Let’s get two things straight right from the start. I don’t own an iPhone, don’t want an iPhone, and as much as I love my MacBook, it will probably be a hell of a long time before I even think about getting an iPad. No, for all my smart phone needs, I choose BlackBerry. I’ve had one for going on two years now, and I love it. With that being said though, I do take extra special care when it comes to protecting my BlackBerry, since I have so much information stored in it that if I ever lost it, I’d be toast. The games aren’t the best, but I can always play games free online, so that makes up for it.

Thankfully I found out last week that Research in Motion has developed a new app called BlackBerry Protect, which in times of trouble, allows you to nuke your smart phone from anywhere. How awesome is that? Before you start jib-jabbing that Apple has MobileMe, take a second to realize that BlackBerry Protect is free, and not on a monthly plan.

Here’s how it works: say I lose my BlackBerry. Oh no! I look all over the house, turn over my couch cushions, look in the cat litter box, but alas, it’s gone. I can then log-in to the web portal, select a “loud ring” function, and hope that my Husky didn’t eat it. You with me? Good. Now let’s say that I lost the phone outside. I can locate it using the GPS function on BlackBerry Protect, and find out exactly where I left it. Of course, that doesn’t help if someone is walking away with it, but those are the breaks. What I can do is if I discover it’s somewhere in a relatively safe area, I can change the display screen to read something like,” Hey I’m an idiot and lost my phone, please call 555-DORK so I can get it back.” Pretty neat, huh?

Here’s the mother of all functions though. Let’s say all hope is lost, and my precious BlackBerry is toast. I can’t find it, no one has returned my display message, and the guys at work are starting to slap signs on my back with some obscure Apple reference on them. I can log-in to that web portal we talked about, and completely nuke the smart phone’s hard drive, preventing any of my info from being stolen. Bam! Take that, Apple.

I may not be able to video chat with people on it, I can’t play fancy games, but I get good reception, and since I’ve dropped it more than half a dozen times without a case, I know it’s durable as hell. It’s my BlackBerry, and I love it. Now, you have a reason to love it, too.