Smart Phone Wars

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574473423239117900.html

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So far, the king of this new field, in my view, remains its pioneer, the iPhone. Apple's phone has its limitations, but its design, usability and versatility have kept it ahead. There's a well-equipped iPhone model available for as little as $99, and the platform offers a staggering 85,000 downloadable apps. By comparison, there are around 10,000 apps for Android, 3,000 for the newer models of the Research in Motion BlackBerry, a few hundred modern apps for phones running the latest versions of Microsoft's Windows Mobile software, and even fewer than that for Palm's Pre and its soon-to-be released little sibling, the Pixi.
 
My iphone was acting up today. Bad reception. My brother has Verizon, I have ATT. He says my phone always has bad reception. Others have not said anything. Today though, someone from Arizona called me and I had to call her back on my wife's Blackberry. Sucks.

As far as apps and just having a cool phone, iphone blows the BB away. IMO. More of a toy than a phone. lol
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
For a business phone with e-mail the Blackberry is awesome. If you want a "Toy" then get an I-Phone IMO.

Agreed.
 
My BB 8900 works great with the latest OS 5.0.0.238, but its web browser is still ancient compared to the iPhone.
 
If you need to receive business email on your Blackberry, check with your IT dept. first to see if they have the proper infrastructure to support it. It takes it's own server running a software (Blackberry Enterprise Server) interfaced with your company's existing (Microsoft, Novell, or Lotus) email system to support blackberries. This is not to say that you couldn't use webmail, if your company offers it, but it's not the same as a mobile client.

This is not the case with other phones, so be advised.
 
My iPhone has been sitting on my table for months. Biggest waste of my money. My Blackberry will always be my baby. Heck, even the T-Mobile MyTouch I have is better than the iPhone. I can't belive such a hyped up phone has zero multitasking ability.
 
Things I like about my Blackberry are:

1) It never drops calls (at least on me)
2) Its easy to e-mail and open attachments and never hangs or freezes up
3) The calls are very clear
4) It syncs with my Exchange Server e-mail at work
5) The battery life is superb and it takes me a 2-3 full days to wear it down depending on use.
6) The camera on it isn't bad at all
7) You can use it like a USB flash drive by hooking it up to your computer and it can play MP3's as ring tones
8) They are as tough as $!#@ to break, I have dropped mine many times and in a puddle too and it's still going.
9) The screen doesn't scratch easily at all
10) There is a lot of customizable things you can do with a Blackberry. Sure it doesn't have as many "apps" as the i-phone but IMO alot of them are useless anyways.
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
Things I like about my Blackberry are:

Which one do you have? Mine is the 9000 on AT&T, so here are my experiences by comparison:


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1) It never drops calls (at least on me)

Mine does, but I think it has to do with the network operator, not really the phone itself.

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2) Its easy to e-mail and open attachments and never hangs or freezes up
3) The calls are very clear
4) It syncs with my Exchange Server e-mail at work

True.

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5) The battery life is superb and it takes me a 2-3 full days to wear it down depending on use.

Mine would last 2 days if I didn't use it much. Now, ever since I upgraded to the latest firmware, it seems to last even less, despite having most of the stuff turned off (wireless, bluetooth, etc.)

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6) The camera on it isn't bad at all
7) You can use it like a USB flash drive by hooking it up to your computer and it can play MP3's as ring tones

Yup.

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8) They are as tough as $!#@ to break, I have dropped mine many times and in a puddle too and it's still going.

Haven't tried any of the above, so I can't comment. My fiance's coworker dropped hers into a puddle though, and it was the end of it.

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9) The screen doesn't scratch easily at all

I try to be very careful with mine, yet I still have some scratches on it.

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10) There is a lot of customizable things you can do with a Blackberry. Sure it doesn't have as many "apps" as the i-phone but IMO alot of them are useless anyways.

I guess it depends on the user. Out of all those iPhone apps, I'm sure there is a fair share that are useful. But I can't complain about the apps for BB either. The problem with BB is that you can't have too many apps installed at once because apps can only be installed in its FLASH memory (not on memory card), and that memory isn't very big for some reason.

One thing I do like is the actual QWERTY keyboard on the BB, but I guess it's a matter of preference.
 
Two things about the iPhone, one multitasking & true keyboard.

Pocket Tunes (pTunes) allows for any MP3 or AAC stream to be run in the background as of the most recent update. VERY nice!

Otherwise, this thing does a lot of things right.

When folks bring me their BB's to program them to our email system, I invariably start touching the screen and expect things to happen.
lol.gif
 
Well I got a blackberry for *really* cheap yesterday, so I'm trying it out. I like the layout and functionality so far... Like all phones, there's the backdoors and workarounds and tweaks that are so fun. I like it.
 
Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
Well I got a blackberry for *really* cheap yesterday, so I'm trying it out. I like the layout and functionality so far... Like all phones, there's the backdoors and workarounds and tweaks that are so fun. I like it.


Upgrade your Blackberry to the latest firmware and it will function even better. I have an 8900 with version 5.0.0.238 and it is a significant improvement over the included software.

Also, purchase a screen protector as soon as possible. The $1 ones from eBay are great, and with some care, they will install with no bubbles and will be completely invisible.
 
If everyone liked the same thing, then this world would be a dull boring one and there would be no room for invention or innovation. To each his/her own. :)
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic

Upgrade your Blackberry to the latest firmware and it will function even better. I have an 8900 with version 5.0.0.238 and it is a significant improvement over the included software. ...


+1
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This firmware is much better and I like how the trackball no longer scrolls up/down side-to-side on the web app's it's now a mouse that can move diagonally as well now.

They also updated the Battery Management software (my brother worked for RIM and still has connections). They changed a few things to improve the life without affecting the performance.

I use mine probably about 3 solid hours a day for e-mail and about 2 solid hours a day of phone calls and I still get 2 days out of mine.
 
I work with some PC tech nerds and they're always blowing their paychecks on the latest and greatest phone. I don't get it. If it dials and texts and has a camera, I'm happy.
 
I like both and am no expert on either platform. I am much more impressed with the iphone overall then the BB. More apps, easier to use and just a really cool phone that has great games. itunes/ipod are great too.
 
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