Name: Gilles Deplancke, Law Student and Co-Founder Oldboy.be, Event organization

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/majorfacts
Website: http://www.oldboy.be
Blog: http://www.majorfacts.be

 

Tell us about yourself, what do you do?

I’m a last year law student and co-founded an event organization with two friends (www.oldboy.be). Additionally I write a personal blog (www.majorfacts.be) with the subtitle “Your Daily Bites Of Life” where I write about many different things: hot topics in the news section, politics, sports, funny videos, gadget’s, music, you name it …

Which BlackBerry model do you own?

I own the BlackBerry Bold for two months now (my first BlackBerry) and I love it! It’s been a while now that I’m following the BlackBerry devices. With the 8800 series and the Curve I already doubted to buy one. But I always had the feeling those devices are for business use only. But with the launch of the Bold, when I saw it’s possibilities, I immediately knew this device would be just great for me. And I can highly recommend it to everyone, whether your use is professional and/or personal. It’s the best phone I’ve ever used!

What do you like most about your BlackBerry?

First of all: the push-email possibilities. My email being pushed to my phone is great. Before I had my BlackBerry I used an HTC smartphone on which I needed to synchronize my email myself. Now you just get them within a minute. I’m also very pleased with the media section. I can play my favorite music tracks, when I travel alone I can check a movie on the fabulous screen etc. Actually this BlackBerry is an all in one device. It’s my phone, my calendar, my ipod … all in the same device.

I’m also a big fan of the keyboard. It’s the best keyboard I’ve ever had, very easy to use and the keys are just big enough. I also should mention the text capabilities, for example the ‘copy-paste’ capability is just great.

And last but not least: the search button on the BlackBerry just rules! We all know the situation in which you need some information that was sent to you a couple of weeks ago. On many devices you’ve got to scroll through your email or SMS folder to find that message back. Not on the BlackBerry! Here you just fill in a keyword, and in a couple of seconds you get all your messages in which that keyword is mentioned! It just rules! And I’m sure that I forgot to mention a lot of things that are great on my phone…

Why don’t you have an iPhone?

I’ve never been quite a fan of the iPhone. I must be honest: it’s a great device, the technology is great, but I rather see it as a toy than as a phone. I’m not a fan of touchscreens in general (although I’d love to test the BlackBerry Storm’s clickable touchscreen). Last year I’ve used the HTC Tytn for about three months and I just hated that touchscreen. Nowadays, my father has the iPhone and when I try to type an SMS or email on that device, it just doesn’t work. I guess my thumbs are to wide or something like that, but I just keep making a lot of mistakes. I send a lot of SMS and email messages with my phone, so the iPhone is not exactly a good device for me.

Another reason why I prefer my BlackBerry Bold is simple: you’ve just got more features. You can’t make videos with the iPhone, it doesn’t have MMS, you can’t switch memory cards etc. Also you do not have the search button and you can also forget about ‘copy-paste’…

Maybe if I start working I’d consider buying an iPod touch, just to keep work and fun separated. But for a phone, I’m pretty sure I’ll keep using BlackBerry.

What are your favourite applications on the BlackBerry?

Currently I have the Flickr, Windows Live Messenger, Facebook, TwitterBerry and amAze GPS applications on my Berry. TwitterBerry and Facebook are the applications that I use most. It’s great to be able to post your Tweets on the go, and with TwitterBerry it’s easy to add a picture to your tweet. The Flickr application is also very nice, when I take a picture and I send it to Flickr, it immediately shows up on my blog.

For the future I hope they’ll come with a Wordpress mobile application so that I can start mobile blogging again…

How does the BlackBerry make you more productive?

Well I’ve already mentioned the search button; it saves a lot of time if you need information that has been sent to you in an SMS or email. The calendar also works perfect. Each Sunday I fill in my appointments and tasks for the next week in Microsoft Outlook on my laptop, a quick synchronization with my BlackBerry and I’m sure I won’t forget any appointments or tasks when I’m ‘on the go’.

Also ‘Word and Power Point to go’ is very helpful. When I need to give a certain presentation at school, I can check my PowerPoint presentation and read the whole text on my phone while I’m on the train for example. And I can even add some new text or slides in my presentation. And off course the push email makes it possible to answer email very fast.

What is the favorite thing you do with your BlackBerry?

I think it’s great on this device that you can follow the Twitter and Facebook updates of your friends at any time. So as a student, I like those possibilities. I also use the multimedia capabilities a lot. Listening to my favorite music while I’m watching my pictures is just great. I only have the device for two months, but I’m already quite an addict.