Blackberry vs. the rest?

[Dr Shroom]

I got an iPhone 4, best mobile I've ever had but the battery is pretty bad even without 3G and IOS is a bit too restricted when unbroken. My next phone is going to an android.

 

[OrochiEddie]

I've had my android phone for a year and I never felt it was super responsive. I just don't feel that a touch screen is ever going to be as responsive as tactile buttons.

I just end up using the voice recognition for my android for doing texts. The voice recognition is FANTASTIC.

 

[SouthtownKid]

What makes a Blackberry so special to business men and such?

I notice a lot of lawyers, doctors, investors and the like carry them and swear by them.

Because Blackberry was the first phone thing to come out that did ANYTHING other than make calls and tell you the time and date. So they hooked a lot of people who needed that kind of thing early, and then it's just a case of the brand loyalty thing. Apple relies a lot on the same thing.

And NeoSneth, Wes is right. You may have had the phone for a year but you don't know what the fuck you are doing. Clearly.

 

[68k]

I have been a Blackberry Enterprise admin for over 2 years, and the #1 reason why the business world uses Blackberry: Security.

Blackberry makes it easy to create, modify, and apply security policies. They also support CAC readers and SMIME encryption. You can get really granular with permissions and settings.

For Windows/iPhone/Android, you have to use a piece of third party software called Good Mobile. Good Mobile isn't bad, but it is very slow and has 1/8 the configuration options that the BES environment has.

That said, I hate Blackberrys.

 

[NeoTheranthrope]

iPhone is best phone

My current non-smartphone cellphone is reaching the end of it's useful life and I decided my phone's replacement is going to be a droid, for it's versatility and it's non-Appleness.

I've also been looking into all the sexy things people have been doing with Cyanogenmod.

 

[LoneSage]

I'm 24 years old and have never owned a cell phone. I promise I'll get one when I go to China.

 

[NeoSneth]

Because Blackberry was the first phone thing to come out that did ANYTHING other than make calls and tell you the time and date. So they hooked a lot of people who needed that kind of thing early, and then it's just a case of the brand loyalty thing. Apple relies a lot on the same thing.

And NeoSneth, Wes is right. You may have had the phone for a year but you don't know what the fuck you are doing. Clearly.

Der, you can edit, but not as fast. The trackball is amazing for that. Also, i don't need to shift screens for special characters... the list goes on.

It's like console games that think a controller is as good as a mouse. That's just silly....

 

[Kristian Meller]

you get used to the iphone touchscreen really fast. Other touchscreens sucked, last I checked.

I've given it a fair chance. I have iPads and an iPod Touch. It just doesn't do it for me.

 

[aria]

You really have to think of Blackberry in a longer context:


Blackberry was the first device to make serious market inroads with text-oriented pagers (yes, pagers), when I worked on the 2000 presidential campaign that's what all the politicians and CEOs had. It quickly supplanted Palm Pilots as the "prestige" executive device.

They then added a phone to it so it became even more useful and a sign of having an important job if you had a Blackberry phone.

Lawyers, certain executives and other who actually do need access to email 24/7 really took to Blackberries because having a full QWERTY keyboard made emails a lot easier to punch out. This first-to-mass-market-adoption helped BB because most IT departments first oriented themselves to their mobile network.

Research-in-Motion (RIM is the Canadian maker of Blackberry) then got embroiled in a major patent lawsuit over its proprietary scroll wheel. That's why they suddently shifted to the "pearl" trackball --it wasn't because it was easier, it was because, for at least a year, there seemed to be a chance that RIM would be forbidden from ever using their famous scroll wheel (which I believe was their best control input). This is an important event because I personally thing this hurt Blackberry and set up the easier interface of the iPhone.

Other companies basically tried to emulate the Blackberry until Apple came along.

The iPhone became the most-wanted executive device that most company IT departments were too concerned (or sometimes lazy or irrationally against) to implement. However, when the CEO/major execs or partners want something, IT policies can be "adjusted". The iPhone 3G supposedly allowed for better integration into some major companies so you then saw a rise in iPhone usage among C-level executives.

That massive BlackBerry network outage in 2011 really hurt BB's rep since "reliability" had been a major factor in why departments stuck with them.

In the end, I've had two BBs (scrollwheel for life!) and two iPhones and I prefer the iPhone. I may not type as fast but I type fast and I can handle any business needs and have a nice, simple interface. Android tries to bridge the gap but I know a lot of business folks and lawyers that have been disappointed with various models (all models). I am optimistic for the one that would come out of a completed Google purchase of Motorola, but that won't be for a few years.

 

[jsiucho]

I spell faster and more accurately on the Blackberry. IF I didnt have to reply so many emails I would use an Android phone. Blackberry is business oriented Iphone is bullshitting oriented.



JS

 

[aria]

Iphone is bullshitting oriented

Only to someone who isn't focused.

But that can be said about any phone, really. It's a user issue.

 

[Cylotron]

it used to be all about BB in the mid to late 00's. i still have like a dozen BB's i used on both AT&T and T-Mob back in the day.... was thinking about maybe glueing them all together and sticking them on my wall as some sort of art piece.

but yeah, these days its android. i hate the setup of windows mobile & ios is too restrictive+simplistic(not to mention 3.5" display is too small + no 4G)

that and all the top end phones are android based.

 

[aria]

TonK, if you want ballin' there is only one option, and it's an option that says "I don't actually care about functionality, I just want something that's expensive" and it's a top-end Vertu.

 

[supergoose]

Other touchscreens sucked, last I checked.

that must have been a looong time ago. back in 2005, maybe? or you simply tested the wrong phones.

my dad had a smartphone long before the first iphone was even announced. that must have been almost a decade ago and compared to today's standards the touchscreen did indeed suck.

iPhone is best phone

not for that kind of money. i'd rather get a wildfire s, if i was after a small phone.

iphones sure look nice and i almost got an iphone4, last year. the only things i wish i had on my android are
the cave games, but a bigger screen, more flexible os and a replaceable battery were more important to me. also, my phone's back didn't shatter when i accidentally dropped it. using a desire hd, btw.

really disappointed that the new sony and nokia phones don't have replaceable batteries.

 

[TonK]

TonK, if you want ballin' there is only one option, and it's an option that says "I don't actually care about functionality, I just want something that's expensive" and it's a top-end Vertu.

Yeah, they advertise in my Cigar Aficionado.

 

[Zinji]

Speaking of mobile phones in general, there's a reason why old Nokia phones were tough:

Nokia.. Powered by SATAN!

 

[SonGohan]

not for that kind of money

What kind of money? I spent $150 on mine. Seems to be the average rate for smartphones these days.

iPhone is best phone

 

[cannonball]

not for that kind of money

I paid $200 for an iPhone 4S last weekend. I guess the key is to wait until you are eligible for an upgrade.

 

[supergoose]

What kind of money?

3gs 8gb = 369€ = $484.60
4 8gb = 519€ = $681.60
4s 16gb = 629€ = $826

4s 32gb = 739€ = $970.50
4s 64gb = 849€ = $1,115

wildfire s = 175€ = $230
desire hd = 300€ = $394
galaxy sII = 415€ = $545

all prices without a 2 year contract.

prices with a 2 year contract:
t-mobile
can't link to vodafone but vodafone is the a carrier that i would never sign a contract with anyway.

a year ago i signed a 2 year contract with t-mobile. i paid 200€ for my desire hd (cost about 650€ at the time) and have to pay 29.95€ each month (includes 200 minutes, data flat and weekend flat to t-mobile and landlines). with an iphone i would have (had) to pay a lot more than that.

i'm not totally against the iphone. i just think that it costs about 200€ too much for what it is/does. that and carriers only offer the apple phones with the most expensive plans, if you're older than 29 and/or not a student anymore.

 

[Kristian Meller]

i still have like a dozen BB's i used on both AT&T and T-Mob back in the day....

Do you have a classic Curve you could spare? I think they're beautiful and I want one just to look at

As for the issue of 'other touch screens', I've only tried one Android phone for more than a few seconds (Samsung Galaxy II), and it was pretty good. Not as good as Apple's stuff of course.

The touch screen on my BlackBerry Bold 9900 is decent, but I'm happy that it also has the touch pad.

 

[Kristian Meller]

TonK, if you want ballin' there is only one option, and it's an option that says "I don't actually care about functionality, I just want something that's expensive" and it's a top-end Vertu.

They look like Nokias on drugs.

 

[Cylotron]

obviously, if what you want is apple, then iphone is the "best" or moreso, "the only" choice for you. to say that iphone is the best though... now that's just a case of extreme fanboy~ism.

the iphone is a decent phone, but there's others out there that have superior hardware. as for software, that's clearly a preference of the user.

EDIT: just wanted to add that my phone is currently an htc rezound(had a galaxy nexus before). this phone has a bit better picture quality then the iphone 4s, bigger screen(4.3" as opposed to 3.5"), sound quality is similiar & i can download 1gb in 5 minutes over 4g. you can do that in what, 2 hours on 3g?

so there's a reason why i don't mind having an ipad, but no way will i use an iphone.

 

[SonGohan]

3gs 8gb = 369€ = $484.60
4 8gb = 519€ = $681.60
4s 16gb = 629€ = $826

4s 32gb = 739€ = $970.50
4s 64gb = 849€ = $1,115

wildfire s = 175€ = $230
desire hd = 300€ = $394
galaxy sII = 415€ = $545

all prices without a 2 year contract.

prices with a 2 year contract:
t-mobile
can't link to vodafone but vodafone is the a carrier that i would never sign a contract with anyway.

a year ago i signed a 2 year contract with t-mobile. i paid 200€ for my desire hd (cost about 650€ at the time) and have to pay 29.95€ each month (includes 200 minutes, data flat and weekend flat to t-mobile and landlines). with an iphone i would have (had) to pay a lot more than that.

i'm not totally against the iphone. i just think that it costs about 200€ too much for what it is/does. that and carriers only offer the apple phones with the most expensive plans, if you're older than 29 and/or not a student anymore.

I paid $150 on ebay for mine, and I don't think I overpaid in the least. You guys are getting raped on the prices. I guess that's why every time I sold an old iphone it was always bought by some dude in Russia or Germany. I rarely get the phone discounted for a 2 year contract - there's great deals out there if you look.

The iPhone is amazing. You can do more with an Android OS, but it's nowhere near as smooth an efficient as iOS, in my experience. There's so many things that can conflict with each other and programs that can affect other programs. I was an android user for a couple years with two phones, and I'd have to format the thing at least once every month or two. It was nice that I could replace the battery and upgrade the storage space, but even with using an iPhone as a portable entertainment device, I don't find the space restricting and never had an issue with the battery.

 

[cafu1982]

The iPhone is amazing. You can do more with an Android OS, but it's nowhere near as smooth an efficient as iOS, in my experience. There's so many things that can conflict with each other and programs that can affect other programs. I was an android user for a couple years with two phones, and I'd have to format the thing at least once every month or two. It was nice that I could replace the battery and upgrade the storage space, but even with using an iPhone as a portable entertainment device, I don't find the space restricting and never had an issue with the battery.

I think the iphone is the best smartphone whether you're biased or not. I had a jailbroken iphone 4 last year, and it was truly impressive and I normally don't like apple products - had a hard time recommending anything over it.

Recently tried the Samsung Nexus at the store - thought it was pretty good, iphone aside.

Will be interesting to see what the next iphone is like in the post-Jobs era, although I wouldn't bet against them as far as their market leader status goes.

 

[Yodd]

Look at those Windows Phone 7 poll numbers up there!