iPhone or Blackberry?...a poll

[Agent Starling]

If you use one of these, which one and why? :cool:

Agent Starling

[The Deacon]

Samsung 650, over 4 years old, no camera, no internet, no plans to replace it in the foreseeable future. For the last two I've been on a 25 minutes a month for $15 plan. With the taxes and other crap that gets tacked on, my bill is just over $19 if I don't go over on the minutes and has been under $20 all but twice. :D My only beef is that I wish the buttons were bigger.

[Pneumothorax]

Crackberry. I use it primarily for work email and the full keyboard and best in class email connectivity of Blackberry works for me. I cannot use the virtual keyboard since I like/need the feedback of the individual keys for faster typing. That goes for the Blackberry Storm also - will never buy that. I have the 8839 World phone now, but will upgrade to the new Tour from Verizon. I have to say that I do like all the apps available for the iPhone, but I cannot get one due to the lack of keys and also, no iPhone available from Verizon. To get access to the apps, I might just get the iPod Touch since it has wireless access capability and can get all the apps...

[hickster]

The iPhone is so much more than just a phone. It really is "the internet" in your pocket at surprisingly fast 3G speed. I always had a plain cell phone before and never saw the need for the extra bells and whistles but everything is so well integrated into the iPhone. I can take (decent) pictures and video and e-mail them extremely easily. The GPS works great. I can google up a restaurant, check out the menu, touch the phone number and make reservations, then route directions from my current location. All this is simple and seamless.
...and much, much more!
Yep, I loves me some iPhone :D
hickster

[yablanowitz]

Let me know when they come up with an app that can repair a crack in drywall or replace a broken floor tile and I'll think about it. Especially if it can make the repair here while I'm sitting on a beach sipping a Mai Tai.

I understand that these are much more than just a phone. What I don't understand is why people think they need all that crap with them all the time.

[smikesmith3]

I have a BlackBerry Bold. Honestly it is just easy. Plus if it takes the iPhone 3 years to get copy/paste, then it just doesn't do it for me. I can honestly say I will never go back to another phone. BlackBerry just lets you be purely mobile in every aspect which is nice when you don't want to be at the computer all the time. I will agree the Apps for the iPhone are way better and their are more of them.

[vampyrewolf]

I went the FAR other end of the spectrum, motofone f3. A cellphone designed to be... get this... a phone! :eek: :p

I *can* text though it takes forever with 6 characters across my screen. No special ring tones, no net capabilities, no camera, no storage. Spent more on my SIM card and first set of minutes than I did on the phone.

[DexterMorgan]

Just like a Spyderco... A blackberry means business.

I've had countless nokias, sony ericssons, qualcomms, motorolas.....and played around with iphones

Nothing compares to my Blackberry Bold 9000....
It makes e-mail an effective and efficient form of communication.
Blackberry Messenger is amazing, Windows Live Messenger is amazing on it as well.

I dont even have an expensive data plan, because I use the WiFi hotspots everywhere.

Blackberry hands down, I know many people who ditched iPhones to get a purpose built device...... the Blackberry.

[Fred Sanford]

Neither. I think they both suck. They are gadgety toys. We have all these goofy executives at work using them and all they do is pull the thing off their hip every dang time they get an email. It's ridiculous. People need to be more disconnected.

I have an LG enV3 and I have no use for email on my phone. I text only about 3-4 times a month. I just don't understand why it's so hard for people to talk on the phone or use a computer. I can type 65 words a minute with my laptop keyboard. I cannot type 15 words a minute with my thumbs.

Oh well.......I went a bit on a rant there. Regardless.....I choose neither. It seems these days both are simply "status" symbols. I'm not that into "status".

[spyderknut]

I have used lots of phones in the last 20 years. Just broke down and got 3 iPhones today. I cannot imagine going back to Palm, Blackberry, Motorola, Samsung. I will update if the novelty wears off and I change my mind.

[Pneumothorax]

Neither. I think they both suck. They are gadgety toys. We have all these goofy executives at work using them and all they do is pull the thing off their hip every dang time they get an email. It's ridiculous. People need to be more disconnected.

I have an LG enV3 and I have no use for email on my phone. I text only about 3-4 times a month. I just don't understand why it's so hard for people to talk on the phone or use a computer. I can type 65 words a minute with my laptop keyboard. I cannot type 15 words a minute with my thumbs.

Oh well.......I went a bit on a rant there. Regardless.....I choose neither. It seems these days both are simply "status" symbols. I'm not that into "status".

Good rant, David! I have to admit that if I didn't need the email connectivity that I would not have one, but it is a useful tool. Indeed at my corporate gig, they started out as status symbols for the execs. But now that Im at a startup with offices in Seattle and SoCal and consultants in 2 other states and 3 other countries - its just a tool now - nothing sexy about it.

And yes, I would like to be more disconnected - which is why on my vaca last week, I was in the mountains staying at a place with no wifi internet for my PC - and limited cell connectivity. Needless to say it was relaxing.

[Agent Starling]

I have a bold as well...my computer internet connection went haywire this summer but I found that w/the bb I did pretty well without it...however I am jealous of all the cool apps out there for the iClone...what made me choose the bb was the physical keyboard...having said that I think my next phone will be an apple...

I love gadgets...prior to this I had motorola phones, which I've always thought were really cool as well.

Agent Starling

[carpdiem]

I'm going to give a shout-out for all the Android phones (so far just one... but more are coming!) and users out there. I was an early G1 adopter, and it's served me well.

[The Mastiff]

I honestly don't need one with my current lifestyle. When it changes, we'll see. I'll decide what suits my needs best then.

Typically I go for the least complicated, with a good keyboard for these old eyes and clumsy fingers.

[Don Ellis]

iPhone... hardly a gadget, in many ways it's a computer in your pocket. I had a 3G for a year and just upgraded to the 3GS... not for the 3-megapixel (versus 2) camera, or the video function, but for the doubling in speed, a true compass, and the way the compass works with Google maps to let you orient the map to north or to your own direction.

Besides that, I've got
1. Three dictionaries -- one British, two American, and all up to date (the 8th edition of the Concise Oxford is on my desk, the 11th is on my phone... and the phone is faster and will pronounce things if I'm really that confused).
2. Local bus routes and ferry schedules.
3. A complete subway map which shows not only routes but principal buildings (so I can screenshot an unfamiliar place that's listed in English/Chinese to show the taxi driver).
3. Voice recorder (3, actually; it just happened), so I can have a colleague say something in Cantonese to play back to the same taxi driver, or to capture a phrase for a little personal lesson later on, or to take a note to myself I don't feel like typing.
4. Holidays of the world (so I can figure out why no one in India is answering my support call).
5. A half-dozen conversion programs for currency and units.
6. A couple of books for when I'm standing in bank lines, including Ulysses by James Joyce, so if I'm involved in collective carnage, attentive doctors will decide humanity can't live without my acute intelligence and will save me first (a 99-cent insurance policy, but I really must consider reading that someday).
7. A PhotoNote program that lets me take a photo of a future birthday gift and make a note about price and location.
8. A built-in iPod for when I want to drown out the voices inside my head or surrounding me on public transport.
9. Movies I've ripped from DVDs so I can make the commute go faster or watch films that Leela doesn't care for... Apocalypse Now, coming immediately to mind.
10. And a web browser for, well, whatever you do on the Internet.

And if that isn't enough, there are 60,000 other programs in the AppStore... instantly downloadable in case I need something right now to solve a problem... such as country codes, airport codes, zip codes and dialling codes for virtually anywhere on earth. Which I guess I've already got installed, come to think of it, but you get the idea. :)

Don

[casey]

How much extra does it typically cost per month for iPhone or Blackberry service as compared to a more mundane phone?

[flipe8]

I've got a Blackberry and am very pleased with it. Never thought of it as a "status symbol", though. I bought one so I'd have a phone I could use through a dry bag and when I saw this phone being offered with added features for about the same cost as a phone with less features, it made sense to me. I can check the tides, get marine weather forcasts, whatever, in one package. I know lots of guys in industry who use them, as they are quite sturdy and that is always a plus.

I do find it quite laughable guys here would knock it as "too much" or "gadget" , though. I mean, how many people need back-ups and duplicates and multiple pockets to carry fourteen knives "just in case..."? :rolleyes: :confused: To turn around and put down a phone for being "to much.." seems to be quite ironic, don't you think?

[Dave C]

I've got the blackberry storm. It's a free phone from work.

It's impressive in that it handles corporate email very well. It looks good. But it could do with some fine tuning for sure. The interface for the touch screen is not very good.

It's a good phone sound wise. I don't think I'd bother with a cell unless it was a freebie from work.

[KaliGman]

I use a Blackberry, as it was issued to me. Mainly, it is a way for me to be in contact, via email or phone, anytime the "powers that be" need me for anything. In the pre-Blackberry days, I only received really important calls (calls dealing with law enforcement operations--arrests, etc.) at 2:00AM. Now, I get emails at weird hours, and, since I am required to keep the thing on so I can be recalled to duty in an emergency, it often gets annoying.

I find the Blackberry to be very good at email, decent as a telephone, and marginal as a web browser.

[cosmo7809]

I do not really NEED a blackberry but let me tell you, that **** thing is convenient. I love that I can get emails just about anywhere. It comes in very handy when I am in the process of a trade or similar transaction and cannot get to my main computer. Atleast now I can send an email and make a quick reply. I agree as the internet is not the best but hey... it does come in handy as well.


Now... all the above I could do with the iphone and I am not taking sides of either its just what I "leaned" towards.
Also my brother has the iphone and I am not a huge fan, I dont know.... just does not meet my fancy.