I'm on the twelfth day of my BlackBerry Torch Challenge and things are starting to look up. In my last video, I proclaimed that I was nearly ready to give up and that anyone who was a fan of BlackBerry must not have used any other OS because there's no way BlackBerry can compete with Android, iOS, or Windows Phone. I've since calmed down a bit and strengthened my resolve to stick with the challenge and not give up. I decided to dig into the OS more and take a serious look at what it had to offer. I deleted the custom theme I had downloaded and went back to the drawing board. I found a few new features, some new apps I didn't realize were there, and I grew to appreciate a few things about the OS that I had taken for granted.

One feature I sorely missed when I made the switch was note-taking. The OS I had used most recently was Windows Phone so having Microsoft Office readily available for note-taking was extremely convenient. It was a feature I used a lot. After searching through the menus, I found a Memo Pad app that was pre-installed and a Task List app. These two apps may not seem like a big deal, but they're two missing links that I needed. So far as I could tell, BlackBerry was good with e-mail and social networking, and that was pretty much it. If I'm going to use this phone for my primary device, I need to be able to use it in every aspect of my life, not just when I need to check my e-mail. Having a Memo Pad app is a big part of that. I've also started using Slacker Radio a lot and the BlackBerry app is so much better than the Windows Phone app.

I'm starting to appreciate its strengths as an e-mail machine. Getting e-mails instantly is a nice feature and something that I didn't experience with Android or Windows Phone. I do still wish the app selection was better, but for now, I'm getting used to BlackBerry and what it offers. I still don't know if I could stay with BlackBerry, but at least the challenge is getting easier.