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[cmikhow]

Soo I've been an avid blackberry enthusiast since the original pearl came out which was my first foray into the smartphone arena. Since then nothing the iPhone ever put out really impressed me even though I do love the iPhone as a gaming platform, as a phone I just felt it lacked the full package.. until I saw the iPhone 4. And wow am I blown away, I was just wondering if any of you have switched from blackberry and could help ease the process.

I think what I will miss most is the LED indicator, I've heard it's annoying having to check your phone for messages/calls all the time.

[big9erfan]

Welcome to the Death Star, take a seat and enjoy the force choke. =P

And I agree about the LED, it's the ONE thing I've missed from my old phone.

[lungho]

At first, you will miss BB's keyboard. But after a few weeks of practice, it won't even be an issue. I enjoy the darkside. Darth Jobs has a way of producing a quality phone that works out of the box.

[rliebert]

I switched over in March from a Bold 9700, and I haven't looked back yet. I've actually found the enterprise email on my iPhone to be smoother than what I had with the BES service.

Give it an honest chance, and I think you will soon forget that you ever had a BlackBerry.

[audit]

Welcome to the death star. I was a AVID Blackberry user for YEARS. Been using my 3GS now for 3 months and have given away most of my Blackberry's to charities and kept one in case anyone in the house needs a spare phone real quick while they wait for a replacement to come. The keyboard was the hardest for me but now in landscape I'm typing just as fast as my BB 9700 and 9000.

I don't see going back to RIM anytime in my future, wife loves her iPhone and as soon as our kids get jobs to pay their own data bills then I'll be getting them iPhones also or should I say they will get ours while the parents get the new one

[bjames2785]

I jus ordered the iphone 4. on the 24th I will be leaving blackberry
Most likely for good. The storm 2 jus didn't do what I needed from
A smartphone.

[MsEYE]

Welcome to TiPb!! You will love your iPhone. I made the move from blackberry to iphone as well and I have yet to regret it. I had a 8900 through tmobile that I got from an upgrade. It worked great for a solid two weeks and then the answer key didn't work and the phone lagged. No dmage had been done to the phone by me (something could have happened while it was being shipped to me, but if so I wouldn't know) and I had yet to install any programs on the phone. I called tmobile and they sent me a new one and I had the same problems. Long story short that one didn't work either and tmobile refused to give me another new phone and offered me a refurb. I then asked for them to give me back my upgrade on which they refused. So I threaten to cancel and get a iphone and they told me they didn't care, and that AT&T's crappy service would bring me back. I laughed in their faces as I pulled out my iphone and cancelled the contract. Ive never been happier with a phone, pr a carrier. Sorry for my long-winded story but I thought I'd share enjoy your iphone and once again welcome to the site there are some really cool people on here

[cmikhow]

wow such prompt and kind responses thanks for the kindness.

and ya i'm glad to see there are others in the same boat as me, i mean i had the curve, 9000, and 9700 and at these phones were some of the best on the market but i waited for bberry too long and their tech is now all old news, apple and android just dwarf them in almost every way.

so ya i'm switching over, the keyboard has been a real cause of concern for me because i was VERY used to typing on my bold 9000/9700 but a friend of mine can type as fast as i can on my bold 9700 on his iphone so i imagine i'll get used to it EVENTUALLY (however all the iphones i've tried out in store, i have been horrendous at typing on)

i've done extensive research and testing and i am pretty pleased with how iphone has progressed in terms of e-mail, and other services (like copy and paste) and other than LED and keyboard issues i haven't been able to think of anything else that would really frustrate me.

any other advice you ex-BB users could offer? (i know i'm beaing a dead horse but i just depend on that LED so much, it's like crack i don't know how i'll get away without it.)

[mdpuckett84]

I made the same switch. I've been on Blackberry almost consistently since Fall of 2006. I tried to make the leap to iPhone a couple times but got tired of it after 6-8 weeks and went back to BB. In April I started using my wife's old 3G when she got a 3GS and almost gave it up for a Bold 9700 but just wasn't satisfied. I preordered a iPhone 4 this morning.

Here's my take on it coming from a similar situation. I should mention that I mostly use a phone for communication and much less for entertainment and multimedia. In fact except for the occasional podcast I almost never listen to any of the iTunes material on my phone.

Cons:

No status LED

No Blackberry messenger and IM clients not as smooth to me (maybe multitasking will fix this?)

No bedside mode

Little more effort to do tasks if the phone is in standby for example:
-Blackberry: start unlocking by typing first digit of lock code, press enter, start dialing
-iPhone: press button to wake up, slide to unlock, enter pin, launch Phone, dial
-I know this is really minor and being picky, but if you do it often it can get annoying. This, combined with no unified inbox and 4 email accounts is what kept killing the iPhone for me.

Not connected to company intranet unless you can get VPN to work (which I can't)

No themes if you're really into those (unless you jailbreak).

Notifications are really in your face which can be annoying if you're trying to do something.

OS updates are pretty much just once a year. This isn't a big deal at all really, but just means if there's something you want it to do that it doesn't do now, you're looking at aleast a year before that has a chance of changing. But unlike with Blackberry you don't have to wait for the OS to get approved by ATT before you get it "officially".


Pros:
With the addition of a unified inbox, I think iPhone handles mail better than BB now. Accessing folders is much easier and the 2 way sync between device and the mail account seems to work a lot better/faster.

Web Browser is obviously better

Apps - Games and fart apps aside, the iPhone has some good productivity apps going for it like Evernote or Mint.com. Last I looked Mint isn't for Blackberry and the Evernote app isn't that great. In non-productive apps the Facebook app is much better as are the Weather apps. Also, more apps means the chance of their being a free one that does what you want is much greater.

Mutliple Alarms - minor but something I really like

Expect the keyboard to drive you crazy for the first week or so, but you will get better/faster at it.

[mdpuckett84]

Originally Posted by cmikhow

wow such prompt and kind responses thanks for the kindness.

and ya i'm glad to see there are others in the same boat as me, i mean i had the curve, 9000, and 9700 and at these phones were some of the best on the market but i waited for bberry too long and their tech is now all old news, apple and android just dwarf them in almost every way.

so ya i'm switching over, the keyboard has been a real cause of concern for me because i was VERY used to typing on my bold 9000/9700 but a friend of mine can type as fast as i can on my bold 9700 on his iphone so i imagine i'll get used to it EVENTUALLY (however all the iphones i've tried out in store, i have been horrendous at typing on)

i've done extensive research and testing and i am pretty pleased with how iphone has progressed in terms of e-mail, and other services (like copy and paste) and other than LED and keyboard issues i haven't been able to think of anything else that would really frustrate me.

any other advice you ex-BB users could offer? (i know i'm beaing a dead horse but i just depend on that LED so much, it's like crack i don't know how i'll get away without it.)

Looks like I took so long with my post that you replied again.

Lack of an LED was extremely frustrating for me too. Eventually I realized I had the phone with me so much that I almost alway catch the notification when it happens and only used the LED for confirmation I wasn't crazy.

You're right, RIM just doesn't seem to be progressing lately. I think what got me was the OS 6 video, not really showing off much improvement but trying to make up with it with dancing and the Black Eye Peas. Meanwhile they're showing off OS6 and ATT won't give offical versions beyond 4.6 because they're not done loading it up with crapware.

Of course it's their right to only focus on business users who don't give a rip about all of this, just like its ours to quit buying their phones.