I would like to hear your thoughts. I currently have a BlackBerry 8310 with a contract running out at the end of April – should I get an iPhone and more importantly, why?
As a person, I like to think that I am open minded although very loyal when I find something that works (this contradicts to history with boys, more that I seem to have more luck finding a reliable phone than a person). I’m extremely active and one that tends to look after technological equipment, although if it cannot handle a random bump on the head, then it is just not tough enough for me. Without this sounding like an online dating profile, I would like to hear from users of iPhones whether I should jump the mobile phone ship. Realise this will be a tough battle to win.
Comments along the lines of “cause they are cool”, “just because” or “you’ll look cool” won’t count. What will be appreciated is an analytical response to the needs of me, a consumer and the functionality of the device. If there was a reason why I didn’t get an iPhone last year, convince me that the problem is no longer an issue. My needs are listed below as well as current considerations for why I haven’t gotten an iPhone already. The best comment will receive imaginary warm fuzzy feelings. Main hurdle is still having the idea in my head that in buying something, the more features it has on it, the more things that could break.
I use the phone for the following, all (but the last) are default options on the BlackBerry:
- Old school operations – making phone calls, sending SMS (Daily)
- Sending and receiving email (Daily)
- Instant chat (although this only recently, all I needed was another distraction)
- Taking occasional photos (Note: Professional photographer by trade, refuse to buy a phone ‘for’ the camera, it’s a nice to have)
- Calendar (Weekly)
- Note / Reminders (Daily)
- Maps / Directions (4 – 5 times a week)
- Calculator (Rare)
- Internet (Rare)
- Needed to download: MySpace and Facebook
I did not buy an iPhone last time because:
- No MMS
- Was easier to continue with a phone with buttons rather than touchscreen (previous phone to the BlackBerry was the flip Nokia model that takes over the World in Die Hard 4)
- A touchscreen and being a girl (i.e. having nails) didn’t work
- I have too many keys in my handbag
- I was worried about scratching it
- I was having trouble taking people seriously with some of the Apps they were downloading
- It didn’t fit in my back pocket
- Was more cost effective to get the BlackBerry (I’m a business customer, not a personal shopper, thus great deals and 12 month contracts)
- I was able to crack the screen of my BlackBerry with a nail polish bottle (how girlie is that) – can an iPhone withstand an enemy attack from beauty products?
Other factors and areas that no amount of convincing will effect:
- I have the Internet at home, so do not use the phone to ‘surf’, having the option is nice, although used rarely
- I do not use the phone for music, mainly as collections see tracks about 85MB each and an hour long
- Photography is done via my SLR Digital Camera and is not a factor for phone purchases
So, with all the modifications to the iPhone over the past 2 years, can it now rid me of the reasons why I didn’t buy one 12 months ago? Will I just need to buy a phone sock and bigger pants? Tell me, for reasons other than the ‘idea’ of an iPhone, when you break it down into the real facts of a phone – is the iPhone the model for me?
Please note: If you would like to comment, please be nice and constructive.
do not!
for a guy with longer fingernails (i use them as stylus on various other tablet-style devices and scratching my head whenever i cannot make sense of the iphones lack of functionality) the touch-screen is not that great. i miss the precision when typing on the onscreen-keyboard.
i have had teh iphone for a year now, and i am still searching for a calendar-app, that really makes sense. the calendar, that comes with the phone is a minimalits approach to the subject. all (kind of-)offline google-calendar-solutions are too slow syncing.
there is no good note-taking-software either. i expected some text-decoration-features like bold fonts, font-sizes etc. and i only found one app that does that, supporting rtf, but still… its not satisfying at all.
by the way…. typing on the keyboard sometimes is really frustrating getting to some often used characters needs three tabs first on the num-pad-key and then on the symbol-key then on the key-key…
i am a power-user. using the iphone for mail, sms, maps, reading, internet, calendar, notetaking, writing, …. but to get it to be nearly half as productive as my fujitsu siemens pocket loox 720, i had to spend another 30€ for applications.
(pocket informant, magicpad, japanese and korean dictionaries, and more)
ah, by the way… typing in japanese and korean is really easy on that phone.
So you are running a hype blog on the iPhone without owning one.
…
Oh, it’s that time of the year again. Good one.
Sounds like you want one, but you want to have someone to blame if you end up not liking it.
I have one and I reckon it’s fantastic, but I didn’t expect to get anything more out of it than its main function of being a phone. The rest of the functions are bells and whistles and that’s what makes it a fantastic device.
A lot of people make the mistake of thinking and treating it more like a laptop when it’s not. Note taking, writing emails and anything that requires you to use the keyboard for an extended length of time is an absolute pain.
I’ve had a number of Blackberry / Smartphone users play with my iPhone for a bit and they all loved it. Some even made the switch. I know a number of iPhone users, none of whom have ever looked back and regretted it.
Yep, you have to go and buy a cover for it, and yep, you can expect to spend extra on apps.
Just out of interest, why do you sound like you’ve never touched an iPhone before and yet you’ve written a million articles on (or relating to) the device? Surely we should expect that any author writing for an iPhone related site to own an iPhone.
Hi
go for the iphone mate. i finally got one after a year & a half of waiting & oh boy was it worth the wait. The iphone just does about everything with you discover new things it can do every time from the app store. I would never use another phone again because it an absolute pleasure to use becuase of the amazing UI reason i got the iphone. Ok so u might not use all the features on the iphone but its basically having a laptop in ya pocket. Tho maybe it could be worth waiting till june when they will probably release the new better more powerful version.
Regards
Dee
Get one.
I have yet to find a more complete mobile experience in a device other than an iphone, and i have used a lot of them; phones i mean.
If you can swing the high cost of maintaining an iphonethen i recommend it highly.
Though there is another small matter of an update to the device coming soon. So if you reeeeeelly want one, hold your horses and get some cash together. Wait till june
I have been waiting on a question like this to pop up! I have a Curve and due for an upgrade in May. I love the Blackberry and the ease of typing when I have nails or when I don’t. However, I just was not feeling the bold. It isn’t ‘slick’ enough looking for me and is thick and heavy like an older blackberry. I liked the Curve 8900 and I could wait it out till ATT released it, but I guess I just want to move in another direction.
I use my phone strictly for pleasure. The calendar entries I make include such ditties as: Season Finale of ER, RuPaul Drag Race, Class Reunion Meeting. It’s really not that deep.
I am an adult who lives in the world of adults but actually like my phone to be my personal toy – so the iphone works for that. I’m not trying to do word documents or correct the company budget through Excel. I wanna be able to go and look at Michael Jackson videos at my leisure as I get ready for his great comeback, lol
I like to text my hubby naughty texts to make him smile during the day. I need to be able to reach my daughter and her reach me.
I like to take pictures of the funny lady smelling cantalope in aisle five without her knowing and send it to my friends. (that’s coming with the OS upgrade).
I am a Facebook addict – I need to be able to reach out and talk to the first boy I ever had a crush on at the drop of a hat, lol
I have 200 songs on my blackberry that I listen to at work. I’ve already begun my master itunes list (I have an OLLLLD Ipod) so I can have the greatest collection of personal music at my fingertips.
I don’t drive when we are out as a family – my husband takes care of that, but I do play around on my phone. It’s stress relief for me.
My only qualms are that I might have some issues typing, but I’m sure I’ll adjust.
So as a soon to be 43 year old female who has all that crap in her pocketbook that you do, but always gets pocketbooks that have a pocket inside that I assign just to my phone – who apparently is perputally about 17, I wanted to make my daughter cringe (who is 15) by having some ‘hip’ and silly applications – I think I’ll try the phone out.
Only you can decide.
I found that I use an iPhone differently than I used the Blackberry. So you can’t really make the comparisons you are asking for. If you can live with short email answers and really use your desktop or laptop for heavy work, then, I think, an iPhone will work fine. Where it really shines is for keeping in touch via all the various social networks, and for getting news, of almost any kind, when you need it.
More recently, you can get an application you may need, so it is at your fingertips at the moment of crisis. This is more subjective, but it can really make your life more productive as you match applications to your needs.
So the experience is very different, but rewarding for those of use who have come over to the other side.
Hi,
I don’t have one yet. But everybody that I know that have one is pretty satisfied with the device.
They also complain about the same thing, no copy and paste, no gps program that gives turn by turn instructions and most of all no Flash.
Aside from this they all seems to enjoy it very much.
regards,
André
Join the happy people group and get an iPhone, just do it.
I did make the switch from the Curve to the iPhone and if it matters, I am a 52 year-old manager who also uses it for business.
My main priorities were: phone, e-mail, texting, music (gym), web access, wifi. Since my youngest son has had every model of the iPhone, I am familiar with the operation of the touch screen which I operate efficiently now – even with one thumb. Safari does struggle with our Outlook set-up though, and I miss Flash atm. All other web-based work is easily accessible and helps me be productive. The myriad iPhone specific apps have been a real plus, as has the selective voicemail system. The bigger screen is easier on my eyes and the prospect of improvements I expect from Apple will be there some day. And I have three covers to suit my tastes and varied environments. There is an entire industry and culture built around this phone supporting innovations to improve my experience.
Like your ex-boyfriends, I really don’t care what you do.
Nice troll though.
Analogy.
A VW Golf GTI will give a Porsche a good run for the money. But the Porsche will do everything so much better, with so much more joy and satisfaction.
I have a client who’s a big city CEO. He joked about my ‘toy’ phone in the face of his ‘reliable’ blackberry. Once I let him get his hands on my iPhone, compare the amazing Bloomberg app, calendar, the multi-touch and internet browsing, he was blown away and said he’s going out to get one right away, even though he still has time to run on his blackberry.
Also, people make a lot of comment on keyboard entry. Certain iPhone apps allow the two handed landscape keyboard to use and it’s fantastic, so so comfortable and as quick and if not easier than any blackberry keyboard I’ve tried and even as good as an old w*ndows mobile slide-out keyboard. By June, Apple is likely to include the fab landscape keyboard on almost all apps, certainly email etc and with all the other additions it will make the phone leaps ahead even further.
I like the look of the new blackberrys, but iPhone blows you away. Nothing comes close.
I’m no Apple Mr Jobs mega fan freak type, I just like quality designed products that do things very well and I have been Apple/Microsoft on and off for 20 years both home and work. My whole business and my family phones and computers are all Apple and we could never go back to all the bugs, complexities, sluggishness and virus issues of the old Microsoft days.
So let’s get this straight…you log onto iPhoneBuzz.com and ask if you should get an iPhone. Duh, of course you should!
If you really are real, and can wait a few months, I would wait to see what they announce June 8th. The one takeaway you should get on the iPhone is that AT&T has NO leeway, so you are in a 2 year contract with no discount on any other phone for at least 20 months. Unlike just about any other phone, where after a year you can upgrade if you sign up for a 2 year, with the iPhone you have 20 months FIRM before you are given the full discount, and at least a year before you get ANY discount (for example, after a year you MAY be able to get a new iPhone for $500 IF you are a customer in good standing AND you sign up for a 2 year contract)
Absolutly, go for it!
One word – APPS! No other phone can compete with the app store. Seriously. Sure, there are really stupid apps, but some of them will simply blow you away. The APPS put the iPhone in a true league of its own.
Plus the iPhone makes you look cool. :)
Hi,
only you can prevent forest fires.
But really, idk bout iphones. I like the medium size buttons so i don’t hit two buttons at once, and a touch screen, i guess with technology now i could get used to it, but yeah, its your choice.
The iPhone OS does some things impressively, many things very well, and some things average, or not at all (yet).
Blackberry users who rely on excessive MMS or email should probably steer clear. People who like to use internet services, on the other hand, will discover that the iPhone (or iPod touch) is effectively a netbook in the palm of your hand.
Nothing beats the App Store and its ability to provide all manner of essential and useful utilities for business and work. Apps greatly augment the iPhone, giving it abilities you wish for in the best Blackberries and at very little cost.
iPhone users get unlimited WiFi through AT&T, which means you can surf at any Starbucks, McDonalds or Barnes and Noble store in the country. Handy to save minutes in communications.
The iPhone is very very durable. While you should get a covering to help protect it, I’ve heard no instances where the glass was broken easily. I’ve dropped my iPod touch once, on solid concrete from 4 feet. Just a ding in the metal. Solid.
Downsides:
*Contract costs. Weigh this carefully as it is certainly more expensive over a Blackberry. (However, you get what you pay for.)
*Use of iPhone with enterprise email services. Should work fine if you have a Microsoft Exchange server. Should.
*Photography. The current iPhone is a snapshot camera. Not bad, but not advanced, either. It integrates better than any camera could that’s not a dedicated one because of its OS.
*GPS. No voice turn-by-turn apps yet. But come version 3.0 this summer of the OS and, probably, a new iPhone, this is all but certain.
*Touch screen. Versatile, but takes getting used to–however, it’s nothing like the Blackberry Storm.
I recommend waiting until June if you are interested in an iPhone. Each time the phone has evolved with great benefits for everybody. In the interim, the Blackberry Storm could work for you, but read plenty of reviews before you get it–it’s not quite ready for prime time.
Go for it!!!
Poor You !!!!!
Can you believe that since may 2008 I didn’t really use my laptop ??? ( a nice $2400 Sony Vaio).
My iPhone almost do it all.
I believe that the World changed the day the iPhone came out.
BTW I’m typing faster with my iPhone than with my old blackberry curve.
I really think that you wrote all this to have a popula post.
Stick with your blackberry. You don’t know what you are missing.
Well the question lies, when you grabbed mine and played around with it (the iphone that is), and left random status messages on facebook, how hard was it to use with your ‘girlie’ nails? I don’t have this problem as I gnaw mine to the nubs of my knuckles!
Problem with cracking your Blackberry screen is that that screen is made of plastic, and only a few microns thick, like the layer of hair on top of my head… So, that’s easily broken, whereas the iphone is a lovely sturdier piece of glass.
Scratching, well, mine is covered with a zagg invisibleshield, has stopped all the scratching I’ve seemed to put it through, including the time I dropped it from chest height, then when going to pick it up kicked it the length of the driveway, only to have the dog pick it up, thinking it is it’s new chew toy and running off on a merry adventure of what I like to call ‘keep aways, and bury in the garden’, much to the cursing of me and the hysterics of everyone else!
Another great bonus which is either brilliant or the devil in disguise, is that it has stopped the ‘drunken txt’
For the life of me I can’t work out how to use it after a few ales, much to the delight of the recievers! I know there will be a day when I can work it out, but for now, everyone can thank their lucky stars!
Downside is the battery life, not good when you pull an ‘all weekender’, but then how many people out there these days, have an ipod, which you can just steal that cable plug into their computer and bang, power! Not the eternal question of ‘has anybody got a charger for BLAH?’
None of these guys really know what they’re talking about. The iPhone has one of the SMALLEST list of app. Marketing just really got to ya. If you want a LOT of apps; look at Palm (even though their old devices suck; there’s WAY more apps on their devices).
Moreover; if you care at all about typing; forget the iPhone. I see a lot of claims here that it’s hte most “complete” phone. This couldn’t be any further than the truth. No public release can even do MMS. I can think of > 100 phones that can do MMS. The iPhone does VERY few things; but it does them well. That’s the difference. So if features are it; you won’t find them here.
However I would suggest to keep your eyes open for the Palm Pre. It looks like it has all of the iPhone qualities, BUT it has a keyboard and it just look much better than a square brick imo. Can’t wait to get mine.
Well, I would say wait until 3.0 comes out and perhaps the new version of the hardware.. Doesn’t make sense to even think about converting TO an iPhone, especially being on a tech blog!
I used a BB a couple of years and now have an iPhone and a Palm Treo Pro. I actually swap the SIM on the weekend and use the iPhone on the weekend and the Treo during the week.. Very substantially different uses… :-)
Good luck..
I used to have a blackberry pearl. It was alright, I had trouble typing on it. I got an iPhone 5 months ago. I, personally, dont see what the big deal it. Yes, it is fun. Yes, it has pretty cool apps, but I mostly download games. It is unfortunate that it does not have MMS…however, there is an app for that. I use it and the only downfall is that you can only send MMS to other iPhone users (they do not need the app) I have “girly fingernails” and at first it was hard getting used the keyboard and typing but after using it for a few weeks it is not a problem at all. There are little things that I miss that are not options on the iPhone. For example, no “silent” ringtone option, I had to make one. Also, there are only a few ringtones to choose from for text messages. Petty stuff, I know, but stuff I guess I took for granted. Also, you cannot delete an individual text from one person, it’s all or nothing…annoying. You cannot forward text messages. There is no paste option. Again, little things but when you pay for such a fancy phone you assume it has those options. I’m not overly thrilled with my iPhone experience and it would not bother me to explore another option when it’s time to renew my contract. I also do not like the whole idea of having to sync everything all the time. My computer now has to be my left arm for me to have full functionality of my phone.
hi mate,..
we have the same issue… lol
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the structure of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?
thank you for sharing your genius with us.