Sorry Apple iPhone, You’re No BlackBerry

Posted by Mauricio on Jun 23, 2009 at 11:14 AM | Comments

I liked reading this article because the author, Andrew R Hickey, is objective in the sense that he openly admits he does like the iPhone but believes the BlackBerry to be the better smartphone (which it is haha).

The one thing I always ask people that ask me “iPhone or BlackBerry” is that they have to decide, do they want a toy or a smartphone that rocks tool. Andrew and I are in agreement about the iPhone being more of a toy than a device that can provide useful and multiple functionalities that we would use in day-to-day activities.

Don’t get me wrong, the BlackBerry can be just as much of a toy as the iPhone with its own variety of games and entertainment but what makes the BlackBerry better is that it is for both work AND play.

Despite pushing 1 million units on the Apple iPhone-hungry masses in just a weekend, the Apple iPhone 3G S isn’t going to single-handedly unseat the BlackBerry from atop the smartphone mountain.

And regardless of what the folks at Crowd Science found through their survey — which indicated BlackBerry users will ditch their CrackBerrys for iPhones in droves — the iPhone won’t replace Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, which has become synonymous with business mobility. They’re affectionately called CrackBerrys for a reason, right?

Let’s be clear: Apple’s iPhone and the new iPhone 3G S are killer smartphones. They are slick, they are cool and they pack a lot of punch. Plus, pulling out your iPhone in a crowded coffee shop or bar is pretty much a wink and a nod acknowledging that you are part of an elite group of insiders who “get it.”

But, to me, the iPhone is more about fashion than function. It’s a toy, not a tool. Yes, you can get e-mail and send messages, you can make and receive calls, you can snap photos and now record video all from your device. But you can do all of that with a BlackBerry, too. And the BlackBerry has more than a decade of smartphone innovation under its belt compared to the iPhone’s measly three generations.

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Tags: Apple, BlackBerry, Crowd Science, iPhone, Smartphone

Edwin

I would love to see a good iPhone vs. BlackBerry comparison. It seems to me that all these articles are about BlackBerry users shouting "We have been able to do that since forever! The BlackBerry does it too!" but they don't get that even though they can record video, the interface is clumsy, the media player is useless and the app selection mediocre. "Oh, but it's not a toy, it's a tool you see!" That does not hide the fact that the iPhone has many more apps and games and can do EVERYTHING BlackBerry can. "Oh we can multi-task!" Well I'd rather much prefer to use one good excellent app rather than five simultaneous half-as-good-as-their-iPhone-equivalent apps. And with Push Notifications, the multitasking advantage of a blackberry is nearly removed.

"Oh, we don't have to charge our phones so much!" Yes, because you can't do half as much as an iPhone can.

Wake up and smell the roses. The iPhone has done in two years much more than BlackBerry will ever hope to achieve.

DataCentre

I drive a bus all day long, and use my BlackBerry Bold to watch videos, listen to music and radio, talk on the phone etc....but when it comes time when my battery is just about to die....OMG....I have a spare battery that I can swap out with. Let's see an iPhone user do that. You tell me that you can play lets say 3 - 4 hours of games, listen to music, browse the web, talk on the phone for about 3 hours and tell me how much battery life you would have. Oh....we can't charge our phones on the bus either....so an iPhone for me would suck.

I like to have a few apps open as I have to go back and forth from time to time. A lot easier than having to shut it down and re-open it.

Michael Jones

@Edwin:
I not only have a BlackBerry, I have the Bold. It is the fastest and best BlackBerry, with a keyboard. It's screen has the same resolution as the iPhone, but I also have a keyboard. Where I work (big corporate multinational), you cannot even install iTunes (forbidden). So I could not sync an iPhone. I have all my meetings and contacts on my phone, and it is very important for me to sync data. I work with my phone all day; I don't just play with iFart or twitter people from Starbucks. I need to be able to multi-task and edit Word+Excel docs.

Poking around on an iPhone at work might be okay, if you work at Kinko's, the mall or a coffee house. We are expected to work, here in corporate land. BlackBerries are for work. My wife has an iPhone, and she likes it, but it takes her a lot longer to do even simple things. My Bold also has better reception in marginal areas, like our farm in the country; I think it must have a better antenna. The iPhone is fine in the city, but try going out into the country - no bars in more places.

The Bold can also work with a 32GB Micro SD card. Yeah, the new iPhone now gives you a 32GB option, but I had 32GB last year. I have a ton of music. I also stream music in all day with Pandora or Slacker, and can do that easily, even while working on Excel sheets in my BlackBerry. I don't know if you can stream music in on an iPhone, while editing a document. Probably not.

If I need to download a large file from somewhere, I can start that, then go read my email, check the web, edit a document, all sorts of things. Don't discount multi-tasking; it is important to a lot of people.

Finally, I had the choice of buying a 3G iPhone, the HTC Fuze or the BlackBerry Bold, last year. I use a keyboard a lot, all day. I have big fingers, and smearing around on a flat screen keyboard was no fun for me. The HTC Fuze was nice, but I don't like the flip-out keyboard, turning it sideways, to use the keyboard.

I am also a Mac iBook user, so don't think I am an Apple basher. I have had several Newtons, eMates, Palms over the years. If Apple comes out with an iPhone with a keyboard, that multi-tasks, I will buy that for my next phone.

Edwin

So you guys admit that, since your workplace is not iPhone friendly, you have to make do with a BlackBerry. That was my point. I'm not saying the BB sucks. I'm just saying that I haven't seen someone admit that the iPhone is a superior device. You claim the battery life is a problem, I say it is because you can't do half as much on your phone. Eliminate your work restrictions and you could njoy the Jesus phone. That's what I want you to admit. The only advantage so far to BB I've seen is " it's great if your workplace is not iPhone friendly".