Never say goodbye

The BlackBerry Z10 is a smartphone that easily grew on me.  It can do everything that all my former BB smartphones can do, and then some.

After a quick setup the BBZ10 was good and ready to go. One of the first features I explored was the push e-mail. After all, I have been a regular user of BB and I just had to be sure that the BBZ10 could do exactly the things that made me love my other BB smartphones.  It took me all of three minutes to send and receive e-mail — yes, I timed it! 

In a job where I rely heavily on e-mail for checking if a writer’s column has been received (even when I am on the road), or photos from my editor, the BBZ10 works just perfectly for me.

Of course, there are other uses where the Z10 is just a dream of a smartphone — with the new BBM video and screen share. I was able to use the BBM video chat to talk to a friend in Bangkok; with the huge screen and clear camera it was like I was sitting right next to her! While we were video chatting, I was able to use the screen-share option, and show her some snaps of images that I had taken recently.

I was more than thrilled to show off my doggies. More so since she hadn’t seen Vodka the Bichon since I got her.  I have taken so many videos of Vodka that many have come to think of me as insane. But, hey, life is what we make of it — and what we take of it, too, right? 

I must mention that I was pleasantly surprised with the BBZ10 hub, which lets me know just what has come in, whether that be an e-mail text, BBM message, missed call or whatever else was received on the smartphone while I was away. Nifty, indeed.

But just like any other smartphone, the BlackBerry Z10 works well if it is complemented by a mobile Internet connection that allows me to utilize the Z10 to its full potential.

I have been a Globe subscriber ever since I got my first cell phone over 10 years ago. And through the years I know what it has been like to benefit from the many different ways I have been Globe-connected.

In the past connections were only about making calls and sending and receiving texts.  That was the state of cell phone usage when I started over 10 years ago. 

Today, it almost seems sooo old if one uses the cell phone only for texting and calling (does anybody still do that?)

Globe-connected BlackBerry Z10 stays up to date all the time.

The connections for this generation of smartphone users are more Internet-related. Browsing the Net for instant answers to quick trivia questions, checking on e-mail and making video calls once in a while are what smartphones are for. 

I have been able to learn to do all these more efficiently with a BlackBerry. And the BBZ10 has allowed me to become more connected a whole lot more quickly. 

It’s good that Globe Telecom introduced PowerSurf, a consumable megabyte-based mobile browsing plan that allows me to have control of the way I use the Z10 and just how much or how little I really want to download.

It has been explained to me that PowerSurf uses megabytes or MBs, a unit that measures data in Internet connections. This is definitely a more efficient way to remain in control of the way I use the smartphone — without fear of bill shock.

In the past, I used to keep my mobile online activities to a minimum because I didn’t what to get caught with a bill that would give me a heart attack. I was always so nervous so I would find ways to make sure I used as little mobile Internet as possible.

I tried out the PowerSurf 499, where I get 1G of Internet that I can use wherever and whenever.  With this plan I was able to check my e-mail worry-free, because I knew that my data was being measured by megabyte, and not by time online.

At the start I had a bit of a difficulty getting used to the concept of paying only for what I download. After all, I come from a time when cellphone usage was just for talk and Internet connections were as yet unheard of.

Now I know that with PowerSurf’s “no bill shock” guarantee, I will never pay more than P999. PowerSurf is available for Prepaid and Postpaid subscribers for all types of needs and budgets, from plans as affordable as P15 with 20 MB, to plans as large as P499, giving you 1G of data.

What a cutie: Vodka the Bichon is my fave photo person. I took her with the BBZ10.

“PowerSurf MB is best for smartphone users who always want to be connected and be online without having to worry about high data charges,” said Jenny Granada-Echevarria, head of Globe Mobile Data Services,  “since charging is not based on time spent online, but on what they do and the sites they go to when connected to mobile Internet.”

What better way is there of staying on top of my connected life than this?  None that I know of — so far.