Blackberry -> iphone 4 first impressions

[newiphoneuser]

I have tried the 2g, the 3gs and finally the 4g iphones thus far. I just kept coming back to the blackberry because blackberry had two things the iphone lacked.

- Battery life
- Multitasking

Yesterday i purchased an iphone 4. I like it. Email comes in almost as well as the blackberry, multitasking is great, battery life is awesome too. I took it off the charger at 7 AM, it is not 10 PM. 40%.

Just my 2 cents coming from a blackberry..

 

[Tanz]

I have had 3 blackberrys and this is my first iPhone. I have taken up photography as a hobby and like showing my pictures off to friends and family and the blackberry screen just didn't work for me. Right now the iPhone fits that great and I am still in the "New Toy" phase. I just got the iPhone yesterday so I think next week will really tell me a lot about how I like it for work.

 

[pkang]

Coming from the 9700 theres a couple things. I absolutely love the iphone.

Pros: Multitasking now, touch screen, easier to browse the web, fun apps
Cons: Battery life (which is a lot better than previous versions though), size

but besides those things, i love the iphone way more than my blackberry

 

[GolfnCPA]

I used a BB for years. Quite honestly I used to bash the iPhone unmercifully.

My tune has changed. This device has improved my productivity as it delivers information to me quickly and in a very pleasing format for review.

You all know this, but the key are the apps. Where the BB primarily uses web launchers, the iPhone pulls the information for me in the app.

Very pleased with the change.

 

[omgabunny]

I got the 3GS two months after having the BB Bold 9700 since it's release. I loved the browsing and plethora of apps. The overall smoothness and build of the 3GS impressed me. The things I missed the most was bbm and real push notifications. The battery life was also HORRIBLE compared to my 9700. I returned it in the wake of the impending release of the iPhone 4. Having the iPhone 4 for almost 2 weeks I couldn't be happier. It seems as snappy if not snappier than the 3GS and oh gosh the battery life! I still miss real push and bbm but the screen, hd video, and build of the 4 has me a convert.
I was thinking about the nexus one for a while there but the beauty in apples simplicity in their OS is something to marvel. Hardly any file management is needed and I have a hard enough time keeping my personal computers tidy. What a welcome change!

 

[deeddawg]

I still miss real push

May depend on your email provider. Push email works great on my iphone 3GS (iOS4).

Attaching my iphone to my work Exchange server via Activesync completely blows away using BIS & OWA on my BB9700. It's as good as using BES and $15/mo cheaper.

I don't do anything important enough on my personal Gmail to need push email; but it's available if I wanted to set up a second Exchange account instance. Google's help boards have the instructions on how to do this and get push on Gmail. Other email providers may be able to do similarly.

Another alternative for push is to use Mobileme. You can find discounted 12 month subscriptions on ebay for a lot less than Apple charges.

 

[PsydePhuk]

The big thing I miss is the lack of customizations for notifications. I use mine for pages at work. I may get in trouble if I miss too many of them. Hopefully I find an app for that.

 

[pkang]

Another thing that I miss about my bb on my iphone is the ability to have custom ringtones, tones, themes, and etc. Of course I need to wait to jailbreak it but I miss my bbm and sms tones. I may import those tones to replace my iphone standard ones when I jailbreak my 4.

Also another thing that I dislike about the iphone compared to my blackberry is the lack of privacy. On my bb, maybe because of lack of knowledge, I had my sms and emails icon hidden and binded them to a key so I can easily access those folders and others couldn't. On the iphone both those icons are easily accessible and just plain out there and I hate locking the phone but I guess with a jailbreak those will be solved.

overall I love my iphone 4

oh and another thing I miss dearly is that bb led notifier....when I had it I thought it was sometimes annoying but now that I dont, I miss it. It seems so practical to have a light blinking to tell you that you have a message waiting instead of having to turn on the phone to check....RIM does it well to notify the user they have something waiting.

 

[Fausty82]

The big thing I miss is the lack of customizations for notifications. I use mine for pages at work. I may get in trouble if I miss too many of them. Hopefully I find an app for that.

Exactly... this is my major sticking point with the iPhone. I switched from the 9700 (after 5 years as a BB user)...

I am confused because Steve Jobs is trying to sell this device as a business tool, yet he refuses to allow things like custom SMS notifications. There is absolutely no provisions for using the iPhone as a pager for work situations where custom notifications and continuous repeating notifications are required. Fortunately for me, I can set up my work system to also send notifications by email - and am using [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mailtones-email-sounds-alerts/id329330329?mt=8&at=10l3Vy]MailTones[/URL] to do the alerts for that. So far that is working out ok, but I'd prefer custom SMS notifications.

And I am still struggling with poor battery life, compared to the BlackBerry... but over the past week or so, it seems to have improved (either that, or I am just "playing with it" less).

I do love my iPhone. The overall coolness cannot be overstated. The screen is beautiful, the web browsing experience blows the BlackBerry away. And I am getting used to the virtual keyboard - probably the one thing that I was most afraid of...

As a former BlackBerry lover and iPhone basher, I freely announce to the world that I was wrong, and I have converted. Please pass the kool-aid.

 

[PsydePhuk]

Fortunately for me, I can set up my work system to also send notifications by email - and am using MailTones to do the alerts for that. So far that is working out ok, but I'd prefer custom SMS notifications.

Hmmm ... that may work for me as well. At least for now. Thanks.

 

[Fausty82]

MailTones was $2.99.... but I'm like you - would get in SERIOUS trouble for not responding... so $2.99 and I get to keep my job! What a deal!

 

[kato10#IM]

I'm seriously considering making the switch. But are you guys telling me that there aren't different tones for emails and sms messages? Also, I'm just not too sure if i can let BBM go. Decisions, decisions!

 

[lungho]

BBM is BB's strongest suite. That's the one thing BB has always done well. As far as email and sms tones on iPhone, you can't change them. That's unless you jailbreak. I seriously don't get it. Why must Apple torture us with email and sms tones year after year?

 

[Fausty82]

BBM is BB's strongest suite. That's the one thing BB has always done well. As far as email and sms tones on iPhone, you can't change them. That's unless you jailbreak. I seriously don't get it. Why must Apple torture us with email and sms tones year after year?

Remember the old days of Motorola pagers... with only one or two different ringtones? Someone's pager would go off and everyone in the room would reach for their belt to check their pager... it's sort of the same thing with the iPhone.

I do miss BBM, but it's nothing that I cannot live without...

 

[xxDruMMer BoYxx]

Some of ya'll mentioned the iPhones battery as a con...Ive had 5 blackberrys and i can tell u, if blackberrys had all that stuff going on i their phones like the Iphones do, they'd be going out quick too...so thats actually really good that the iPhone last what it does no matter what generation as it does amazing things for such a phone...my dos centavos...

 

[lungho]

Remember the old days of Motorola pagers... with only one or two different ringtones? Someone's pager would go off and everyone in the room would reach for their belt to check their pager... it's sort of the same thing with the iPhone.

LOL......I actually remember pagers. In fact, they were very popular when I was in high school 20+ years ago. It was so much easier for cops to spot a drug dealer back in those days.

 

[iBlobber]

Used blackberrys for many years prior to my iPhone. Got the iPhone 3G on release day and then never since went back to blackberry. The iPhone 4 has resolved most of the gripes I've had with the iPhone.

 

[noaim]

I had 3 blackberrys and to be perfectly honest I just got sick with the hassle of blackberry.. seemed like I had to reformat the phone every couple months do to some glitch of installing and uninstalling a application or something like that.... and frankly browsing the web on a blackberry is just awful I do somewhat miss blackberry messenger though

 

[LazyStarGazer]

LOL......I actually remember pagers. In fact, they were very popular when I was in high school 20+ years ago. It was so much easier for cops to spot a drug dealer back in those days.

LOL, I remember that too.

Edit:
As for lack of notification options, maybe they haven't figured out how to make it 'easy'.

 

[Fausty82]

LOL......I actually remember pagers. In fact, they were very popular when I was in high school 20+ years ago. It was so much easier for cops to spot a drug dealer back in those days.

LOL... I walked in to a hospital ER once with my pager on my hip - 3 people stopped me and asked if I was a doctor. THAT'S a long time ago.