Gadget Decoys

I have looking into replacing my good old iPAQ with the Blackberry Bold.

Since its announcement I have been trying to get my hands on a real unit just for a few minutes to get a feel for its browser, GPS and other applications. Everywhere I have asked so far (Rogers, Best Buy, ...), I get only a decoy and it is chained to a security device on top of that!

When cellular devices were just phones you could get a reasonable feel for the keypad from the decoy. But to make a decision on a $600 device (that's the price without a plan) based on the colored sticker representing the screen, without having a chance to see the the actual resolution and display quality or without looking at the bundled navigation application etc. is just nonsense.

We can test drive a car but not a smart phone! If we applied the same logic to car dealerships, you would be seated in a body of the car you're interested in, without engine of course. The decoy would be tethered to a central pole, and you would be asked to test drive it by pushing it around the pole with your own legs (two large holes to the ground are provided on the driver side for that purpose!).

WirelessWave has an ad inviting prospects to come and "play" with the Bold. I am going to find out if they too play with decoys only. Stay tuned!