A few weeks back, I talked about finding the phone I wanted to replace my blackberry. My blackberry, you see, was in dire straights: Battery pulls daily, an all around joke to get it to sync with my email at work, and a nightmare for usability (hurry up and wait).

My carrier, Telus, was getting the HTC Desire. I wasn’t interested in getting a phone with a slide out keyboard (too many moving parts to break), and the specs it was rated with were far and away among the best on the market. It finally arrived today, and I picked mine up not 15 minutes ago.

First impressions? Wow. If only my tablet were this snappy, this fast, this amazing to look at. I realize tablets are in their infancy, and you get what you pay for, but I honestly cannot wait until they catch up to phones like this.

I found out that it launches at an amazing $79 with a contract renewal – which proved to be no problem. Add a skin for protection, and it came in quite nicely priced. The Samsung equivalent, launched on Bell today, at almost twice the price ($149.95/$499.95) – although, you could walk into a Best Buy and get it for $100, with a $75 in-store credit.

I managed to take a look at the screen when I walked into the mall (where the Telus Kiosk is), and noted that there were only 8 in Abbotsford – and I was the first to get it. I will never look back, sorry blackberry!