As you have all probably heard by now, the Apple iPhone will be at Cingular/AT&T stores near you on June 29th (which happens to be my name day, it’s a European thing). If you haven’t had a chance to check out the new advertisements, I’d recommend it. They briefly go through all of the iPhone’s features.
You’d think that as an Apple-crazed tech guy I would be all over the iPhone. Unfortunately, there are a few reasons stopping me from considering the iPhone as my personal phone/Internet device of choice. First off, when reviewing the Sprint UpStage, which relies on a touch-sensitive navigation pad, I got a strong feeling that the iPhone’s touch-screen only UI would get annoying. I thrive on tactile feedback from buttons and don’t think I’d be typing as fast as I could than with a QWERTY keypad.
Secondly, the iPhone although sporting an “blemish-resistant” screen will no doubt become like my iPod in a few weeks with me: scratch-ridden and fingerprint-laden. The iPhone’s form factor is a tad on the large side for me and with phones that large I feel like I’m holding up a tile to my head. Also, the iPhone doesn’t support third-party apps or 3G in its current revision – and the battery is not user-replaceable. We all know what happened with the first iPods and their batteries. Speaking of batteries, the iPhone is expected to have (far) less than stellar battery life.
Just to put this out there – I am slightly biased as I mentioned at the end of my BlackBerry/Google Maps post. I’ve always had small phones that are so light I have to pat my pockets down to make sure I even have it with me. Regarding the pricing of the iPhone, I wish Apple sold a cheaper iPhone lacking the iPod capabilities… pretty much just a phone and Internet device. But this is Apple and they know people will pay the higher price anyway.
The bottom line is the iPhone doesn’t have a keypad; that’s my deal-breaker. It might not affect you as much but I like being able to use my phone without needing to look at it and knowing that I hit the right button instead of hitting between the buttons as is likely with the iPhone.
I will say this though, things might be completely different once I get my hands on an iPhone and start playing around with it. But that’s later and this is now.
BlackBerry.licio.us
Tomorrow I’ll be going back on my word and giving the BlackBerry Curve a whirl. I almost had one on Friday but after waiting for an hour at the Cingular store, having my money out and giving my info they told me the only Curve they had was on hold by someone else. Hopefully, there will be some in stock tomorrow.
As of recently, I’ve found myself checking email with my cell phone much more while out/on campus/in class as well as text messaging (twitter…).
Here are my main reasons for the BlackBerry Curve: smaller and lighter than most (all?) QWERTY smart phones, support for the GMail for your domain app, good battery life, backlit QWERTY keyboard and it only costs $199 vs $499/599 for the iPhone.
On the plus side, the Curve delivered excellent endurance on our tests, with the battery lasting four days with periodic use.
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Blackberry is becoming AWESOME. I have the Pearl and it’s the best. You’ll become addicted to your BB. Tmobile, who I’m with, charges $19.99 for unlimited data for the BB, where’s Cingular at?
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Totally agree re the iPhone. But like the iPod I think this will be the first of many they release. This one seems heavily biased towards the ‘professional’ end of the scale, I just want a really sexy looking Apple phone that also plays some music!!!
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I use a BlackBerry Pearl and won’t be getting an iPhone for exactly the same reasons as Paul.
But the Blackberry/Google Apps combination doesn’t work well. @Gmail gets delivered instantly because BIS offers native support for it, while @ takes more like fifteen minutes and regularly has issues.
And Google Çalendar integration is even patchier. The same applies to Contacts since Google actually has no address book as such.
If you do a Google search on this you will find loads of instances of people complaining about the problem, but, to the best of my knowledge, no solution.
So I have a BlackBerry Enterprise Server linked seamlessly with a hosted Microsoft Exchange Server with one of my two domains (domain A) which syncs seamlessly with my BlackBerry and can be accessed from my desktop via Entourage. It’s the only solution if you want true push email using all of the BlackBerry’s features (email, contacts and calendar items being synced seamlessly).
Since I prefer using Gmail rather than Exchange, I also pull my email from my domain A, via POP, to my Domain B which is a Google Apps hosted mail server. The advantge of this is I can access all my mail either via Gmail or via Entourage or via the BlackBerry. The drawback, for which I haven’t found a solution, is that it isn’t possible to keep the Gmail account and the Exchange Server in sync, meaning I usually have to manually mark mail as read. Also, sent mail doesn’t appear in both servers, although there is a way around this but I’m too lazy to set it up.
If Google were to get serious about seamless BlackBerry integration (i.e., true push email, offering an Address Book and proper Çalendar sync), I believe a lot of people would give up their expensive Exchange servers. But as things stand BalckBerry/exchange is the only solution, unless you don’t mind not having true push email and can do without Contact and Çalendar integration.
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Last week, I ended up picking up the new Blackberry 8830 through Verizon Wireless. After a week of owning it, I have nothing but good things to say about the blackberry product. Although I do reccommend getting some sort of screen protector for it. I ended up putting a small scratch in mine on the first day and immediately ordered a screen protector online.
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You won’t be disappointed with the Curve. I can’t say too much about actual call quality since I didn’t get around to testing that (and some reviews are pinning that as its weak point, which very well could be) but the form factor is absolutely amazing. I do believe the Samsung BlackJack’s a bit smaller though. ;)
The keypad is way better than the one on the 88xx. RIM’s been saying the 88xx keypad should be superior – people just need to get used to it. It’s definitely got something to do with the fact that there’s no spacing between the keys. Typing on the 8300 feels so much nicer.
Oh, the multimedia capabilities of the 8300 are pretty damn nice. The bundled media center is very slick and although initially being skeptical upon hearing that it was being provided by Roxio (bleh) it turned out to be very nice. The 3.5mm jack is a godsend. The camera is mediocre – it’s 2MP but I couldn’t get it to product anything that wasn’t a little fuzzy. Blame my hands maybe?
If email and texting is your thing (as you stated) you’ll definitely love the 8300. It’s definitely my favorite BB so far. I’m even considering getting one myself when it becomes available in retail in Canada.
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Thanks for the info charlie – email/text/web is my thing and I won’t even be touching the media aspect of the phone so I’m good to go. Now I just need to find one..
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I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks the iPhone is a little overrated, and I certainly don’t want to be one of the early adopters of version one.
At the moment, I’m quite happy carrying round a Samsung phone and Palm PDA, networked by Bluetooth. I can go light when I want, and I don’t have to suffer any of the compromises I used to have to when I had a ‘converged device’.
That Blackberry does look nice, though. ;)
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Paul, have you messed around with many Windows Mobile-based phones? I’m loving my T-Mobile Dash, not only because it’s a relatively powerful little device, but because there are so many hacks and tweaks to make it do exactly what I want it to. Couple that with the NES emulator, and I’ve never been happier.
I dunno, it just seemed like it would be up your ally. Have you tried it (Windows Mobile, not the Dash)?
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@J Bradford – I actually have. I had a Moto Q but I loathed it/WM. Search for “Motorola Q Update” here to read about my issues. Although they were probably due more to the Q than Windows Mobile.
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As I just bought a P990 a while ago, I may not be in the market for a while (although I might snag the iPhone if it also equipped with HSDPA). I’m more interested on how will the new macbook pro line take shape (and with that, the new iMac)
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What is the data plan with Cingular though? It is 45/month retail with Verizon and I can’t justify that, especially with no wi-fi. Is anyone here using the similar BB with wifi *without* paying for a data plan? I thought that would be an excellent way to go, but I’ve heard that telcos can lock the feature out through the phone. My thoughts are: for occasional email checking and web browsing, it would be great to do it over free wi-fi spots instead of paying for the data plan right away. Thoughts?
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Paul: I bet you’ll take an iPhone when Apple sends you an email and offers you a free one! Seriously though, I agree… I’m not convinced that the iPhone is quite as revolutionary as people were hoping. Time will tell, though. In six weeks I could be in line at a Cingular store.
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I will be picking up a 8800 (GPS is a must!) later this week so I will let you know what I think of it.
Like you, I just don’t have a strong attraction to the iPhone. Maybe physically holding one would change my mind?
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Paul,
Actually Apple have said they will allow 3rd party apps on the iPhone and will be running Dev sessions at WWDC07 on it.
Dave
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Yeah but I’ll wait til that’s actually released before I put any value into it. The real question is.. will developers have apps ready by the iPhone launch… or 5 months down the road?
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I think some will. The tools Apple are putting in place will allow small simple apps to be ported readily…..of course you will have others that will need a bit more work.
The major thing that i am hearing regarding these third party apps is that they will be limited in the way they interface with the OS to avoid it breaking anything. This is why this announcement has come so late and maybe why Apple pulled OSX devs off Leopard onto the iPhone.
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Yeah, it probably won’t take too long to build simple iPhone apps – they are pretty much just glorified widgets.
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I’m in the same situation. But I went with the Nokia N80, the Curve is beautiful though. But I’ve got to tell you, if I was with Cingular it would be tough to turn down the iPhone.
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Can’t say too much about the whirl, but I’ve used the Blackberry Pearl for a few months now, totally awesome!
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Paul, I’m looking forward to a review of the Curve once you get one. Which plan do you have from cingulair?
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Paul, I’m looking forward to a review of the Curve once you get one. Which plan do you have from cingular?
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i’m very happy with my se m600i but, from time to time, i have blackberry dreams.
i’ll be waiting for your review. good luck getting it.
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maique – Maybe consider the P1? Seems pretty much like an updated M600.
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I was just watching the new commercials for the iPhone on apple’s website… did anyone else notice at the end, when the at&t logo shows up, it says “Use requires minimum new 2 year activation plan.”
Am I reading that right? USE requires 2 year minimum activation plan? Does that mean you can’t buy the phone separately and avoid being locked in to a 2 year agreement? wtf?
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I have the pearl.
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A breath of fresh air, thanks Paul.
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Mike you are correct. You MUST buy into the 2yr agreement.
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I am with you on the not buying an iPhone, at least not until they get round to releasing v2. I want to see how and who Apple partners with in the UK for starters. The new advertisements are great, entertaining as the “I’m a PC” series are, they need more than just snide comments at Windows- the iPhone adverts sum up the simple yet cool style of Apple perfectly.
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I see from Twitter you got your Curve. I’d love to hear your experience with it and Gmail Apps once you’ve had a chance to test it out.
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The BlackBerry is the only phone that allows you to store all your data in one place (your choice of BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which I think is better, or BlackBerry Internet Service, which is less flexible) and access it either from a Mac or from a PC as well as from your phone, keeping it all in sync over-the-air, seamlessly;
There’s no gettong away from that, and I won’t be buying an iPhone either until it offers all those features.
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Too bad you are on Cingular, the T-Mobile Dash (AKA HTC Excalibur) is probably the best SmartPhone out right now. EDGE support and WiFi – game over. Plus T-Mobile has a free upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.
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No thanks Coop, I just can’t stand Windows Mobile in any form.
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I am still trying to decide. I have a curve and love it. I want the iPhone but don’t really need. Now if it had support for 3g then I’d be camping out at the Apple store right now, but as it stands I am writing this on my curve and probably will be after the 29th.