Anyone know about Blackberries?

[fewnotmuch]

I am thinking about a Blackberry instead of a laptop or notebook. I don't know much about Blackberries. I wonder why it was ever called a Blackberry but that is not the main thing. I have a co-worker who uses one and it seems he can very much do a lot of things that you could do with a laptop such as send email, compose notes and even get the internet ; this is according to the general answers he gave me when I asked him about it. Thus it seems if I had a Blackberry that I could at least write notes which I can send as emails to my own email address and then I would have certain essays or other writings done in draft to edit or revise later on when I get to a proper computer. If I had a Blackberry and it gets the internet, I could find different kinds of information regarding maps, information about anything I wish to study such as math, chemistry and I could even look up the news reports I missed when I could not listen to NPR. I would be able to get a lot of these things done while I am waiting in a very long line or perhaps at one of my current jobs one of which is Census worker in which I have to wait by a desk of papers and wait for someone to come to ask about how to fill out their Census form. I often have to wait for 7 hours with nothing happening. A Blackberry would be portable and convenient. Am I right about all this, that a Blackberry could do all thesse things very much like a computer? I am not that technologically savvy but I appreciate any information anyone can give me about using a Blackberry. Are there monthly payments like with certain cell phones? What are the price ranges? Are the prices according to having more or fewer features on your Blackberry. Is there such a thing as a Blackberry without a camera? I would not need for it to have a camera and in fact I need one without a camera. How would I arrange to pay for internet service through a Blackberry? Is it arranged at the store where you buy a Blackberry? I am not sure I am even asking the right quesions but it seems that if a Blackberry is very much like a computer as far as email and internet functions, it seems that just like a person pays for certain internet service along with phone service, it seems it might be the same for a Blackberry.

All useful information is appreciated. I will add more questions about this as I think them up.