Tuesday 6 January 2009

Blackberry Storm or Apple iphone

I was a good boy last year and Santa gave me a Blackberry Storm and and Apple iphone.

I have now tried both and can sadly report that I have gone back to my old blackberry. My conclusion is very simple, both are great pieces of technology, but whether one is better than the other or neither are any good will depend very much upon what you want to use it for. I use the 'phone' for a good number of calls, a whole heap of email and a little texting. What I was hoping for was all of the above with a better Internet/browser experience.

My findings below:

Blackberry Storm

For

- gps, satnav is excellent
- click screen makes typing 100% easier than the iphone, but typing is by no means as quick or easy as the traditional blackberry
- keyboard automatically switches to landscape view
- good camera
- the browser is quick, clear and easy to use
- similar blackberry commands
- screen is bright and can be used as a torch in the dark

Against

- battery life is very poor and very little warning of shut down
- mains power lead is different than all the earlier blackberries (why oh why!) I have hundreds of blackberry chargers that are dotted around the country so when I forget one there is an excellent chance I have a spare.
- it is very difficult to talk on the phone without cutting people off/muting them/putting them on hold when your ear touches the phone
- refuses to sync up with my MAC (syncs everything but the calender!!!)
- copy and paste is difficult
- very little third party development as yet


The iphone

For

- syncs perfectly with the MAC
- looks and feels better than the storm
- my ear doesn't turn the phone off whilst speaking
- better navigation of functional aspects
- the browser results in a good experience
- an abundance of third party widgets and developments

Against

- typing is a pain, yes you can get landscape mode, but it is not straightforward and typing at speed produces some very strange results. I spend more time on the delete button. I am getting better, but I find I now leave longer emails until I am on the laptop.
- battery is not great either, especially if I use any of the other functions, such as music
- screen is great, but far too sensitive, especially when typing (although you can change this a little)


Conclusion

The Storm is certainly more robust and aimed at the business market (as it should be), but in its current state it cannot handle what I need it to do. The iphone just isn't for the sort of business I need to do.

There are some great widgets being developed for the iphone that may help agents, businessmen and women, but for people who actually use a phone to speak and email neither of the phones are really up to the job in my opinion.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

No wi-fi was a major point against the Storm for me.

Anonymous said...

Well I think I'm in a good position to comment on this subject. I've recently come to the end of my contract and decided that I would try a touch screen phone. Plus I would like to have email but don’t like the look of most blackberry phones. Anyway first off I got the Storm....Looks great but unfortunately it’s a terrible phone. Texting is just hassle as unless you have Spanish guitarist fingers you will keep mistyping. The touch screen itself is poor and not very responsive. It seems Voda rushed this phone out before Christmas, and it simply isn’t ready. The Iphone looks much better to me but they dont do it with Voda. So I tried the Samsung Omnia (something like that) Anyway just as bad, bat life is terrible and to text is even worse. It also has a habit of sounding a very load beep from the earpiece when a call is dropped or bat is low and its makes my ear ring!!. My friends have complained how I never text back anymore and its basically just too much effort. Got the new Sony Ericson tomorrow so see how that goes.... no more touch screen for me though.

Property Owl said...

I think the common theme here is touch screen is not yet ready for business. The iphone is great for games and the like, but useless for business and the Storm was, as you rightly say, rushed out to compete in this space.

Anonymous said...

Just as an update. The Sony Ericson C905 seems to be working great. I feel like I have a mobile phone again. Camera is excellent by the way.

Property Owl said...

Thanks for these guys. Is the C905 good for estate agents would you say? I am writing a piece on good phones for agents and just wondered if you could let me have some for and against points or just fors? many thanks