After using Windows Mobile 6, and hacking and overclocking my Samsung Blackjack... I still always end up coming back to the Blackberry Pearl. The device is just immaculate. The only flaw I find in it is that it doesn't work on the Next G network... which is a minimal flaw when all I really use it for is emails and some browsing.

The Pearl is so much smaller, quicker, easier to use. In my mind, Research In Motion have set the standard for smartphones with the Pearl.

So having been away from the Pearl for more than a month, it was inevitable that some new handheld software would be out somewhere. T-Mobile happened to have released their latest version only a week ago - so that needed to be installed.

Now I've done many of these software updates on my various Blackberry devices before. And they are firmware upgrades, so there's always a risk. But I've never once run into a problem. That was, until this morning. I still don't know what went wrong, but about halfway through, it asked for the device password, wouldn't let me enter it in... and that was it - the update software one the computer froze up. And from there, the device just flashes its little red light and never powers up.

Hello Blackberry-Pearl-shaped paperweight.

That was rather disappointing. But now I feel like a real nerd... cos I've bricked a device. Yeah.