I'm a CrackBerry addict and recently upgraded to the wonderful BlackBerry Curve 8900 (Javelin), however I did have an iPhone for a month to try out; let me try get this straight:
a) There are many different touch screens implemented, Apple's design is only one. Texting is fast on the iPhone once you get used to it, but I for one do love the feel when I press a button; can't really use the iPhone to get that feeling... However, Research in Motion have developed what is called SurePress technology for the BlackBerry Storm series of touch screen devices. SurePress is like the iPhone's touch screen, but you can indeed push the whole screen down like a button and your "touch" is registered on the device once actually pushing the screen like a button. This way you can have both the benefits of touch screen technology and "real" buttons. The initial revision of SurePress wasn't that amazing though, but the upcoming BlackBerry Storm2 (coming REALLY soon) sounds like something you should take a look at. Meanwhile read the review @ CrackBerry:
http://crackberry.com/blackberry-storm2-review
b) Mind you not only Nokia phones have both a touch screen and a real keyboard... What about Palm Pre, HTC? If you really can't live without a real keyboard maybe buy a phone without touch screen technology? You know, touch is the future but not for everyone, don't blame it just because you don't find it comfortable. Touch does have its advantages.
c) The iPhone browser is one of the best if not the very best right now. Pages load up quick and fast and it is really good at rendering complex websites as well. Saying the Safari browser on iPhone is bad is like saying Firefox on PC is bad. It is really that good. If you have ever used a BlackBerry you'll notice the moment you open up the browser that it is simply put a piece of ****. Thank God there is Opera Mini for us CrackBerry addicts (oh and the new BOLT browser is out too!). I've had my share of fun with Symbian and Maemo as well and to be honest the Safari on the iPhone beats them hands down.
d) Ok, maybe you can't exchange the battery, but you have to admit the build quality of the iPhone is really good. The battery door is one of those things that tend to break very easily no matter how well they are implemented. Having that said and the fact that the iPhone battery does in fact last long, this is only a minor con. Of course for those long travels where you have just one bar left of battery life while in the train, it is handy to just swap in a spare battery, but then again the application for such requirements are very different and the iPhone is a consumer device anyway. BlackBerry/HTC/Palm for your business critical needs.
e) The camera is just fine on the iPhone... sure no flash like on my Curve 8900, but definitely a great camera for those snapshots in situations which come very unexpected and you just don't have a real camera with you in that very moment. The iPhone records excellent video too; dare I say even better than my BlackBerry. Like one friend said to me once, "a camera is not about the megapixels, it's about everything else in it". Then again we're looking at something like Canon EOS 7D or Mamiya... way above the application of phone cameras.
f) It is true that you can not simply attach the iPhone to your computer via USB and have it act as a Mass Storage device. There is no expandable memory option either. Well, I can live with that. There's a reason that iPhone is sold currently as a 16GB and 32GB model; so you already have plenty of space you're not likely fill up that quick. The idea with smartphones currently is that you buy them with a contract and that contract usually also includes a flat rate for data traffic. Many iPhone and BlackBerry users for instance just pay for unlimited data on the go and use services like MobileMe to synchronize everything over the air so your files are on your PC, smartphone and out there in a "cloud"; accessible anytime anywhere. I like that idea, no need to carry a USB cable around. Again the iPhone is a consumer device and so you might not like the way how it operates, but then again you are in a different market looking at a device for another market. Have a look at BlackBerry? I know I maybe have put that up a few times but BlackBerrys do indeed support MicroSDHC up to 32GB so just slam in a big memory card for your documents, personal files and what not. Yes you can use this as normal Mass Storage with your PC and BlackBerrys use standard USB cabling (microUSB to be precise, earlier devices have miniUSB) so if you don't happen to have a cable with you it is likely you can buy one in the shop next door (I had to do this when I travelled to Bulgaria and had all my documents required for a presentation on my BlackBerry and of course since I was abroad I didn't feel like paying the roaming charges for transferring multiple MB of data).
I know this sounds like an advertisement of BlackBerry devices, but please understand I am a true CrackBerry addict and I feel like we are in the same market (prosumer/professional) so maybe you might want to jump over to
www.blackberry.com ? Last thing to note is that any current generation BlackBerry device will have an update soon to OS 5.0, which will bring lots of new features but most importantly all these features will be available no matter what form factor your new BlackBerry has (be it touch screen like Storm, a flip phone like Pearl Flip, full QWERTY like Curve 8900 / BOLD / Tour). Now that the new trackpad is out (Cuve 8520 introduced it to the public), you might want to hold out a bit for the new BlackBerry Bold 9700. I'll tell you it's going to be an awesome device! Of course that is if you want a full QWERTY and not touch screen
- talisman
