The time was right over the weekend. I was at my girlfriend’s place. She has a PC, I have a Mac, so this was my opportunity to take care of any BlackBerry issues which require Desktop Software. When I saw that Verizon officially released 4.5 for the 8330, I thought I was in heaven. I sat down at the table, downloaded Desktop Manager, and followed the link to download Verizon’s 4.5. Only, it wasn’t there anymore. Undeterred, I just followed the link for the Cellular South version of the software. That worked fine. After I opened DM, it asked me to upgrade. That’s where the fun, and the misery, began.
I set the process in motion, knowing it would take a bit. Sitting down with a book, I waited, and waited, and waited. Then the girlfriend’s apartment phone rang, and I got up to get it. Hey, it could have been her, after all. Not like she could have called my phone; upgrading the OS means your radio is off. Yet when I stood up, something caught. My BlackBerry went tumbling to the ground, thudding on the floor. The worst part: the USB cable had disconnected.
(For the record, it was the girlfriend who was calling. Not that this makes it any better.)
I thought my Berry was dead. It wouldn’t turn on. No lights flashed. It was just a hunk of metal and plastic. The neighbors might have been startled by my cries of agony. I honestly thought it was gone for good.
Then I thought better of it. There are plenty of things that can go wrong with a BlackBerry, and most of them are documented on the Internet. So I did some searching while I pulled the battery a few times. Finally, the LED started blinking. After a little more searching I found great instructions from BlackBerry FAQ. Once I did that, it re-started the 4.5 install process.
Of course, I lost everything, including my apps, messages, phone numbers (for the second time in two months). But I did get 4.5. Which is cool. I went out and got the Storm Dock Bottom Zen Today Plus theme, which rocks. Now I’ll have to see what else 4.5 can do.
