Blackberry or Iphone

[goalie204]

This will be my personal phone, but also my business phone. Right now i use palm desktop software on my computer, I like that it can store all my contacts, addresses, appointments, reminders, etc, and the ease of use. When i go on sales trips i print appointments on paper etc. My primary use will be for business, I want to have quick access to all my customers, and also have a phone. Wondering from business peoples experiences what the best way to go is. I sure like the iphone for it's fun stuff and toys, but is it functional for business? What's the best way to go?

[WildBlueSooner]

I have a blackberry for work but have messed with iphones and I would go with the latter! You can do anything you can dream up with it

[ABNMP619]

Hey,
Have you looked at the HP iPAQ 900 Small Business Messenger? I was looking at this phone to use for all my business stuff, plus it allows me to keep all my personal stuff on their as well. Plus it has all the Microsoft Excel, Power Point and all that stuff. Check it out.

[mosesbotbol]

BlackBerry if you do a lot of texting.

[GarlicBreath]

I don't own an iPhone but I do have a Touch and a BB Bold, I love having real buttons, I hate the keyboard on the Touch, which is an iphone without the phone and camera part.

[goalie204]

I definately text and email a lot - the hp ipaq - interesting. MY carrier has the HP iPAQ 910c

[karmaz00]

i have a blackberry, works for the most part...i find the msn messenger times out alot, sometimes kicks you off...other then that, works good

[King James]

iPhone if ATT is okay in your area and if you want WiFi (BB Storm doesn't have it)

[goalie204]

my city has rogers (rogers.com) telus (telusmobility.ca) and mts (mts.ca)

[gettysburgfreak]

my dad has a blackberry world edition he uses for work and he likes it. But the Iphone just looks plain badass with tons of things you can do with it. Can you get the internet at all times with the Iphone or is it just when you can get wi fi?

[Raralith]

I had a Blackberry and switched to an iPhone and it's pretty amazing. I did try the Bold before the iPhone and as others have pointed out, having a physical keyboard is very nice. Typing on the iPhone isn't that bad, and fortunately the auto-correct is quite good. What really set it apart from me though is the apps because some of them are absolutely amazing. My plan though and though was a lot more than the Bold.

[blugill]

iPhone all the way!
You can get the internet at all times as long as you have cell signal, bonus if you have 3G in your area.
With the app store you essentially have a pocket sized computer that will get better with the 3.0 OS upgrade!
Texting is a little awkward for the first two texts then you'll have it down and you'll not even care about buttons!

[357]

Do you have Exchange/Outlook at work? If so I wouldn't use either BlackBerry or iPhone, but rather Windows Mobile.

If you tell us what carrier you're going through I can make some suggestions. I have the Samsung Omnia on Verizon. It has Active Synch (e-mail is pushed to my phone, it doesn't have to retrieve it), a 5MP camera, 8GB on board storage with 16GB microSDHC I added, MS Word/Excel/Outlook, IE 6, Opera Web browser, a business card reader that uses OCR to make a new contact from each business card, FM Tuner, TV Out with capability to play DivX movies, and video/photo editors. Not to mention all the free apps out there.

Best part is it cost me $100 after mail in rebate ($70).

[Genetic Defect]

iPhone FTW

[houdini]

Blackberry.

[AllOGistics]

Right now I prefer the blackberry for business purposes. I know a lot of Blackberry users that love the keyboard but are a little jealous of the lack of applications. The apps for the iPhone are a huge plus. I probably would get an iPhone if it had a flip-out keyboard. That way it would have both a touchscreen and physical keys. Also, I know a lot of people prefer the e-mail on the Blackberry. It wouldn't take much for Apple to make some improvements to their e-mail. I think that they would win a lot of Blackberry fans if they made those changes. :2

[goalie204]

Do you have Exchange/Outlook at work? If so I wouldn't use either BlackBerry or iPhone, but rather Windows Mobile.

If you tell us what carrier you're going through I can make some suggestions. I have the Samsung Omnia on Verizon. It has Active Synch (e-mail is pushed to my phone, it doesn't have to retrieve it), a 5MP camera, 8GB on board storage with 16GB microSDHC I added, MS Word/Excel/Outlook, IE 6, Opera Web browser, a business card reader that uses OCR to make a new contact from each business card, FM Tuner, TV Out with capability to play DivX movies, and video/photo editors. Not to mention all the free apps out there.

Best part is it cost me $100 after mail in rebate ($70).

I have entourage on the mac side of my laptop, but I have winxp on here too, so i can get any software really. The biggest things for me, are texting/emailing, and contact/address book ease of organization. The carrier i will likely use is rogers in canada: http://rogers.com

[Seanohue]

iPhone FTW

:tpd:

[SilverFox]

Anything that is text heavy

Texting,

Emails

Documents

By far the BBerry

as for surfing capability of multimedia apps then Iphone.

Went to the Iphone when it came out, quickly learned that in my world the touch keypad was a source of extreme frustration so back to my curve.

[potlimit]

I agree with the Fox... I love the apps on iphone, but the frustration associated with texting almost makes it necessary to keep a bottle of blood pressure meds handy. The new BBerry curve and Bold are awesome phones. I have a curve now, and it's excellent. And before that I had the 8830, another top notch phone.

Business - BBerry

Media/Persona - iphone

[goalie204]

good info, thanks everyone, i'm strongly leaning towards the BB, are there any things i should know about it before going in, like features it may not have that i may need in business?

[LeoM]

Anything that is text heavy

Texting,

Emails

Documents

By far the BBerry

as for surfing capability of multimedia apps then Iphone.

Went to the Iphone when it came out, quickly learned that in my world the touch keypad was a source of extreme frustration so back to my curve.
:tpd:

[floydp]

Anita and I have the bb curve and really like em. We were leaning towards the Iphone but her LG crapped out before our plan was up and I wasn't going to pay out the tookus to opt out so we went with the Curve's and I gotta tell ya we ain't sorry. We don't use them for business but as I understand from the forums I belong to their quite functional.

[ucubed]

I love my Blackberry curve, however I kind of want the storm, I think the touch screen is great on the Iphone and other phones like it, however there is just something about the BlackBerry that I really really like.

[Footbag]

iPhone firmware 3.0 and the newest models are rumored to be coming out in June. There are a lot of new features that are coming out. The new firmware will have horizontal texting, MMS, Voice recorder, Cut and Paste, and possibly 3G laptop tethering.(Using your phone to give your laptop Internet)

So my vote goes to the iPhone if you couldn't tell.

For business, I use the schedule and E-mail. You can also E-mail yourself PDF's, Excel or Word Docs and view them.

[Genetic Defect]

Someone explain why texting is so great on the BB? I have the iPhone and text alot with it????

[goalie204]

OH god, this is tuff.

[Genetic Defect]

iPhone :D

[SilverFox]

Someone explain why texting is so great on the BB? I have the iPhone and text alot with it????


I don't think one is better than the other I think it is preference.

Personally I prefer the tactile feel of the buttons on the blackberry vs the Iphone. Nothing more nothing less.

with my jumbo fingers I cannot thumb type at even half the speed on my Iphone that I can on my bberry

[Genetic Defect]

I don't think one is better than the other I think it is preference.

Personally I prefer the tactile feel of the buttons on the blackberry vs the Iphone. Nothing more nothing less.

with my jumbo fingers I cannot thumb type at even half the speed on my Iphone that I can on my bberry

that I understand, even the samsung glyde was a little faster to type with but Im getting used to the iPhone, either way the OP can't lose with either choice :)

[King James]

I think the iphone/ipod touch just take some time to get used to, but physical keyboards do allow for typing a bit quicker

[ReggieFSULaw]

If you are more business-minded, I recommend a blackberry. The email is great. Browser and media player is good too.

[Genetic Defect]

Which media player does the blackberry use?

[qwerty1500]

The small buttons on the BB drove me crazy, so I went for the Iphone. Use it for business mostly and couldn't be happier. It does everything I need ... Outlook email, contacts, scheduling and tasks as well as an add-on mileage log application. From what I hear, the new upgrade is just going to make it even better.

[Genetic Defect]

For email the iPhone is great!

[floydp]

Which media player does the blackberry use?

A pretty standard one really. Nothing like the Iphone or touch but I don't use it for that anyway. Got my Ipod Classic for music and a Creative Zen Vison M for video. Have to have some justification to have all these gadgets right? Well hell I'm goofing around with one of em all the time. Can't help that I'm such a geek for this chit. :D

[Genetic Defect]

A pretty standard one really. Nothing like the Iphone or touch but I don't use it for that anyway. Got my Ipod Classic for music and a Creative Zen Vison M for video. Have to have some justification to have all these gadgets right? Well hell I'm goofing around with one of em all the time. Can't help that I'm such a geek for this chit. :D

:r you're not alone fratello, tell me about the zen? Is it that good for video? For example the video in my sig the iPhone can't play.

[goalie204]

For email the iPhone is great!

I've read that the iphone doesn't have push email tho. I don't want to be sitting and waiting for an email, to know i have one, or have to check my email program every few minutes..

[The Professor]

good info, thanks everyone, i'm strongly leaning towards the BB, are there any things i should know about it before going in, like features it may not have that i may need in business?
Here's my take. I got the BB Curve and LOVE it. My wife and I both made the switch about a week ago. IMHO, there are a lot more apps available for it than I ever thought. We even have Shazam now (google it). :) If money were no object, I probably would have switched to a different carrier and gotten the iPhone; but I prefer to spend as much for 2 phones now as I would have been spending for just the iPhone. That said, I've really fallen for my Curve and use it for almost everything.

In terms of what software is available for your business needs, I'd recommend searching the store and forums at crackberry.com -- it's a very helpful website with a gigantic user community.

Best of luck to you!!!

PS, the push email on BB is rockin'!

[longknocker]

I've had both and definitely like the I-Phone better! Much more user-friendly, IMHO!:tu

[The Professor]

One other thing I forgot to suggest is that you should go try each out at the store. Some people REALLY like one interface or the other (touchscreen or physical kb) and the only way to really tell is to play with each ... ideally side-by-side.

[King James]

I've read that the iphone doesn't have push email tho. I don't want to be sitting and waiting for an email, to know i have one, or have to check my email program every few minutes..

It does now since last software update

[Blueface]

It does now since last software update

Not only that but if you have mobile me, no problem.

This is as great a debate as fake v. real or NC v. CC.
Both sides will like certain features.

I love my iPhone. Great toy. Have gotten use to the keyboard for texting although I would agree the Blackberry is better for that.
The internet, the email as you see it on your PC, the apps, way to much of a reason to get the iPhone.

On top of all that, you can buy the Mobile Stogie application.:D

[357]

I've read that the iphone doesn't have push email tho.

It does now since last software update

Doesn't this somewhat depend on your mail server? From what I understand Windows Mobile is the only phone OS that can receive push e-mail from an Exchange server.

That's why I asked if you use Exchange at your work. If not then it doesn't make as much difference as far as pushing/pulling e-mail.

[Pete]

I like my iPhone. Texting was a big cumbersome at first, but quickly mastered the touch screen.

No probelm getting e-mails. They just pop up.

Plus, it has that ubiquitous i-pod receptacle that can play your music damn near anywhere these days.

[qwerty1500]

Not real techy ... but Microsoft Exchange on the server at the office pushes, email, calendar changes and contact changes to my iPhone. In fact, I ususally receive them on my phone a few seconds before they appear on my desktop at our satellite office. The only app that I have to manually synch is my task list updates.

[The Professor]

Doesn't this somewhat depend on your mail server? From what I understand Windows Mobile is the only phone OS that can receive push e-mail from an Exchange server.

That's why I asked if you use Exchange at your work. If not then it doesn't make as much difference as far as pushing/pulling e-mail.
Sort of. From what I understand, you have to have email from a service that offers push in order for it to work on the iPhone. That means 3 main options: Gmail, business email from an Exchange server, or MobileMe. That said, I thought there were some power management issues associated with iPhone's push. :confused:

BlackBerry, on the other hand, has BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) which acts as an intermediary between your email and your phone. BIS makes *any* email "pushed" to your phone in more-or-less realtime.

The pros and cons of BB vs. iPhone can go back and forth. Like I said before: if I was made of money, I'd probably do the iPhone. I'm a huge Mac fanboy; but I'm very happy with my choice to go with BB.

Ultimately, no one else can make this decision for you, though. You just need to go to the store and try both out for a little bit. :)

[357]

I agree with The Professor on "try before you buy". Touch screens are all the rage, but if you do a ton of text/e-mail composition then you need to make sure the touch keyboard is to your liking.

I have no trouble with mine but I don't send e-mail or texts all day. Probably 10-15 short ones per day.

[Blueface]

There are some keyboard improvements coming to iPhone with the new 3.0.
Will allow horizontal typing. I currently use Easy Writer as an application to initiate horizontal typing. Just can't respond to emails using that same format.

I had a hard time at first with it but within a short while, I now fly on it.
I also have multiple email addresses like one with Bellsouth.net.
That email address pushes my emails just like the mac.com one that has mobile me.
Furthermore, whatever I open and delete on my iPhone is deleted from that account on my laptop so I don't have to see the mail again and again.

[goalie204]

still trying to figure this out. Thanks to everyone for the input...which just made it harder to decide! :D

[GTsetGO]

i have the BB Storm and love the thing. My pearl was nice, but the storm is just that much better.

8 gb of memory and is easily expandable to 16 by just changing the sd card in the phone. now that the app store is open, it has pretty much everything that the iphone has

[dunng]

BlackBerry all the way for me... the IPhone is a toy. :D

[King James]

i have the BB Storm and love the thing. My pearl was nice, but the storm is just that much better.

8 gb of memory and is easily expandable to 16 by just changing the sd card in the phone. now that the app store is open, it has pretty much everything that the iphone has

except wifi :bh

The new blackberry storm comes out in a few months and looks pretty sweet. They made some nice improvements and got rid of that stupid (to me) clicking.

[s15driftking]

we should get specific when we talk BB's. The new storm is terrible, the slightly older curve is amazing.

The iphone will always be the iphone (top dawg).

I dont own either phone and if i were to get a new phone i would get an iphone ONLY if verizon carried it. so my choice would have to be a BB because i never plan on leaving VZW, nor do i care to hear opinions of why i should, etc

[GTsetGO]

except wifi :bh

The new blackberry storm comes out in a few months and looks pretty sweet. They made some nice improvements and got rid of that stupid (to me) clicking.

my storm on the 3g network downloads data faster than my pearl did using wifi. so ehhh on the wifi. :D

[King James]

my storm on the 3g network downloads data faster than my pearl did using wifi. so ehhh on the wifi. :D

except for all the wonderful apps that are wifi only...such as slingplayer. Such a great app, but who needs it ONLY in wifi. Or in the places were you can't get 3G because (at least in my area) ATT sucks. Same reason slingplayer makes no sense for the iphone.

The Storm was made to compete with the iphone and I don't think it can begin to do so until it has WiFi.

[JE3146]

except for all the wonderful apps that are wifi only...such as slingplayer. Such a great app, but who needs it ONLY in wifi. Or in the places were you can't get 3G because (at least in my area) ATT sucks. Same reason slingplayer makes no sense for the iphone.

The Storm was made to compete with the iphone and I don't think it can begin to do so until it has WiFi.

That app applies to a very small group of people. Personally I'd take battery life over wifi.

[goalie204]

is the storm the touchscreen one? If so i'm not interested. I want a physical keyboard, and both the newer and older model curves have it + wifi

[JE3146]

is the storm the touchscreen one? If so i'm not interested. I want a physical keyboard, and both the newer and older model curves have it + wifi

Not all carriers carry the new curve. If they had, I would have went with the new curve or even the bold over the storm, but that wasn't an option. I went with the Storm due to it's improved features over the old curve. The touchscreen isn't 'That' bad. It has a high learning curve and a significant tolerance level. But it is manageable.

[Thrak]

Theres some misinformation in here.

They both have "push" emails.

Blackberry has a desktop redirector, BIS, or a BES.

iPhone uses ActiveSync just as a WinMo phone does, to connect to a corp Exchange server.

If this is going to be primarily a business connectivity device, the Blackberry wins HANDS DOWN.

If this is going to be a toy that you get emails on and some calendar/contact stuff to, then the iPhone wins.

So it really depends on:
1) what your primary purpose will be
2) which you type better on

Personally, with all the security issues with the iPhone, I'll be a BB guy for a LONG time.

[White97Jimmy]

I personally think that Android is going to be the way to go for the future. However, I also have a BB Curve as my second line and prefer it over an iPhone.

[King James]

That app applies to a very small group of people. Personally I'd take battery life over wifi.

I would take battery life AND WiFi, which hopefully the Storm 2 will provide. I just don't think the first-gen storm was a good competitor for the iphone. It came with a boatload of problems which appear to have been/are being at least partly addressed.

Check this out : http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/21/blackberry-storm-2-the-unofficial-hands-on/

[kelmac07]

Love my Blackberry...but if more internet use is in store, go with the Iphone.

[goalie204]

Sounds like the blackberry bold is the way i'll be going. They want 299.00 for it after a 50 dollar mail in rebate, then they want me to pay 75 bux a month after tax. 20 for voice plan, 35 for data/call display/text/voicemail, 5 for my long distance plus admin fees and taxes. We get raped so hard. Canada has the highest cell phone rates in the world.

[JE3146]

Most bb users pay 70 a month. How is 75 considered rape.
Posted via Mobile Device

[ir13]

Iphone users pay 89.99 a month if they get unlimited data and txting and the cheapest voice plan.

[longknocker]

I've had BB & now, I-Phone. I-Phone much easier & less trouble, IMHO!:tu

[Genetic Defect]

iPhone

[BUCASmoker]

I have an iPhone now and I really like it. It has its problems (texting, and occasional un-responsiveness to any commands).

I am making the switch to a Blackberry 8820 because of my job... I can't have a camera at work, and it is one of the few smart phones without one.

[darkninja67]

For an all around phone you cannot beat the iPhone. There are other phones that kill it in terms of specs but they do not offer the polished interface of the iPhone.

The apps store just puts the iPhone that much further ahead IMO.

[goalie204]

thing thats sort of keeping me away from the iphone is that it doesn't have a basic thing like linking calendar and contacts together. You can't go to your contact list, pick someone, and make a calender event from them. It's a basic thing that even 8 year old palms have.