I’m looking to make the jump from my old school Verizon flip phone to the world of 3G, internet access, etc. Not a work related upgrade…this will be coming out of my pocket so I want to make it worthwhile, etc. Hoping to get some thoughts on preferences, experience with one (or both), likes and dislikes…
Thanks.
Go for the iPhone. It is the only piece of technology that has changed the way I do things since the PCs were invented and the internet some 14 years ago.
I do not know of a single unhappy iPhone user.
Never had a Blackberry. Really like my Iphone.
I recently switched from Blackberry to IPhone.
IPhone has lots of cool factor (yeah you already knew that). Easy to jump around, like working on a laptop. The ‘extra’ applications make it a pretty sweet piece. The email and phone applications are not as good as blackberry. From a pure business aspect, Blackberry is much stronger. Then again, I use my iPhone primarily for business and have no major issues with it. It may make a difference that I work and play on Mac so they are very in-sync. I think the iPhone is another 12-18 months to working out some kinks
Battery life on the iphone isn’t great, so ready access to a charger (or chargers - home, car, etc.) is useful. It’s possible (with the right software) to create and edit Microsoft office documents on a blackberry; so far as I know no such capability exists yet for the iphone, although you can view these files. I think hardware keyboards (blackberry) are a bit easier to type on than software keyboards (iphone). The iPhone also lacks cut and paste in text editing.
However, after developing software for a wide variety of mobile devices since the mid-90s, the iphone is the first one I’ve ever found useful enough and usable enough to carry around with me all the time, despite the above shortcomings.
Can I upload contacts from a database like a Palm or Outlook to the iPhone or Blackberry or will I have to retype every address? I’m guessing there is probably an iPhone application or Blackberry synch on the computer that will handle this. Correct?
Take it from one who has tried them all Iphone, blackberry, Htc and the like. Number 1 do you need to have reliable email or not so reliable email? Number 2, who has the best coverage where you live and travel? I live in the southeast and don’t travel as much as i one did, that being said Att has the best most reliable network here. So i was able to try the iphone were the network was a 9.5 on a scale of 10. If you live in certain parts of the country (cali) att is reported to be horrible. The problem for me was email, the only true “push” email options on the Iphone is to have a .yahoo account or use the microsoft exchange option. I have a .yahoo account but i don’t use it for business. Where i work we don’t have exchange. I had the Iphone for 2 weeks and at least 4 times i had to do a manual update to get important emails that did not get picked up in a timely manner. Htc (fuze) makes some downright bullettproof handsets but email is also a problem without a “push” option. The user interface on a windows mobile device (htc) is not easiest for some folks to learn. The blackberry wins for me because of the email, it simply works all the time. The Iphone was “cool” and “hip” but several lockups and email problems broke the deal. The sales person at Att stated that these problems were to “be expected” if you use the Ipone. Also, if you actually plan on typing with the Iphone go to the Att store and play with a display model. Large fingers beware, after 2 weeks i resorted to using a pencil eraser for typing. This has not been a problem with either of the blackberrys i have used. I have an Apple laptop and 2 ipods, both are great devices but the iphone just did not have the chops for real business use. You stated that this is not a work related upgrade so the Iphone may be the right device for you. One last note the Iphone did not have an option for the copy and paste function, which i greatly missed.
Go for the iPhone. It is the only piece of technology that has changed the way I do things since the PCs were invented and the internet some 14 years ago.
I do not know of a single unhappy iPhone user.
Funny, just over the weekend I found 3 people that want to smash their iPhones into a billion pieces.
Go for the iPhone. It is the only piece of technology that has changed the way I do things since the PCs were invented and the internet some 14 years ago.
I do not know of a single unhappy iPhone user.
Funny, just over the weekend I found 3 people that want to smash their iPhones into a billion pieces.
Yeah, some of our people here feel the same way, but I think it’s more of getting onto the network issue rather than if you just used it for personal reasons.
clm
me! me! me!
I think someone referred to it as cRapple and I absolutely agree. 4 1/2 (3 days after I could cancel my att plan with no penalty) weeks after I got it it crashed. I’ve reset it 4 times and have a replacement one that I’ve reset once. It locks up, which is a problem a lot of people have. I wish I would had the blackberry storm. It has every application I want iPhone to have except iTunes and I had an iPod for that.
Can I upload contacts from a database like a Palm or Outlook
Thats’ a good question. I have the same one.
I am a long time Palm user( currently using a Treo) and have always liked the synching of the Palm OS with Outlook on my Lap-top. If I move to a none Palm smart-phone(HTC ??), is this integration still good with the software that they have?
the iphone will sync with outlook with minimal issues. The blackberry sync is as good a palm, and the htc (windows mobile device) is the best because both are running microsoft software.
I went through the same process and ended up with the iPhone.
If you need a physical keyboard, then its not for you. Go with the Blackberry. However, because the iPhone’s keyboard is virtual, it allows it to add more keys, etc., so that’s the benefit to the cost of some imprecision.
The real power to the iPhone and how its really differentiated from the BB is all of the apps that you can download in seconds which give you access to news feeds, weather, games, etc. BB has some similar aspects but its simply not on in the same zip code. iPhone apps also tend to be location-sensitive so they can tailor output automatically to your physical location.
However, I think the biggest difference between the iPhone and the G1 and upcoming Palm Pre is its handling of music/video. The latter two can obviously play music and video, but there is no real integrated application like iTunes which manages it and makes it clear that this functionality is important, rather than an adjunct. That makes a huge difference, especially if you’re buying music or downloading podcasts, etc. - all of that is seamless with iTunes. The G1 I think is a bit stillborn with respect to that. The Palm Pre looks really interesting from an OS standpoint, but its physically limited to 8GB with no expansion ability, and the same sort of afterthought media ability, so it strikes me that they simply don’t intend for people to really treat it as a viable iPod type device.
I would’ve said to wait for the Pre because I think they’ve done wonders with the OS and it looks like they did a very nice best-practices survey of the market before building it. But the problem with having a small memory outlay and weak media ability is that you end up needing to carry two devices again. I can’t tell you how convenient it is to be able to carry 11 GB of music, a movie, as well as all of my contacts, podcasts, and 25+ apps on a single integrated device. It means you can carry it in the gym, as well as anywhere else without consideration for bulk.
And ultimately, the device which is useful is the one you will actually carry.
I am currently carrying the BB Curve and an iPhone 3G (both on AT&T). I’ve had the BB for more than a year and the iPhone for 3-4 weeks. It sounds basic, but the right phone really depends on your needs.
If you are like most people and can do without MMS, A2DP, a decent camera, and a physical keyboard, the iPhone is really nice. It looks great, is dead simple to use and the AppStore is amazing.
If you are a power user of mobile email and regularly knock out lengthy emails, the BB is a solid choice. There is a decent developer community for third party apps but it doesn’t match what you can find from the Apple developer community.
IMO, it’s important not to lose track of what you want the device to do. ATT service simply sucks in my area for MY calling patterns. I honestly don’t understand how anyone could tolerate all the dropped calls. Of course, that’s for MY calling (1300 mins/month avg)…I’m sure there are others who love the service. Life would be so much easier witha SIM card. Verizon has the worst selection of phones, yet always has a signal when I need one. Txt, email, web browsing, mp3, games, photos, etc all way good ways to forget why you have a phone. We used to complain that phones were HUGE and then flip phones come along to save us. Yet, today no one complains of the iBrick. I dunno…rather odd.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about innovation. IMO, decide if you want a phone or a multi-use device.
My two cents is to keep your free VZ flip phone and buy a $350 Acer Aspire 100 with a wifi card when you wanna work/play. Heck, you can add Vonage to your Aspire! With all that equipment, you’re still hundreds below what you’d pay for an iPhone. Looks like a “cool” device, but certainly over-hyped when comparing alternatives.
…My two cents is to keep your free VZ flip phone and buy a $350 Acer Aspire 100 with a wifi card when you wanna work/play. Heck, you can add Vonage to your Aspire! With all that equipment, you’re still hundreds below what you’d pay for an iPhone. Looks like a “cool” device, but certainly over-hyped when comparing alternatives.
The iPhone is $199. How does a free phone plus a $350 Aspire cheaper than the iPhone? (You can get a Dell Mini 9 for $299.)
Plus you cnnot put the Aspire in your pocket and carry it around all the time.
It’s $399 and $499 unless you want it subsidized by AT&T with a contract.
Not trying to turn this into an iPhone bashing thread as it’s a pretty cool device. My opinion is that it (or other overpriced PDAs) doesn’t deliver the overall value to most of it’s users…which is referenced in the part of my post that you cut out.
Tool should meet the job at hand. It’s not cool to try to be cool…
the iphone will sync with outlook with minimal issues. The blackberry sync is as good a palm, and the htc (windows mobile device) is the best because both are running microsoft software.
I have no real interest in mobile email - email to me is sitting with my lap-top and sending replying to email. Even when on the road, for work, their always seems to be access to email somewhere, so that I can do this at least once a day. That’s why the Blackberry has never been of great interest to me. The one advantage would be that I could possible travel without the lap-top - but I don’t really find that much of hassle as mine is fairly light and compact.
“We used to complain that phones were HUGE and then flip phones come along to save us. Yet, today no one complains of the iBrick.”
That’s why I picked the BlackBerry Pearl. I wanted a phone with email capability. Our corporate provider doesn’t carry the iPhone so the options were the BB or Treo. The Treo doesn’t fit in my pocket and I’d need to buy a belt in order to wear it on my waist. It must weigh five pounds!!
I love my BB but I’m not sure if I’d buy one myself. I’m like Fleck and prefer a laptop for travel, especially because of the high roaming charges in using Cdn phones in the US.
The small WiFi devices but the places I want service (killing time at airports and on the ferry) don’t have WiFi or charge a crazy hourly rate.
iPhone syncs well to outlook. If you subscribe to Mobileme, then it syncs through the air, which is pretty cool now that they’ve worked out the kinks. The web browsing is obviously very good. And the apps give you data feeds for anything from weather to Bloomberg News to RSS feeds via the browser. You add in multimedia functionality and its a pretty complete package.
The only real quibble with it is that it only allows 1 application at a time. The practical impact is that you can’t really run IM or some other proxy for text messaging. That’s where the Pre has it beat.