as much as my current companion continues to help me be the best SUPERMODELROCKSTAR I can be.. I look forward to the FUTURE… Bat-Computer 3.0: The Next Generation! :-D

THE BAT-COMPUTER’S HARD DRIVE CRASHED A WEEK BEFORE MY TRIP TO GERMANY! And then it was saved, thanks to the wonderful people at Right Enterprises (google them – they ROCK!), and by Disk Warrior – the software superhero program (lol). AND THEN it crashed again!!! :-(

Okay lemme go back to the beginning… out of the blue, just days before my Germany trip, my faithful (and essential) laptop of three years suddenly refused to boot up after a late-night studio session.

Having carried it to the highly-recommended Right Enterprises folks, they informed me that there was a hard drive error and then they totally “restored” it using the Disk Warrior program, much to my relief.

After happily picking it up the day before I left for Germany and using it normally all night… we got to Germany the next night, needed to burn a new CD for me to perform with and found that The Bat-Computer WOULDN’T boot up AGAIN!!!

Long story short, it never worked again after that and when I got back to TnT I carried it straight back to the Right people, who pronounced my old hard drive Dead On Arrival. Thankfully I found a steal of a deal on a brand new 300GB drive (thanks Kasey!) and dropped it off  at Right, only to have back my beloved Bat-Computer in a few short days!

At Mom’s place (cause it was close to Right and I couldn’t wait lol), I upgraded the drive from the Tiger OS (Operating System for you non-tekkies) to Leopard (the newer/better version).

Then I used Leopard’s lovely Time Machine program to COMPLETELY RESTORE MY SYSTEM AND ALL INFORMATION to exactly the way it was the last night I backed up to my external harddrive – AKA the night BEFORE Germany. :-)

So all’s well that end’s well. Happy ending!

And, in conclusion Ladies and Gentlemen – I give you the new and improved BAT-COMPUTER 2.0!!!