Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone or Blackberry? Need Help Deciding

Well, I have owned Iphones since the launch of the first generation. What I don't like is:

1) Crappy reception. Call quality isn't always good.
2) 3G is not widely available.
3) No multitasking.

Other than this, I love my Iphone 3G especially:

1) Not having buttons. Virtual kb is awesome. I can never use an old kb again.
2) Safari is wonderful.
3) Wealth of applications.
4) Beautiful design and UI.
5) Find my phone.

I do not know what a BB has to offer. You must try both.
 
ZizousamA said:
Well, I have owned Iphones since the launch of the first generation. What I don't like is:

1) Crappy reception. Call quality isn't always good.
2) 3G is not widely available.
3) No multitasking.

Other than this, I love my Iphone 3G especially:

1) Not having buttons. Virtual kb is awesome. I can never use an old kb again.
2) Safari is wonderful.
3) Wealth of applications.
4) Beautiful design and UI.
5) Find my phone.

I do not know what a BB has to offer. You must try both.
Click to expand...
Well, multitasking can come through software update (3Gs can handle it). 2) 3G not available is your carrier, sorry. I've always got it over here. Call quality has usually also to do with your provider.
 
I had a BB 8820 for a long time, my wife and kid had a curve. The trackballs get stuck sometimes, the less moving parts on a phone the better. I also like the iPhone better in most situaions, especially browsing the web. BB is more secure and handles email better. We all have iPhones now.
 
what i'm confused about is why everyone just claims the iphone is the best choice because its 'easy to use'.

i've had several dumb phones/smartphones in my years and i've never had any 'difficulty' using any of them. i guess if you enjoy just swiping through tons of screens back and forth and call that a good gui then ok. personally i think the iphone is probably one of the worst phones for actual usage. i don't know how anyone put up with it before they added spotlight.
 
8theapple said:
So I need a new phone soon, and I am tossing and turning between getting a Blackberry or buying an iPhone. Can anyone shed some more light on which phone to choose? I find there are pros and cons for both devices and I'm sitting on the fence. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Have you done a hands on review for both phones? Features can only tell you so much about a phone. But it should feel good using it on a daily basis. Would you have the chance of borrowing either phone for a few days just to see how it's like? Then you could see which phone you used more and for what.

That might be a deciding factor for you.
 
I'll just say that after using an iPhone for almost two years, there was no contest when I decided to try out a Blackberry. I had it for almost three days before I was pulling my hair out and I went into the situation thinking I was tired of the iPhone and missed my Blackberry Pearl.

If you like using your phone for more than simple communication, stay away from the Blackberry. For what it does, it does it really well but there's a lot the iPhone has to offer that the Blackberry can't touch. Email and texting may be great but the browser is far from user friendly. Scrolling around webpages with the trackball is about as tedious as it's going to get. And for me personally, the keyboard was a pain as well. My fingers aren't that fat and I was having issues not hitting the wrong keys even though I was concentrated on what I was typing. Loading media through the Blackberry Desktop Manager is a horribly designed process as well, in my opinion of course. The ease of moving everything via iTunes has me spoiled I guess.

On the flipside as has been mentioned, you can tether with a Blackberry!

Hope this was helpful! :)
 
both?

A friend has one of each. Usually carries both.

She uses the BB for:

1) corporate email, messages and teleconferences.
2) International travel (The BB is usable for email and web with no huge surprise data charges.)

For everything else, she prefers to use the iPhone. Especially for all the apps, ebook reading, pdf viewing, and web browsing, plus personal phone calls.

Do you fit in one category (easy choice), or both?
 
There's only one question you need to answer to solve this problem:

Do you NEED constant access to your business email account?

Yes: BlackBerry
No: iPhone

Ask any cell phone guru which phone you should get and that will be what they base their answer on. The iPhone is light years ahead of the BB in every area except business email.

P.S. I love the iPhone keyboard but can't type for **** on the BB one, the buttons are just way too small for anything other than a pre-pubescent dwarf.
 
I have both, a BlackBerry Bold from work, and a 16GB iPhone 3G for personal use.

A lot depends on your needs - for long e-mails, frequent text messaging, BlackBerry messenger, and 'business-like' features, you can't go wrong with the BlackBerry. You also end up with a huge bulge in your pocket...

As for the iPhone, I now have one device that encompasses phone, iPod, diary, etc... oh, and the cool factor that comes with that. Oh, and my personal is on an Exchange server, and the iPhone works seamlessly with this.

Personally, I prefer the iPhone, but I think it comes down to needs, preference, and to some extent, personality type.
 
8theapple said:
So I need a new phone soon, and I am tossing and turning between getting a Blackberry or buying an iPhone. Can anyone shed some more light on which phone to choose? I find there are pros and cons for both devices and I'm sitting on the fence. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Had an iPhone from September 2007 - April 2009.

Got a Curve April 2009.

I have an iPhone again.

If you've never had an iPhone, you'll be just fine with a BlackBerry, most are. But relying so heavily on an iPhone for a long time, getting my money's worth, then moving to a BlackBerry that couldn't do half of what my iPhone could was torture.

Oh, and went through 3 curves in 3 months when my original iPhone lasted me over a year and a half.
 
Konz said:
P.S. I love the iPhone keyboard but can't type for **** on the BB one, the buttons are just way too small for anything other than a pre-pubescent dwarf.
Click to expand...

+1.

I can't understand when people say they can type faster on a BB. You have to physically press the buttons down, the iPhone is so much faster for me, tapping a screen is faster than pressing little buttons (especially when your phone fixes your typos).

I will never own a BlackBerry again unless issued to me from my firm.
 
It depends on your needs. If you don't have a need for a specific iPhone application, I'd suggest going with the blackberry. It's more flexible and customizable. Also, more available on a variety of carriers, if that's a consideration for you.
 
Mikey B said:
So, I went to Best Buy and picked up a curve a couple weeks ago. I have to say it's a great piece of hardware. I've fallen in love with it's form-factor, especially the keyboard. I think the iPhones touch keyboard is great, best around, but it pales in comparison to a real keyboard. I love the full integration of apps, BB & 3rd-party, into the OS. Full-multitasking is a joy.
Click to expand...

Sir, I applaud your choice of baseball team, but you couldn't be more wrong about the curve hardware. I have a 3GS and a curve I have to have for work because my job won't support anything but bb. The curve is just breathtakingly bad.

The keyboard - Ok, people will differ on this, but I find it not only slower than the iphone keyboard but less accurate because of the really bad auto-correct (as opposed to apple's really good auto correct).

The UI - lags when doing *anything.* Locking, unlocking, scrolling, opening apps, closing apps, you name it.

The hardware - cheap plastic, and both looks and feels like it. The screen gets loose and dust gets under it. It has no substance, no "heft."

The OS - They haven't really changed it in about 10 years and it shows.

The web browser - don't even bother. Seriously, it'll just frustrate you.

Having owned both several blackberries and several iphones, I can't understand why someone would get a bb for personal use. It was designed as a secure corporate email device, and that's what it's good for. Everything else has been tacked on as an afterthought. If you really want a physical keyboard and multitasking, get an android phone or a pre.
 
QCassidy352 said:
Sir, I applaud your choice of baseball team, but you couldn't be more wrong about the curve hardware. I have a 3GS and a curve I have to have for work because my job won't support anything but bb. The curve is just breathtakingly bad.

The keyboard - Ok, people will differ on this, but I find it not only slower than the iphone keyboard but less accurate because of the really bad auto-correct (as opposed to apple's really good auto correct).

The UI - lags when doing *anything.* Locking, unlocking, scrolling, opening apps, closing apps, you name it.

The hardware - cheap plastic, and both looks and feels like it. The screen gets loose and dust gets under it. It has no substance, no "heft."

The OS - They haven't really changed it in about 10 years and it shows.

The web browser - don't even bother. Seriously, it'll just frustrate you.

Having owned both several blackberries and several iphones, I can't understand why someone would get a bb for personal use. It was designed as a secure corporate email device, and that's what it's good for. Everything else has been tacked on as an afterthought. If you really want a physical keyboard and multitasking, get an android phone or a pre.
Click to expand...

Cheers to the Sox! There's always next year...

I have to disagree about the industrial design of the Curve 8900. I completely agree on older models of the Curve, but the latest has a pretty elegant form, imo. The screen on the 8900 is amazing.

I can type pretty damn fast on the iPhone but the biggest drawback of it, and other touch screen keyboards, is that you have to look at the screen as you type. Don't get me wrong, I'm no touch-typing wiz on the BB, but I don't find that I have to look at the keyboard any near as often as I do with the iPhone. This comes in handy when typing one-handed, something I do find myself doing often.

I totally agree that the OS looks dated. It is clearly descended from a two-way pager. I do think, though, that the device and the OS are well paired. Once you learn your way around a bit, you can really zip quickly between apps and calendars, emails, contacts, etc.

I would be interested in an Android phone if any of them had a portrait QWERTY keyboard. I think the only Android phone with a physical keyboard is the G1. Which I definitely don't want. If the Pre was available on AT&T, I would have considered it. Wish it wasn't CDMA only.

But, all that being said, the iPhone seems to be winning out for me. It really is the most complete package. It has it's share of shortcomings, but overall, it's a tough smartphone top beat.

I think, for me, a large part of it is that I am just getting a little bored with the iPhone. I've never had the same phone for so long. I'm craving some change.
 
Blackberry or iphone

I own and use the 2 devices. I would say you need both devices. I am currently using mobile me on the iphone. Its very good but very bad when you travel overseas. When you take your iphone 3gs roaming internationally it will cost you a bomb just to access emails. For example, I was in Japan for 2 days I checked a few emails here and there. The bill came out to US$200 just on data roaming.

Blackberry is very good at compressing technology as such each email becomes very small and cheap. As such whenever I travel, I use the blackberry. Iphone is not up to it for the business user at this moment. But its fun in its own ways.

That is why you need 2 devices.
 
Mikey B said:
I have to disagree about the industrial design of the Curve 8900. I completely agree on older models of the Curve, but the latest has a pretty elegant form, imo. The screen on the 8900 is amazing.
Click to expand...

Ah, my mistake. I have a curve 8320. I've only seen the 8900 in passing.

I can type pretty damn fast on the iPhone but the biggest drawback of it, and other touch screen keyboards, is that you have to look at the screen as you type.
Click to expand...

hmm, fair enough. I can't touch type on either, so I never considered that an advantage of the bb, but I can see how it could be.

I would be interested in an Android phone if any of them had a portrait QWERTY keyboard. I think the only Android phone with a physical keyboard is the G1. Which I definitely don't want. If the Pre was available on AT&T, I would have considered it. Wish it wasn't CDMA only.
Click to expand...

Motorola Cliq? It does have motoblur over android 1.5, but if you're ok with that, it looks nice. I guess its physical keyboard is landscape tho... you find portrait easier? also, the forthcoming motorola droid... though few details are known and it might also be CDMA only.

I think, for me, a large part of it is that I am just getting a little bored with the iPhone. I've never had the same phone for so long. I'm craving some change.
Click to expand...

occasionally I think that. Then I think about all the 3rd party apps I use regularly and can't get on any other platform, and that ends my lust for different tech pretty quickly. :)
 
get the 3gs....as a cell phone junkie, i have have sampled all the bb's for verizon and att.....and i always comeback to the iphone. if you are on att the new bb bold 2 might worth a look at.
 
I love them both but the Bold is superior to the iPhone 3G (IDK about the S). The only bad part of a Blackberry is the free memory issue, mind you i'm sure you'll hear tuns about that on whatever BB forum you posted on.
 
Konz said:
P.S. I love the iPhone keyboard but can't type for **** on the BB one, the buttons are just way too small for anything other than a pre-pubescent dwarf.
Click to expand...

Nothing like broad, stupid statements.

"the buttons are just way too small for anything other than a pre-pubescent dwarf"??

yeah, that's totally why most businesses use it.

Nice logic!
 
Andy348 said:
Nothing like broad, stupid statements.

"the buttons are just way too small for anything other than a pre-pubescent dwarf"??

yeah, that's totally why most businesses use it.

Nice logic!
Click to expand...
My fingers are too big for it, and really, I've got small fingers :p
 
If I were in the market for a new phone and I could hold on for a couple weeks, I'd wait for the Motorola Droid on Verizon -- Android 2.0, large screen, physical keyboard, better network than AT&T.
 
Anyone who prefers the iPhone's keyboard over a nice physical keyboard has been beaten over the head with marketing and should take a step back and evaluate their views on consumer electronics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back