The AT&T 8525 is a cell phone on steroids. In other words, it's big, bulky, and prone to fits of roid rage or some other suddent fit of pique. It has a slide-out keyboard, and my phone burns through batteries so quickly, I have an extra-capacity battery that adds a hump to the already bulky phone.

It's like the stereotypical pumper - it's huge, it tries to scream "I can do everything!" and it ... is lacking compared to the new kid.

I suffer from toy envy just as much as the next Geek.Kitty. The iPhone looks great. Even if I work for The Competition, there are a lot of them around me, and they're quite cool.

Every so often, I hear the telltale sound of the motion-sensitive light saber app. Or, I spy the sleek and slender silhouette sliding out of someone's pocket.

This trip, the 8525 started barfing. It stopped taking a charge. After some backtracking, it may have been after I plugged in the wired headset (hey, HTC! how about a 'normal' 2.5mm tri-ring? What's with your funky mini-USB+pins connector?)

Of course, by this time, I've already started wondering if it's the battery pack, so I ordered a replacement. I also bartered some geeking on my brother-in-law's computer for his Bluetooth earbud.

I love my phone. Really. I love how I can check email remotely. I love how I can tether it to my laptop and get some low-speed bandwidth. I love how it has a real keyboard (as real as a slide-out gets.)

But I don't love it that much. I really wish I had an iPhone, but I can't afford it. That aside, I just wish the phone I had wasn't as clunky in comparison.