View Full Version : iPhone vs. Blackberry Pearl
DMBand0026
2008-09-10, 14:44
I need your help!
I’ve been looking for a new phone for quite some time now. My current phone is an LG VX-8300, it has served me well, but is nearing the end of its useful life and is no longer capable of what I want my phone to do. Most notably it’s missing any sort of useful internet functions and can not easily access my e mail.
So after months of extensive research, I’ve arrived at two phones that I believe will serve my needs well. Either the iPhone, or the Blackberry Pearl.
To complicate matters, I haven’t decided on a service provider yet. My current cell service is from Verizon which I have been mostly happy with. It’s extremely reliable and I get a signal most everywhere that I need it. It’s a little weak in my new house, but I get 2 of 4 bars on the upper floors and 1 of 4 bars in the basement. I’m kind of a service snob, I want 4 bars at all times, haha. However, recently I’ve been having problems with text messages not getting to people, mostly my friends and family with AT&T service. Also, Verizon’s locking out of certain features on phones bothers me.
So basically it comes down to the Pearl on Verizon, or the iPhone on AT&T. My biggest concern with AT&T is some of the customer service and cell service horror stories I’ve heard. I don’t want to be stuck with a great phone that I can’t make a call on because I never get reception anywhere. My contract with Verizon is up in November, so if I do decide to switch, I’ll have to wait until then.
IPhone:
Pros:
+ It’s the iPhone,
+ Bigger, brighter, and higher resolution display
+ Push e mail
++ Much much better browser than the Blackberry
+ Hundreds of useful applications available at the touch of a button..or two
+ Built in iPod, although I won’t use it for a music player much, that’s what I have an iPod for.
+ Much more built in memory, no additional investment in memory cards
Cons:
- AT&T?
- More expensive
- Difficulty text messaging due to not having any physical keys, and I text a lot on my phone, upwards of 5000 messages a month
- Shorter battery life
- Difficulty with 3G network
- Can’t send picture or video SMS
- May break more easily. I’m kind of rough on my phones.
Blackberry:
Pros:
+ Smaller and lighter than the iPhone…I like small and light phones
+ Longer battery life
+ Push e mail
+ Faster web browsing than with AT&T and much more access to 3G speeds
+ Easier to text message
+ More durable
+ Less expensive. I can basically get the Pearl for free with the discounts I have, and service will be less per month as well.
+ Picture and video SMS
+ Verizon network
Cons:
- Browser is nowhere near the strength and usability of Safari
- Not as many useful applications
- Not as cool. I’m trying not to take this into consideration, but I kind of have to.
Thanks so much for any advice, assistance, or help you can offer me. :)
I'll chime in for the iPhone.
You listed the lack of physical keypad as a con and it being difficult. I don't send nearly as many texts as you, but I'm usually between 1000-1500. I havent had any problems on it yet. Actually, I've gotten quite use to it and now I fly.
Also, I wanted to bring it to your attention that you technically can send picture messages. I do it all the time, but you send it as an email. If I wanted to send it to a verizon phon for example, youd simply send it like this - 1(234)567-8901@vzwpix.com and the people receive it as a normal text picture message.
Also, I havent had any troubles with at&t yet. Service is pretty good. Havent had to deal with customer service yet so I can't comment on that.
torifile
2008-09-10, 23:25
5000 SMS a month?!? Damn, man. That's nearly 200 per day!
DMBand0026
2008-09-11, 00:50
All of my friends text a lot, so therefore I do as well. It's a lot easier to send someone a text while I'm working, as opposed to picking up the phone and actually calling them. I'm not always able to talk, but I'm pretty much always able to text, so I do it a lot.
That's interesting about the picture messages. Does that work with other carriers other than Verizon? What about receiving picture messages?
Thanks for the comments and advice so far, keep it up ;)
DMBand0026, check out this (http://iphone.macworld.com/2007/08/sending_and_receiving_mms_on_y_1.php) link.
When you receive pic messages, it sends them to a website that you can access and it asks you for a unique username and password that changes with every message. Kind of annoying, but still works.
OK, I really don't see why people just list "AT&T" as a con without any sort of explanation. If you know that AT&T has poor service in your area, than I admit you'd be a fool to sign a contract, but every carrier has "customer service and cell service horror stories." I had a horrible experiece with T-Mobile, and the whole reason I signed up with them is because their customer service was supposed to be amazing. Personally, I'd rather have AT&T than Verizon. Verizon's "It's THE Network!" thing is overrated, and I think everyone who tells you to get Verizon is just conspiring to be able to call you for free. ;) Obviously, check coverage in your area. And remember that you have between 14 and 30 days to try out any provider's network before you're stuck with it for two years.
I'd stay away from the Pearl, period, because it's being replaced almost as we speak with the Pearl Flip. Why not try the Curve? If texting is a concern you'll want the full QWERTY anyway. Or for a tiny (Pearl-sized) phone with a full QWERTY, look into the Centro. Unless it's not cool enough for you. ;)
OK, I reallyI'd stay away from the Pearl, period, because it's being replaced almost as we speak with the Pearl Flip. Why not try the Curve? If texting is a concern you'll want the full QWERTY anyway. Or for a tiny (Pearl-sized) phone with a full QWERTY, look into the Centro. Unless it's not cool enough for you. ;)
You might want to also look at the newly release Bold by Blackberry if you are headed that direction. I think it is only going to be on Verizon.
You might want to also look at the newly release Bold by Blackberry if you are headed that direction. I think it is only going to be on Verizon.
Actually, a leaked memo this week said AT&T will get it next month. So either way, you can get the Bold:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/10/internal-release-shows-blackberry-bold-on-atandt-this-october/
iPhone sucks. One of my good friends (Apple fanatic btw) switched back to an old, free Nokia. A Phone is useless if you can't make a call. I highly recommend a CDMA carrier and a Palm Centro. I don't care for my Pearle that much.
iPhone sucks. One of my good friends (Apple fanatic btw) switched back to an old, free Nokia. A Phone is useless if you can't make a call. I highly recommend a CDMA carrier and a Palm Centro. I don't care for my Pearle that much.
Any phone is useless if there's no coverage.
What is the basis behind your statement that "iPhone sucks?" Now, obviously, I'm a fan of Apple, but even if I wasn't, I would have to admit that the iPhone is one of, if not the, best phones out there. hands down.
I can't stand comments like yours. Just like Robo pointed out that people list AT&T as a con, comments with no basis or explanation are worthless. I've been with AT&T for 3 years and have had 0 problems with them.
Any phone is useless if there's no coverage.
What is the basis behind your statement that "iPhone sucks?" Now, obviously, I'm a fan of Apple, but even if I wasn't, I would have to admit that the iPhone is one of, if not the, best phones out there. hands down.
I can't stand comments like yours. Just like Robo pointed out that people list AT&T as a con, comments with no basis or explanation are worthless. I've been with AT&T for 3 years and have had 0 problems with them.At least "no coverage" is a valid reason to not choose one phone or carrier (though obviously this isn't entirely phone specific). The one I don't understand is the OpenMoko crowd who decry the iPhone for not being open source.
And then claim that's why it's going to fail...
I'd like to hear more comments on the keyboard aspect. Are there lots of people who really can 'fly' on the iPhone or Touch keyboard? I like my Touch but I certainly am not quick at typing on it. But I suck on my wife's Blackberry keyboard too.
Any phone is useless if there's no coverage.
What is the basis behind your statement that "iPhone sucks?" Now, obviously, I'm a fan of Apple, but even if I wasn't, I would have to admit that the iPhone is one of, if not the, best phones out there. hands down.
I can't stand comments like yours. Just like Robo pointed out that people list AT&T as a con, comments with no basis or explanation are worthless. I've been with AT&T for 3 years and have had 0 problems with them.
iPhone is a bad-ass phone technologically and from a UI-standpoint. One cannot ignore the massive reports of dropped calls, lost emails, etc. The issues are well documented.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=752010
Quagmire
2008-09-11, 23:41
iPhone is a bad-ass phone technologically and from a UI-standpoint. One cannot ignore the massive reports of dropped calls, lost emails, etc. The issues are well documented.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=752010
Which is supposed to be fixed in the 2.1 update.
Bad-ass, meaning wonderful, or ass-bad, meaning bad, and not in a good way?
Either it's bad-ass, or it's bad. We're getting mixed signals from you here.
Dropped calls - evidence is pointing at AT&T's network being simply swamped. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Lost mail - other than the fact that the iPhone has space for the last 100 messages in the Inbox, and that's it, lost mail would be a server/ISP issue, wouldn't it?
Bad-ass as in ultra cool, slick UI. I thought it was Mailme or whatever their push service was that kept losing things? Didn't they take it out of the API until they can get it right?
Not sure why the calls are being dropped. I know my buddy is very excited to have a useable phone again tomorrow.
Look at the Centro if you can get one. It's kind of chunky and very old looking, but it performs like a champion. I'm envious of my sister's, and I have a Pearle. Blackberries require too many key presses to do simple things, and they're not super intuitive if they don't have the full qwerty.
*facepalm*
The push system wasn't losing mails (it's called MobileMe, BTW), it wasn't syncing on-the-spot all the time, there was up to a 15min lag going from computer to iPhone.
The Push Notification API is a separate thing, it's for developers. It's not ready yet, do it's still not in the iPhone firmware.
InactionMan
2008-09-12, 00:35
If you're leaning towards a Blackberry then you should definitely take a look at the Bold. I got mine through work about three days after it launched in Canada and it's really a pretty good little phone. The screen is unbelievably sharp and despite being smaller than the iPhone's movies look as a good or better than on the iPhone. The browser is finally usable as opposed to ever other freaking version of the Blackberry browser. And RIM has put the microSD slot on the outside of the phone so there's no more ripping out the battery just to put in a card.
It also plays iTunes Plus stuff from the iTunes Store and plays all the DVDs I originally ripped for my Touch (640x480/h.264/1400kbps).
Given the choice between a Blackberry and an iPhone I'd always pick the iPhone. Personally, I can type about five times faster on the Touch keyboard than on my freaking Bold (or my Curve before that) and no Blackberry will ever have anything close to the App Store or the iPod software on the iPhone. But.....if you're considering a Blackberry it might be worth waiting for the Bold.
DMBand0026
2008-09-12, 11:52
I have seen and read a lot about the Bold, it seemed very interesting to me and something I really wanted to check out, but I hadn't seen a solid release date on it yet so I wasn't sure when it was actually coming out.
On the subject of AT&T sucking vs. the iPhone sucking, as far as I'm concerned, they're one in the same. If AT&T sucks, the iPhone sucks because if I can't use my phone any way that I want to at any time that I want to, I'm not happy. Regardless if the problems were caused by phone or carrier. I know the iPhone is great, but if the carrier that it's on is not, I want no part of it.
I have limited experience with AT&T, but a few of my friends in and around Chicago are quite unhappy with it, while a few others love it. I was thinking about signing up for AT&T and just doing the 30 day trial period, but I don't know if that's a good representative sample considering I would just get the free phone and upgrade to the iPhone later if I decided to stick with AT&T. I really think the trial period would be my best bet.
Perhaps I'll wander over to an AT&T store today and ask some questions of the salespeople.
How soon do you need the phone? I'm on Verizon as well (and happy with their coverage) and have been thinking about making the at&t jump, but I'm holding off until I can get a look at the Blackberry Thunder/Storm coming to Verizon in November.
DMBand0026
2008-09-12, 19:59
Interestingly enough, my contract is up in November. I'll also have a little more money to play with in November, so that should make my decision easier.
I'm waiting until November if if make the switch, but if I decide to stick with Verizon I can sign a new contract at any time.
Anyone have any reports or experiences of how things are with the new firmware update? I've been reading some blogs and articles, but no one has given a definitive thumbs up or down. I'm interested in knowing what everyone here thinks.
By the way, I went to my local AT&T store today to check the iPhone 3G out and it was hard not to walk out of that store with it in my hand. That phone is truly amazing. However, I couldn't pick up 3G and they hadn't updated them yet, so they were still on old firmware.
DMBand0026
2008-09-12, 23:10
One more question for you folks out there with an iPhone...
I know you can lock the whole phone to prevent anyone else from using anything on your phone. However, I'm wondering if you're able to lock only certain features or sections of the phone. Like, can I just lock text messages? Can I just lock e mail and make them only accessible via a pass code?
Thanks :)
Actually...two more questions...
I'm a heavy phone user as I stated above, I send 200+ SMS messages a day and I'm on the phone over an hour at the least. How will my battery life be? I don't want to have to charge my phone every 12 hours.
MBHockey
2008-09-13, 21:45
One more question for you folks out there with an iPhone...
I know you can lock the whole phone to prevent anyone else from using anything on your phone. However, I'm wondering if you're able to lock only certain features or sections of the phone. Like, can I just lock text messages? Can I just lock e mail and make them only accessible via a pass code?
Thanks :)
Actually...two more questions...
I'm a heavy phone user as I stated above, I send 200+ SMS messages a day and I'm on the phone over an hour at the least. How will my battery life be? I don't want to have to charge my phone every 12 hours.
You can restrict certain functions such as songs tagged as explicit, Safari, YouTube, iTunes wifi store, App store, and Camera...there's no way to just lock SMS or email though.
As for battery life, my first iPhone 3G was defective (the battery only lasted about 3 hours of usage time on 3G). Right now (on the replacement and 2.1 firmware which has helped with battery life quite noticeably) I'm at 5.5 hours of usage (12 hours standby) and i've got about 35-40% remaining. Usage included mostly 3G internet/email (some wifi), SMS, a few short phone calls, some game playing (Spore!), some mapping (using the GPS), the brightness at about half, bluetooth off, and a couple hours of music playing while I was doing work -- in other words, a typical day of usage for me on the weekend.
The battery life is more than adequate for me. I would estimate I'd get another 2-3 hours of actual usage out of this before it died. 8 hours of actual usage is a lot of time to spend on a phone in one day IMO. I charge it nightly.
The main battery killers (in my anecdotal experience) are screen brightness, bluetooth, 3G page web browsing, and phone calls...not necessarily in that order. How do you think you'd divide your time on the phone? Mostly phone calls? SMS? Safari?
If it's mainly SMS and an hour or two of phone calls, I think you'll find that the battery is fine.
DMBand0026
2008-09-13, 21:57
I know I'd use Safari a lot, but I certainly wouldn't be on it excessively. I have access to wi-fi at work which is where I use my phone most of the time, I work 24 hour shifts, so it's my only communication with the outside world when I'm at work haha.
I'd say my phone usage would remain about the same if I had an iPhone, but add on some internet time too. So 200+ SMS, an hour or two of phone calls, and less than an hour of internet time.
Really, I just don't want to have to charge my phone in the middle of the day.
MBHockey
2008-09-13, 22:23
I think you'll be fine -- especially if you're using wifi instead of 3G (wifi uses much less power than both Edge and 3G for data transfer).
MBHockey
2008-09-13, 22:53
IPhone:
Pros:
+ It’s the iPhone,
+ Bigger, brighter, and higher resolution display
+ Push e mail
++ Much much better browser than the Blackberry
+ Hundreds of useful applications available at the touch of a button..or two
+ Built in iPod, although I won’t use it for a music player much, that’s what I have an iPod for.
+ Much more built in memory, no additional investment in memory cards
Cons:
- AT&T?
- More expensive
- Difficulty text messaging due to not having any physical keys, and I text a lot on my phone, upwards of 5000 messages a month
- Shorter battery life
- Difficulty with 3G network
- Can’t send picture or video SMS
- May break more easily. I’m kind of rough on my phones.
Blackberry:
Pros:
+ Smaller and lighter than the iPhone…I like small and light phones
+ Longer battery life
+ Push e mail
+ Faster web browsing than with AT&T and much more access to 3G speeds
+ Easier to text message
+ More durable
+ Less expensive. I can basically get the Pearl for free with the discounts I have, and service will be less per month as well.
+ Picture and video SMS
+ Verizon network
Cons:
- Browser is nowhere near the strength and usability of Safari
- Not as many useful applications
- Not as cool. I’m trying not to take this into consideration, but I kind of have to.
I just saw this list and I'd like to mention a few things.
What is the battery life of the Pearl? I'm assuming it has built-in Wifi...is that correct?
With respect to the virtual keyboard -- it takes some getting used to, but I can honestly say it is WAY faster than a physical keyboard. You simply cannot move from one key to the next as fast on the physical keyboard because you have to depress the button. Picture texting on a physical keyboard, and then picture texting on that same keyboard but you only have to lightly touch your finger to the surface of the keys -- think about how much faster that'd be. I have typed on a BlackBerry Pearl and it was extremely cramped, and the keys are very tiny. I had to make a concerted effort to ensure my nail was hitting the right key before pressing. And the Curve's keyboard is about twice as big as the Pearl's from the looks of it. From purely a typing perspective, the iPhone blows away the Pearl. The virtual keys are just so much bigger. I mean, you do see how small the Pearl's keys are right? Try them both and see though.
I'm not sure what you mean about difficulty with the 3G network, or why you think the Pearl would be faster on 3G. Take a look at this: http://www.ipodobserver.com/story/35869. Add in the fact that Safari on Edge was rendering pages faster than most 3G phones when the 1st gen iPhone was out...it's quite telling how much faster Safari is than any other mobile browser.
Penultimately, coverage. I get great 3G coverage in my area and it doesn't even show up on AT&T's 3G coverage viewer. 5 bars inside my house, and i just got 1.55 Mbps on a speed test. I wouldn't go by the coverage viewer if that is what you're using to make the determination about service. Coming from Verizon, I can tell you that they probably spend more on trying to convince consumers that their network is the best than actually putting up towers. I thought I was making a HUGE sacrifice switching to AT&T and I simply couldn't be happier. The service (bars) is better with my iPhone, call quality is extremely clear on 3G (most reviews comment on just how great the call quality is), and I get the same amount of dropped calls that I did with Verizon. Which isn't much, but every now and again it'll happen. It just depends on where you live though...talk to people who have AT&T and Verizon in your area and see if they are happy with the service they get.
The last thing to consider is customer service. I have nothing but good things to say about AT&T's service reps. Verizon's, on the other hand, were consistently unhelpful, short, and difficult to deal with. Customer service is not a high priority for me, but AT&T is by FAR better than Verizon in this aspect.
DMBand0026
2008-09-13, 23:33
Thanks for the detailed and informative post MB :)
You guys are gonna have me convinced to get this iPhone thing before November, and that will be bad haha.
You might want to also look at the newly release Bold by Blackberry if you are headed that direction. I think it is only going to be on Verizon.
The BlackBerry Bold is an AT&T exclusive, at least for the time being, and possibly for the life of the phone. VZW is getting an exclusive on the BlackBerry Thunder, an all-touchscreen phone that will presumably be their third or fourth iPhone killer. I can see T-Mobile possibly getting exclusives on the Pearl Flip, which no one really cares about, and/or the Javelin, which no one else would want (it's essentially the Bold without 3G). Sprint, as usual, gets nothing.
EDIT: It's official, the Pearl Flip is a T-Mobile exclusive. If anyone cares.
MBHockey
2008-09-14, 07:32
The BlackBerry Bold's browser is extremely slow. Here's a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-IgTYNfPOA) of the iPhone on 3G loading a test page in half the time it takes the BlackBerry Bold over wifi.
Hell, here's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GHRks7rThE&NR=1) an iPhone on Edge loading the page faster than that same BlackBerry Bold over wifi! :D
DMBand0026
2008-09-14, 09:23
That's what scares me about going with a Blackberry. While they make what I consider to be great phones, they fall so short in a lot of areas, namely the browser. A few good friends of mine have Blackberrys, mostly the Curve (on AT&T and T-Mobile) and the Pearl (on Verizon.)
I'm so unimpressed with the Blackberry's browser. It's just...not good. I've seen worse, much worse, but even brief usage of the iPhone's browser has spoiled me into realizing that there really is a much better way to build a mobile browser. Safari mobile is truly revolutionary. That, and a lack of Wi-Fi on Verizon's version of the Pearl has caused me to shy away from it more and more recently.
Unfortunately I won't have time today to go to my AT&T store, but I think I'll probably do that Monday and sign up for a trial plan and see how coverage is in my area. If I can't get 3G reliably, that's a deal breaker. I'm not paying $30 a month for EDGE.
Having used my wife's BlackBerry and comparing its browser with that on my Touch, I can say that there really is no comparison. With Apple's implementation you get a real browser. With BlackBerry, it is some sort of emulation.
Opera Mini is a much better browser than the Blackberry Browser. Safari is the king of mobile browsers, but again, it doesn't do a lick of good without signal. I hear the 2.1 update has been a significant improvement, though.
MBHockey
2008-09-14, 21:41
I know you were curious about battery life, DMBand0026, so I did a test. I ran my iPhone down all the way without charging it:
http://homepage.mac.com/mbarca/usage.PNG.
Prior to the 2.1 update I was getting around 5.5-6 hours of usage. The usage above was quite mixed. Lots of web browsing (3G and Wifi), a few games (Spore for about an hour, namely), some GPS, a fair amount of SMS, a few hours of listening to music, only a couple of brief phone calls, some Jaadu VNC over 3g, and MobileMe push email on the whole time (probably sent/received 25 emails in those 25 hours).
tensdanny -- even when I have 1 bar of 3G, Safari flies :)
Quagmire
2008-09-14, 21:45
I must have a defective iPhone. I have only been getting 3 hours of battery life( even with 2.1).
MBHockey
2008-09-15, 05:59
Try recalibrating your battery (force reboot it, then turn it off regularly and back on, run the battery all the way down, and finally charge it all the way up)
My brother's iPhone on 2.1 was showing 75% left after 15 minutes of usage so i re-calibrated it and now it's much closer to my usage. Mine seems to be a bit better than average though.
I just got our office to order a new Bold, I was on a 4 year old 7200 series that was really starting to wear out. Expensive little device, we get generally great corporate service plans, but if I was buying for personal use, I think I'd get the iPhone.
I'm wondering what tethered modem performance is like on the Bold however? Should arrive by end of week.
DMBand0026
2008-09-15, 13:45
Thanks MB :)
That's really exactly what I needed. Everyone can say things about how long their phone lasts, but that's proof positive that it can really do it.
Thanks again.
MBHockey
2008-09-15, 15:10
Just know that the call time is not only for that one charge cycle -- that's the cumulative amount of time I've spent on the phone since I've got it. I don't think you could get anywhere near 8 hrs 40 min of usage with 6.5 hours being used on the phone :)
DMBand0026
2008-09-15, 15:15
I figured as much ;) Thanks :lol:
Does anyone know how the iPhone 3G compares to the new Blackberry Storm which is on Verizon I believe?
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