hi, folks--this is for an article i' writing for the star, so as much as possible i'd like to limit this discussion to muggers who have actually used (not necessarily owned) both an iphone and a blackberry (one of the newer models, for comparisons to be fair).

please tell me:

1. if you moved from one device to the other, why?
2. if you own and stlll use both, why?
3. (another way of putting it) what indispensable or killer features are in one device but not the other?
4. if you had one device to bring with you on a long trip abroad (say, to the US or europe), which one would you bring and why?

any relevant impressions will be very welcome. comments from experienced users of one or the other device are also welcome. (but please spare me the fanboy hype, or the newbie i-love-my-own stuff, okay? ;) )

salamat!

butch d. (iphone 8gig/bb8320/nokia e61i--love them all!)

i have an iphone 16GB & a BB curve..
it is way easier to text in a curve than an iphone & it is more of a business phone..
iphone is more of an entertainment phone.. iphone has lots of freeware applications & games compared to a blackberry device. mostly, shareware ang apps & games BB.

I have been using a BB since 2003 and an iPhone for about 6 months (I think). My current BB is a Pearl, although I have used at one time or another almost all other BB models released here.

I definitely prefer the Pearl and its predecessors (7130 and 7100) to their qwerty equivalents because of the size and form factor. What I like most about the BB is the wireless email and PIM sync (as I am on a BES) plus Enterprise Activation which makes it very simple to get data from Exchange to the device without a wired sync. SureType works perfectly for me and therefore the second best thing I like is the ability to quickly dial a contact from the home screen by just typing the SureType equivalent of the name of my contact. The email and PIM would be pretty much the same across all devices.

Meanwhile, I like the iPhone mainly for its media and browsing capabilities. I never used to browse on my BB because the experience is really bad compared to a desktop browsing experience, which is what I get on an iPhone. I dont use the iPod section of the phone much but is most useful for me nowadays as I have a Drive+Play, which makes listening to music in the car an excellent and seamless experience. I also began to appreciate my pictures more using the photo browser of the iPhone. As a side note, typing is no longer an issue for me as well.

Having said this, I use both devices now simply because the iPhone doesnt have any way to get email and PIM data wirelessly, at least in an efficient manner. I played around with Mail connecting to Exchange for a while but the wireless experience integrating through OWA wasnt that reliable for me. PIM, especially calendar, is a big issue for me on the iPhone. The UI of the iPhone is great but to me becomes more of a form vs. function type of toss up. The dialing issue was somewhat solved on the iPhone as I use iDialer as a phone replacement app.

Functionally, the BB is definitely a better choice for most of what I use a mobile device for, but I cant seem to let go of using my iPhone simply because it is such a great device! Life is so complicated!

Lets see what iPhone 2.0 with activesync brings to the table (once the company I work for upgrades to Exchange 2003). If it works flawlessly, with full OTA functionality, I might just leave my BB at home. In the meantime, I use my iPhone for voice, browsing, and SMS while I use my BB for email and PIM.

In summary, I would much rather use the iPhone as an all-in-one device if I could. But current functional limitations for OTA sync make it a non-starter. Ideally, the iPhone would be perfect with BB Connect. But I doubt this will happen. I have a friend working in RIM and he mentioned that his boss wasnt too happy to see his BB decked out with an iPhone theme. Just goes to show how RIM views the iPhone, at least at this point.

Sorry that I've been rambling. but at least youre getting unfiltered insights on how I feel on the topic.

If I had to bring one device only, regardless of a short or long trip, at this point, it would be my BB. I just need to stay connected wherever so I cant afford to leave it at home. Note, though, that on weekends and nights out, or generally during non-office time, I just take my iPhone. This is not an option for me on weekdays and especially on trips when my laptop is off all day.

I actually decided yesterday to use my BB as an all-in-one for a while. This is probably the best test to determine if I will survive without my iPhone. I miss it already, but just need to give it a chance. I'm syncing my pictures and songs to the BB using MissingSync and its taking forever. If I can get a similar media experience, perhaps I'll swing the other way, at least for now.

many thanks, folks! valuable insights, there. i was about to say that as long as i had (free) wifi, then the mail app on the iphone (configured to use both apple mail and yahoo mail) worked great for me. the BB app on my nokia e61i worked very well as well. (i think we're all just waiting for BB to be ported to the iphone--let's add skype as well--and then it'll be truly awesome.)

please keep them coming. ;)

iPhone > for consumers. BlackBerry > for prosumers. That's just how I see it. And here are my answers to the four questions:

1. If you moved from one device to the other, why? I haven't really owned an iPhone (yet) but I have used one for about two weeks late last year. And that was at the same time I was also actually just starting to know my T-Mobile 8320. Since I was in SFO the whole time I used my cousin's iPhone (she also had a Treo) I could say that I have experienced everything that I needed to know and tried to do on an iPhone like visual voicemail, Google Maps (where's Jollibee at?), Safari, YouTube and everything else. The iPhone is just one beautiful device and it's super easy to use.

2. If you own and stlll use both, why? Not applicable.

3. What indispensable or killer features are in one device but not the other? Since I only have two week's worth of usage on the iPhone, I don't think that's enough for me to say a couple of good things about it BUT I can be sure about this--Safari is the BEST out there when it comes to browsing. It's just lightyears away from the BlackBerry and the rest. As for BlackBerrys, the killer features that I wouldn't want to trade for anything are (1) its messaging capabilities (2) battery life (3) security and (4) the ability to multi-task. With my BlackBerry around, I'm sure I won't miss anything nor would anyone ever miss me as I can always be contacted no matter what--you can phone me, send me SMS/MMS, IM me via AIM, GTalk, ICQ, WLM, YM, MySpace IM, PIN and of course email me (whichever email address you can remember). And the battery life? Under heavy usage, I would last 2-3 days tops. Security-wise, it's just the best out there IMO as I'm sure, it wouldn't be much of a business smartphone if not for that. And don't forget multi-tasking, too.

4. If you had one device to bring with you on a long trip abroad (say, to the US or europe), which one would you bring and why? Yup, it's going to be my BlackBerry. I am sure I could have added more but I just want to keep it short and simple and the rest about BlackBerrys is for everyone to find out on their own. ;)

many thanks, ric! great points from the BB master ;) i wonder what vic icasas and adel samson also have to say.

Sir Butch,

1. if you moved from one device to the other, why?
- I use both daily; I use my iPhone basically as an iPod with its phone features as a bonus, my BB is still my primary phone

2. if you own and stlll use both, why?
- I listen to my iPhone (podcasts + music) for my daily 2 hour car trips, stores all my family pictures and videos there, and surf the net if I don't have my iBook with me. For my BB, as mentioned, it's my primary phone and I get all my emails there.

3. what indispensable or killer features are in one device but not the other?
- For the iPhone, its wifi capability and GUI are better compared to the other phones I've tried. For the BB, its push email is still its best feature.

4. if you had one device to bring with you on a long trip abroad (say, to the US or europe), which one would you bring and why?
- I haven't used both phones in the US and Europe, but have tried them recently in Thailand. I had problems with the Smart network (that I am using for the iPhone), so its phone capabilities were useless. No problem whatsoever with the BB (Globe). To answer the question, I will still use my BB.

Hopefully, the newer version of the iPhone will have better email capabilities, then that will be the time I'll let go of my BB.

I prefer a BB Bold when it comes out over an iphone. The keyboard is the key factor.

1. if you moved from one device to the other, why?
At first I just wanted to know what was up with blackberries 'cause I saw a couple of people using grayscale berries. I was influenced by the Mugberry thread. What was the hype with these blackberries?

2. if you own and stlll use both, why?
After a couple of weeks with the pearl, I sold it.. and was just left with the iphone.. but after a week without the pearl.. I got myself a Curve :) The iphone answers all my internet browsing needs, I believe it has the best internet browser today. As for the blackberry, I needed a phone that I could use to make MS office files with.

3. (another way of putting it) what indispensable or killer features are in one device but not the other?

Iphone: Wifi, Ipod, Camera, and Freeware
Blackberry: Push e-mail, IM, MS office capability keyboard


4. if you had one device to bring with you on a long trip abroad (say, to the US or europe), which one would you bring and why?

This is tough.. :-? Both are capable phones.. but I think I'd bring the Iphone. :)

1. if you moved from one device to the other, why?
2. if you own and stlll use both, why?
3. (another way of putting it) what indispensable or killer features are in one device but not the other?
4. if you had one device to bring with you on a long trip abroad (say, to the US or europe), which one would you bring and why?

1 &2. I actually have the iPhone and my wife has the Blackberry Curve 8320.
3. Both have web browsers, but nothing beats the browser of the iPhone (IMHO).
4. iPhone... overall, I still find iPhone much easier to use. I can access my office email either via wifi or edge. The only feature on the BB which the iPhone can't do is the Push Email of the BB.

Hi Penmanila,

I've been a blackberry user for 4years already and so far so good, can't live without this service. Either I get a blackberry phone provisioned with service or any other mobile that is capable of blackberry connect. Why? That's because i get tons of emails. It's very useful since it's very cost efficient. The blackberry server compresses all kinds of email transactions. Which is impressive because it converts your emails to rich text format (.rtf). And if there are any attachments, they are compressed as well. Something really useful for me since you can download compressed attachments and enhance them after receipt. You also have the option of getting the full images or any other attachments. The blackberry phones are very simple to use as well. Although they may not have the most advanced features, I still feel trendy and up-to-date with its simple yet very functional features.

That's something i could never get from any other phone. I'm ok using blackberry connect capable phones. However, they're just too slow when you receive tons of emails. It's hard to read messages right away.

That's just about it! :) Hope this helps

hi guys, I'm considering getting a blackberry soon. My question is, how well does it sync with apple's Mail and Address book? do you have to do much to get both to work together?