Ok wait wait, I know you are probably already thinking “Ummm there has been a million Blackberry vs iPhones articles on the web already”. And your right, there has been, but this is the LifeStyle section of G Style and I thought I’d do some real world examples of the two. So I have a iPhone now myself (avoided it like the plague, but finally decided to give it a go), and have decided I just wanted to see for myself how they stack up!
So the first thing I had to do was figured out how to use the thing lol. You see I’ve only played with one a few minutes at a time here & there. This is the longest I’ve used one. So after I got use it, I started downloading some of the same apps I use as well on my Blackberry. So far I’ve added the WordPress (though they don’t have one on BB yet), Facebook, MySpace, TwitterFon, ad FlyCast apps. I’ve also added the Cooliris, Pandora, Urbanspoon, and Midomi apps under some recommendations.
First Test: Facebook, Winner – iPhone 3G
There is really no contest here. The iPhone 3G slaughters the Blackberry one. RIM & Facebook need to work this out, as this is just cruel to compare them. With the iPhone 3G app you get a break down by News Feed, Notification, and Requests. At the Bottom of the screen you have quick buttons for your profile, friends, chat, and your inbox. You have the ability to view people’s profiles, pictures, and wall comments. The Blackberry version you can’t do any of that. You can make wall comments, sent messages, poke someone, and that’s about it. Winner iPhone 3G!
Next: MySpace, Winner – Tie
This was a tough one, the iPhone MySpace app is great, but then again so is the Blackberry one. The Blackberry one even trumps the BB Facbook app as well. At the end of the day it just comes down to different interfaces. Trackball for the BB, and touchscreen for the iPhone. Both apps are equally good and both very well put together. So if you are a MySpace user, you’d be fine with either platform. It should be notes, that when both apps was running side by side, the Blackberry one at times loaded faster than the iPhone.
Twitter: On Blackberry using SocialScope. On iPhone using TwitterFon: Winner – iPhone
This was another tough one to call. Using Twitter on the Blackberry via SocialScope is a great experience. One of the best perks of this app, is the push capability of it. The interface is all very designed, and adding in the fact that you can also follow your Facebook statuses as well is cool. However the interface on TwitterFon is great. I really like how it is color coded and breaks down the the feed by Friends, Replies, Messages, and Search. In the end, I really like that interface on the iPhone, so I’m going to have to give it to the iPhone.
Now I could go on with a play by play of each application and how they stack up with each other. But I must say this, after using the iPhone for a week and some change now, I’ve become conflicted with myself. You see more and more I find myself using the iPhone for all the “fun” stuff. Checking Twitter, browsing Facebook, MySpace, surfing the web. These are things I can equally do just as well on the Blackberry, but it is just cooler on the iPhone. On the flip side, when it is time to get stuff done, I stay with my Blackberry. Nothing beats an actual keyboard, I’m sorry but this is the truth! Sure some can say that they can type fast on the iPhone and that if learns how you type, so it gets better. While this may be true, I lose speed typing on the iPhone, so when it comes time to getting things done, Blackberry it is! Since I carry both, when it comes time to listening to music & watching movies, I tend to head towards the iPhone. But when I want to stay in touch with email/IM/new articles (via Viigo), the iPhone just can’t compare to my Blackberry.
Then we have the fact that I can’t use my iPhone during the Winter lol. I’m sorry I don’t care if Apple told us so (as you’ll see commented on in the upcoming The Big 3 Round table video), but not being able to use the iPhone with gloves truly sucks! That is a deal breaker for me, having to duck into store or wait to be on a bus or train just to use a phone isn’t cool. So where to I find myself? I would love to have both the iPhone & the Blackberry Bold. Actually that is not true. They need to combine the iPod Touch with the Peek email device. If they did this in which your iPod Touch had service via WiFi or cellular signal, that would be hot! Then I would love to have the iPod Touch and the Blackberry Bold. Would I use the iPhone as my primary device? No, is it a cool secondary device? Hell yes! But my Blackberry just does too much for me and it does it efficiently. So who wins in the Blackberry Bold vs iPhone 3G challenge? The Bold, but only by a slight margin!