iPhone 4s and Blackberry 9900

[kjvella]

I?m lucky (or unlucky) enough to have an iPhone 4s and a Blackberry 9900 and have really been trying to get on the hype band wagon of liking the 4s, but have been failing miserably!

First off, real life apps (such as Wakeful my alarm, for example) which work flawlessly on my 9900 just fail on the iPhone. I?m not sure if this is the phone?s fault or the app developers fault but it is a problem. I?m talking, as I said, about real life applications, I have a life and a job etc, so really don?t care about Angry Birds and the like. I don?t have time to play all day on a phone, I just want something that works.

Connectivity is more of an issue with the iPhone, especially with WIFI. The BB seems to connect immediately and stay connected, the iPhone is constantly dropping WIFI. As I search the net, I see this is a problem for many and no concrete solutions seem to be available.

The iPhone key pad is not bad for a touch screen I must admit. However there is no doubt that the physical keyboard of the 9900 is far superior for typing. After a while on the 9900, you can type without looking similar to a computer keyboard or typewriter. Again, I mean especially for longer emails etc at work. I send a few text messages but again, I personally don?t have time for that. If I need to converse, I can call.

It seems that every song, tone etc I would like to put on my iPhone has to be done thru iTunes, and not just any iTunes but the one that is synced to my particular phone? Hard to do when your away from home.

Mentioning away from home, the iPhone is locked to one carrier and the 4s is unlockable. When I travel, I can?t simply insert the local carriers SIM and carry on. I know you can buy roaming add ons but, why would I want the extra expense?

Other than changing wallpapers, it seems there is not much customization I can do to the iPhone. At present there is no Jailbreak for the 4s, and if there was if I was to jailbreak it, I void my warranty! Seems like everything must go thru Apple by design, I can?t even get a Kindle book without going thru Apple!

If you have an iPhone and like it, good for you. My opinion though is that it has a long way to go to catch up with the modern BB as an honest to goodness workhorse. It is a great gaming device if you?re bored and have nothing to do, but most of us aren?t, hopefully that bored!

I?m not looking to troll or be convinced that the iPhone is better and I doubt you can convince me anyway, I?m just stating my opinion and why I can?t be sucked into the iPhone hype that Apple and to a degree, the media has brought to the public. Perhaps a future OS upgrade can help, but I suppose that is once again up to Apple.

Before I purchased the iPhone4S, I owned a Blackberry Curve. I liked it a lot, but the keyboard was too small for my hands. I wanted to purchase the Blackberry Bold Touch 9930 due to the fact that it has a touch screen and a larger keyboard. My carrier, however, wouldn't go down in price for the unit from $249.99. Blackberry's have a better notification feature. I do miss the little red led at times. iPhone4S has better music choices since I can play everything in my iTunes library without having to worry about DMR restrictions. Siri and iCloud are two other advantages of iPhone4S.
I can understand your points and agree.

 

[PhoneAddict]

I came off of a Bold to my iPhone (after a brief period with a Motorola Droid) after two years with a BB Storm and honestly do not see the validity to the comments that iOS is not for business. I only use my device for phone, text and e-mail and find the iOS superior to BB for business needs. The ability for adding real productivity applications to the iPhone has helped me be more productive. The limited apps for BB just make it less productive, sorry just MO.

BTW - I would not use the BB tag line of other devices and OS as "Toys". I understand from the group at Crackberry that the new BB OS 10 is getting a real following for its gaming capabilities, which IMO I consider to make the device more of a toy.

Great thing is that we have 4 major OS for smartphones (iOS, Android, BB and Microsoft) and whichever works for your needs is the best out there, regardless of what anyone else thinks.

 

[Snipperdo17]

I see what the OP is saying and it is also the same stuff for me that is keeping me from leaving BB full time. Just the email and text experience is just so much faster and I get so much more stuff done in a shorter amount of time. The keyboard helps out a ton since you don't have to look when you type. There is just something about them! I do still like the iPhone though. It's nice to be able to go back and forth that's for sure.

 

[Ricktye]

Thank you. Finally someone who can understand instead of telling me how great their iPhone is. If I only had one or the other, I'm sure I'd say the same thing.......

I see what the OP is saying and it is also the same stuff for me that is keeping me from leaving BB full time. Just the email and text experience is just so much faster and I get so much more stuff done in a shorter amount of time. The keyboard helps out a ton since you don't have to look when you type. There is just something about them! I do still like the iPhone though. It's nice to be able to go back and forth that's for sure.

 

[itechyou]

I have been on both sides of this before and for me the iPhone has suited my needs. The main thing, in my eyes, BB has over the iPhone is bbm and even that was lagging horribly last time I used a berry. Plus having the huge media push for OS7 last years for a few months then announcing that none of the os7devices or any older ones would be able to support the forthcoming OS kind of sealed the deal for me with RIM. The bb does have its uses, as does the iPhone. I have tested email speeds on both and guess what? Within seconds on either device. I can type on the touchscreen without looking, although I conceded that the Bold series has a phenomenal keyboard, the last two I tried both had the annoying sticky feeling 'clackiness'. To each their own I say. And when someone asks my opinion on a device for their personal or business use, I have the experience with BB, iOS, Android to help them in their selection in a non-biased way. This is an iOS forum so of course when you post about your thoughts on one devices better aspects than the iPhone it becomes a willy wagging contest. I see the OP view though. There are apps for everything I COULD NEED on iOS, can't say that truly for BB though

 

[DZD]

I am looking into getting an iPhone coming from Blackberry so I was excited to read this thread but by the time I got to the end of it, I knew he would be labeled as a troll and I would get very little knowledge. Oh well...since I do not exactly what search words to put in, can someone give me a few threads like this but maybe a little less trollish and not so much "My platform is better" attitude?

Here is a thread I started after moving from Blackberry to iPhone. http://forums.imore.com/iphone-4s-forum/226555-my-first-50-days-my-iphone-4s.html

I admire both but cannot argue facts:

I use my phone as a "workhorse" and I don't see me moving off iOS anytime soon.

 

[M.Rizk]

Well I own a BB Bold 9900 and an iPhone 4S too. I would say I can't favor one of the other sometimes I just prefer my BlackBerry for personal use but iPhone could be a family use device. I am not being negative or anything guys I just love simple phones to carry around and I really like physical keyboard so this could be why I still can't leave my 9900. But I also love how fast my iPhone 4S is with no lag. only thing annoying me that FaceBreak on Cydia doesn't support iOS 5.1.1 yet :/

 

[Snipperdo17]

I have been on both sides of this before and for me the iPhone has suited my needs. The main thing, in my eyes, BB has over the iPhone is bbm and even that was lagging horribly last time I used a berry. Plus having the huge media push for OS7 last years for a few months then announcing that none of the os7devices or any older ones would be able to support the forthcoming OS kind of sealed the deal for me with RIM. The bb does have its uses, as does the iPhone. I have tested email speeds on both and guess what? Within seconds on either device. I can type on the touchscreen without looking, although I conceded that the Bold series has a phenomenal keyboard, the last two I tried both had the annoying sticky feeling 'clackiness'. To each their own I say. And when someone asks my opinion on a device for their personal or business use, I have the experience with BB, iOS, Android to help them in their selection in a non-biased way. This is an iOS forum so of course when you post about your thoughts on one devices better aspects than the iPhone it becomes a willy wagging contest. I see the OP view though. There are apps for everything I COULD NEED on iOS, can't say that truly for BB though

I hear ya. We aren't arguing that the email comes in faster on BlackBerry or anything, it's just the whole experience that is just faster and easier to use. As for not being able to upgrade, I don't understand why so many people are mad about not being about to get the upgrade to BB10. It doesn't make sense. They are moving to a completely different platform and it needs new internals and more memory than the 9900 offers. I understand the reason for being upset, but it isn't a simple switch to say BBOS8. It's a whole new platform. But anyways, you really can't go wrong with either phone.

 

[Dienaldy_k]

I have My Blackberry too with my Iphone 4, and Last week I was switched My 9780 to My dad"s torch (blackberry) i wonder How The Touch Screen Feel like, And I VOTE my Iphone 4 For the best.. Apple Still Having the best Touch screen ever, It is Still Accurate even Im typing Fast, but With Torch I need To delete and remove several Time because If I typed Fast on The screen Sometime The screen being laggy, and get The wrong Alphabet.. apple still the best

 

[Angelo_Campher]

As an owner of both these devices I can appreciate the arguments on both sides... I still use my Berry to do all my heavy emailing. I've said it before and I will say it again, the way iOS handles email is archaic. Not being able to attach a file from the app itself is ridiculous but other than that the iPhone has the measure of the 9900 (apart from customisation).

 

[jsigler]

Dude, your post is like walking into a biker bar and declaring that Harley's suck I prefer a Ferrari. You said what you didn't like you didn't ask a question.

Not a fan of the iPhone look for supporters of your thoughts over at Crackberry. Here we talk about the good things about the iPhone or help those who need help with the same.

 

[cckgz4]

I truly believe there are Smartphone enthusiasts, and then there are BLACKBERRY enthusiasts. The more I read you guys posts, the more you remind me of the elderly: stubborn and set in your ways. Really, you can't find another alarm clock? Really, you just summarized all iPhone users as unproductive and lazy? Really, your generalization is that for everyone, portrait keyboards are better than touch screen? Just....really?

 

[GingerSnapsBack]

The main thing, in my eyes, BB has over the iPhone is bbm and even that was lagging horribly last time I used a berry.

And it doesn't help much when I know one person who still owns a BB. Everyone else I met through Crackberry either has an iPhone or Android now. BBM was nice, but it's only nice if enough people use it and that's simply not the case any longer.

 

[anon(73368)]

So true! I meant many of friends through cb but most of us has left for iphones so I use imessage and its as good as bbm.

 

[anon(4706943)]

BB vs IP4s

As a corporate manager who spends 75% of his life on the road, I've been on both platforms and there are great things about both devices. In my opinion, the BB has a far superior calendar application. I'm talking Rolls Royce vs Yugo type of comparison. Additionally, I'm also a physical keyboard guy...After two years I still can't type worth a rip on glass like I could on my BB.

The deciding factor for me was that BB and Mac are simply non-sympatico. I only have Mac computers in my home and it was a constant fight to get the two to talk to one another. Calendar events doubled up, were deleted or were half complete etc. I couldn't deal with fighting with it any more.

As far as the "toy" vs "workhorse" bit...it's tired. You can play games on both. Yes, the IP has more, but RIM is selling itself to the devil trying to get people to see how "fun" the BB platform is. Why? Because that's what tends to drive people to a platform. I listen to music as I travel and my iP4s gives me more options there than my BB did. I'm actually excited to see what BB 10 will be...hope it turns out to be great.

You mentioned travel, in order to keep my life orderly, I have to stay on top of everyone's events. I can put something on my iP4s, and it shows up on my iPad2, my wife's iPad2, my MacBook Pro, iMac, the kid's iPhones, etc. Everyone is instantly updated when my wife, son or daughter updates their calendar (the aforementioned crappy one in iOS). I tried Google sync and other third-party apps to make this happen with no real success.

You like the BB platform and i can understand some of your reasoning, but toy vs workhorse...yawn

 

[Technogal7]

I'm loyal to iPhone already. I tried BB and just missed all the extra apps iPhone has. Call me a 'gamer' That's fine. I have tons of apps on my phone, photo enhancers etc, which i can't do without already. Also i have found a company that makes iPhone cases (only) for iPhone 4 and 4s. EDGE Design, kinda pricey but it's worth it for their aerospace grade Aluminum. My iPhone is now pretty much bullet proof.. I might also get a BB again for my new job, but for personal use i can't see myself shifting from iPhone (for now).. Who knows what the future holds for us..

 

[david9962000]

This is why I have a blackberry and an iPad. BB for communication and Ipad for books, apps, games.... Using a 10" screen makes a big difference for books and such.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

The OP makes me feel like I'm back at Crackberry.

Nostalgia.

 

[maxiang]

The OP makes me feel like I'm back at Crackberry.

Nostalgia.

lulz

@heckler: Calvetica is an excellent calendar app. Reads and writes to the iPhone's built in calendar and any calendar accounts attached to it. I don't use the stock app anymore


~Sent via Carrier Pigeon~

 

[sting7k]

I truly believe there are Smartphone enthusiasts, and then there are BLACKBERRY enthusiasts. The more I read you guys posts, the more you remind me of the elderly: stubborn and set in your ways. Really, you can't find another alarm clock? Really, you just summarized all iPhone users as unproductive and lazy? Really, your generalization is that for everyone, portrait keyboards are better than touch screen? Just....really?

Yes.

OP, the iPhone's stock clock app has an alarm that has not failed me in 5 years. Blame the developer of Wakeful for it's failings because Apple had nothing to do with it.