Back in 2007( almost 8 years ago....ions, I know) I and so many other people were obsessed with smartphones. Many people that I knew had Blackberry smartphones, and I, having bought the cheapest phone I could for my 18th birthday( samsung flip phone with no camera) envied them. When my phone had water damage on it later that year, I had a friend who offered to give me her upgrade to a Blackberry smartphone. I thought I was going to get the Pearl and be "cool, hip and trendy"....well, that didn't work. Verizon would not let her give me (who wasn't on her account) her upgrade and it would have been the precursor to the Pearl...eh....
my other friend had the Pearl and I tried to use it to text my mom...I finally gave up and asked her to text my mom becuase I couldn't. Fast forward to 2009, when my upgrade was up. I still wanted a blackberry and tried ever so hard to convince my parents that I NEEDED a smartphone....they didn't buy it, so I got the EnV. It was ok until my neighbor needed it so I got the LG Versa and gave my neighbor my old EnV. My versa, out of the 4 phones that were actually mine by purchase( had to use my mom's old phone for a bit and ended up breaking that....)has been the only phone that still works and that if anything happened to my current smartphone, a Droid Razr HD, I could(very reluctantly) go back to using my old phone, becuase I already dropped my smartphone and shattered the screen and had to use insurance to get another phone. I'm not paying $150 so I can get another phone with 6 months left in my contract.....assuming they make Droid Razr's anymore, I'd just buy a Blackberry or Iphone off of Ebay.....
I got the Kin OneM for my next phone the morning that I could upgrade because it had the ability to go on the internet and use wi-fi but it randomly got a blank screen and would not turn off so I took it back into the store and they gave me a Samsung Brightside as a replacement. I was looking forward to the phone and for the most part it was great. It was around that time in 2012/2013 that all of my friends started migrating away from Blackberry and to either Iphone or Android. My cousin's family, which had previously all owned four Blackberry Bold phones switched to Droid, HTC, and Iphone. I'm not sure if my uncle is the sole Blackberry user or if he finally switched. My best friend, who had phones like the Blackberry Pearl and the Tour switched to the Samsung Galaxy S2 and then S5.
When I finally upgraded in 2013 to a smartphone, I thought that it was it! I was finally going to get a Blackberry. I'd even considered jumping ship and going to Boost Mobile to get the Blackberry Curve 9310 because I had almost got that phone in April of 2013 but the 'rents said no to the Verizon BB Curve 9310 with the $10 social media plan....so I waited....I rushed into the store to look at the new BB10 devices(the Z10 and the Q10) and the salesman said that I didn't want Blackberry because they were doing so poorly. I had always had the 2nd best or third best(which I didn't really mind), but I wanted something that I knew was going to be supported. I almost got the Samsung GS3 but the flimsiness of the look(I was working where I thought my phone would be thrown against a wall....not by me!! LOL) I thought I had better go with something more sturdy. I looked at the Iphone and the salesman(who was pushing Android) said that if I wanted to be the same as everyone and have what everyone else had, I should get the Iphone. In hindsight, with Blackberry ultimately out of my mind then, I should have gotten the Iphone. My sister had one, my cousins had one, most of my friends had one. Imessage was/and is great....
So I dropped my Droid RAZR HD again(2nd phone) while chasing my dad with a snowball...and the screen shattered. I considered FINALLY buying a Blackberry 9310 from Ebay but my sister was due for an upgrade anyway, so I saved my money and got her old Iphone 4 while she purchased a 64GB iphone 6. I really really want to upgrade to the newest iphone or at least the iphone 6( the 6Plus is too much phone for my small hands) and so I'm content using my iphone 4....until recently. I've only got two more months until my birthday but we will be moving so I'm planning on waiting actually until Sept. when the new Iphone comes out and either buying that one or buying the iphone 6 for a cheaper price and maybe getting the 128GB model....lol, I'd never need that much storage
I was at a clothing swap  and noticed a verizon branded Blackberry 8330 for free. Mind you, it had no battery, there were scratches and scuffs, and no charger, I thought, finally I can have a full qwerty keyboard and experience a blackberry....albeit a VERY OLD one. The charger I ordered off of amazon came in the mail a couple of days ago and the battery leisurely made it's way to me two weeks later. I don't have any games on my iphone anymore(because I don't have time to play them), and I feel like I would use my phone less if I still had a smartphone for essentials but only really used it for texting, ect. 
So I got my blackberry fired up and started using it, and it's just too old....it's very confusing and all so I'm just going to wipe it, wipe my versa, wipe my droid, and recycle them or something...
I'm mainly doing it to give my sister's 3 year old Iphone a break so that it doesn't suddenly crap out on me and I'm left with the Versa again. I can switch between the two phones without having a change in my bill which is great and while I will have to worry about data overages for myself now, I see myself using it as more of a texting/phone call phone with occasional light browsing...especially since I have an ipad for youtube or movies. Hulu Plus is nice on my ipad/iphone and I'm hoping that I can use it while on wi-fi only and essentially have an  16GB"ipod" and a Blackberry.
Not seeing myself staying with the brand of Blackberry, but I can finally say that I tried it and I owned one

Now that the Blackberry Classic has arrived on Verizon, it seems like too little too late. I occasionally see people walking around with the new Z10 and Q10 (2 people). I haven't seen anyone with the Passport and it would be too much phone for me. I'm not at a job that needs emails all day long, and I primarily use my phone for texts, games, listening to music and watching videos. I'll go with a white Iphone 6 or 7 when the time comes, especially if I can wait(my phone doesn't crap out on me) until Sept. 2015 with the release of the new Iphone.
Looking forward to switching to Apple for good eventually even with the very tempting Samsung S6. It's so nice looking and tempting but it's so easy with iMessage and pictures and all....almost all of the accessories are for Iphones or Samsungs, which is nice....prob will stick with Iphone.