Mark Hendrickson from TechCrunch has posted an iPhone v. BlackBerry comparison chronicling the experience of an anonymous venture capitalist after a few weeks of use.
You can read the entire review here, however, the short and dirty conclusion was that “the iPhone, despite its attractiveness, lacks too many vital features to replace the BlackBerry as the corporate weapon of choice.”
To make a long story short, the iPhone is pretty and has a great web browser, but sucks pretty much at everything that makes the BlackBerry a great device.
I concur…
Sorry to burst your bubble, but after using both the 8703e and the iPhone concurrently for the past three weeks, I have decided to dump the BlackBerry completely. I can type significantly faster on the iPhone, the mail interface is superior on the Apple (IMHO) and the multimedia features aren’t even close. The Safari web browser blows away both the BB browser and Opera. Plus, I get all of that screen real estate that I lost with those tiny little buttons. For the first week I had the iPhone I constantly found myself saying ‘duh, why didn’t anyone else figure out how to do it this way. It seems so obvious now.’
I guess for most corporate users the BB might be best, but I have to tell you I’m a corporate user and there is simply no comparison for me.
This pretty much reinforces what most said even before the iPhone was introduced: for the practical tasks, the enterprise segment, the BB is still king; for the multimedia fun the iPhone can’t be touched.
I will say that the web browser on the iPhone puts all other mobile browsers to shame. After playing around with the iPhone browser for even a few minutes, all others seem primitive by comparison.
Oh please, the iphone was made to be a consumer phone, not a hard core business phone. Can business us it, sure. If you gave Apple’s target audience a Blackberry 8800 and an iphone, they would pick the iphone hands down. And how many BB users are really using a BES. If they aren’t then the author’s synchronization arguments are moot. As far as the EDGE network goes, that is nothing the iphone 2 can’t address.
I just really love how people go out of their way to hate this phone. If it wasn’t for the fact that it is on the ATT network, I would probably buy one as well.
I don’t hate the iPhone, in fact I think that it is the best piece of consumer electronic gadgetry to come out in years and am glad that I was able to get one. I have to be honest though. Once the the excitement wears off, the phone features in of the iPhone are just ok.
Web browsing on edge is like watching grass grow in Arizona. It is too slow to be of any use. The iPhone is a really cool MP3 player right? Why can’t I use the MP3s that I buy from iTunes as ringtones? Why doesn’t the iPhone have stereo bluetooth support? Why does it sound like you are talking in a steel can even with you have a strong network signal?
I admit that the visual voice mail is pretty cool. I wish that I had that on my Nextel phone.
I think the dude that writes this blog even has an iPhone. That should tell all you folks with Blackberry blinders on something. The time of the blackberry is coming to an end.
Having owned an iPhone for two weeks (before I took it back) I found that it does many things well. Sadly, one of those things was not being a phone. Same problem that others have stated: I sound to others, and they sound to me, like we are speaking through a tin can. I tried Cingular a couple of years ago and it was the same thing. Why is that? Email looked fantastic (even the attachments in the email). The keyboard… hmm.. Maybe I did not use it long enough, but I can type really fast on my 8703 keyboard. It was hard to type quickly on the iPhone.
The iPhone is a great consumer device, but the consumer features that make it great do not make it a a great business phone. I do wonder what the iPhone would have been like though on Verizon EV-DO network. Great sound quality. High-speed network. Still might not have replaced my Verizon Blackberry, but it would have been harder to replace.
The Blackberry , especially the newer 8800 series and 8300 Curve series are much better every day devices! Yes the iphone browser is real nice, but unless your using wifi, it’s so very slow. I took the jump to Apple land when the iphone hit, but returned it after 2 weeks. From the beginning I just felt like I was missing something without my berry. The iphone is a pretty device, and yes it is a hint at what the future is for mobile devices. But at this point it just lacks to many things to beat out a Blackberry.
When Apple comes out with a wide touch screen iPod video with Wi-Fi, and that safari browser, I will take it and a BlackBerry over an iPhone any day of the week.
I LOVE MY Blackberry 8830, stylish and can do anything the iphone can also (execpt multi touch and full web browsing oh and no camera(im still waiting on verizon for the curve)) but anything else it can do , plus email is awsome the Iphone already gives you to many limitations on email accounts. I LOVE MY BLACKBERRY. dont get me wrog it looks beutiful for me blackberry all the way!
I have been a Mac user since 93, I have 3 macs at the house and my recording studio, so the iPhone is so amazing, but when it comes to the Blackberry 8800, even though there is no camera, it is the total bomb, from business to entertainment. I have been a blackberry user since ’98. IPhone is fantastic, especially when it’s on the 3G network, but still going blackberry. My battery goes bad, I don’t have to send it off, just replace the battery. Now media and business on the 8800 minus the camera? I am totally kewl that, I love my blackberry.
the iphone is no doubt a (excuse me, THE…) revolutionary cell phone device PERIOD. i don’t believe it to be the greatest device for business users but maybe primarily more for general consumers.
as you all may already know, the down side is that it only works with at&t and cannot be unlocked. the phone itself cost a lot of money ($500-$600 w/o tax) plus you are required to subscribe to a monthy data plan on top of your calling plan. without any of that it’s literaly just a useless piece of an electronic brick.
at first i really wanted an iphone (lucky for me, i am with at&t) but after learning everything i mentioned above, i changed my mind in a heartbeat and looked for another alternative phone. my choice was the blackberry curve 8300. no regrets. i’m not a business person but i’ve always wanted a pda. i love the curve.
the iphone is basically NOTHING but just a pretty face with a built-in widescreen ipod, a cool web browser, and touch screen feature(virtual keypad and blah, blah, blah). what else?
NOT a business user phone but just a “fun” phone for consumers. it doesn’t really make sense to compare it to a blackberry.
iphone = consumers
blackberry = business users
I have had my blackberry for 3 days and am satisfied wtih it. I understand it is very reliable and has all the bugs and kinks worked out. The only thing I don’t like about the iphone is that it doesn’t not have mms capability to send and receive picture messaging. Is that true? An AT&T representative told me that tonight. How can they not have that basic functionality as many older phones have? Also, does it really take that long to receive (& pull) the emails?
I hate my Blackberry 8830. My most recent disappointment after buying a Jawbone bluetooth headset today is that the 8830 can’t connect anything to a bluetooth headset except phone – so my music and the langauge lessons I have been listening to are completely inaccessible. Yes, I’m a corporate user but I’m a human being as well, and to me this is unforgivable. The browser is a joke compared to the i-phone. I essentially bought the 8830 over the i-phone because I write long, fast e-mails with my thumbs, but the 8830 keyboard seems specifically designed to make the lettters and numbers impossible to see in any but the best of light. My old corporate clunker blackberry was light-years easier to use, including larger icons on the screen.
I bought the blackberry in December so I could travel to Italy twice in January and February. On both trips it developed some sort of problem where its internal processes were tied up and it would sit there twirling a little hourglass at me while I tried to receive a call from the woman I was there to visit (who got away – I partly blame the blackberry … just kidding!).
I bought the 8830 because of loyalty to Verizon’s USA network coverage and because I thought I could use a sim card in Italy to keep the cost down (which did not turn out to be true, as far as I can tell). I deeply regret the decision and wish I had bought an i-phone. Only problem is, my business partners lives in an area where ATT (i-phone) doesn’t have great service and we need free in-calling. I am incredibly frustrated.
Finally, a little things, but … no option to have a camera on the 8830?!? I’m an architect, I need a camera for the job site, buildings I visit, etc. I have a nice full-size digital camera, but because the 8830 didn’t come with a camera, I had to buy a separate little camera, so now I have two devices again.
What a disappointment on so many levels. I will say Verizon has been good to work with, though.
Michael
I have the bb 8830 and I love it… I also have the ipod touch screen. I find myself using the ipod for web browsing and the bb for everything else.I just love bb messenger. So kewl